the skilled interviewer
They follow a set format for the interview process to ensure objectivity in the selection process, and a set sequence of questions to ensure the facts are gathered logically and in the right areas; all this in turn ensures productive hires.
To ensure a systematic coverage of your work history and applicable job-related skills.
To determine ability, motivation, manageability and team orientation, problem-solving skills, and your professional behavior profile.
The interview will begin with small talk and a brief introduction to relax you. Following close on the heels of that chit-chat comes a statement designed to assure you that baring your faults is the best way to get the job. Your interview will then outline the steps in the interview. This will include you walking through a chronological description of your work history, then specific questions about different aspects of your experience. Finally you will be given an opportunity to ask your own questions. He knows exactly what questions to ask, why they will be asked, in what order they will be asked, and what the desired responses are. The dangerous part of this type of structured interview is called "skill evaluation", graphically, it looks like this:
Letter A through F represent the separate skill sets necessary to do the job; numbers 1 through 20 are questions asked to identify and verify each particular skill. This is where the tough questions will come. I will do it when you are tweaking your resume.
Look at the position you seek: What role does it play in helping the company achieve its corporate mission and make a profit?
What are the five most important duties of that job? Write it down. Now you yourself in the interviewer's shoes. Use your past experience. You have worked with good and bad people, and their work habits and skills will lead you to develop the potential questions and thereby the essence of the correct answers. What behaviors would make your life easier? When you do this exercise, you will also know what you will have to do and how you will have to behave to succeed, once in the saddle.
These sharks have some juicy questions with which to probe your abilities, attitude, and professional behavior profile.
1. You have been given a project that requires you to interact with different levels within the company. How do you do this? What levels are you most comfortable with?
"This is a two-part question that probes communication and self-confidence skills. The first part asks how you interact with superiors and motivate those working with and for you on the project. The second part is saying, "Tell me whom you regard as your peer group--help me categorized you." To cover those bases, include the essence of this:"There are two types of people I would interact with on a project of this nature. First, there are those I report to, who bear the ultimate responsibility for its success. With them, I determine deadlines and a method for evaluating the success of the project. I outline my approach, breaking the project down into components parts, getting approval n both the approach and the costs. I would keep my supervisors updated on a regular basis and seek input whenever needed. My supervisors would expect three things from me: the facts, an analysis of potential problems, and that I not be intimidated, as this would jeopardize the project's success. I would comfortably satisfy those expectations.
Other people who work with, I would outline the project and explain how a successful outcome will benefit the company. I would assign the component parts to those best suited to each, and arrange follow-up times to assure completion by deadline. My role here would be to facilitate, motivate, and bring the different personalities together to form a team.
As for comfort level, I find this type of approach enables me to interact comfortably with all levels and types of people."
2."Tell me about an event that really challenged you. How did you meet the challenge? In what way was your approach different from that of others?"
"This is a straightforward, two-part question. The first part probes your problem-solving abilities. The second asks you to set yourself apart from the herd. OUtline the problem. The clearer you make the situation, the better.
My company has offices all around the country; I am responsible for seventy of them. My job is to visit each office on a regular basis and build market-penetration strategies with management, and to train and motivate the sales and customer service forces. When the recession hit, the need to service those offices was more important than ever, yet the traveling costs were getting prohibitive.
Morale was an especially important factor: You can't let outlying offices feel defeated. I reapportioned my budget: I dramatically increased telephone contact...I bought sales training and tapes and sent to my managers with instructions . I stopped visiting all the offices. Instead, I scheduled weekend training meetings in central locations throughout my area...
3. How have you benefited from your disappointments?
Disappointments are different from failures. It is an intelligent--probably trained-interviewer who asks this one. This question is also an opportunity for the astute interviewee to shine. The question itself is positive- it asks you to show how you benefited, also it's a general question. Edison once explained his success as an inventor by claiming that he knew more ways not to do something than anyone else living: You can do worse than to quote him In any events, sum up your answer with, "I treat disappointments as a learning experience: I look at what happened, why it happened, and how I would do things differently at each stage should the same set of circumstances appear again."
4. That is an excellent answer. Now to give me a balanced view, can you give me an example that didn't work out so well?
There are two techniques that every skilled interviewer will use, especially if you are giving good answer. In this questions, the interviewer looks for negative balance; in the follow-up, the person will look for negative confirmation. The trick is to pull something from the past, not the present, and to finish with what you learned from the experience.
"...It was a long time ago, but I have never forgotten the lesson: There is always a reason for ...I've had the best-kept records in the company ever since."
The Stress Interview
When the interviewee offers evidence of foot-in-mouth disease by asking, “Living or dead?” he receives his just desserts: “Ten of each.‘’ Such awful-sounding questions are thrown in to test your poise, to see how you tract under pressure, and to plumb the depths of your confidence. Stress questions are designed to sort out the clutch players from those who freeze under pressure.
The sophisticated interviewer talks very little, few comments, and no editorializing on your answers, means that you get no hint, verbal or otherwise, about your performance. The questions are planned, targeted, sequenced, and layered. The interviewer covers one subject thoroughly before moving on…
This is a reporter’s technique of asking why, when, who, what, how, and where. The technique can be applied to probe those success stories that sound too good to be true. After you’ve survived that barrage, a friendly tone may conceal another zinger: “what did you lean from the experience?” This question is geared to probe your judgment and emotional maturity.
When an interviewer feels you were on the edge of revealing something unusual in an answer, you may well encounter “mirror statements.” Here, the last key phrase of your answer will be repeated or paraphrased, and followed by a steady gaze and silence. For example, “So, you learned that organization is the key to management.” The idea is hat the silence and an expectant look will work together to keep you talking. The trick knows when to stop, but no more than a couple of sentences. Otherwise, you will feel you are digging yourself into a hole.
1. What is your greatest weakness?
This is a direct invitation to put your head in a noose. Decline the invitation. This is perhaps one instance where the need for ongoing education in the modern world of work can come to your rescue in a sticky situation. The changes in technology give everyone an ongoing challenge getting up to speed with new skills. Your answer can address these very issues, and in the process who yourself as someone capable of staying on top of a rapidly changing workplace.
“With all the legal and technological changes impacting finance there days staying up to date are a real challenge” you might well finish this with examples of how you are keeping up to speed with these changes that affect your competence and productivity. This is an honest answer to which anyone can relate, and its all the better if you complete it with a course of action such as: “I’m currently reading about… I attended a weekend workshop…”
With this type of answer you identify your weakness as something that is only of concern to the most dedicated and forward-looking professional in your field.
Another good option is to give a generalized answer that takes advantage of value keys. “I enjoy my work and always give each project my best shot. So when sometimes I don’t feel others are pulling their weight, I find it a little frustrating. I am aware of that weakness, and in those situations I try to overcome it with a positive attitude that I hope will catch on.” With that kind of answer, you also get the added bonus of showing that you accept and act on criticism.
Congratulations! You have just turned a bear of a question into an opportunity to sell yourself. In deciding on the particular answer you will give, remember that the interviewer isn’t rally concerned about your general weakness, he is simply concerned about any red flags that might signal your inability to perform the job or work well under supervision.
The Graceful Exit
Is parting such sweet sorrow? The end of an interview will more likely man relief, but here are some dos and don'ts to bear in mind as your meeting comes to a close.
Always depart in the same polite and assured manner in which you entered. Look the interviewer in the eye, put on a smile, give a firm handshake, and say, "This has been an exciting meeting for me. This is a job I can do, and I feel I can contribute to your goals, because the atmosphere here seems conductive to doing my very best work. When will we speak again?"
Don't press for an early decision. Don't try to use the "other opportunities I have to consider" gambit as leverage when no such offers exist--that annoys the interviewer, makes you look foolish, and may even force you to negotiate from a position of weakness. Timing is everything, the issue of how to handle other opportunities as leverage is explored in detail later.
Interview Follow-up
Out of sight means out of mind and out of mind manes out of the job-offer stakes! Following up after your interviews shows an interview that you pay attention to detail and are enthusiastic about the job. Competency and enthusiasm are powerful statements to make when you aren’t even there.
Whom did you meet? (Names and titles)
What does the job entail?
What are the first projects, the biggest challenges?
Why can you do the job?
What aspects of the interview went well/poorly, why?
What is the agreed-upon next step?
Where is the employer in the hiring cycle, and when will a decision be made?
What was said during the last few minutes of the interview?
Appreciation: I enjoyed meeting you to discuss
Recognition: I recognize the importance of
Observation: listening to the points you made
Motivation: I am excited about the job…
Enthusiasm: I was impressed
Confidence:
Interest:
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