If you could be the best employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be an average employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?
Agree with something said earlier about an interviewee having looked into the organisation, website and such like...it always makes a good impression on an interviewer.
If you could be the best employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be an average employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?
The "right" answers is best employee but your co-workers dislike you. Reason is that it means you are delivering on your targets for the employer who is the one questioning you. You would add that as you are performing well you can also spend time on building relationships to produce a highly effective team.
But it is a bit of a silly question.
Seriously, all your questions should be based on the job desrcription and person spec. You should think about weighting them so that good answers to questions about important factors carry more weight than less important ones.
And never ask "what if" questions. Ask people for examples from their previous experience of when they have demonstrated a particular type of behaviour ie turning round an underperforming team.
I got so pissed off once, when the person interviewing me was asking me questions off a sheet of paper.I said is there any chance of you looking at me and asking me a question that isn't on the list.The interviewer didn't like me saying that,surprise,surprise and terminated the interview.
Once said to me thats a very "operational type of answer" i.e a negative me---------" the post is for Operations Manager"
Them " yes good point"
Last year interviewed a guy was naffing brill. The panel agreed he was the one. He was voted best newcomer a few months later. Im now back there as he has knocked em for £250K !! hence me being back, finding it and the rest is with City of London plod (not reminding peeps tho i was on the inteview panel!!)
If you could be the best employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be an average employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?
The "right" answers is best employee but your co-workers dislike you. Reason is that it means you are delivering on your targets for the employer who is the one questioning you. You would add that as you are performing well you can also spend time on building relationships to produce a highly effective team.
But it is a bit of a silly question.
Seriously, all your questions should be based on the job desrcription and person spec. You should think about weighting them so that good answers to questions about important factors carry more weight than less important ones.
And never ask "what if" questions. Ask people for examples from their previous experience of when they have demonstrated a particular type of behaviour ie turning round an underperforming team.
Is that the 'right' answer though? Although the new staff member may personally be achieving their goals they are destroying the moral of the office and causing discontent amongst co-workers who will begin to under perfom. Therefore, jepodising the output of an entire team for the 100% output of one person.
I got so pissed off once, when the person interviewing me was asking me questions off a sheet of paper.I said is there any chance of you looking at me and asking me a question that isn't on the list.The interviewer didn't like me saying that,surprise,surprise and terminated the interview.
I had a similar thing where the person interviewing me never looked up. I didn't get the job and in the feedback they said I was too hesitant in my answers - thats because I was waiting for the person to look up and actually acknowledge that I was talking!
Some pretty good stuff on here! Finished the first eight today. Took the approach of acknowledging the question sheet, helps relax the interviewee I found ("this question smacks of HR but..."/ "this is the tricky one..."). - I can't handle tension and formality anyway. We're opening each one with "What did you think of Prometheus" and mocking anyone that says they loved it.
A great point made earlier about having a couple of specific questions set up based on the CV/ covering letter. They know we're doing a lot of interviews, but it's important to make them feel like they're not just another name to us.
Highlight of the day...
"When did you last miss a deadline."
"I haven't ever missed one."
"Ok... do you realise your application was a day late?"
Ah, that old chestnut. This is your opportunity to name a so-called weakness that is actually a strength, i.e. lie. Traditional 'weaknesses' being "Well, I'm a bit of a workaholic" or "I just can't let something go until it's absolutely perfect".
Ah, that old chestnut. This is your opportunity to name a so-called weakness that is actually a strength, i.e. lie. Traditional 'weaknesses' being "Well, I'm a bit of a workaholic" or "I just can't let something go until it's absolutely perfect".
That may have worked a couple of years ago, but to get this one right these days you have to think of a genuine weakness and say what strategy you are using to get round it. It's about self-awareness - nobody is perfect, so the idea is that you know your weaknesses and how to deal with them.
Just one time I'd like to ask 'did you decide who was getting this job before advertising it?
I had an idea for a money-making scheme based around this - you know who you want to employ, but HR insist you wade through CVs and do some interviews - where I come in is by supplying you with a number of totally unsuitable candidates (for a small fee)! You don't even have to glance at the CVs, but you tell HR you've seen them all. You then interview my supplied rubbish candidates and the guy you actually want to employ. Everyone's a winner - you don't waste your time, you don't waste the time of all the candidates you could have interviewed and HR are happy that you've followed due process.
We interveiwed a girl for a position in our service department who was known to us, she worked for a rival company and she is a "big" girl, at least 20 stone plus!
After the interveiw in the meeting room I invited her across to see the office she would be working in if she accepted the post.
Standing outside the office I said "This is it, could you see yourself working in there"
To which she replied "let me me see if I can fit through the door frame and I will make a decision"
We all collapsed laughing and needless to say she took the job.
Haha true! I did start to skip the questions that got generic responses, but one guy came in yesterday who nailed that opening question, that one response pretty much got him a second interview. But you're right, for the most part it was just waffle.
Comments
But it is a bit of a silly question.
Seriously, all your questions should be based on the job desrcription and person spec. You should think about weighting them so that good answers to questions about important factors carry more weight than less important ones.
And never ask "what if" questions. Ask people for examples from their previous experience of when they have demonstrated a particular type of behaviour ie turning round an underperforming team.
me---------" the post is for Operations Manager"
Them " yes good point"
Last year interviewed a guy was naffing brill. The panel agreed he was the one. He was voted best newcomer a few months later. Im now back there as he has knocked em for £250K !! hence me being back, finding it and the rest is with City of London plod (not reminding peeps tho i was on the inteview panel!!)
A great point made earlier about having a couple of specific questions set up based on the CV/ covering letter. They know we're doing a lot of interviews, but it's important to make them feel like they're not just another name to us.
Highlight of the day...
"When did you last miss a deadline."
"I haven't ever missed one."
"Ok... do you realise your application was a day late?"
"Yes...."
What's your biggest weakness?
We interveiwed a girl for a position in our service department who was known to us, she worked for a rival company and she is a "big" girl, at least 20 stone plus!
After the interveiw in the meeting room I invited her across to see the office she would be working in if she accepted the post.
Standing outside the office I said "This is it, could you see yourself working in there"
To which she replied "let me me see if I can fit through the door frame and I will make a decision"
We all collapsed laughing and needless to say she took the job.
He has indeed, but that's not the BEST reason...
Nice arse?
yes unfortunately it's on his shoulders
The real answer is a) I don't have one or b) you pay more than my current one.
But you can't say this so you make up some great lie about how you've always wanted to work for this company / do this job etc.
If this were actually true you would see all your rejected candidates killing themselves when they fail to get the job.