Just before that Interview (II)--What Happens Backstage

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!