posted by Katerina Andreou
TOP 5 TRICKY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND HOW TO ANSWER THEM
Managers are often employees that are promoted but apart from the title change and hopefully a salary increase, little or no training is offered regarding interviews. The assumption is that as a manager we simply morph into a talented interviewer. Or that the HR Dept will magically train up the manager in record time.
This is not so. There is an etiquette to interviewing and there are parameters to good practice and experience is everything. Untrained interviewers can ask the most uncomfortable and tricky questions that often catch candidates out of the blue and unprepared. Indeed, even trained interviewers will ask difficult questions, knowingly but in an effort to see how candidates cope under the pressure of the question. Either way, you need to be prepared for those questions that test your diplomacy, humour, speed of thinking and clear headedness. The toughest questions are not just the unethical ones.
Here are the Top 5 we hear about as Recruiters and how you can best answer:
‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ – (audible groan from all HR professionals, it’s an out of date, vacuous question but it remains a question often asked.)
Our answer – happy and invested in the job I will transition to now, hopefully having been promoted as I grow through the organisation.
‘What is your biggest weakness?’ – another unfortunate dinosaur question but again, often still a feature question.
Our answer – I have always wanted to expand on my excel skills (for example – pick something innocuous that is not a deal-breaker in the job description but also something true, authenticity shines through) but have never had the luxury of time, I would love the opportunity to further train and develop that skills. It often stumps people because obviously, you do not want to name a weakness that could count against you and by sheer definition a weakness sounds negative. Answering this way remains solution-focused and positive.
‘Can you tell us about a time when you had to manage ………. at work?’ – the ‘can you tell us about a time’ is a wonderful opportunity to draw on your actual experience and show grit and development.
Our answer – prepare before an interview for actual, scenario-based events in your career where you thrived under pressure and resolved a critical issue or situation.
‘How do you plan to manage your workload and child-care issues at home?’ – wholly unethical, massively judgemental but there is often a question alluding to this topic or dancing around it. It should never be asked and it is within your rights to refuse to answer it.
Our answer – Rarely asked of male candidates, many female managerial candidates feel pressured to reply though so in this case we would suggest a more facetious approach, something like ‘same way I manage all the juggling of parenthood as a full time working professional, with a smile and sense of humour, and a lot of caffeine’ Humour is a good diffuser and deflector. If they press on, you really should consider walking.
‘We see you changed jobs several times, can you walk us through that period and what happened?’
What constitutes frequent job changes is definitely a matter of opinion and culture. But without planning to, you may have changed several jobs in several years and it may have called things into question at interview. Sometimes its industry-specific such as the FX industry where retention is an issue or it may have been during times of recession or geographical moves on your part.
Our answer – Simple, answer truthfully without being negative, critical or gossiping about any previous employers. So you might tell them that yes, that role at that time was not for you, you moved onto develop further in….
Or you might tell them that at that time it was necessary to move area hence the commute became too much etc.
While we do not claim to always have the answer immediately, we can help you prepare and construct solid answers to the harder interview questions, we offer interview coaching prep as HR and Recruitment experts so don’t hesitate to let me know if these answers were helpful and if you would like an individual session to discuss and prepare further for that next interview.
