Jobs › Argonne National Laboratory
Payroll Specialist
Posted Sep 9, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
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Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a time you caught a mistake in your own work after it was submitted. What did you do?
What they are checking: Honesty and accountability, which matter more than a perfect record in a role handling pay.
Tell me about a time you worked with another department, like HR or Accounting, to fix a problem that crossed both areas.
What they are checking: Ability to build working relationships with the departments payroll depends on.
What would you do
You find an employee's pay rate in the system doesn't match the rate on their latest HR action. What do you do?
What they are checking: Whether they verify against the source record and loop in HR rather than quietly fixing it themselves.
An employee says their paycheck is short and they're upset because rent is due. How do you handle the call?
What they are checking: Calm, empathetic service paired with accuracy, since payroll mistakes hit people's lives directly.
You have a stack of tickets and a payroll deadline tomorrow. How do you decide what to do first?
What they are checking: Prioritization under a hard deadline without letting employee inquiries go unanswered for too long.
About the work
Walk me through how you'd review timecards before a bi-weekly payroll closes. What are you looking for?
What they are checking: Whether they have a careful, repeatable review habit that catches errors before people get paid wrong.
What do you know about how federal and state tax withholding works, and how would you answer an employee who asks why their withholding changed?
What they are checking: Basic payroll tax knowledge and the ability to explain it plainly without giving tax advice.
Argonne pays under a Prime Contract with DOE. Why might a federal contractor's payroll have extra rules compared to a private company?
What they are checking: Awareness that cost allowability and DOE oversight shape how payroll records are kept and reviewed.
How do you keep employee payroll data secure in daily work, from email to printed reports?
What they are checking: Practical habits for protecting sensitive personal and financial data.
What Excel skills do you use to validate data, and can you give an example of a check you built?
What they are checking: Whether their technical skills include practical reconciliation tools, not just data entry.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by Argonne National Laboratory.