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ETSU Employee Development Center |
General Interviewing Guidelines
- Be yourself and smile. Do not try to be someone else or lie.
- Be confident or at least show it (it is very natural to be nervous). A warm smile, firm handshake, eye contact, and good posture all counts.
- Do not sit until you are offered a chair. Sit upright, look alert and interested at all times.
- Do not bring any food or beverage with you.
- Avoid distracting gestures or making too many hand gestures.
- Listen carefully before you answer. If your are not sure about the question, rephrase the question in your own words and clarify it. However, do not make the interviewer repeat questions too many times which may work adversely.
- If you don't know an answer, just say so politely.
- Do not answer before the interviewer finishes his question.
- Speak clearly and avoid "uh", "you know", and slang.
- If there is more than one interviewer, address all of them, not just the person who asked most of the questions.
- Avoid answering with "yes" or "no", elaborate and answer to the point. If you did some work or project on the subject of the question, mention it. (This may generate more questions on that subject. You may impress them with your knowledge in that subject or you may expose yourself if you lie).
- Do not lie or exaggerate about your experience.
Telephone Interviews
- Normally, telephone technical interviews are pre-arranged. Make sure you are present beside the phone at that time.
- Instruct your family members not to disturb or distract you during the interview.
- Make sure you have a good telephone and it is static free. Avoid using a cordless or cell phone.
- Speak directly into the telephone. Keep the mouthpiece about one inch from your mouth.
- Do not eat, chew, smoke or engage in other task. Do not play music or TV.
Sample Interview Questions
Introduction
- What made you apply for this position?
- How did you hear about this job opening?
- Briefly, would you summarize your work history & education for me?
Education
- What special aspects of your education or training have prepared you for this job?
- What courses in school have been of most help in doing your job?
Work History
- What special aspects of your work experience have prepared you for this job?
- Can you describe for me one or two of your most important accomplishments?
- How much supervision have you typically received in your previous job?
- Describe for me one or two of the biggest disappointments in your work history?
- Why are you leaving your present job? (or, Why did you leave your last job?)
- What is important to you in a company? What things do you look for in an organization?
Related Job Performance
- Everyone has strengths & weaknesses as workers. What are your strong points for this job?
- What would you say are areas needing improvement?
- How did your supervisor on your most recent job evaluate your job performance? What were some of the good points & bad points of that rating?
- When you have been told , or discovered for yourself , a problem in your job performance, what have you typically done? Can you give me an example?
- Do you prefer working alone or in groups?
- What kind of people do you find it most difficult to work with? Why?
- Starting with your last job, tell me about any of your achievements that were recognized by your superiors.
- Can you give me an example of your ability to manage or supervise others?
- What are some things you would like to avoid in a job? Why?
- In your previous job what kind of pressures did you encounter?
- What would you say is the most important thing you are looking for in a job?
- What are some of the things on your job you feel you have done particularly well or in which you have achieved the greatest success? Why do you feel this way?
- What were some of the things about your last job that you found most difficult to do?
- What are some of the problems you encounter in doing your job? Which one frustrates you the most? What do you usually do about it?
- What are some things you particularly liked about your last job?
- Do you consider your progress on the job representative of your ability? Why?
- How do you feel about the way you & others in the department were managed by your supervisor?
- If I were to ask your present (most recent) employer about your ability as a____________________, what would he/she say?
Work Standards
- What are your standards of success in your job?
- In your position, how would you define doing a good job? On what basis was your definition determined?
- When judging the performance of your subordinate, what factors or characteristics are most important to you?
Motivating Factors
- What is your professional goal?
- Can you give me examples of experience on the job that you felt were satisfying?
- Do you have a long & short-term plan for your department? Is it realistic?
- Did you achieve it last year?
- Describe how you determine what constitutes top priorities in the performance of your job.
Career Goals and Development
- What is your long-term employment or career objective?
- What kind of job do you see yourself holding five years from now?
- What do you feel you need to develop in terms of skill & knowledge in order to be ready for that opportunity?
- Why might you be successful in such a job?
- How does this job fit in with your overall career goals?
- Who or what in your life would you say influenced you most with your career objectives?
- Can you pinpoint any specific things in your past experience that affected your present career objectives?
- What would you most like to accomplish if you had this job?
- What might make you leave this job?
Self-Assessment
- What kind of things do you feel most confident in doing?
- Can you describe for me a difficult obstacle you have had to overcome? How did you handle it? How do you feel this experience affected your personality or ability?
- How would you describe yourself as a person?
- What do you think are the most important characteristics & abilities a person must possess to become a successful ( )? How do you rate yourself in these areas?
- Do you consider yourself a self-starter? If so, explain why ( and give examples)
- What do you consider to be your greatest achievements to date? Why?
- What things give you the greatest satisfaction at work?
- What things frustrate you the most? How do you usually cope with them?
Decision-Making
- Do you consider yourself to be thoughtful, analytical or do you usually make up your mind fast? Give an example. (Watch time taken to respond)
- What was your most difficult decision in the last six months? What made it difficult?
- The last time you did not know what decision to make, what did you do?
- How do you go about making an important decision affecting your career?
- What was the last major problem that you were confronted with? What action did you take on it?
Creativity
- In your work experience, what have you done that you consider truly creative?
- Can you think of a problem you have encountered when the old solutions didn't work & when you came up with new solutions?
- Of your creative accomplishments big or small , at work or home, what gave you the most satisfaction?
- What kind of problems have people recently called on you to solve? Tell me what you have devised.
Interests
- What organizations do you belong to?
- Tell me specifically what you do in the civic activities in which you participate. (Leading questions in selected areas. i.e. sports, economics, current events, finance.)
- How do you keep up with what's going on in your company / your industry/ your profession?
Presentation Skills
- Have you ever done any public or group speaking? Recently? Why? How did it go?
- Have you made any individual presentations recently? How did you prepare?
Leadership Skills
- In your present job what approach do you take to get your people together to establish a common approach to a problem?
- What approach do you take in getting your people to accept your ideas or department goals?
- What specifically do you do to set an example for your employees?
- How frequently do you meet with your immediate subordinates as a group?
- What sort of leader do your people feel you are? Are you satisfied?
- How do you get people who do not want to work together to establish a common approach to a problem?
- If you do not have much time & they hold seriously differing views, what would be your approach?
- How would you describe your basic leadership style? Give specific examples of how you practice this?
- Do you feel you work more effectively on a one to one basis or in a group situation?
- Have you ever led a task force or committee or any group who doesn't report to you, but from whom you have to get work? How did you do it? What were the satisfactions & disappointments? How would you handle the job differently?
Written Communication Skills
- Would you rather write a report or give a verbal report? Why?
- What kind of writing have you done? For a group? For an individual?
- What is the extent of your participation in major reports that have to be written?
Flexibility
- What was the most important idea or suggestion you received recently from your employees? What happened as a result?
- What do you think about the continuous changes in company operating policies & procedures?
- How effective has your company been in adapting its policies to fit a changing environment?
- What was the most significant change made in your company in the last six months which directly affected you, & how successfully do you think you implemented this change?
Closing
- Do you have any questions?
Suggestion: Begin answering this question with a short preamble "This really looks like an interesting opportunity (or something like that). The question - "How do you think I match up against your requirements?"
This question gives you a sense of how you did in the interview. If the interviewer has some reservations he or she might express them. Such as: Well I'm a little concerned about your lack of ------- . This is called, "smoking out objections." This question gives you a chance to address any concerns the interviewer might express,
The second question you should ask is: "What's the next step?" You should never end an interview by saying, "I'm looking forward to hearing from you." It’s a totally weak thing to say. If you ask about the next step, the interviewer will probably tell you the time frame for filling the position. Something like: "We'll be interviewing for another week and we'll make our decision by the fifteenth". Invite yourself to call back! "Great, if I don’t hear from you, will it be okay for me to call on the the sixteenth to touch base?" You will usually get the okay to do so. By asking this, you have expressed an interest in the position and you will be in a position to hear the results quickly. Many people stop their search as they wait to hear about the results of an interview where they thought they did well. This is a serious strategic error.
