Hard to answer questions

wapow

Youre trying to beat a system that wont be beaten yet.
You may find through my previous posts that I hate the way interviews are handled and they need a reform but that will not happen as it puts those "competency scoring" companies out of business otherwise. You know, the ones that devise bullshtockle questions and procedures which are bought by companies.


The fact is, you should have stock answers. A lot of them. They are scoring you based on their competency sheet. Not yours. You will find as I have many times that your answers may sound incredibly similar. This is fine. This is what they look for apparently. The key is to make sure your stock answers relate to work you've already done or relate to the company youre interviewing at.


When you try to get too creative, you bomb an interview. Don't worry about it though it happens. Atleast now you know the type of questions you may come across.


They will not ask you questions specific to their procedures. They may ask you questions to see if you've managed the situation in a similar capacity.

polgara

My organisation is now including values based recruitment questions as part of our competency based interviewing. Effectively we want to determine if candidates match our organisational values (tasks can be taught, values can't - particularly when the role is a care/clinical setting). Whilst I can spot a 'learnt by rote' answer you can prepare very effectively by checking what are the key skills that are needed - influencing, leading, communicating, organising, co-ordinating for instance. Then you need to say what YOU did, what you learnt, what you achieved, what you would do differently in those examples. So many times I've sat there whilst the candidate said the team did this, I was involved in this...you end up having to dig for information about what they actually did. If I have to dig on every question then I'm sorry but you will not score as highly as others

noelphobic

J_i_m wrote: »

I think sometimes, it also depends on the interview skills of the panel. Lets not simply assume that the employer is always the one with the superior technique here.

Sometimes I've had a panel, which you can tell are very inexperienced when it comes to interviews, they're very dry, they struggle to be personable, are very rigid to their script.

As the candidate it's very difficult to show too much personality if the panel itself is very 'wooden'.

I actually feel that I perform better when the panel is personable and when they do deviate from their script. Because then it becomes much more like a conversation as opposed to an interview. I begin feeling far more at ease and then communication and rapport comes more naturally. And it's then I find it easier to relate my experiences and skills to the job and also delivery of answers becomes much more natural.

One of the best interviews I had recently was where, from the very second they invited me in, they were off their script, and they made no secret of that. They were very welcoming and personable. They'd even prepared a glass of water for me before I'd walked in.

That's the first time I'd ever attended an interview, where something so fundamental as a drink of water had been thought of and provided before I even arrived. I considered this to be 'good customer service' and I wasted no time in using this as an opener to advertise my understanding of customer service and the skills I'd bring.

But it's precisely because the panel were so accommodating and personable that I was able to relax and perform. I didn't get the job unfortunately, but they went to lengths to tell me that I interviewed "extremely well".

So sometimes.. you can prepare as diligently and thoroughly as conceivably possible.. but still be undone by a poor panel.

I've only had 2 interviews but they did both have a jug and glass of water on hand. I made a joke in the first one that vodka would have been better and I THINK it went down quite well lol!

I do feel that my last interview wasn't helped by the format of the interview. The interviewers read from a list of pre-prepared questions and wrote my answers down. It made it difficult to strike up any kind of rapport and there was little eye contact.

I think you and me need to be on the opposite side of the interviewing table!

noelphobic

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

firstly, as no one else has mentioned this: when answering interview questions, the STAR technique can be useful in helping you structure answers...

Situation
Task
Action
Result

Helps you answer with clear and concise examples which illustrate your experience and abilities.

Personally I had recently what I considered to be the "interview from hell". It was for a fairly senior procurement position. I'd previously worked as a procurement assistant for a few months, but I was going through an agency and they only gave me the job spec (which ran to over 3 pages) 15 mins before the interview.

During the interview I was asked questions such as "give us an example where you have, in your current procurement role, led your team through a period of change". Now, I'd been working as a procurement assistant so hadn't "led" anything so instead I gave examples of projects I had used my initiative to develop, how I worked with the team, etc...I basically "manipulated" the question to allow me to highlight my strengths whilst keeping it as relevant as humanly possible.

That particular interview went on for over an hour and I thought it had gone terribly, but apparently the interviewer was very positive about me. I didn't get the job in the end - the organisation restructured and gave it to someone already working there, but feedback was still positive. Went for another interview more recently, same strategy and landed the job, plus perks (50% increase in initial pay offered plus flexi time) so there is hope

I'm familiar with the STAR technique - just not very good at putting it into practice! I have tried to turn questions around to make my skills fit, even if haven't been in the actual scenario I've been given, so I am learning.

My last interview was scheduled to be 45 minutes long but only actually lasted for 30 minutes - yet another reason why I feel that I fell flat on my face.

noelphobic

wapow wrote: »

They will not ask you questions specific to their procedures. They may ask you questions to see if you've managed the situation in a similar capacity.

They did ask me questions at my last interview which were difficult to answer if you didn't already work for them or hadn't worked in a similar position.

At my previous interview my first question was about how I would deal with a situation where a service user told me they had taken an overdose. Bit of a baptism of fire for an interview when i have never done similar work in the past (admin in a bank for last 20+ years!) I did get full marks for that question.

wapow

noelphobic wrote: »

They did ask me questions at my last interview which were difficult to answer if you didn't already work for them or hadn't worked in a similar position.

At my previous interview my first question was about how I would deal with a situation where a service user told me they had taken an overdose. Bit of a baptism of fire for an interview when i have never done similar work in the past (admin in a bank for last 20+ years!) I did get full marks for that question.

How did you answer?
Keep them calm and provide re-assurance. Inform emergency services and try and find out what they took. Inform incident internally. Keep close until a medical professional takes over...Similar to that? If so, id say the question is just about how you'd react in any work place and the logical steps you would take incase a colleague had maybe done something like that.
Unless im missing the point completely its 2am haha.


Another question, someone said their mate got asked in the driving lesson "what would you do if you saw a plane in your wing mirror"
Friend replied "get off the runway effin' fast"


What was wrong with that answer I think its pretty quick to say something like that!

jscott05

Some good points raised on the thread that i will be stealing in the coming months.
Could someone tell me if this answer sounds right recently went for an inteview and was asked if the way i acted would change in front of certain people I answered that i feel they way i act at all times is correct so no. Found it a strange question never got job and feedback sounded a bit generic so unsure if i messed up.

soupdragon10

It might be useful to practise interviews before the real thing. Having to come up with answers in simulated situations can often help you to develop a variety of answers to wide ranging questions.
I run one day interview skills courses in the community and much of the day is spent looking at the variety of questions that can be asked and practising in different ways how to give reasonable responses.
It might be worth investigating local courses to see if something is running in your area, as getting together with others to discuss and debate how to respond in interviews can get you thinking.

noelphobic

wapow wrote: »

How did you answer?
Keep them calm and provide re-assurance. Inform emergency services and try and find out what they took. Inform incident internally. Keep close until a medical professional takes over...Similar to that? If so, id say the question is just about how you'd react in any work place and the logical steps you would take incase a colleague had maybe done something like that.
Unless im missing the point completely its 2am haha.
t!

Yes, that's pretty much what I said. I was interviewed for a job where it wouldn't be entirely unexpected for that scenario to happen.

noelphobic

jscott05 wrote: »

Some good points raised on the thread that i will be stealing in the coming months.
Could someone tell me if this answer sounds right recently went for an inteview and was asked if the way i acted would change in front of certain people I answered that i feel they way i act at all times is correct so no. Found it a strange question never got job and feedback sounded a bit generic so unsure if i messed up.

I would class that as a hard to answer question lol! I think we do act differently around different people and in different situations. It's a pity your feedback wasn't very helpful. Can you ask them to clarify?