brain pick time please NB

[powerskipper]

If you are interviewing someone for a job, or being interviewed for a job, what kind of questions will or should be asked?.


Or if you could ask One question what would it be, and NOT "How Much"

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Julie

 

[AIDY]

Tell me about yourself?

Why should we give you the job?
What is your major achievement?
What are you good at?
What sort of person are you?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What do you know about our organisation?
How would you approach this job?
How do you get things done?
How do you manage your staff?
What do you look for in a manager?
What do you look for in a subordinate?
How do you decide on your objectives?
How do you manage your Day?
What interests you most in your work?

 

[powerskipper]

wow.Thanks

That would be a very long interveiw!!!/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

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Julie

 

[tcm]

ooh, i am great at this. Well, i mean, i'm not actually great at it cos i am even better at firing people! twenty years since i have been interviewed but i am er actually interviewing somebody this very afternoon! Tho probly not powerskipper, or if it is she can have the job.

Anyway, in my experience, hardly ANYONE ever asks for the job. I mean, they alwways seem on the defensive, waiting for a question to be patted over, and staying nice and quiet otherwise. Of course, you shd exhibit good behaviour BUT ususally a bunch of really vapid questions come over, go thru CV and blah and this is a chance to whip thru the boring stuff and relate items on the CV directly at the job and then...at some point actually say, as nicely as poss, look, i hope it doesn't seem too forward and i'm a bit nervous but actually I wd really really love to do this job.

I bet that'll work.

Things that don't work include
smiling too much/too little. Smile at pickup in reception as if smiling to a waiter, not trying to hit on a girl/boyfriend. Keep tissue in pockit so no sweaty palms.
Don't get arsey wating at reception. Sometimes it's part of a test, and sometimes people just forget. It can't be personal -they don't know you.
Swaying in the chair - staying stil shows power like interviewers on telly
splooshing coffee around - best is to accept the coffe (to be gracious at their hospitality) and then don't drink it. DON'T say have you got tea?...
bringing too much craop to the interview, handbags etc etc. Though real and relevant work examples shows you are prepared. A checklist of questions shows a very sorted and orgainsed person.

Sometimes, an interviewer get get an interviewee to drop their guard by saying "we're looking at several people, but be perfectly honest, you're easily the best fit for the job by miles" which can get the candidate too confident and they start slagging off their past jobs/bosses.

same works the other way around with interviewee saying "well, yes, i am following several options but if we can agree terms then THIS is the option i really want to follow." which makes the interviewee all flattered, and not that some poxy interview candidate thinks their job is the second choice.

From above, slagging off previous jobs is a no-no. Even if they attacked you with knives, best is to say that it was a lovely job, don't regret going there. The best reason to leave is that the next job was more of a challenge, that you'd effectively achieved all that you set out to achieve. Nobody queries why people leave uni and don't hang on to do postgrad, do they? Or, if you only staed a while you can put in down to "structural changes" that the company planned to move to scotland or somewhere else awful, and that wd be fine too.

Another kicker question is the 3-parter: this tests your mental concentration. They don't care about the answer, just that you answer all three q's. So the interviewer says summink like "why did you choose to do xxx, how did compare against your expectations, and if you had the choice would you do it again?" so if the candidate starts answering one bit of the question and fail to answer the others, that's not a bit dim. Answer three-parters asap, else you will forgetem.

Oh, and i always ask the recep staff what the candidate was like, cos they might be a git to lowly peeps which won't do. So be nice all the time you are near the office, inlc not cutting people up, ahem.

Best park miles away so they don't judge you from your car unless it's a badgeless VW golf which is class-free, somehow.

good luck. I bet this is a load of q's for mr powerskipper innit?








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[jhr]

Worth bearing in mind, also, that these questions may be asked in a more oblique way. You may be asked to talk through particular experiences in doing your job - what went wrong, why, and how you would do it differently if you had the chance again. Interviewers often ask a candidate about the biggest mistake they have ever made, not because they want to catch them out, but because they want to find out about your capacity to learn from mistakes and to be honest about your failings.

Most recruiters will have some kind of template for the ideal person for the job - previous experience, qualifications, personal qualities etc - and they will be matching you against this. They will also, of course, be asking themselves whether or not they could work with you and research suggests that the average interviewer has made up their mind about a candidate - usually for this reason - within 90 seconds of starting to interview a candidate.

One final question missed off the previous list: "How much working time do you spend on internet forums"? Go on, be honest now! /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif



<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[powerskipper]

[Tho probly not powerskipper, or if it is she can have the job.]
er , good luck with your interviewing, and no its not me!!!!

Being nosey after talking to someone about this type of thing.

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Julie

 

[powerskipper]

ER NONE, not got Internet connections on the boats I am teaching/work on, some do not even have tea making facilities /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

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Julie

 

[jhr]

Sorry, Julie, wasn't really aimed specifically at you!

Also worth mentioning the kind of questions that shouldn't get asked. The classic, usually asked of a female candidate in her late 20's is "So when are you going to start a family, then"? and often followed up by "...because I don't want to take on someone, only to find that they're off on maternity leave 10 minutes later". Not only is this potentially discriminatory but it also gives the worst possible impression of the Company as a potential recruiter, and you as a potential boss.

Not sure how I'd survive at work if I couldn't lay my hands on regular supplies of coffee - but then I'm not out on the water all day [envy]. Even on my little boat, one of the first purchases after I'd got various bits of safety gear was a spirit stove and kettle. However, we've not yet got an electric toaster, which I understand is de rigueur for owners of small US Sports boats /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[Piers]

Remember - we normally employ people because there's a job to be done, in other words, a task related expection exists.

But with every pair of hands you hire, you get a free brain.

So the skill is in finding out how that brain might work, and what it might want to do within the organisation...

Fun, eh?

<hr width=100% size=1>Piers du Pré
http://www.dupre.co.uk

 

[PhilF]

decide what are the tasks of the job
then work out what skills are required to do the tasks
then ask questions that provide evidence of the skill set,
anecdotal evidence is useless, ask

"Give me an example of how you displayed leaderrship skills" or
"when did you last perform a charitable act",

not "are you a good leader" or " are you unselfish"

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[duncan]

ask them about their previous boss - can be very telling and worth a little push.
of course they might have worked for someone on here and really really don't feel like explaining/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>madesco madidum ..../forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[pissativlypossed]

Have you got a big Mortgage, are you heavily in debt, are you that desperate to work that you won't keep throwing sickys' ?

<hr width=100% size=1>"Open Another Bottle"