Job interview questions

[fishingsetx]

I could write a book about some of the terrible answers that I got during a job interview.

My personal favorite....

QUESTION: As a member of my team, you will be required to work simultaneously on many different projects for many different customers with many different priorities. Can you explain to me your project management method in specific relation to multitasking.

ANSWER: I just work on one thing at a time or I will just screw it up. (silence and content look on face)

Ya... he didn't get the job.

His name wasnt David was it?

This reminds me of a guy that I used to work with that was that way. he was an amazing tech as long as he could work through one problem then onto the next. A lot of extremely inteligent people are this way. He used to design, build, and sell ozone generators for water treatment and held several patents. Sold his company and went to work for the one I was working for because of the travel. He wasnt fast, and coukdnt multitask, but if you had a very difficult problem to solve, be was your man.

Id bet a paycheck that he would answer your question in the same way, not because he was an idiot, but because he knew his skill set, his strenghts and his weaknesses. While it might not fit the job you were interviewing for, I would have respected their honesty.

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[Rubicon Cowboy]

Two questions that I love to use are:

1. If I were to call your last employer, what would he/she say your best three attributes are? (Most will be excited to tell you how great they are-but then I follow up with)
2. What would he/she say are the two things you need to improve on?

I have been really able to tell who knows their strengths and weaknesses, who is honest, who doesn't have a clue, and who is full of it.

Most get uncomfortable quick, but it helps me sort them out.

I manage a lot of younger staff, so sometimes I will have to say "there is no right or wrong answer". Sometimes I will give an example of things I am working on. Then they tend to open up and sometimes share things they probably shouldn't. But, that's the point of the question(s).

[Ivanite]

What is 0 divided by 0?











"Imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends. How many cookies does each person get? See? It doesn't make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad that you have no friends."

-Siri

[boomerball]

Avoid "what would you do .....", they can say anything and there is really no way to verify it.

Fo us on "what did you do", poke until they get very specific so you know they aren't full of it or just talking in generalities that have little substance. Getting a clear picture of how they operated in the past is best way to visualize how they will operate in the future. If they wont paint that picture for you, you really cant make a judgement and have to move on to someone who will.

[fishingsetx]

Avoid "what would you do .....", they can say anything and there is really no way to verify it.

Fo us on "what did you do", poke until they get very specific so you know they aren't full of it or just talking in generalities that have little substance. Getting a clear picture of how they operated in the past is best way to visualize how they will operate in the future. If they wont paint that picture for you, you really cant make a judgement and have to move on to someone who will.

this question landed me the job I have now. It was narrowed down to 3 people. One had less experience, I was in the middle, and the third was a shoe in for the job. during the final interview, they asked about a specific problem they had recently had and how we would go about fixing it. I gave them the best answer I could come up with. although it wasnt the ideal way to fix it, it was the best I had at the time and would have worked. the shoe in just said "I dont know" and left it at that. they even asked him if he would like to at least give answering it a shot and he just said no! with his background, experience, qaulifications,ect, he should have at least been able to take a guess! cost him the job.

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[wes]

Interviewing IT folks. One is tell me about about your worst screw up and how you recovered from it. The other is tell me about the worst person you had to deal with in a support role and how you managed it.

Had to do some interviews for the QA team one time. I brought a baseball in and asked them to tell me how they would test it.

[duckmanep]

I usually lead with "Tell me about yourself". Most people will answer with all the personal questions that you are not allowed to ask.

[Double-O-Dave]

Interviewing IT folks. One is tell me about about your worst screw up and how you recovered from it. The other is tell me about the worst person you had to deal with in a support role and how you managed it.

Had to do some interviews for the QA team one time. I brought a baseball in and asked them to tell me how they would test it.

You beat me to it...that's one of my very favorite ones. I'd ask them to tell me about the time they really messed something up, and what happened. Very interesting answers, the worst one was a guy that somehow misunderstood what I was looking for and proceeded to tell me how he was really good at shifting the blame onto someone else. No fooling. Most of the time, people would say "I can't think of anything", and they went straight to the reject pile. My reasoning was that that candidate was either not honest, or never tried to find ways to make his/her work better.

Another one is to ask if they ever had to work with someone who just couldn't or wouldn't cut the mustard. I'd then ask them to role play how they would talk to the incompetent employee (me), and you could learn a lot about that person's ability to work with others, as well as how they could manage conflict. Over half said they wouldn't confront the person, and if need be, they would just do that person's work on top of their own work. Amazing.

Regards,

Dave

[DosToros]

Give me an example in a past work experience when you have solved a problem.


Give me an example in a pas work experience when you have resolved a conflict.

[systemnt]

Give me an example in a past work experience when you have solved a problem.
A: Was getting a massive migraine listening to a interviewer asking inane questions, so I stopped listening. no more migraine.

Give me an example in a pas work experience when you have resolved a conflict.
A: had a interviewer asking me inane questions, causing me to get a massive migraine. Was conflicted on either to throw him through a window or stop listening. I stopped listening.

.

[RDT]

So manhole covers are round so they don't fall in the hole.
What other shape won't fall in the hole.