Job Interview Questions

[Derek Sutton]

So I've been screened in to a prospect pool and can expect a phone interview from the HR department anytime now. I'm looking at switching industries and this new position would be as a District Manager. The thing is I haven't been through an interview in years, in fact I've only had three jobs in the last 18 yrs and never really interviewed for any of them.

The process as I understand will start with HR conducting a phone interview with 4 or 5 candidates then narrowing the field down to two who will be given in person interviews. I know that you basically want to tell them what they want to hear, but what are some of the questions I can expect to be asked over the phone?

Thank you all.

[InSutterWeTrust]

I work in logistics and interview candidates, most of my phone screen questions are what was your last job about, go into detail how many people you managed, did you handle corrective disciplines, what made your decision to move on from that company.
I ask candidates why they are interested in this job, what they remember from the posting. So many times I have candidates tell me they cant remember what job they applied for, they just applied, those are the candidates I say thanks and hang up the phone.

I also expect candidates in a DM role to know about the company, not just the very basics, I want you to know you are truly interested, you visited the company website, able to share some stats, IE number of employees, locations, new projects, just googling the company name and looking under news can find some interesting facts.

After the phone interview I conduct behavioural interviews, pretty standard in the HR world, at that point be prepared to share your examples that make you look like a superstar.

Good luck

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by InSutterWeTrust

After the phone interview I conduct behavioural interviews, pretty standard in the HR world, at that point be prepared to share your examples that make you look like a superstar.

This is probably the easiest one to be surprised by for a lot of people, if you've held management positions in the past maybe you expect it. The basic interview questions are easy to "tell them what they want to hear" but definitely be prepared with anecdotes for questions like "tell me a situation you had with a difficult employee/customer and how you handled it".

[terminator]

Study the STAR method of answering questions, interviewers really prefer their answers in that format. S - Situation, T - Task, A-Action, R-Result. It gets conveys your answers in a structred manner, not only that but it also shows that you know how to organize your thoughts clearly and have researched interviewing skills.

I modified STAR into BAR, it was easier for my to handle. B- Background, A- Action, R Result.

[Street Pharmacist]

1) Be prepared to answer why you want the role in detail. Know the company and the role. Can't stress this part enough. Be prepared to talk about your passion for the product/service they provide and how you love the challenge of motivating others and executing to hit objectives.
2) Have specific examples ready for conflict with Co-workers, management, customers. NEVER shift blame. ALWAYS talk about both parties role and how you solved the problem. A poor candidate will talk in generalities and the blame for the conflict will go to the coworker, manager or customer. A good candidate will look for how they contributed to the conflict and solve it
3) Be prepared to talk about your strengths and weaknesses
4) Be prepared

[GGG]

Also have at least one question at the end about the role or the company that isn't benefit or vacation related. So when they ask you do you have any questions you can ask an intelligent one that isn't what is your policy on flex time.

[strombad]

Aside from all the standard dos and donts, one important thing that I've always looked for is this: Comfort.

Whether you are or not is irrelevant, but go into the interview with a sense of comfort and familiarity (or fake it). I'm not saying be casual, but be human, be personable. Interviewers see through a lot of things. We know if you're rehearsed, we know if you're nervous, we know (almost immediately) how passionate about the job you are. Even if you fake any of those things, a good interviewer will see right through it. I can tell you that there's nothing less interesting than someone who is just worried about hitting talking points and is treating the interview like a test. It's not a test, not in the same sense that there are universally right and wrong answers.

Just be yourself, be natural, be honest. That's always been the most important part. Hitting the talking points comes after.

Oh, and very importantly: talk. The interviewer is essentially just there to guide you into selling yourself. Every answer should be full and interesting. One of the worst responses to any question is a one sentence (or less) answer.

[GP_Matt]

Some questions that I had in an interview:
Why do you want this position?
What makes you a better candidate than the others?
As an external candidate, if you get the position you will be managing employees who also applied for the position. How will you manage them?
Are you willing to move to Fort St John?
Do you know everything you need to know to perform the job?
How do you plan to learn the things that you do not know?

[fundmark19]

This isn't just for phone interviews but has some good pointers about interviews in general.

http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/17...iew+Like+a+Pro

If you want to PM me the details I can see if we have anything on file that we would ask our candidates before we submit them for job interviews.

[WilsonFourTwo]

I've had a few job interviews in my time, a ton of 'project interviews' with clients, and done my share of hiring. I think this thread is full of terrific advice, and would add a few pointers of my own:

1. ALWAYS have questions for the employer. ALWAYS. Ask what they're doing differently in the industry, how they're positioning themselves for the future, anything. If you open up a broader discussion, you can avoid the 'vanilla' interview, personalize the interview, and make an impact. If you have an HR person, ask about their staffing trends and how they're coping in a tough market. If you have a manager, ask what keeps them up at night (re: delivering to the market).

2. Brag about your network (when appropriate). Sales/BD roles are often hired for their rolodex, but skilled workers also have a lot of great contacts. I'm an EP guy, but run a lot of EPC jobs. Being able to show that I have a contact list filled with high-quality construction resources to lean on has helped immeasurably. I can demonstrate basic understanding/competencies, but have all sorts of places to go for in-depth advice.

3. When asked about "Come up with a scenario/conflict and tell me how you handled it"....I think it's great to actually connect with something you saw, how it was resolved, what you learned, and how you would have handled it. Shows observation and contemplation skills. Of course, sometimes they just want to know what YOU have done. Pick your spots.

4. Similar to #3, any time you can use the phrase like "...which really taught me to/that..." is a big bonus.

[PeteLFan]

I just had a interview which went well, I don't think I got the job but the interviewer was asking behavioural questions from a booklet it seemed.

Also be prepared to go into great detail because they reference back to what you say in later questions.

A lot of the stuff everyone said so far is pretty much true, first question I was asked was about my 5 year plan. Then it got into questions that didn't really relate to the job at all which was frustrating, but I did prepare for them so it wasn't catching me off guard.

Tell me about a time you saw a project to the end? Tell me about a time you didn't see eye to eye with a teammate? How did you handle it?

I think the questions that gets people is tell me two things that you think you can improve on? No one wants to lists negatives about themselves, so I was told to list things you do really well, but add in maybe if I don't put so much time into such and such I could be quicker.

Another one that comes up is if you never actually experienced something they are asking? Tell me about a time you had to fire someone? You can say well I have never been in that position, but in the if I was put in a situation like that this is how I would handle it.

Key is too look them in the eye, smile, and if they don't hire you after grilling you for almost 90 minutes pee in their water

[Derek Sutton]

So we did the phone interview a few weeks ago and today I got an email with a link stating the next step is to do a Caliber Assessment. Has anyone had to do one of these before? Anything I've found on line suggests "there are no wrong answers", in fact it just seems that I'm suppose to agree to statements.... for example.

A When I’m with people who I don’t know, making small talk is quite difficult.
B People who act too slowly are an annoyance to me.
C I have no regrets about things that I’ve done.
D Even if something new sounds good, I tend to prefer what’s already established.

[burn_this_city]

The answer is B, everything else makes you seem timid or psycho.

[Northendzone]

you will likely be asked, what if anything you are wearing at the time of the interview

[fundmark19]

what kind of job is it for? If you are going for a sales role don't pick A or D and I would pick D since most sales roles are fast pace

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

So we did the phone interview a few weeks ago and today I got an email with a link stating the next step is to do a Caliber Assessment. Has anyone had to do one of these before? Anything I've found on line suggests "there are no wrong answers", in fact it just seems that I'm suppose to agree to statements.... for example.

A When I’m with people who I don’t know, making small talk is quite difficult.
B People who act too slowly are an annoyance to me.
C I have no regrets about things that I’ve done.
D Even if something new sounds good, I tend to prefer what’s already established.

the secret to those tests is to look for the red flag or trip questions that are similar but not the same. So with question A there will be another questions later in the test that is like I find it hard to start a conversation with strangers.

They look for consistencies in answers to weed out the people that try to outsmart these tests to create the best possible false personality profile.

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

So we did the phone interview a few weeks ago and today I got an email with a link stating the next step is to do a Caliber Assessment. Has anyone had to do one of these before? Anything I've found on line suggests "there are no wrong answers", in fact it just seems that I'm suppose to agree to statements.... for example.

A When I’m with people who I don’t know, making small talk is quite difficult.
B People who act too slowly are an annoyance to me.
C I have no regrets about things that I’ve done.
D Even if something new sounds good, I tend to prefer what’s already established.

I assume it's just like Insights which I have done. There are no wrong answers, it's essentially a personality test. They want to see how your personality meshes with the organization/co-workers/management.

I would take this as a good sign that they are obviously considering you.

[burn_this_city]

They're trying to build a Jung/Briggs Myer's personality profile based on your answers.

[Temporary_User]

Interview answer: C, because I've learned from everything I've done and it has all helped build me into the man I am today

[edslunch]

This is a personality test and there are indeed no wrong answers. It helps them get an objective understanding of your character traits. Depending in the job they may favour certain characteristics - for example a sales person should in general be more outgoing, in other jobs that's not so important