[Closed] Interview Questions

I guess if it's a management/supervisory role where you are managing workload and people then things like how to manage priorities, negotiate timescales with different internal and external customers, managing stakeholders, communication of progress of tasks/jobs, dealing with compromise, dealing with conflicts within your team and between different teams.

Not always a right or wrong answer and very much dependant on the companies processes and culture.

^ that.

And how do you handle difficult issues, how do you cope with roadblocks and project slippage ..

What is your greatest strength? (easy)

What is your greatest weakness? (tricksy)

They're cliché questions, but I once interviewed a guy who replied to the second explaining that he had anger management issues and was job seeking after punching out his previous boss.

Think of examples of what you have done. Many interviewers use competency based questioning techniques. How you have behaved in situations in the past is a good indicator of how you will perform in future (Interviews are not very good ways of choosing staff anyway)
Examples would be:
Give an example of how you have dealt with an underperfoming member of your team?
Give an example of how you have dealt with a particularly technical task/project, what techniques did you use
etc etc
So try to think of your experience in those terms.
Good luck!

I once interviewed a guy who replied to the second explaining that he had anger management issues and was job seeking after punching out his previous boss.

I would expect a lot of competency based question in addition to the obvious ones

Google it and the STAR technique for answering effectively.

Best of luck

[quote=teamhurtmore ]I would expect a lot of competency based question in addition to the obvious ones
Google it and the STAR technique for answering effectively.
Best of luck

STAR E is where its at now. E = evaluate

The last interview process I went through (december) seemed to be what is the biggest lie you can tell as there was nothing required to back it up. No doubt I'll get found out when I start my new position in April 😉

Often its based around the person spec. So go thru that thinking up examples you can use for each one.

You are out with your nephew on a bike ride when one of his brake cables snaps, you go the nearby bike shop......

Nah listen to the others.

Assuming you are already in employment,

" Where does your boss think you are right now?"

Evidence based competency questions.

Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict.
Tell me about a time when you had to manage multiple priorities

Etc, etc.

Tell them how it made you feel!

Did you vote leave?

I like to have answers for positive and negative outcomes, "tell when you did x or y" and "tell me how you handled x or y not going to plan". They often want to know more about how you fixed things than how great you are.

Thanks all.

Some interesting stuff there, will need to spend some time thinking about different scenarios and trying to put them into answers using this STAR(E) system.

What is your greatest weakness?

honesty. 🙂

Also don't forget to to structure your answers for each example on

1. The problem/challenge (example) was
2. So, I did the following because (I not we)
3. As a result the following was achieved
4. The outcome or benefit resulted in (quantifiable numbers help here too, e.g. Sales increased by x%)
5. Always useful to have a "what I'd do differently next time" follow up

The biggest mistake I find interviewing people is they don't listen carefully enough to the question, don't give a specific enough answer (i.e. Just talk in general terms about good practice) and tend to talk about we (in a team) not what I did personally.

honesty

Kirk, when you prepare try to keep each answer as tight as possible.

Think three points from which you can see how the interviewer reacts. The "S" is one v tight sentence.

What's your favorite kitchen utensil.. and why?

Agree with tuboflard above, I tend to look at it in 3 parts.
1.what was the situation
2.what you did
3.what was the outcome

You may know all the above but did you tell the interviewer? Miss one of the above out (which is easy to do in an interview when you are nervous) and your answer can leave the interviewer with more questions than answers.

[quote=tuboflard ]Also don't forget to to structure your answers for each example on
1. The problem/challenge (example) was
2. So, I did the following because (I not we)
3. As a result the following was achieved
4. The outcome or benefit resulted in (quantifiable numbers help here too, e.g. Sales increased by x%)
5. Always useful to have a "what I'd do differently next time" follow up
The biggest mistake I find interviewing people is they don't listen carefully enough to the question, don't give a specific enough answer (i.e. Just talk in general terms about good practice) and tend to talk about we (in a team) not what I did personally.

STAR E as mentioned previously 🙄

S – Situation, background set the scene
T – Task or Target, specifics of what's required, when, where, who
A – Action, what you did, skills used, behaviours, characteristics
R – Result – Outcome, what happened?
E- Evaluation of result

Yep, I was asked this by a German manufacturer of all sorts

Youve met Bertie Basset?

I've had lots of interviews lately with big corporations, I'm a mechanic and a much better worker than talker, its very hard to do the whole star thing as a tradesman as it has nothing to do with my job and only proves I'm a good interviewer, the one job I got they helped me get the information out, the others didn't help at all and I of course didn't get it

Yeah they're not a great as gobshites can bluff it.

All the above is great.

STARE, spot on.

I interview people all the time. Nothing annoys me more than if someone explains how their current organisation does things, but they don't tell me what they do.

Im interviewing *you* not the people who came up with the way you do stuff. Tell me how you are great, what stuff you do, why you do it, why it's different and why you're totally amazeballs.

Focus on what you do, or what you did in answer to each question.

Everyone says teamwork is really important. In interviews, forget that, why are you great? Why are you a better bet than your mate I interviewed just 10 minutes ago? He just told me the process you both followed, so why does you following it make you better than him?

Think of some great stories that fit STARE.

Also think of your biggest mistake, and how you recovered and learned from it. It could seperate you from the next guy.

I've had lots of interviews lately with big corporations, I'm a mechanic and a much better worker than talker

You could use this to your advantage. Say this up front. Do some prep, and work out all the things that you've done that make you stand out.

If you can think about what they're likely to ask you, and have examples or stories of times that you can demonstrate how you met what they're looking for - you can pull these from you mind when they ask you.

Anyone who's interviewing is trying to find the best in the candidates. I'm always looking for how I can ask, rephrase and tease out what I'm looking for.

Really listen to the questions asked, don't wander off topic to something you think *might* be interesting to the interviewer - as it'll be out of context. And don't feel as if you need to fill empty space with words. Be to the point, and stay on point.