Discord Staff Interview Questions to Ask Before You Accept

A written application shows how someone writes when they have time to prepare. Moderating happens live, with no time to redraft. A short interview is the cheapest way to see that gap before you hand someone the timeout button.

This is a playbook for staff interviews: moderators, helpers, event team, any role with responsibility. If you are looking at Discord's own Interview button, the one next to Approve and Reject on your Members page, that is for people asking to join the server, and pending applications covers it. The questions below work there too.

When should you interview a staff applicant?

After a good written application, and before any permission. The order matters:

Interview the shortlist, not everyone. If you would deny someone on their written answers alone, an interview wastes both your evenings. But interview everyone on the shortlist, not only the borderline ones: the strong candidates are the ones you most need to compare fairly.

Roles that can remove people or messages deserve an interview. For a helper rank with no moderation tools, a good written application may be enough. Discord staff roles explained lists what each rank can do, which tells you how much checking it needs.

The interview is one stage of a longer process. The full sequence, from opening applications to the trial role, is in the moderator vetting process.

Should the interview be in voice or text?

Our default is text, run live: both of you online at an agreed time, and an answer expected within a minute or two. That keeps the record and removes most of the time to polish.

Use voice for roles that work in voice, such as event hosts or voice channel moderators. Never require voice for a chat moderator role: you lose good people who simply do not talk on mic. If you want to record a call, ask first. Most teams just take notes.

How do you structure a 15 to 20 minute interview?

The same five parts, in the same order, for every applicant in the round:

Only the follow-ups change from person to person. Everything else stays fixed, or you end up comparing a hard interview with an easy one.

Which questions should you ask?

Pick two or three from each group. You do not need all of them.

Motivation

• What made you apply now, and not three months ago?
• What do you already do here that a moderator does?
• What would you have to stop doing once you are staff?

Listen for a reason tied to your server: a gap they noticed, help they already give. "I want to help the community" is where an answer starts, not where it ends.

Availability

• Walk me through a normal week. When are you online, in your time zone?
• What happens to your time here during exams, or when a big game comes out?
• If you could only moderate two hours this week, which two would you pick?

Check every answer against the hours you are hiring for. A great candidate online when four moderators already are is not who this round needs.

Judgement scenarios they did not see

• Someone posts a screenshot of a DM, saying another member harassed them. You cannot check it. What do you do?
• You delete a message from a long-time member, who now says they will leave the server over it. What next?
• You are the only staff online and two problems start at once. Which first, and why?
• You timed someone out and later realise you were wrong. What do you do?

There is rarely one right answer. You are listening for proportion, for asking a senior when it makes sense, and for owning a mistake without drama.

Follow-ups on their own answers

Quote their sentence back and ask what, why and what if:

• "You wrote you would ban first. What would make you warn instead?"
• "You mentioned moderating another server. What was the hardest call you made there?"
• "You said evenings. Which time zone, and which evenings?"

Follow-ups catch copied or polished answers better than any detector. Someone who wrote an answer can explain it in other words; someone who pasted it usually cannot. Spotting AI-written applications has more on what to look for.

Red flags during the interview

• Asks which permissions they get before anything else
• Cannot name one of your rules in their own words
• Speaks badly about current staff, or wants to know who reported whom
• Pushes for a decision at the end, or messages other staff about it

The red flags in a written application are a separate list, in the vetting process guide linked above.

How do you score interviews the same way across interviewers?

Use one short sheet for the whole round, and score before you talk to anyone else about the candidate.

Set the bar before the first interview, for example "9 of 12 and no 1 in judgement". For moderator roles, interview in pairs: one asks, one takes notes, and both score on their own before comparing. Score the first two interviews of a round together, to agree on what a 2 looks like.

Once a month, run /review and open Reviewer statistics: it shows each reviewer's decisions and accept rate (Manage Server only). If one interviewer accepts nine in ten and another one in ten, compare their sheets.

What should you write down?

Enough that someone who missed the interview can follow the decision:

Leave out guesses about their personality, and anything from another member's report.

Where it goes matters. The staff thread under the review message, once you turn it on for the panel, is for your team only. The interview itself happens in a thread the applicant can read.

How do you run the interview in Mico?

From the application's review message, press Talk to them. Mico opens a private thread in the apply channel, adds the applicant and you, and posts:

• A second interviewer presses Talk to them on the same review message and is added to the same thread.
• An archived thread reopens when anyone presses the button again. Discord archives it after a day without messages, so this happens often between rounds of questions.
• Who else can read it: staff you add, and anyone with Discord's Manage Threads permission, which shows every private thread in channels they can see.
• For voice, agree the time in the thread, meet in a voice channel, then post your summary in the staff thread.

Nothing in the thread decides the application. When the interview is done, press Accept or Deny on the review message, in /review or on the dashboard. The first click counts, as reviewing applications as a team explains.

The written applications reach your review channel first, and when AI scoring is on, Mico scores each one with a short reason. That score is advice about the writing. The interview tells you what it cannot: how they think when they cannot prepare.

How do you say no after an interview?

Someone who gave you twenty minutes deserves a reason. Press Deny and type one or two sentences into the reason field; it arrives in their DM word for word. For example:

Thanks for the talk on Saturday. We were looking for someone who steps in on their own when an argument heats up, and in the interview you said you would wait for others. Help out in #support for a while and apply again next round.

Then post one line in the interview thread, such as "Thanks again. We have decided, and you have a message from Mico." That way they are not left waiting in an open thread. If their DMs are closed, they can still read the decision with /application.

Do not debate the decision in the thread afterwards. If they want feedback, one short answer is kind; a second round of arguing is not. More wording for hard cases is in how to reject a Discord application.

Where Mico fits, and where it stops

If you have not set up staff applications yet, start with /setup: it makes the apply channel, a private review channel, a reviewer role and a first panel.