The vast majority of questions you will be asked
in an interview are ones you can prepare for.
Expect questions about your education, training,
previous employment, and volunteer or community
activities. Most interviewers will explore your
career plans and ask how this position relates to
your plans. They'll question your interest in the
job and company, the strengths you would bring to
the job, and your weaknesses.
They'll ask about your knowledge, skills and
abilities, your expectations of your boss, and
your supervisory style (if the job requires
supervising/ managing others). They'll want to
know about your resilience and adaptability to
change; your health and ability to show up for
work and be productive; your availability to
start work. You might also be asked about your
reasons for leaving previous employers and your
motivation for pursuing particular goals,
training, or leisure activities. It's fair game
to explore your salary background and
expectations.
You may be asked to produce a driver's license,
an abstract of your driving record, and evidence
of academic qualifications, professional
membership or first aid certification.
The tough questions are those you haven't
anticipated and prepared for. Interviewers report
consistently that one of the toughest is:
"Tell me about yourself." This is a
frequent opener. The interviewer is giving you
free reign to start with whatever you wish. With
that one question, the interviewer can evaluate
your comfort with ambiguity, your organizational
skills, your ability to anticipate what they need
to know about you, and your ability to prioritize
and summarize. Many job candidates find this
question too ambiguous. Resist the impulse to
respond: "What do you want to know!" If
the question throws you, imagine that they've
asked instead: "Would you describe your
background and how you feel it prepares you for
this job!" That is what they're really
asking.
Your response to this question should arouse
further interest in you. Avoid using general
statements about experience on the assumption
that experience equals demonstrated competencies.
Instead, give a sense of your strengths and
specific results you've achieved. For example:
Don't say: "Well,
I've had seven years experience in accounting for
oilfield supply companies, including supervising
four clerical support staff for three years. My
academic background includes a NAIT Business
Administration diploma in Accounting and I've
completed the fourth level of a CMA."
Do say: "Firstly,
I've always been attracted to working with
numbers and financial analysis. I started my
post-secondary education by completing a NAIT
Business Administration diploma majoring in
accounting in 1974. When I graduated, I applied
to XYZ Oil Services and was successful out of 48
applicants for the position of Office Manager.
"In the seven years I've been there, I've
had more responsibility and three promotions. I
feel I've contributed significantly to the
company's profitability. I've recently completed
the fourth level CMA. I'11 write the final in May
of this year."
In this response, the candidate offers a great
deal of relevant information regarding his
interests, motivation, ability to set goals and
follow through on them, academic and job-related
accomplishments, initiative, creativity,
promotability, and willingness to take on new
challenges.
If you've done the analysis of your skills,
strengths and accomplishments from the first
section in the manual, you have the data you need
to help you prepare your verbal responses to the
tough questions. They may include:
- Tell
me about yourself.
- Why
should we hire you?
- What
would you bring to this job?
- Why
do you want this job?
- So,
why do you want to leave your
current job?
- Why
did you leave your last job?
- What
are your strengths?
- What
are your weaknesses?
- What
did you like about your last job?
- What
did you dislike?
|
Questions about
weaknesses may seem to go against your purpose.
"Weakness" here means a job-related
knowledge or skill deficiency -- an area where
you need more development.
It's good to acknowledge that you're not perfect.
Identify a weakness or two that would not be
major for the job and explain how you are
overcoming them. For example, when being
interviewed for a supervisory job.
Don't say: "A
major weakness would be that I've never
supervised before."
Do say: "Although
I've had limited exposure to supervision, I've
been preparing myself through the supervisory
development certificate at university and some
leadership experience in my community league for
hands-on practice. I'm also reading So You're
the Boss and In Search of Excellence."
|