A Note to Human Resource Managers

Whilst reading some articles on interviewing I came across quite a lot of advice for people who were looking for jobs. One of the things that really surprised me was the number of people writing about how to beat the interview system. Most of them gave advice on the questions that would be asked and even gave sample answers.

After reading this, I was strongly motivated to try and dispel the notion that interviews were so predictable that you can plan for the questions. I did a little bit of research and found there was a huge body of information on this very subject. Test this out yourself.

Here is a selection of traditional interview questions culled from several self-help books on how to succeed in job interviews.

• Look at these questions

• Tick those that the answers would not help the selection process.

• Tick the questions that invite the candidate to tell lies or fabricate a response.

• Tick those that are based on the future.

• Tick those that ask for the candidate’s opinion of their own performance.

• Tick those that just ask for an opinion.

Traditional Interview Questions

1. How would you describe yourself?

2. Why did you leave your last job?

3. What are your long range and short range goals and objectives?

4. What specific goals, other than those related to your occupation, have you established for yourself for the next ten years

5. What do you see yourself doing five years from now? Ten years from now?

6. What do you really want to do in life?

7. What are your long range career objectives?

8. How do you plan to achieve your career goals?

9. What are the most important rewards you expect in your career?

10. What do you expect to be earning in five years?

11. Why did you choose this career?

12. How well do you work with people? Do you prefer working alone or in teams?

13. How would you evaluate your ability to deal with conflict?

14. Have you ever had difficulty with a supervisor? How did you resolve the conflict?

15. What’s more important to you-the work itself or how much you’re paid for doing it.

16. What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

17. How would a good friend describe you?

18. What’s the most recent book you’ve read?

19. Why should I hire you?

20. In what ways do you think you can make a contribution to our company?

21. What qualities should a successful manager possess?

22. Do you consider yourself a leader?

23. How do you work under pressure?

24. Are you good at delegating tasks?

25. How well do you adapt to new situations?

26. Why did you decide to seek a position in this company?

27. What interests you about our products?

28. What two or three things are most important to you in your job?

29. What have you learned from your mistakes?

30. What have you accomplished that shows your initiative and willingness to work?

There are thirty questions. How many did you tick?

You can also see that the potential answers will not necessarily add to your ability to judge the candidate’s future behavior. In fact, these sorts of questions invite the candidate to lie or work out the answers that will impress the interviewer most.

From this little exercise you can see that people prepare for interviews that are set up not to select the best candidate but to select the person who anticipates the questions.

Do you ask these sorts of questions?

No wonder so many people fail in jobs is the result of poor interviewing techniques.

PLMitchell is a successful business trainer and coach.

His book is called The Key to Interviewing. In it he has included all his strategies and tactics developed and tested over the years. The book could be called The Ultimate Street Guide to Interviewing.

It should be on every manager’s desk.

Go to his website NOW and download your FREE booklet on interviewing.

Go NOW to http://www.thekeytointerviewing.com/

http://pcheadsets.co.cc/