Even for the most fearless amongst us, job interviews can be nerve
wracking. In order to give us the best chance of success we tend to
prepare for many of the difficult questions we anticipate, questions
like:
- Why should we hire you?
- What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
- What are your key strengths and weaknesses?
Of course, you can never predict how an interview will go and
what questions you will get. You might get an interviewer who fires one
tough question at you after the other, or one that turns the interview
into a more comfortable, natural two-way conversation. Preparing,
therefore is difficult. In most cases we practice the answers to a long
list of possible questions. The problem is that this can leave you
over-prepared and as a consequence your pre-conceived answers can come
across a bit robotic.
From my experience, there are really only 3
questions you have to prepare for and you can link most of the interview
questions back to these three. Preparing for these three questions also
means you can answer most questions more naturally, simply by referring
mentally back to your preparations for these three questions.
Basically, any interviewer wants to establish 3 key things:
- Have you got the skills, expertise and experience to perform the job?
- Are you enthusiastic and interested in the job and the company?
- Will you fit into the team, culture and company?
However, during the job interview, the interviewer might use
many different questions and angles to get to the answers. If the
interviewer doesn’t get what he or she wants from one question, they
might ask them in different ways. Or they might probe from different
angles to test for consistency in your answers.
Here is what’s behind these 3 questions:
1. Have you got the skills, expertise and experience to perform the job?
Think
about the key skills you might need for the job you have applied for
and assess your own level of expertise and experience in that context.
It makes sense to identify the more specific or technical skills that
your potential employer might expect as well as some more generic skills
such as being a good communicator, having good IT skills, being a team
player, etc. Once you have prepared for this question it will help you
answer many different interview questions without getting sidetracked
into talking about things that are not relevant. Remember that you want
to demonstrate that you are aware of the key skills, expertise and
experience required to do the job and that you have what it takes to
perform it. Always go back to the key skills, expertise and experience
when answering scary (and sometimes silly) questions like:
- Tell me about yourself?
- What are your greatest strengths / weaknesses?
- What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
- Why do you think you are right for this job?
- What do you think the main challenges will be?
- Etc.
2. Are you enthusiastic and interested in the job and the company?
Any
potential employer wants to know that you are interested in the company
and excited about the prospect of working there. You therefore want to
demonstrate that you have researched the company, understand its
strategy, current performance, structure, market position and products
and that you can’t wait to join them. For most, you will have done your
homework before you even applied for the job, but if you haven’t then
check out the ‘about us’ section on their website and search for the
latest strategy documents, annual reports, key statistics as well as the
company history. Show that you know them and demonstrate your
enthusiasm for the job and company. Here you might also want to think
about your ambitions and how they fit into the company you have applied
for. You can then use the insights for answering questions such as:
- What do you know about our company?
- What do you think our company is aiming to achieve?
- What do you know about our products and services?
- Why do you want to work for this company?
- Why do you think this job is right for you?
- What motivates you?
- Etc.
3. Will you fit into the team, culture and company?
This
final key question is about your personality and your style and how you
as a person fit into the team and culture of the company. Companies
have different cultures, which translate into different ways of behaving
and working. It is important to make sure you fit in and don’t feel
like a fish out of water. In fact, it is important for the company as
well as for you. Again, hopefully you will have done some research prior
to applying for the job. Sometimes, it can be tricky to find detailed
knowledge about the company culture, in which case you simply talk about
your assumptions and why you feel you fit in. One relatively new
website that offers a glance inside companies is Glassdoor. The site is
still in it’s infancy but provides a growing amount of data and
information about what it is like to work for different companies. You
want to map the culture of the company or the team you are planning to
join and compare this to your personality traits, style and behaviors.
Again, once you have done this you can use it to answer questions such
as:
- How would you describe your work style?
- How would you describe yourself?
- How would your colleagues describe you?
- What makes you fit into our company?
- What makes you a good team member?
- If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
- Etc.
Of course, any interview is a two-way process. In the same way
the interviewer wants to find out that you are right for the company,
you need to assess whether the company is right for you. Each of the
questions can be turned around so that you can assess:
- By joining this company, will I make best use of my skills and expertise and will they help me to grow them further?
- Is the company excited about having me work for them and will they give me the necessary support?
- Is the company culture the right fit for me so that I can flourish and be myself?
If you ask relevant questions from your point of view then this
will make the interview more balanced and create a more natural
conversation.
I hope this is useful? Please let me know your thoughts and share any comments you might have on the topic.
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