All-in-all you are ready for to face the recruitment process.
On the day of the interview, the interview goes better than expected. The interviewer ends by saying they will be in touch soon. You walk away confident that the job is yours.
But, a couple of days go by, and nothing. You send a post-interveiw email. The employer responds by explaining that they are working with HR and that you should hear back soon. Then a week, two weeks….nothing.
5-6 weeks later still not a peep.
What has happened?
Have you ever been ‘breadcrumbed’ after a job interview?
Have you experienced something similar yourself?
An employer who seemed keener than mustard to hire you, suddenly goes cold.
If so, you may have been interview breadcrumbed!!
What is ‘breadcrumbing’ in recruitment?
Breadcrumbing is a new recruitment trick to help the employer hire the best candidate.
When an employer or recruitment agency intentionally leads an applicant on, often by sending them ‘keep warm’ emails and telephone calls without actually offering the candidate the job role, this is dubbed ‘breadcrumbing’.
Why would do employers lead applicants on?
The goal of the job interview is to hire a candidate that will add real value to the organisation.
With a global job market and the rise in positions across all sectors, the number of applicants applying for each advertised role is high. This leads to high skilled interviewees applying for the vacancies.
Alongside this, highly skilled professionals are in demand.
The problem for many businesses is that the competition will often pull the rug from under feet by snatching the suitable applicant from in front of them.
In short, all employers want to hire the best, but the best applicants may receive multiple job offers.
To hedge their bets, employers will hold a second applicant in reserve.
Stringing Applicants Along
Recruitment agencies and employers are using the breadcrumbing technique during recruitment process.
The employer waiting to see if their first choice will accept the job offer will use ‘keep warm’ communications to keep the second and third choice applicants interested.
Even more deceitful, is when an employer breadcrumbs their first choice.
First choice breadcrumbing happens when the employer believes a more suitable applicant is out there. Instead of offering the job to their first choice, they string the career professional along hoping that another even more skilled candidate will apply for the job position.
How do you if you have been breadcrumbed?
You have been waiting for an official job offer for a few days/weeks following what you believed was a successful interview.
The hiring manager becomes cold after previously sending you lots of communication
Communication vs vague and lacks specific details
What to do when you believe you have been breadcrumbed?
If you have been breadcrumbed or believe you have, you need to take action.
First, you need to decide do you want to work for a company that would employ the breadcrumb tactic?
Secondly, if you still want to secure the job role, is to call the employer out.
The best way to call out the employer is to contact the hiring manager and ask if they are any closer to choosing a start date? Then explain, ‘because you have been offered (or seen) another role.’
Job interviews are complicated at the best of times, but often employers unconsciously make the interviewer harder due to the way the interview questions are phrased.
The three common mistakes employers make are:
Asking multiple questions embed into one interview question.
Questions that have a hidden meaning – including the ‘tell me about your last job?’ question.
Ambiguous questions.
Job seekers, during the job interview, have their hands tied. It is impossible for an interviewee to explain to the interviewer that they need to improve the way they phrase the interview questions – this would only end with a rejection notice.
Instead, applicants need to understand the common mistakes employers make and how to overcome these tricky interview questions during the recruitment process.
Multiple Questions in One Interview Question
Career professionals have to remember that a high number of interviewers have never been trained in the art of interview communication.
Job interviews are often conducted by either a HR staff member (often trained in the art of interviewing) or a potential line manager (rarely trained in interviewing).
It is these same untrained managers who are responsible for writing the interview questions. Employers, generally speaking, ask 8-10 interview questions, but the essential criteria list can number upto 30 criteria.
Due to needing to check if the applicant possesses all the required skills, interview questions end up being stuffed with additional questions, confusing the candidates.
An example of ‘interview stuffing’ is when an interviewer requires an example of problem-solving. The interview questions would sound like, “Give me an example of when you have overcome a problem?”
Additional questions can be asked that are helpful to the applicants, “State the problem, what actions you took, and the outcome.”
Not so helpful is when the question is filled with additional questions, “Give me an example of when you have overcome a problem? Maybe one when you worked on your own or in a team. And explain if you used or know what a risk register is?”
Often the additional embedded questions aren’t part of a written question. Instead the question is impromptu during the interview itself.
Using the ‘overcome a problem’ question, the applicant initially can state “I have two short examples…” informing the interview panel of the structure of the interview answer.
Next, the two examples need to meet the additional criteria questions, “the first one is overcoming a problem when working as part of a team. While working at….”
Finally, when a summary can be added that covers any additional questions not yet disucssed, “In our line of work we are constantly faced with problems that require solutions. To be more effective I utilse a risk register….”
Hidden Meaning Interview Questions
In the main, interviewers don’t design purposely tricky interview questions, But often, when taken at face value, an applicant can misunderstand the reason why a question was asked.
Understanding the reason for the interview question gives an interviewee an advantage as their answers can be tailored to meet the job criteria, resulting in a high-scoring answer.
An example of the ‘hidden meaning’ question is the, ‘Tell me about your last job?’ interview question.
Many candidates wrongly believe to answer the ‘last job’ question they should talk about the company culture, duration in the role, company successes, and the size of the organisation.
The required answer isn’t that obvious. What employers are really asking when they say “tell me about your last job?” is, ‘how did your last job prepare you for this job?’ This is the hidden meaning behind this question.
Think about it? Why would an employer ask about the company culture or the size of an organisation the applicant worked at?
Remember, the goal of a recruitment process is to predict the job performance of each applicant before offering the perceived best employee the advertised position.
For this question, employers want to know:
What skills did you develop that will be useful in the our company?
What ideas, knowledge and experiences will be useful if you were to be employed?
Do you have a skill or quality that would add value to the business plan?
Were you influential in the completion of a project/outcome?
Has your work ethic or character helped to increase business output?
Do you have experience on a project similar to one we are just about to launch?
Other hidden meaning interview question examples.
What type of working environment suits you? Hidden meaning: Will you work well within our company culture?
Have you ever made a mistake? Hidden meaning: Do you learn from mistakes/what have you learnt from a mistake?
Why do you want to work for this company? Hidden meaning: Are you likely to stay/leave the company within a short timeframe?
What are your strengths? Hidden meaning: Do you possess the essential criteria for the advertised role?
What would you do within the first few weeks of starting the role? Hidden meaning: Do you need hand-holding or can you get on with the required duties?
Ambiguous Interview Questions
One of the biggest barriers for the job applicant is the high number of ambiguous job interview questions.
The real barrier here is that many questions don’t actually sound ambiguous.
An example of this is the stakeholder question, “how would you collaborate with a key stakeholder?” As a stakeholder is any group affected by the company, there are numerous stakeholders which all have varying levels of interest and influence over the company.
Imagine a retail store asking this question. Two key stakeholders are 1) customers, and 2) suppliers. The approach for collaborating with each group of stakeholders would vary.
A second example, is the interview question: “What is your approach to project management?” Approaches vary depending on the project, timeframe, associated risks and the number of stakeholders collaborating on the project.
Similar to the, “What role do you take when working within a team?” The answer can change due to varying factors of the team and project: the size of the team, is the applicant is employed to manage the team/project, if the task is reacting to a situation and therefore urgent, or a proactive team task allowing more time for creativity.
Answering Ambiguous Questions
To answer any ambiguous questions, first ask for specifics.
Gaining the detailed intelligence by asking for specifics, gives an applicant all the required data they need to frame their answer so it is relevant to criteria on the interview scorecard.
Let’s say the employer asks “How would you ensure you meet your targets by the month-end?” The question can be answered by talking about the month as a whole; projecting targets, planning actions, and monitoring results.
Whereas, the employer may have meant if the employee was underperforming (as this is common within their organisation) and is interested to hear how the applicant acts under pressure.
A second example is, “How will you make an impact if you were employed here?” This and most other ambitious interview questions are opened ended. Ask a closed question to get the required detail needed to answer the question as expected by the employer: “Do you want me to talk about how I will have impact on my colleagues to achieve team targets or how I will impact on the positive relationship with stakeholders?”
By asking the “A or B” scenario requires a response from the employer. Employers, now responding in detail, will give the virtual clue to support the interviewee to succeed.
In fact, research shows how 5 % of employers make a hiring decision within a few minutes of meeting a candidate, and 35 % within 5 minutes of the initial introduction.
Therefore, the interviewee’s introduction is key to winning a job offer.
Many career professionals don’t bother to prepare for this initial interaction with the office receptionist.
Why should they, when the all important job interview is minutes away?
According to a recent post on Reddit, an interviewee made the mistake of not being professional during the walk-in introduction.
The applicant walked into reception and was greeted by a friendly receptionist who attempted to create a conversation. The ignorant applicant was dismissive and didn’t even bother to look the receptionist in the eye.
A few moments later, the candidate finds himself in the interview room, and who walks in…the receptionist! Well not quite. In turns out that the receptionist wasn’t the receptionist at all. In fact, she was the hiring manager.
First impressions are visual.
The employer makes a snap decision about the applicant as soon as they see them coming through the door.
It is the applicants outfit, postures and eye contact that creates an positive or negative impression.
How to be seen as positive as you walk into reception.
Wear professional clothes with a style that suits your body type
Smile – smiling is seen as a positive trait
Hold your head high and look directly at the receptionist
Walk with determination
Next, the impression can be alerted by the tonality and communication style of the interviewee.
Well paced and professional communication works best. Prior to the job interview, complete vocal warm ups . Warming up your voice helps to overcome any nervous giveaways by the voice.
Avoid:
Filler words
Whispering/mumbling
Shouting
Coughing
Hand over mouth (which anxious applicants are likely to do)
Short sharp breaths which alters the natural sound of your voice
Before introducing yourself to the receptionist, wait for the receptionist to stop what ever it is they are doing. When asked “How can I help?”, in a clear voice say:
“Good morning/afternoon, my name is X I have an interview appointment with (hiring manager) at (time)”
When speaking, look the receptionist in the eye.
As the receptionist would have been expecting you, they are likely to ask you to take a seat while they ring through to the interview panel.
If the receptionist makes small talk, reply back being friendly and professional.
Interview Introduction.
The introduction to the interviewer(s) happens in two stages.
In most situations, one of the interview panel will collect you from reception.
Often they will ask “Hi, are you (name) for the (time) interview?”
How you respond helps to shape a positive or negative impression.
Again avoid mumbling, looking down or a sweaty handshake. Instead, look the interviewer in the eye and say “Yes, nice to meet you” before offering your hand.
As the employer walks you to the interview room, generate small talk as this 1) warms the voice up prior to the imminent interview and 2) makes you seem more confident.
Meeting the interview panel.
As the employer takes you into the interview room, you will be introduced to the rest of the interview panel.
Commonly, the member of staff who met you at reception will introduce each interview panel member in turn and by name.
Pre-interview research is key here. As you are introduced to some of the interview panel, use your research to generate a conversation. As an example:
Employer: “this is Mrs X, he head of the department.”
Applicant: “Mrs X, didn’t you win an award last year for…..”
This referencing opener generates massive rapport helping to create a successful interview outcome.
3 rules for a successful job interview
Rule 1 – identify the job criteria
Rule 2 – be a self-promoter
Rule 3 – communicate with confidence
The power of the three rules is down to how, when combined, they help to sculpture a positive interview identity.
An ‘interview identity’ is one of sixteen interview personality types that are prevalent in the job interview. The identity is how an employer perceives the applicant.
The power of the three rules is down to how, when combined, they help to sculpture a positive interview identity.
An ‘interview identity’ is one of sixteen interview personality types that are prevalent in the job interview. The identity is how an employer perceives the applicant.
How an employer views an applicant, desirable or undesirable, skilled or unskilled, liked or disliked, affects the subconscious scoring allocation of each interview question.
Therefore, the three rules of a successful interview help to reinforce a positive interview identity:
It isn’t only the duration in an industry (job experience) or a degree level qualification (academic ability) that results in high-scoring interview answers, but the applicant’s presence and communication style that creates the employer’s positive perception of a strong candidate.
As an example, some highly experienced interviewees fail, time and time again, to land high salaried job roles because their own self-worth results in a poor communication style.
This article will teach you have to be viewed as highly skilled and confident by any employer.
How to identify the job criteria?
Rule one, the identification of the job criteria, is key to receiving a job offer.
Why? Without possessing a deep understanding of the job criteria – the skill, qualities and experiences an employer requires for the advertised job position, an applicant won’t have the insight to choose job-relevant interview answers and examples.
This lack of insight can lead to candidates going off-topic, giving descriptive answers that have nothing to do with their future job role, and the use of jargon that isn’t understood by an employer (as it has nothing whatsoever to do with their job sector).
Identifying the job criteria allows a skilled career professional to reference 3-5 skills, qualities and experiences, required by the employer, in each job interview answer. Furthermore, the explanation of sector-related models and theories, plus industry jargon, reinforce the positive interview identity the employer is forming.
In short, each answer scores high and employers have a positive feeling that the applicant would work well within their organisation.
Quick ways to identify the job criteria.
Three ways to easily identify the job criteria.
Each essential criterion, in the main, will each be part of a job interview question.
For many job interviews, the employer will follow a structured job interview process, where each answer will be allocated a score. The answers stating the highest number of criteria, generally speaking, will gain the highest score.
This is because the job interview is designed to predict job performance.
The more criterion the applicant confidently shows they possess, the more likely it is that the applicant will be a highly-skilled worker.
Without question, all job hunters should review the job specification for the position they are being interviewed for.
The employer’s job spec list of the required job criteria, specifying which criteria are essential or desirable.
Additionally, a clever applicant can analyse the job spec to search for repeated mentions of certain criteria. If a criteria has been reference several times throughout the job spec (and in the job advert) then this criteria is, more than likely, going to be one of the key job interview questions.
If the job position’s job spec lacks detail, a second way to predict the criteria, and therefore the job interview questions, is to read a ‘job profile’.
A job profile is a tool career advisors use to help understand various job roles. The profile consists of the job duties, required skills, entry routs and salary bands.
For most roles, the skills are required for all employers: communication skills for a sales executive or a creative mind for a problem-solving position. Therefore, the job profiles list of duties and required skills can be used to plan interview answers to predicted questions.
A third way to use predict job interview questions is to use your online network.
Linkedin, as an example, can be used to contact people who work or have worked in the organsiation for the advertised position. Many people who use social media are more than happy to help others, even going as far as providing a list of job interview questions and ideal answers.
WARNING – you need to do your research before reaching out to any old employee. You never know if one of the people you are reaching out to is going to be part of the interview panel.
We recommend having a foot-in-the-door approach:
Make contact with a person who is working for the organisation, stating that you saw they are working for X company and that you are also interested in applying for a job there. Ask for their opinion about the company. Once a response has been received, you can then explain you have an interview and ask for ‘any tips’. This can even lead to asking for potential questions, depending on the replies you are receiving.
Another online tool is a career forum website, such as glassdoors, that encourages interviewees and employees to share their interview questions and opinions about employers.
How to be a self-promoter
The law of a job interview is: an employer can only score an applicant on what they have discussed during the job interview.
It is this rule that is the barrier to internal candidates being interviewed by their line manager.
Many internal candidates will fail to mention business-as-usual tasks because they know that their line manager knows that they are competent with these tasks.
However, if the business-as-usual tasks form part of the scoring criteria on the interview scorecard and an internal job applicant does not reference these, the interview panel will be forced to score them low due to the process of a structured job interview.
What is required is self-promotion.
Consistently good interviewee’s are skilled self-promoters. Each answer given is clear, structured and states what the applicant, themselves, did to achieve a positive outcome.
DO NOT:
Think it is arrogant to talk about your own successes
Believe you have ‘imposture syndrome’ – you were offered a job interview based on your past experience and academic ability
Self-disclose weakness
To be a self-promoter:
Utilise none-verbals; strong eye contact, smile, gesture and positive and powerful body language
Vary language and use positive emotional words and powerful language
Explain in detail what YOU did to overcome problems
Detail how a skill (from an example) can be utilised in the interviewer’s company
Reframe any mistakes or weaknesses as learning points
How to communicate with confidence
Communication is king in the job interview
As mentioned above, failing to mention key criteria can only result in low scoring interview answers.
In addition to discussing essential criteria, the way skills, qualities and experiences are communicated influence how they are received.
An example of this is stating acronyms that aren’t reconisgnise by an employer or mumbling. The use of filler words, a monotone voice, and short snappy answers will also create a negative interview identity.
Employers admire confidence.
A confident team with the required experience are likely to be a high-performing team. In addition, trust is closely linked to confidence.
Employers, therefore, subconsciously score applicants who communicate confidently slightly higher than a weak communicator.
To communicate confidently:
Complete pre-interview voice warm-ups
Make small talk at the interview start to build rapport
Vary tonality, projection, and emotions
Focus on pace; speed up to create excitement and slow down when stating positive outcomes
When feeling nervous (or a dry-mouth) stop and drink water
Be humorous or smile is that comes naturally
Explain answers in detail as a high number of words per answer, research shows, gain higher scores
Be expressive – use gestures and positive body language
Debate ideas, and even challenge an employer opinion (in a professional and friendly way)
Ask the interview panel questions throughout the job interview, to create a conversation not a Q&A process
A successful job interview
Much research shows how the 3 rules; identifying the job criteria, being a self-promoter and communicating with confidence, will be vastly improve a candidate’s chances of winning the job offer.
Career professionals who struggle with gaining career advancement due to a high number of failed job interviews can analyse their interview performance to identify which of the 3 rules they are failing to implement.
With this reflection, and using the advice in this article, once weak interviewees can become strong applicants altering their job interview identity from a weak identity to one of the 4 strongest interview identities.
If an applicant is worried about the ‘unemployment’ question, their nervousness and anxiety will effect the whole job interview process; answers will be short and snappy, lacking detail. Communication will be mumbled and use of filler words will be high. Nervous twitches and lack of eye contact result in broken rapport.
To reduce job interview anxiety, the applicants focus needs to be directed onto their achievements during the unemployment period.
Preparing answers that highlight skills and knowledge gained while being unemployed.
This could be in the form of accredited courses, CPD or volunteering. Many career professionals have side hustle and part time businesses or can show leadership skills from being on the board of their child’s school.
What is important is the direction of the mind. The brain can only consciously focus on one thing at a time, direct this focus strengths as a positive focus is the pathway to confidence.
4 Tips for answering the unemployment question
Tip 1 – give the reason for being unemployed.
Being made redundant isn’t a negative. By stating the reason for the company, you previously worked at, making redundancies gives context. Humans like to have reasons, they find them reassuring. Without a reason, people will guess which is when an unconscious bias can come into play.
The ‘context’ strategy is required for all reasons for being unemployed. If a career professional choose to leave a job, an explanation, stated is a positive, is required. This could include: being a carer for a ill relative, to gain a new industry recognised qualification, or to gain a life skill by (travelling the world)
Tip 2 – share lessons learnt
Time off work has one key advantage, the career professional gets the opportunity to reflect on their career choices. Keeping the positive ‘frame’ going, applicants can state how having time out of work allowed them to reflect on their ideal career and company. During this period the applicant can state how they had time to research organisations to find a company with the right values, and how this is the reason why the applied for this role.
Tip 3 – what can the applicant offer?
All job interviews are designed to predict the interviewee’s potential job performance. It is important, therefore, for the candidate to state clearly what added value they can bring to the organisation. The first of the three rules for a successful job interview is ‘identifying the job criteria’. All answers, promotional points and interview stories must reference the job criteria for the advertised position. In short, applicants need to tell the interview panel that they possess the required knowledge and experience for the role.
Tip 4 – avoid focusing on unemployment
Any interview question can be reframed. If an interviewer asks about a weakness, the applicant can reframe their answer to talk about lessons learned. The ‘reframe’ can be utilised with the ‘unemployment’ question. Instead of focusing on why the applicant is unemployed focus the answer on what the candidate can bring to the team.
Attitude is king in the interview.
Confident and charismatic applicants do better than nervous and unsure interviewees.
Stating how the ‘unemployment’ period was a horrible and troubling time creates a different emotional connection between the applicant and employer than an answer that happily states ‘this was the best thing that could have happened to me’.
However an answer is framed, it is the applicants communication and non-verbal communication, the packaging of the answer, that will increase and decrease the allocated scores to the interview question.
Interviewers warm to applicants that look confident;
positive body language
strong eye contact
warming smiling
confident communicate; long descriptive answers, positive emotional words, strong diction, pace and volume.
Always remember – confidence builds trust.
Will you be asked about being unemployed?
In most structured job interviews there will be a pre-set of interview questions that all applicants are asked.
Generally speaking, there won’t be a ‘unemployment’ question.
Instead, interviewers will ask:
‘Tell me about yourself?’
‘Explain why you are suitable for this role?’
‘Why did you apply for this position?’
All of the above examples can lead to nervous applicants explaining why they are currently unemployed.
Research shows that anxious applicants are more likely to self-disclose weaknesses, including the referencing of being unemployed.
Take the lead from confident candidates who state all answers in the positive and reframe any negative follow-up questions so they are viewed in the best possible light.
Employers, as well as reviewing industry related knowledge and experience, also check applicants temperament and qualities during the interview process.
As well as being asked for high stressed job roles, the stress question is common across most job sectors. Therefore, it is important for all interviewees, no matter their job level, to prepare for the ‘stress’ question.
This article will to teach you how to answer the job interview question: ‘how do you handle stress?’
The ‘stress’ interview question come in different forms:
‘Tell me about a time a project or task made you stressed ?’
‘If X stressful situation happened, what would you do?’
‘How do you plan your workload when you have several high important projects with similar deadlines?’
What is important, when answering an interview question on stress, is to cover three key aspects:
Pre-planning
Organisation
Emotional Intelligence
The mistake, that many applicants make, is to discuss how stressed they become in certain situations:
‘Managing multiple projects at the same time is very stressful’
‘Deadlines make it hard for me to sleep at night’
‘I often worry when I am behind on my targets’
The admission of situational stress can give an employer concerns. ‘Behavioral interview questions‘ which is the format the ‘stress’ question comes in, look at past actions to determine future situations.
If an applicant admits to becoming stressed in an environment that will be required in the new job role, it is unlikely that the recruiting manager will want to offer the job role to the interviewee.
A good way to reframe the stress question is to generalise the reason why career professionals can become stressed.
The interview answer should start with an ambiguous statement to creates the authenticity of a specific answer:
‘Stress comes from a lack of planning. An example of this is when a (job role) doesn’t plan for (situation)…’
This example highlight industry related stressful situations without stating how the applicant themselves have been previously stressed.
The second step to answering the stress question is for the candidate to showcase their proactiveness.
‘…When I know about (a new contract, upcoming deadlines, busy periods of the year, etc) I pro-actively plan to ensure that tasks are achieved without becoming stressed. As an example (discuss a planning or time management model or give a real-life example)..’
Next explain why an organised approach reduces stress. There are many approaches to this section of the answer. The key is to pick an explanation to will resonate with the employer.
Interviewees can embed any of the following suggestions into their reply.
Use of GANNT charts
Delegating tasks
Diary management
Collaboration with stakeholders
Taking the lead of a team/project
‘…this organised approach I take, reduces stress, not just for me but for the whole team. Even when a unknown or unplanned for event happens I am to calmly organise what is needed to overcome any problem, compared to stressfully charging in without any planning which often leads to an increase in stress and errors. The tools I use include (add tool/technique)…’
The final section of the answer is for the candidate to focus on the answer on their emotional intelligence and how they can recognize the signs of stress:
‘…The key to handling stress, apart from being well-organised is to be aware of the signs of stress. Most people ignore these and only react once they are fully stressed. A better solution is to be aware of stress indicators and then do something to relieve stress. for me, my indicators are (headaches, not sleeping, procrastination, etc) when I feel this I (solution – run, mindfulness, meditation).’
Human resource officers, working alongside the strategic management team, are responsible for advising on the implementation of policies and procedures to meet business objectives.
Keys areas of work for most HR departments include the promotion (and advising manager of) and implementation of equality and diversity, improving recruitment processes and creating talent management programmes, reviewing staff salaries and reviewing equal pay, and overseeing redundancies.
For human resource consultation businesses, the HR interviewee may be required to have specialist knowledge. Interviews, for an HR staff member, within a none human resource company, the applicant will need to highlight the wide range of HR-related competencies.
In the main, human resource job interviews follow the structured interview format, with 10 competency-based interview questions being asked.
Each interview question will be based on the duties of each particular job role. As many duties cross HR job roles there are a number of commonly asked HR interview questions which we have highlighted below.
Human Resource Interview Questions.
Each HR job interview will have a number of specific, job duty-related, interview questions, bookended with commonly asked interview questions which will include:
Opening interview questions.
Why have you applied for an HR position within our organisation?
What do you know about our company and what we do?
What motivated you to work in human resources?
Closing interview questions.
What has been your biggest career success to date?
Give an example of your continuous professional development?
Do you have any questions to ask us?
The main section of the job interview will be questions asked about experience and knowledge related to specific HR duties.
HR Interview Questions and How to Answer Them.
HR Interview Question 1 – Give an example of working closely with department leads to help implement a new policy and procedure?
Sometimes, depending on the organisation, the CEO, senior manager or department leads are specialists in the business niche – business acumen, creating algorithms, financial advice, or any sector-related skill, but aren’t always experts in human resource management.
Employers understand the truth behind the statement ‘people are the most valuable asset’ and need the input of HR professionals to embed policies and procedures.
When answering the ‘working with department leads,’ interview questions can be answered using a 4 step structure. Interview questions asking about ‘supporting managers to achieve long-term objectives’ or any question that requires HR advice and input when working on any type of policy or strategy implementation can also use a similar structure.
Step 1 – Explain the objective
Start the interview answer by explaining the objective of the collaboration. Give perspective by explaining the short and long-term goals.
This initial step creates the context that shows how (step 3) had an impact on the organisation.
Step 2 – Discuss possible problems
With the objective established, the next stage is to highlight the barriers to the achievement of the objective.
The barriers could include a demotivated workforce during a time of change, the requirement and challenges of a large recruitment campaign to meet the staff demands for a company expansion or relocation, or the cost of staffing due to new government legislation.
Be specific here and make it clear that HR input was required.
Step 3 – Explain advice given
The main section of the interview answer is the advice given and/or actions taken by the interviewee.
By simply explaining that ‘you gave advice’ will only result in a low-scoring interview answer. What is needed is to highlight the applicant’s level of sector knowledge.
Explain the different options that were available to support the company with its objectives
Show knowledge by explaining the benefits and barriers for each option
And how, after analysing options and completing research, the advice was given
Step 4 Discuss the outcome
Finally, end by explaining how the advice given, and through collaboration with the senior leaders, resulted in a positive outcome.
HR Interview Question 2 – is your understanding of unconscious bias in the recruitment process and what steps do you take to overcome this?
Recruitment is a key priority for employers and one of the main duties of a human resource team.
Employers will ask questions based on ‘what is your approach to a large recruitment process’ ‘how do you structure a job interview to predict job performance’ and ‘do you have an example of increasing staff retention
To answer this question go start generic and end with specifics;
Generic – ‘As we know there are over 1500 biases that can affect the outcome of any job interview process…’
Give examples – The examples should show positive and negative biases. ‘Affinity bias as an example (go into detail)…and stereotypes happen when (give specifics)..’
Get specific – End the interview answer by setting the specific steps you would take to overcome the unconscious bias problem faced in a recruitment process. This could include unconscious bias training, adopting a structured interview process which is more analytical than an unstructured interview or the use of panel interviews to use a mean scoring system.
HR Interview Question 3 – impact have you previously had when promoting equality and diversity within the company culture?
Behavioral job interview questions are based answered with storytelling.
When using a real-life example, you need to set the scene by giving a backstory. Explain the previous process that had led to a breakdown or lack of equality within the workplace.
This could be researched around, as an example, a gender pay gap. Go on to explain the extra steps you took to ensure all the details were accurate. With the gender pay gap example, a diligent HR officer, may also check the ethnicity and/or age pay gap and produce a detailed report.
The additional steps can be backed up by evidence that shows the reason for bringing the additional data. Going back to the pay gap, referencing the companies that had gone to court over their pay gaps.
The next stage of any story, once the scene is set, is the ‘journey’ – the actions taken. Here explain the step-by-step plan that was created to solve the equality and diversity barrier. Returning again to our example, steps could include a pay scale analysis, checking the average pay by job sector/role across the job sector and a projected cost for creating equal pay and the required steps needed to achieve this goal.
End, as all stories do with a happy ending – the positive outcome to the advice given and actions taken.
Sortytelling techniques for job interviews.
Set the scene or describe the problem
Tell the journey – explain actions taken
Happy ending – describe the outcome
HR Interview Question 4 – would you approach a disciplinary hearing?
It is important to show a new employer that you possess an understanding of an ‘unfair dismissal’ and the potentially ‘fair’ reasons for dismissing an employee.
A dismissal hearing is a process-driven procedure. Start the interview answer by listing the different reasons why employees are dismissed; which of these are fair, and which are not. Go on to explain the consequences of an unfair dismissal and why any disciplinary hearings have to be process-driven.
Explain that HR has to consider facts and ensure there is no bias towards either party that could cloud judgment. And how depending on the level of grievance affects the outcome IE minor misconduct is dealt with an informal warning. This is because a disciplinary hearing, in any format, aims to encourage employees to improve, not as a punishment.
Discuss how you check that the employee’s manager has followed the company’s disciplinary process. This will include actions taken to support the employee to develop. If performance, as an example, was the reason for the disciplinary action, were any external forces the cause of the issue?
In short, explain how nothing would be taken at face value, ideally using a real-life example, and how processes and procedures are followed.
HR Interview Question 5 – Do you have any questions you would like to ask us?
Do you have a separate training and development department or do those repsonabilities fll under teh HR team?
How large is the company and waht size human resource team do you have?
What is the biggest challenge the HR team face?
What percenateg of advcie is given vai the intranet and through face to face discussions?
Most career professionals will state that the job interview is the most fearful activity they have to undertake. They are wrong! In fact, more people fear public speaking above all else.
Therefore, the job interview presentation is twice as scary.
To help applicants to have interview success, the following interview presentation guide gives a step-by-step process, from the construction of the interview presentation to the delivery, designed to help interviewees pass the job interveiw presentation section of the job interview.
How to create a good interview presentation
Presentation preparation is key.
The 3 steps to create an interview presentation are:
Step 1 – know your audience
Step 2 – time your speech
Step 3 – plan your delivery
Know your audience
The first task for any public speaker is to know what to say.
Employers will send candidates a presentation brief explaining the duration of the presentation (often 10-15 minutes), the topic/presentation title (or questions that need answering) and any additional requirements (must use slides, add a Q&A section to the presentation).
Once you have the ‘rule book’ or brief for the presentation, the next step is to think about the audience. Interviews that require a presentation will often have 2-3 interviewers assessing the interview performance.
Remember – the interviewers will want the applicants to perform well, as they are looking to hire the best applicant for the vacancy.
When the candidate enters the room, the lead interviewer will confirm the duration of the presentation and any of the key rules (Q&A).
It is up to the interviewee to start and stop the presentation within the allocated time slot. The audience, the interviewers, will remain quiet throughout the presentation. This can be off-putting for some presenters, or a positive for others.
The interviewers use the presentation to test presenting skills if that is a requirement of the job role, or for most non-teaching positions, the interviewers use a presentation to check the applicant’s level of industry knowledge.
How many slides do you need for a 10-minute interview presentation
A commonly asked question for interview presentations is how many slides to during a 10 minute presentation.
The answer is as many or as little as you like. Not the best answer I know, but what the presenter needs to decide is what will make them a more confident orator?
Two possible choices:
Maximum slides – having 10-20 slides to flick through has one key advantage; data, information and prompts can be added to the slide deck helping the interviewee to stay on track during the presentation, increasing delivery confidence.
Also, additional slides moves the audiences eye contact away from the speaker and onto the powerpoint (a positive for anxious speakers)
Having a high amount of slides can be a negative as some speakers, especially nervous speakers, will be overwhelmed by having to flick through slides that are linked to the speech.
In addition, some speakers with a large slide deck will rely on the slide deck in preference of practice – a big no-no!
Minimum slides – the second option, therefore, is to have minimum slides (2-3 slides) This shows confidence and encourages all eyes to be on the speaker.
By being the focus within the interview presentation, rather then beautiful visual slides being the main focus, employers will increase rapport through the confident, well-rehearsed, delivery of industry-related information.
If, however, the present lacks confidence the all eyes on them approach can be daunting.
The number of slides required for a 10-minute speech.
Returning to the question. A good rule of thumb is 1 slide per minute. This allows enough verbal communication vs visual data to create a professional style speech.
Interview presentation structure
When preparing for an interview presentation, applicants will no doubt google ‘presentation structures.’ There is a wealth of knowledge online, with speaking structure advice stating ‘add an intriguing hook’ ‘start at the end’ ‘use storytelling’ and any number of suggestions.
For an interview presentation keep it simple (unless you are an experience public speaker).
The easiest speech stuck to adopt is a 3 step speech structure:
State what you will be discussing
Discuss the topic
Summarise what you have discussed
Remember, for most interview presentations you are not being marked on your oration skills, rather the interviewer is looking for sector knowledge and insight.
By stating clearly what the presentation will cover makes it easier for the interviewers to record the essential criteria during the speech, as they know that each section is about particular criteria.
In the main, there will be 3 key points that each interviewee will be trying to get across, with sub-point for high skilled complex job roles. Step 2, discussing the topic, is the most important part of the interview presentation.
During step 2 give examples, state facts and discuss any relatable sector knowledge. If the presentation requires the applicant to discuss multiple criteria break the tep into 3 sections “to explain (criteria) I will discuss A, B and C. A is when….”
To end the presentation, it is important to summarise what has been discussed. The summary remains the interviewers of the applicants sector knowledge and experience as well as making it clear that the presentation has ended ” to conclude…..”
Body language tips
Non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal communication during an interview presentation.
Just before the applicant speaks, a good speaking trick is to pick a spot, front and centre, on the stage and stand with legs shoulder width apart. Stay silent for a few seconds, then open the speech with a solid line without moving from the chosen spot – this comes across as confident.
Move with purpose
After the first line the speaker can ‘move with purpose.’ After saying a statement, the speaker can move across the stage before discussing the next point. During the movement the sides can switch to the next one in line.
This creates hits 3 speaking element; visual aids from the slidedeck, movement which helps keeps an audience engaged and a focus on the speaker when they have an important point to make, achieved by speaking when standing still.
Eye contact
Confident speakers have a natural ability to hold eye contact. When making a point look at one of the interveiwers and hold their gaze through the point being made. at the end of the point flick yoru eyes across the other interveiwers. On the next point pick a different interview to maintain eye contact with.
Holding eye contact increases rapport, as the audience feels part of the speech – you are talking directly to them. It is also hard for an interviewer to lose concentration when they are maintaining eye contact, keeping the interview panel engaged throughout the presentation.
Open gestures
As well as highlighting the candidate’s competency level, the interview presentation also increases or decreases candidate likeability. Likeability can be increased through the speaker’s body language.
Crossed arms is a sign of defensiveness.
Open gestures; palms facing the audience highlights friendliness.
Smile increases warmth.
Talking with hands shows confidence and reinforces the vernal point the speaker is making.
Hand covering mouth, or ear rubbing while speaking is a sign of deceit.
Stay calm during the interview presentation
Each year psychologist poll people’s biggest fear and each year public speaking ranks as the number one fear.
Being anxious in a job interview only ends badly.
Increasing confidence is relatively easy. First, you need to understand how the nervous system affects the job interview outcome, by setting off the fight or flight response;
The thought of failing increases the heart rate which sends a signal to the brain stating that you, the applicant, are in danger. Once the brain detects a threat, the fight or flight response kicks in.
The mind can only truly focus on one thought – if you imagine being confident in a job interview; seeing yourself as charismatic, charming and a great communicator, your emotions (through the mind/body cycle) will be in confidence mode.
List Interview Successes
Focusing the mind on interview strengths rather than interview failures, increasing job interview confidence. The same process is used for daily affirmations. If you repeat to yourself your strengths you will believe these to be true, therefore perform better in the job interview.
Interview Humour
It is well known that smiling increases likeability with an interviewer. But a second additional benefit comes from smiling – it relaxes you. Thinking of something humorous, or even laughing at the fact you feel so nervous when all you have to do is talk about yourself for 45 minutes, can be enough to make you smile, and therefore relax.
To help applicants pass job interviews, career professionals can take the job interview prediction test to determine their interview identity.
Seven million years ago, when humans first roamed the world, the only job was survival.
To access this career, the ‘job seeker’ didn’t require career guidance, they were simply born into the tribe. The job in question was hunting and gathering, and of course reproduction.
The first job market
As the hunter and gatherers settled down and became farmers, ‘jobs’ as we know became more integrated into daily life with each tribe member (or now farmer or field hand) having an expertise.
Farmers, toolmakers, carpenters, the original doctors (or medicine men, as they were known) and other essential workers were required to keep the population well fed and safe, with each generation improving their skill set and knowledge to survive in the new world.
As farms became towns and towns turn into cities, more specialist careers were required; ironmongers, horse breeders, herbalist, butchers, jewelry makers. Before long, there were lawyers, politicians and soldiers.
Family Careers
Initially, skills were passed down from one generation to another, with each family teaching their children the skills of their trade. Observational learning started at an early age with children supporting their parents and older siblings to help keep food on the plate.
A career was necessary to survive. If a family couldn’t sell what they created, they could easily find themselves on the street.
Apprenticeships originally started when a family who didn’t have children (or enough children to keep up with demand) took on other children as apprentices. The first apprenticeships were originally a contract of servitude.
Industrial Revolution Jobs
By the 1800s the world had the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution saw the increase in a need for low-skilled workers, as large factors required hundreds of humans to be cogs in the industrial machine.
Career choices were made on where a person lived (and class status) rather than personal preference. Living in Manchester increased the likelihood of a factory career, or a fishing profession if you lived near the coast.
Careers and livelihoods depended on an areas success, not the skills of an individual.
Transport opened up the job market
As transport links (the invention of motorcars and railways) allowed people to move with ease to new areas, allowing individuals to chase the jobs of their dreams. This created competition for jobs.
The technology was also changing the job landscape, with machines being used to automate basic tasks, which led to the Luddites movement.
The first recorded job interview.
Thomas Edison, in 1921, was the first employer to be recorded to have used a recruitment process. The assessment used was to test the knowledge of job applicants.
When the famous inventor Edison required a new staff member he would receive hundreds of applications. But the problem Edison faced was his new employees did not have the required knowledge for the job role.
Instead of hiring ‘anyone’ Edison created a test to check the applicant’s knowledge and experience.
Edison Interview Questions
What is the first line in the Aeneid?
Who was the Roman Emperor when Jesus was born?
Where is the River Volga?
What is brass made of?
Who assassinated President Lincoln?
Modern Job Interviews
Next came face to face interviews, assessment centres and practical exams. Technology continues to influence the job interview; the invention of telephones leads to telephone screening interviews, the internet creating video interviewing and artificial intelligence creating an online automated (non-human) interview process.
To help applicants pass job interviews, career professionals can take the job interview prediction test to determine their interview identity.
Post higher education, accessing the world of work can not only be daunting it can be harder then expected.
Having a degree doesn’t guarantee job offers. In fact, for many industries, a degree is a minimum requirement, not a gold standard.
What is a graduate scheme?
One option for graduates is a ‘graduate scheme.’ A graduate scheme is a 1-3 year structured training programme designed by an employer to support a new graduate to gain a level of industry competencies.
Even though a graduate scheme is an employed training scheme, starting salaries can be high. The negative side of a well paid training programme for graduates is the competition for each graduate scheme vacancy.
Graduate schemes vacancies often go live between from July-Nov. The recruiting process is often long and can include a CV, application form, assessment centers and competency-based interviews, with most employers looking for graduates with a 2.1 grade.
In addition to a well paid graduate job, most employers will offer graduates a full time position once the graduate scheme has ended.
What is a graduate job?
A graduate job is essentially a job for graduates, often the first position the graduate accesses after university or higher education in a further education establishment.
Graduate positions are those roles that require the applicants to possess a certain level of knowledge and skills gained from completing a degree level course. This level of industry knowledge reassures the employer that the graduate will be able to complete sector related activities.
The application route for a graduate job is the same process for employed jobs in each sector, with a common recruitment process comprising off application form, assessment and panel interview.
What is an internship?
Another option for graduates (and current students) is to apply for an internship. The internship, which often last around 1-12 months and can be full or part-time, is a chance for the ‘intern’ to gain sector experience by becoming employed (some internships are voluntary) and taking on sector related duties.
Even with the voluntary internships and for all paid internships, the graduate needs to apply for the inten position as they would a full time role.
Graduate Job Interviews
For all 3 options; internship, graduate job or a graduate scheme, the graduate will be expected to attend and pass an interview as part of the recruitment process.
Questions asked to graduates vary from the commonly asked job interview questions, even though there is some overlap.
Graduate interviews will generally be split into 3 sections, with interview questions being asked on the applicant’s degree course, their industry knowledge in the form of technical questions and work ethic.
Graduate Interview Questions
Applicant’s degree course interview questions
Tell me about your degree course and what you have learnt from it?
What has been your biggest achievement during your time at university?
What grade did you achieve and was this what you expected to achieve?
What part of the degree course did you least enjoy?
Why did you choose that particular degree?
Technical (sector related) interview questions
Technical interview questions varying depending on each industry but will often come in the following format:
What does (add abbreviation) mean?
How would you complete X process or system?
What is your understanding of (sector model/theory)?
Do you have any (industry) related experience?
How is technology changing the future of our sector?
Work ethic interview questions
Did you have a job while studying?
What examples of working collaboratively can you provide?
What would your teacher/professor say about you?
Explain how you would contribute to meeting the organization objectives?
What would you do if a deadline was approaching but you only had 30 minutes until the end of the working day?
