Job Interview Questions

This scenario demonstrates what a mistake it is to assume that you can time the start of a job interview.

Susan arrived early at her job interview. At the appointed hour, Susan’s interviewer greeted her and asked her to follow him to his office. Susan immediately noticed that the interviewer seemed a bit befuddled, as if he forgot where the office was. As they started walking through a maze of cubicles, he seemed to hesitate, looking first left and then right. Ignoring Susan, he paused at every intersection, like he was a pioneer exploring a territory for the first time. With Susan in tow, he even retraced his steps a couple of times. Susan felt very uncomfortable, but she didn’t know what to do. Should she say anything? Would a comment offend him? Maybe the interviewer had a disability of some sort. So she hung back and waited for the interviewer to act. Eventually, they found their way to the interview room where the interviewer asked Susan a few perfunctory questions before thanking her for coming. Susan did not get an offer.

What went on here? If you were Susan, how would you have handled the situation? Before reading further, take a minute to consider the challenge, because that’s exactly what it was.

Susan didn’t realize it, but the maze-running was part of the job interview. By the time the interviewer got to the talking part, the interview was over and the candidate had been eliminated. Yes, it might seem sleazy, but the interviewer played incompetent to test Susan’s leadership qualities. Would she offer to help? Would she take an active role in some way, offering whatever skills she could muster for the occasion? Or would she remain passive? The interviewer was hoping that Susan would ask a question. The most important part of the interview took place before the candidate thought anything important happened.

What could Susan have done? The first thing is, she should have recognized that she was being tested. In fact, all candidates do well to assume that as soon as they leave their house, they are being evaluated. What are some things Susan could have done or said? A job coach in Dallas whose clients have encountered this technique suggests one approach.

Well, there’s no right or wrong here. But I’d have coached Susan to do something to acknowledge what is, after all, an uncomfortable situation. If I’m recruiting for a team leader or manager, I look for candidates who are authentic, who offer to help in some way, or at least use humor to diffuse the tension. One candidate made me laugh when she joked, “Maybe we should leave a trail of bread crumbs so we can find our way back!” Mostly I want to see evidence that the candidate is thinking. What makes me hesitate is when candidates don’t have a clue about what to do or are too timid to do it.

Thankfully, techniques like these are falling out of favor, so you probably won’t encounter too many role-playing techniques. But the point remains: The interview starts sooner than you think. Keep thinking and don’t hesitate to ask questions. Here’s another scenario you might encounter.

Charles was interviewing for a senior sales position, and everything was going perfectly. His experience was exactly right, and Charles and the hiring manager, the VP of sales, seemed to be getting along great. So imagine the candidate’s surprise when the interviewer suddenly stood up and said, “I’m sorry, Charles. I just don’t think it’s going to work out after all. Thank you for meeting with me and good luck to you.” The rejection came so unexpectedly Charles that could only mumble something as he walked out.

What’s going on here? Again, take a minute to put yourself in Charles’s shoes. How would you have handled the situation? Charles didn’t realize it, but the resistance from the recruiter signaled the start of the job interview, not the end. Remember, Charles was being sized up for a senior sales position. A critical skill for such a position is grace in handling a prospect’s objections or rejection. So the interviewer threw a big objection at the candidate to see how he would react.

What could Charles have done? One Fortune 500 recruiter suggests Charles could have responded:

Excuse me, can I just have another minute? I’m confused. I thought the interview was going pretty well and that my experience fit the position you described very closely. Apparently, I missed something important. I would very much like to understand where you saw a disconnect between my skills and the job so that I might have the opportunity to demonstrate that I really am the best candidate for the job.

“This kind of response would tell me that Charles can handle objections, accepts responsibility for not making his case, and asks for information so that he may continue selling, which is why I’m hiring him,” the recruiter adds. In short, Charles needed a bid-for-action question, as described in Bid-for-Action Questions.

AT THE END

This is the typical point at which you’ll be invited to ask any questions you may have. The interviewer will lean back and turn the interview over to you. It may seem like the interview is coming to an end. It’s not. Interviewers are unanimous on this: They really expect you to ask intelligent questions.

Don’t assume you know when the interview is over. The safest bet is to apply this rule: The interview is not over until you no longer have an interest in the job. Until then, the clock is ticking.

When to Question

This marvelous question, recommended by Irv Zuckerman in his book Hire Power, lets the candidate effectively seize control of the interview in a way that many interviewers find reassuring. Here’s a typical exchange (with comments) between an interviewer and a candidate:

INTERVIEWER: Thank you for coming. Can I get you a cup of coffee?

CANDIDATE: No, thank you. Perhaps later. (Leaving the door open softens the refusal to accept the interviewer’s hospitality. Avoid anything that might spill. Also you will need your hands free for taking notes on the important information you are about to receive.)

INTERVIEWER: Well, then, make yourself comfortable. Can you tell me about yourself?

CANDIDATE: I’ll be glad to. But first, may I ask a question? (Always ask permission.)

INTERVIEWER: Of course. (You will never be refused. The interviewer is now curious about what you are going to ask.) CANDIDATE: My question is this: By what criteria will you select the person for this job?

I NTERVIEWER: That’s a good question. CANDIDATE: Is it all right if I take notes? (Always ask permission.) INTERVIEWER: Of course. Now, let me see. I think the first criterion is…

Now listen. When the interviewer is done reviewing the first criterion, ask about the second. Then the third. Pretty soon you will have a list of the interviewer’s hot buttons, a recipe for the ideal candidate for the job. Your challenge is to underscore how your credentials and experience just happen to fall in perfect alignment with those very criteria.

Let’s back up a minute. Notice what else you have accomplished by asking this marvelous question. You have seized control of the interview. Suddenly the interviewer is working according to your agenda. The question-by what criteria will you select the person for this job-is designed to put you in the driver’s seat. Play with the wording at your own risk. Look at how the question parses:

By what criteria. This part of the question focuses the discussion where it belongs—on the job and its requirements, rather than your education, experience, age, gender, etc. What the hiring manager really wants is someone who can do the job and will fit in. Are you that someone? Can you prove it? That’s your goal in the next phases of the interview.

will you select. This acknowledges the authority of the decision maker. It is critical for you to know if, by chance, you are talking to someone who is not the decision maker, but merely a gatekeeper. In either case, you need to focus on the action verb in the clause and what you must provide in order to be selected.

the person. Only one person will be selected for this particular job. You want that person to be you. One of your jobs in the interview is to remind the hiring manager that you are a wellrounded, likable person who will fit in with the other people in the organization.

for this job. This phrase underscores the idea that the subject of this conversation is a job that the interviewer needs to fill because a vital organizational function is not being done. Furthermore, the ideal remedy for the problem is available and ready to start.

When to Question Hire Power, interview, interview questions, Irv Zuckerman

IN THE BEGINNING

Janice Brookshier, a Seattle-based recruiting contractor and president of Seattlejobs.org, has an informal interviewing style. In her dialogue with the candidate, she makes it quite clear that the candidate is free to ask questions at any point in the conversation. Brookshier notes, “Candidates are always free to ask a question, whether solicited or not.”

If Brookshier doesn’t get intelligent questions during the first part of the interview, she starts to wonder. But her worst suspicions are confirmed if the candidate doesn’t have any questions even after she invites some. “I see it as a test,” she says. “If you have no questions for me, it tells me that you are either way too passive or just not very serious. Either way, I lose interest real quickly.”

What impresses Brookshier the most are questions that transform a question that she had asked the candidate earlier in the interview. For example, if she had asked the candidate:

What accomplishments in your career are you most proud of?

or Can you tell me about your greatest weakness?

Brookshier would be impressed by a candidate who countered with: What accomplishments in its history is the company most proud of?

or Can you tell me about the company’s greatest weakness?

When to Question greatest questions, When to Question