A large number of job seekers fear the recruitment process, believing that they wont be able to produce a high-scoring job interview answer in the pressurised environment of a job interview.
The truth is, high-scoring job interview answers come from giving specific details. Being confident during the job interview helps with this, as confidence creates relaxation, and being relax helps to stimulate the minds memory functions.
In the main, interviewers across all job sectors follow a similar interview process. By understanding the job interview process, and by predicting the job interview questions, job applicants to prepare high-scoring interview answers.
This article will give a quirk guide on how to answer each of the various job interview questions, a job applicant may be asked during the job interview.
Opening questions
Employers understand that interviewees will be nervous during the recruitment process.
It is also well known that, the more somebody speaks the more confident they become in expressing themselves.
With this in mind, a hiring manager will start of the job interview asking open questions before asking more specific questions, requiring longer and more detailed answers.
Bare in mind, each job interview answer is scored against the criteria on the job interview scorecard. Meaning that each answer, even for the initial opening questions, must reference the job criteria to receive a high mark.
The most commonly asked open-ended job interview question is:
“Tell me a little about yourself?”
To answer the ‘tell me about you’ question, answer using a three point process:
- State the number of years experience in the industry – as duration is associated with competence
- Reference any industry-related questions – as having academic qualifications are viewed as being knowledgeable
- Talk using industry jargon – the use of sector related communication has a strong implication of how the employer views the applicants overall suitability
In addition, explain what you can bring to the team – your unique selling points
The second most commonly asked job interview question is:
“Why do you want to work at this organisation?”
The ‘why us’ question has nothing to do with the applicants suitability to complete the job duties, as other interview questions cover this essential criteria. Instead the ‘why us’ question is about employee retention.
Employers ask retention questions due to the average number of years an employee stays within one company.
Research has shown how most career professionals will job-hop once every 3-5 years.
From an employers perspective, having a regularly changing workforce is bad for business. The first 12 months in any job is about the employee becoming familiar with the company processes, procedures and company culture.
The second year helps the employee become competent with business-as-usual duties.
And, in the third year, the employee then starts sharing ideas and bring new suggestions (or business) If the employee starts looking for a new job by year three, from a business perspective, the employer hasn’t gotten value for money.
When answering the ‘why us’ question:
- Talk passionately about the company vision, mission and values
- Quote positive stories about the company from the local media
- Be specific, explain why you would fit in well to the company culture
To prepare for the ‘why us’ question research is virtual.
“Give me an example of X”
Behavioral job interview questions, are interview questions that are framed as a past behavior:
- “What did you do in (past) situation?”
- “Give me an example of (a past time you did X)?”
- “Tell me about a time when you (completed a previous task/duty)?”
- “Describe a past project?”
- “What has been your key career achievements?”
Employers, therefore, are looking for the job candidate to describe a past real-life scenario.
The job interview answers for most behavioral job interview questions will be an ‘example’ or a ‘story’.
One of the biggest mistakes, when using the example storytelling technique, is a lack of specific actions.
What i mean by this, is that the interviewee will forgot to state the actual actions they took as an individual, and instead will talk about the ‘team’ or worse, not even mention the required actions to achieve a goal or objective.
To give a high-scoring example answer:
- Describe the past problem or goal to company/team was facing
- State at least 3 actions you took
- Explain the positive outcome from the stated actions
In the actions section, job applicants can discuss/expain:
- Their decision making process
- Influencing stakeholders
- Delegation
- Actions taken
- Reflection techniques
“How would you approach X?”
Competency based job interview questions are part of a structured job interview process. A competency based interview question can take the shape of a ‘behavioral’ question, as described above, or as a future scenario – which is better known as a ‘situational’ job interview question.
Examples include:
- “What would you do if (industry related problem) happened?”
- “How would you approach (sector task)?”
- “How would you handle a disagreement with your manager?”
The idea behind the hypothetical questions, is that it allows the job applicant to share ideas and suggestions from lessons learnt, transferable skills/innovations from a different sector and to describe a new approach they would take, rather then having to describe a past process from a previous role (as required with a behavioral job interview questions).
Hypothetical interview questions can be answered by:
- Giving options to highlight breath of knowledge – “In this situation there are two choices”
- State the pro’s and cons for each option to show competencies – “…the positive for choice one is….but the negative is….”
- Share experience – “…in my experience I would choose (option 1 or 2) because (state reason).”
Technical Interview Questions.
Another type of job interview question that is asked under the ‘structured’ job interview process are the ‘technical’ questions.
Technical job interview questions are designed to test the applicants knowledge and knowhow.
They key to delivering high-scoring technical job interview answers is through confident communication.
Industry models, theories and concepts must be explained in an easy to understand (and follow) manner.
It is best to give a logical, sequential and step by step answer (imagine explaining the technicality to a non-expert).
Technical questions look like:
- “What does (industry term) mean?”
- “Explain what (industry technology) does?”
- “When would you (complete a certain duty/task/step)?
It is important to give detail to highlight sector knowledge and experience, which supports the creation of a positive interview identity:
Closing Questions.
Towards the interview end, employers will finish by asking a few questions around the applicants motivation (or working style):
- “How do you work best?”
- “What does a successful day look like to you?”
- “How do you motivate yourself?”
The ‘personal’ questions are asked to check if the candidate is a fit with the organisational culture.
As previously mentioned, employers are looking to hire someone who is likely to stay with the company for a number of years. Research shows, how by hiring an applicant who would naturally fit-in well with the company culture is more likely to stay within that job role.
When answering the ‘personal’ questions, bets practice says to be yourself – be open and truthful.
In addition, to stating preferences, the applicant can gain additional points on the interview scorecard by following up the stated preferences with an example of (interview question).
The final question is always: “Do you have any questions for us?”
Even though job applicants aren’t scored on the the final ‘what would you like to ask us?’ interview questions, it is virtual to ask something. In fact, a good question can make the applicant highly memorable.
Example Questions to Ask:
- “Do you have any future plans to expand the company?”
- “Why do you like working here?”
- “What is the most challenging part of the role?”
- “What is the projected income for the next 12 months?”
- “What would I be doing in the first 5 months of the role?”
- “What is the average duration of an employee working at the company?”
- “Can you tell me a little bit more about the company culture?”
- “How do you evaluate success?”
- “What is the company’s policy on personal development and training?”
- “Where do you see the company being in 5 years time”
