The
Interviewer
When preparing for interviews,
most candidates wonder what goes on in the minds of the interviewers. If only
they can perceive the expectation of the interviewers, it will be a lot easier
to know how to answer the interview questions. For this reason, this post will
enlighten you on the preparation process taken by the interviewer and the
intent of the interview.
The
Interviewer’s Objective
For most organisations, the
interview panel is drawn from employees of the hiring department and
representatives of the Human Resources department. More often than not, the HR
professional’s role is to help the hiring department use job-related
interviewing techniques to find that right individual who fits the current
job-opening.
Owing to the fact that people
are different in their perceptions about other people and their abilities,
managers approach the hiring process in different ways. Mike Deblieux explains
that managers use either traditional or inventive approaches in selecting the
right candidate to join their team.
The traditional manager is one who goes by the book.
He writes a job description and bases the interview questions on that
description. Every candidate is asked the same questions, and the best
candidate is the one who can do the job described in the job description.
The inventive manager, on the other hand, doesn’t have
a job description. In fact, she may not even have a job opening. She just wants
to talk to people to see if they have something unique to offer to her team. If
she finds someone, she’ll hire him. If she doesn’t, she won’t.
However, on the long run, both types of managers are
particular on getting the individual that can carry out a set of tasks
effectively in order to obtain the desired results. “A task is a process that
includes following the steps that need to be followed to get the job done.
These steps may include drawing an engineering schematic, building a
spreadsheet or making a sales call.
Tasks are important. The successful candidate must be
able to perform them and the interviewer must ask questions about them. But in
today’s world, results are more important than tasks.
A result is measured by the success of the effort, not
by the steps involved in getting that result. Many employees, for example, are
required to answer the phone. Answering the phone is a task. A few people can
answer the phone in a way that makes the customer feel wanted and appreciated.
Making the customer feel wanted and appreciated is a result. Interviewers often
assume that a candidate who has performed certain tasks can also produce the
desired results, but often they are disappointed”. (Deblieux, 2004 –SHRM)
Therefore, the ultimate aim for
the interview panel is to plan an interview that focuses on the candidate’s
ability to perform not only a set of tasks but the tasks that produce the
desired results.
The
Interviewer’s Checklist
You might be surprised but interviewers
do also prepare for interviews—they have a checklist of things to do to ensure
they carry-out a good and fair interview. As a candidate, being aware of how
interviewers prepare for the interview can help you anticipate questions that
could be asked and for what reasons they could be asked.
Below is a sample of the
recommended checklist for every member of an interview panel (Source: Society of Human Resource Management-
www.shrm.org):
ü Familiarize
yourself with the duties and requirements of the job you are filling.
ü Make
sure you can answer general questions about the company and the benefits
provided.
ü Formulate
questions that will focus on job-related aspects such as asking about
situations that may have occurred in previous positions (see reference form for
ideas).
ü Write
down and organize the questions in the order you will be asking them
ü
Review applicant's resume and/or application:
o Review
the job description(s) for the position(s) you are attempting to fill. Note
minimum requirements needed and refer to them often as you review
resumes/applications.
o Check
work experience for applicability to the position for which they are applying,
length of time in each position, promotions or awards received, reason for
leaving each position.
o Note
gaps in employment but do not assume they were caused by negative reasons.
o Check
educational background for qualifications necessary to successful job
performance.
o Note
special skills (i.e. computer software, office equipment).
o Note on
a separate piece of paper any pertinent questions that arise when reviewing the
resume/application
o During
selection, screen the top group to further narrow down the candidates. On
average, about 10 resumes per open position should be sufficient.
Typical Interview Questions and Why
They Are Asked
For every
question an interviewer asks, you can be sure that it is meant to find out
something about your competence or personality, both of which are important to
your performance on the job. The reason why most seemingly qualified candidates
fail interviews is however centered on the fact that they do not know what
questions to expect at interviews and when the questions come, they do not know
for what reasons the questions are asked.
This chapter
elaborates on why some particular types of questions are asked and what the
interview could likely be out to know when such questions are asked.
Categories of Interview Questions:
I.
Behavioral:
These
types of questions are asked by the interviewer with the intent of perceiving
the candidates personality and values. The questions are mostly situational
questions that are posed to know how you behave in certain circumstances or
conditions.
In
answering this type of questions, there is never a right or wrong answer.
Remember that the intent of the interviewer is to find out if you have the
right behaviors that fit the job-role you are applying for, the company’s
culture and values. It is important you know the type of individual the company
is seeking to recruit for that job so that your answers shows that you have the
required behaviors to thrive on the job.
The
best approach to answering behavioral questions is by sharing past experiences.
The premise behind behavioral interviewing is that the most accurate predictor
of future performance is past performance in similar situations.
Although it will be more difficult to prepare concrete answers in
advance to these interviews (as opposed to traditional ones), you can and
should take some time to review your understanding of yourself, your past
successes and concrete examples of your accomplishments. Work on honesty,
sincerity and candidness. When you start to tell a behavioral story, the
interviewer may try to sort out the details by understanding your
behaviors.
The interviewer will probe for more depth, detail or understanding with
questions like: “What were you thinking at that point?” or “Tell me more about
what you discussed with that person.” If you’ve told a story that’s anything
but totally honest, your response will not hold up through these probes
Examples of Behavioral Questions:
-
Describe what you
would say if asked to talk about yourself in a group of 15 people
-
If someone told you
that you had made an error, describe how you would react and what you would say
in your defense.
-
If someone asked you
for assistance with a matter that is outside the parameters of your job
description, what would you do?
-
You are a committee
member and disagree with a point or decision. How will you respond?
-
Describe what you
would classify as a crisis.
-
You are angry about
an unfair decision. How do you react?
-
Suppose you are in a
situation where deadlines and priorities change frequently and rapidly. How
would you handle it?
-
How do you know when
you are stressed? What do you do to de-stress?
-
Tell me about a time
when you were a part of a great team. What was your part in making the team
effective?
-
It’s 4:30 on a Friday
afternoon. Your supervisor gives you an assignment that needs to be finished by
8:00 Monday morning. You have already made plans to be away the entire weekend.
What would you do?
II.
Interpersonal:
When interviewers
ask this type of questions, the intent is to know more about the candidate’s
competencies by hearing from the horse’s mouth.
The mistake most
candidates make is that they try to over-sell themselves by exaggerating and
trying to paint themselves as perfect people. What you must know is that
interviewers already know that you are not a perfect person who makes no
mistakes; you are human and so they are not surprised when you express your
human limitations. Always remember that for this type of questions interviewers
know when you are exaggerating or telling lies- your answers will be illogical.
You should however
be cautious of being seen as having a nonchalant attitude towards your
weaknesses, therefore, whenever you talk about a weakness whilst describing
yourself, make sure you also talk about the steps you’ve taken to improve yourself
(i.e. overcoming the weakness).
Below are some
examples of interpersonal questions:
-
What are your
strengths?
-
What would your last
boss say about you?
-
Describe how you like
to be managed, and the best relationship you’ve had with a previous boss.
-
If I asked your
previous/current co-workers about you what would they say?
-
Describe what you see
as your strengths related to this job/position. Describe what you see as your
weaknesses related to this job/position.
-
Explain the phrase
“work ethic” and describe yours.
-
What kind of people
do you find it most difficult to work with? For example, assume you are in a
situation where you have to deal with a person very different from yourself and
you are finding it difficult. What would you do?
-
What methods do you
use to make decisions? When do you find it most difficult to make a decision?
-
Describe a difficult
time you have had dealing with an employee, customer, or co-worker. Why was it
difficult? How did you handle it? What was the outcome?
-
What do you do when
others resist or reject your ideas or actions?
-
What do you think are
the best and worst parts of working in a team environment? How do you handle
it?
-
Under what kinds of
conditions do you learn best?
III.
Creative
Thinking:
These questions are
asked to examine the candidate’s intelligent quotient (IQ) level, his/her
thought-process, and the mind-set, perceptions of issues and how conclusions
are reached. It is simply to know how
smart the candidate is.
Like the behavioral
questions, there is no right or wrong answer to Creative Thinking questions. In
answering the questions, you need to be objective about the issues discussed,
however, be cautious of drawing conclusions that makes you look dogged to your
perceptions and views- It is better to
show a bit of flexibility here.
Some examples of
Creative Thinking questions are:
-
What's the best book
you've read in the last year? Please take a minute and tell us what you liked
about it.
-
What was the most
creative thing you did in your last job?
-
What is your interpretation
of “success?”
-
Describe an ideal
work environment or “the perfect job.”
-
In
what way(s) do you express your personality in the workplace?
IV.
General:
This category of
questions is mostly job-related questions. They are meant to check up the
candidates’ understanding of the responsibilities that comes with the current
job-opening and how it relates to his/her past job experiences (if any). The object is to know if the
candidate is aware of how he fits the job and the culture of the organization.
The key to giving
the best answers to these questions is for the candidate to know as much as
possible about the company as well as the job he/she is being interviewed for.
He/she should be able to explain how the job fits into his/her career path and
what skills, knowledge and abilities he/she possesses which can ensure
high-performance on the job.
Typical examples of
General questions are:
-
Could you share with
us a recent accomplishment of which you are most proud?
-
What would you have
liked to do more of in your last position? What held you back?
-
Tell us a bit about
your work background, and then give us a description of how you think it
relates to our current opening.
- What are your
qualifications in your area of expertise, i.e., what skills do you have that
makes you the best candidate for this position? Include any special training
you have had (on-the-job, college, continuing education, seminars, reading,
etc.) and related work experience.
-
Why have you applied
for this position?
-
What skill set do you
think you would bring to this position?
-
Tell me about your
present or last job. Why did you choose it? Why did you/do you want to leave?
-
What was your primary
contribution/achievement? Biggest challenge?
-
What are your
short-term and long-term goals?
-
In what areas would
you like to develop further? What are your plans to do that?
-
What are some
positive aspects of your last employment/employer? What are some negative
aspects?
-
What are your career
path interests?
-
What do you know
about our company?
-
Why should we hire
YOU?
-
If the position
required it, would you be willing to travel?
-
If the position
required it, would you be willing to relocate?
-
If you were offered
this position, when would you be available to start?
-
After learning about
this opportunity, what made you take the next step and apply for the job?
-
If you are the
successful applicant, how would you expect to be different after a year in this
position?
-
Tell me anything else
you would like us to know about you that will aid us in making our decision.
-
What questions would
you like to ask me?
FOR MORE GUIDANCE ON PREPARING FOR INTERVIEWS, I WOULD RECOMMEND: www.editmycv.com amongst other resources you can find on-line.
All the best!
