Interview Technique/Questions

A friend of mine is going for an important job soon, I wondered if anyone on here holds interviews for potential new hires? What sort of questions do you ask, and why?

Any tips will be fondly received I'm sure. Cheers

What's the job?

What's the job? Is it at GFC?

Having said that, good interview question for any job: what's your biggest weakness?

What sector is the job in - I interview people for construction jobs on my projects and within the company I work for, but the type and style of interview will depend on the job being offered

Ask for a good joke, don't want to hire a robot

Mowgli37 said:

Ask for a good joke, don't want to hire a robot

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That is a good one.

This pen I'm holding in my hand. Sell it to me...

Ninja Elephant said:

A friend of mine is going for an important job soon, I wondered if anyone on here holds interviews for potential new hires? What sort of questions do you ask, and why?

Any tips will be fondly received I'm sure. Cheers

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If he needs help he won't get an 'important' job

Tell me, which music do you like best and why: The Jam, The Style Council or Paul Weller's solo career?

(I believe I could build a great team out of people who answer this one well).

Goldstone Rapper said:

Having said that, good interview question for any job: what's your biggest weakness?

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Mowgli37 said:

Ask for a good joke, don't want to hire a robot

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Goldstone Rapper said:

This pen I'm holding in my hand. Sell it to me...

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Glad I am self employed!

Have you ever supported or have any affiliations with any Croydon based football teams?

Goldstone Rapper said:

Tell me, which music do you like best and why: The Jam, The Style Council and Paul Weller's solo career?

(I believe I could build a great team out of people who answer this one well).

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I could do this one!

Vegas Seagull said:

If he needs help he won't get an 'important' job

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Quite a short sighted and condescending response. Any job could be very important to someone who is out of work or simply hasn't had an interview for years.

OP I used to work in recruitment and most interviews these days have a competence question section so it's a good idea to do some research on technique as well as your answer. Make sure to answer a 'Give me an example of a time when...' question using the STAR technique whereby you describe the Situation, Task, Activity, Result to give a structured response to your answer. Also stops waffling!

sjamesb3466 said:

Quite a short sighted and condescending response. Any job could be very important to someone who is out of work or simply hasn't had an interview for years.

OP I used to work in recruitment and most interviews these days have a competence question section so it's a good idea to do some research on technique as well as your answer. Make sure to answer a 'Give me an example of a time when...' question using the STAR technique whereby you describe the Situation, Task, Activity, Result to give a structured response to your answer. Also stops waffling!

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Agree with above, below from a recruiters web site may help

Competency based questions

Competency based interviews are becoming increasingly popular as a way to predict a candidate’s future performance. Essentially a series of behavioural questions, the interviewer will ask you to describe a situation which demonstrates your abilities that will be integral to the role you’re interviewing for.

Answering competency based questions

Answers to competency based questions are very structured, so we recommend the STAR technique, describing:

•the Situation
•the Task required as a result
•the Action you took
•the Result of that action

It’s all very well having a technique for answering questions but we think you’d benefit from having a deeper understanding of what is required of you, along with examples of the questions themselves.

Drawing on 30 plus years of recruitment experience, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of key competency questions, grouping them into five bite size areas - Individual, Managerial, Analytical, Interpersonal and Motivational - for easier digestion.

Individual competencies

These refer to:

Your personal attributes; your decisiveness, tenacity, knowledge, independence, risk taking and personal integrity.

A typical question may include:

•Tell me about a time when your work or an idea was challenged.

Managerial competencies

These refer to:

Your ability to take charge of other people; leadership, empowerment, strategic thinking, corporate sensitivity, project management and managerial control.

A typical question may include:

•Tell me about a time you led a group to achieve an objective

Analytical competencies
These refer to:

Your decision making abilities; innovation, analytical skills, problem solving, practical learning and attention to detail

A typical question may include:

•Tell me about a time when you identified a new approach to a problem

Interpersonal competencies

These refer to:

Social competence. Many workplaces function on the basis of project teams and the more collaborative they are, the more likely they are to thrive.

A typical question may include:

•Describe a situation where you got people to work together


Motivational competencies

These refer to:

The things that drive you; resilience, motivation, result orientation, initiative and quality focus.

A typical question may include:

•When did you work the hardest and feel the greatest sense of achievement?

Finally

Remember, be yourself when answering competency questions; use real life examples and relate them to your experience, how you reacted or how it made you feel. These are not trick questions, they’re designed to create the best match between an individual and an organisation. A little bit of preparation and you’ll quickly realise that competency based interviews represent an unprecedented opportunity to describe some of your finer moments to a captive audience

Doesn't matter what questions/answers you rehearse or prepare for..they'll always ask you something you hadn't considered.

Unless you get a second opportunity at the same interview, even then they didn't hire me...*******s

I do interviews with one aim; to find out what someone is like and what key skills they bring. I've done nearly 60 this year and to make them interesting my aim is to make sure I "work the person out"

In choosing the successful candidate I consider:
- What's best for my team. It's unfair on everyone (including the new hire) if I don't pick the best candidate.
- What training they need to be able to do the role?
- Will they fit in with my current team (personality-wise, and are they bringing key skills that we need?)
- Will they be easy to manage (manager's are busy, so anyone time consuming however talented is a drain. Are they reliable, will they be in on time, will they take any absence?)
- Do they have the aptitude to learn the job and systems?
- Do they have the right attitude to do well?
- Are they likeable? Naturally we warm to people, and influences can be swayed on this alone.

I ask general questions at first to find out more about them, and to relax them. This is because I believe most people perform better relaxed. There is no real right or wrong answers in this I would say, but sometimes people aren't right for the job and hiring them is bad news for both of us. Sometimes of course they say stupid things that do harm their chances (like supporting Palace for example). I ask questions about CV's, in particular looking at their job history to find out why they left their old company and why they want to work for my company. People that know who we are and what we do get bonus points. As do people who I genuinely believe want a career with us.

I can 100% say that sometimes I'd rather take on someone without the skills with a desire to be there, than someone who has the skills but doesn't show they really want it.

Then I ask competency based questions to see if they have experience doing what I need them to do. Which should be clearly defined in the job spec and I would expect them to demonstrate they have done the required skills in previous jobs. If they can't show the skills, it's a risk for me to hire them. Some things you can't teach, so I have to know that it's there.

Best advice to give your friend:
- Listen to the question, and then answer it. Don't spiel off ready prepared answers that don't fit the question as I'd mark that as poor listening skills.
- Don't waffle and talk too much, if the interviewer wants to know something they'll ask it. So don't tell the interview what you think they want to hear, let them ask you. Anyone can only pay attention for so long before they stop taking the words in. Common issue is people feel the need to fill silence. I often do 4-5 in a day, so I can tell you for a fact it is not a good thing.
- Depending on the job show personality. Is the job interacting with people? If so, then interviewers are looking for people who can do that. Looking like you can't hold a conversation ain't going to cut it if the job depends on it.
- Show keenness and willingness to learn to at all times. Show the interviewer that you will be easy to lead and willing to work hard. People won't hire anyone who looks like they are only in it for the short-term as there is very high costs and time in training new people, so I'd always choose someone who I think will stick around. That "where do you want to be in 5 years" is asked for that reason.
- Watch the interviewers body language, they will naturally look engaged or nod if you are saying what they want to hear. If the eyes are glazed, stop talking. Most importantly, if people are writing notes of what you say it's a good thing, if they aren't writing anything, you are saying the wrong thing so stop.
- Positive body language at all times. Shake hands, maintain eye contact and SMILE as much as possible. Don't focus on one person if there are two people there, look at both. Both have an opinion at the end and you want to win them both over. Even if the other person is just scribing they will make an opinion of you.
- Stay calm. Think of it as a chat about yourself. Nerves will destroy you and it won't go well. Smiling helps with the nerves too. Similar vein, don't caffeine up before hand as you can look a bit mental.
- Bring water or ask for some (I always make sure they have plenty). Nerves dry your throat out but more importantly If you are asked a tough question and you need a few seconds, have a slow sip of water. This is more like a natural pause and gives you time to think.
- Ask questions at the end. Relevant ones. Like "what are the measures of success". It shows that you want to do well.
- Dress smart. It doesn't look like you made an effort otherwise. I recently interviewed someone not wearing socks. They were out of the running on that alone and really needed to prove themselves. (they still got the job as it happens, as they showed they had the key skills but it could have gone badly with another interviewer)
- Find out about your interviewer if you can. What do they like? i.e. if they like football talk about it. Common ground generates a bond and likeability. True story, a colleague of mine spent 45 minutes talking about horses and got a promotion, even though she was a complete ****-tard and evidently could never do the job. As I said earlier, likeability counts.

Hope that helps.



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No tips I am afraid but a friend of mine once went to an interview where a David Brent style manager said "I am now going to leave this room and call you on this phone and I want you to treat me as you would one of our customers". With that he proceeded into the room next door and called the phone pretending to be an angry customer. Due to a combination of being able to hear him through the wall and his ridiculously over the top angry voice my friend could not stop laughing down the phone and did not stop even when the bloke returned to the room. Needless to say he was not hiredl!!!

sjamesb3466 said:

Quite a short sighted and condescending response. Any job could be very important to someone who is out of work or simply hasn't had an interview for years.

OP I used to work in recruitment and most interviews these days have a competence question section so it's a good idea to do some research on technique as well as your answer. Make sure to answer a 'Give me an example of a time when...' question using the STAR technique whereby you describe the Situation, Task, Activity, Result to give a structured response to your answer. Also stops waffling!

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this, STAR format makes the answer logical and does stop waffling.