Annoying interview questions and how to answer them

 Some behavioral interviews questions  are geared to drawing out strengths. Some behavioral interview questions,  on the other hand, are geared to drawing out weaknesses. As I always say, they are designed to make you squirm, especially if you haven't been working the past year. The employer is looking for a way to exclude you. Here are a couple I found Here are some possible answers to annoying behavioral interview questions

. What have you been doing for the last year? Naturally the unemployed lie around all day doing nothing. If you have been volunteering, play that up. If you have been taking a course,  play that up. Of course, looking for a job is a full time job..It is good to mention that you have not been idle. Try starting a business, freelancing, taking a course, expand your horizons. Communicate how all that might be of value to the employer.

What things would cause you to be late for work? Ouch! I hate this interview question.  This one assumes that you'll be late. I would talk  about  things in your control and things that are not in your control. I would definitely mention traffic. Where I live traffic is THE issue. Mind you I live next door to a subway stop, so I very rarely come late, and I give myself enough time to take into account traffic problems. I might ask if punctuality is a crucial part of performing the job. When I was teaching it was important to arrive on time for the class. That wasn't negotiable. I didn't have to be at my desk at 9 a.m. sharp though as part of the office culture.

 Everyone takes time away from work, what are some reasons that you would miss work? What is this best answer to this interview question?  Again, they are assuming you take time off for anything other than illness. I would say again, there are things in your control and things not, that you do the best to manage your life around your work hours, and that the only reason you have missed work is for illness or funerals. In my last job I had flexible working conditions, so I didn't have to worry about dental appointments and unforeseen problems. What was important to my last employer was that I arrived on time to teach the class.

What could you have done better in your last job? Again, it presumes that you did a bad job. Answering this behavioral interview quesiton, I would say, that I strive to do my best. There are always things that could be improved. For me, may it was a lesson plan that could have been better designed/sequenced/executed. Perhaps striving to put more of my recent graduate training into the lessons (there wasn't always time). Don't forget to use the STAR technique

. Do you enjoy just doing your job or being cross-trained? I would say that you like to learn new things, and also to be as useful to the employer as possible. Give an example. At the previous job I had, I voluntarily took on new roles including helping with the budget and assessment.


Yes behavioral interview questions can be annoying. Try not to be reactive in your answers, but to turn it into an opporutnity to say "the better to meet your requirements, dear employer".

List of behavioral interview questions and how to answer them

• Can you tell  me about a project you were reluctant to complete and how you inspired yourself to complete it? 
   
• Let's talk about your most difficult boss, professor or other person.Tell me why that person was difficult and how you successfully dealt with that person? 
   
•  Describe the steps you took to complete a particularly difficult task.
  
  
• What was the riskiest decision  you have ever made. What considerations did you make for that particular decision. 
   
• We often have to work in groups. Tell me about a particular group project. What obstacles did you face? How did you resolve these? 
   
• Describe a situation when you or a group that you were a part of were in danger of missing a deadline. What did you do? 
   
• None of us are the same. Tell me about a time when you worked with a person who did things very differently from you. How did you get the job done. Would you consider working with that person again? 
   
• Tell me about your  three greatest accomplishments to date.  
  
  
   
• Give me an example of something you had to learn quickly. How did you do it? 
  
  
   
• Give me an example of acomplex problem that you solved? What process did you use? 
  
  
• Tell me about an occasion about  make a quick decision. 
  Avoid artificial sounding  answers or anything that sounds memorized. You are not perfect. Interviewers are interested in knowing about how you might have sweated, and how you pulled yourself out, what you learned, and what you might have done differently. We all make mistakes!!
  
  
  Don't forget to use the STAR method - - situation, task, action, result.

More behavioral interview preparation

1. Tell me about your greatest accomplishment on the job.


2. Tell me about a difficult situation you encountered at work and how you overcame it.


3. Give me three adjectives you would use to describe yourself and examples of your work style to support them.


4. Give me three adjectives you would use to describe your weaknesses/areas for improvement and the reasons why you feel you need to work on these.


5. If I was to ask a co-worker about you, how would they describe you on-the-job?


6. Tell me about a time where you were required to work with a difficult person (i.e. client, co-worker, manager, etc.). How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?


7. If you were given a task to complete in an unrealistic time frame, what would you do?


8. If someone came to you with an enthusiastic, yet unrealistic request, how would you handle it?


9. Why are you looking to leave your current position?


10. What do you want to get out of your next job?


11. Tell me about the best manager you ever had? Now tell me about the worst?


12. What are the three most valuable things you’ve learned while working in your current position?


13. What was the biggest mistake you’ve made on a job? How did you handle the failure?


14. What do you feel makes you successful in your current role? Give an example to support your success.


15. What do you think makes a company good to work for? What do you like about your current company? What could be better?


16. Do you prefer working alone or in teams? Give examples of how you have worked successfully both alone and in a team? What do you attribute your success to?


17. What are your own business philosophies - what do you feel must be present in a successful business?


18. What skills are you looking to develop in your next job? Why?

Behavioral interview questions - uncomfortable question again

Behavioral interview questions are uncomfortable. I've preached that over again on this blog. The more comfortable you get answering them, the better you'll be able to handle the unexpected.

How would you answer this question: Tell me about an objective in your last position that you failed to meet, and why.

No one wants to admit to failure. Pick one that was not essential to your job. Use your STAR (situation, task, action, result).

It is good to add what you learned from this example, and what you would differently the next time, to ensure that you did meet the objective or quickly resolve the problem.

Sample Behavioral Interview response

Continuing on with our examples, here is another behavioral interview response. Here is the question. Some employers may want to examine your capacity for making good judgement calls, how you went through a logical process to make a decision (examining all the relevant facts, for example,) before taking an action. Work, after all, can require more than sitting at a cubicle and doing a series of set tasks. So here's what they could ask you:


Tell me about a time that you had to use your judgment and make a decision in your previous job

This behavioral interview respons could go something like this:

" When I was in charge of ordering supplies for the organization". (Situation)
"I had to decide whether I was going to continue ordering supplies, a month at a time, or buy six month's supply and get a volume discount.(Task)

"What I found from my research, was that ordering six month's supplies would result in a huge savings, and also keep us insulated from price increases. We also tended to have a fairly steady pattern of usage from month to month so it was easy to predict what our needs would be."(Action)

"Indeed I was correct. Prices did go up and we ended up saving money on our office supplies purchase". (Result).

Sample answer to a behavioral interview question - Part 2

Blog readers like samples. That much I've learned in a year of blogging. So here for your edification is another sample answer to a behavioral interview questions.

This one comes from real life. I had been interviewed for a teaching job by a group sitting around a board table. One interviewer asked: "Tell us about a time where something went wrong in the classroom and what you did about it".

Well that threw me a loop. Like most people, I have a scripted set of answers that extol my strong and most saleable skills. But, "something going wrong? So, I thought about it. The Interviewer continued..."we've all had it happen.." So that encourage me. And here is the answer I gave.

Situation: I told the interviewers about my first teaching assignment where I had a group of office administrative students, with whom I was struggling in class.

Task: I had to creat lessons to meet course requirements in grammar and writing, (but obviously there was something I wasn't getting).

Action: After reflecting on the situation, I realized I hadn't carefully assessed this group of learning, and used approaches that didn't resonate with their learning style.

Result: I changed the the lesson plan to less "lecturing" and more hands-on tasks. It worked better.

What won my interviewers over was that I had learned from the experience and that I did find an approach that worked. So, if you did mess up ( and we all do), be sure to convey how you learn from your experiences. We are all works in progress.

Sample answer to behavioral interview questions-Part 1

It is said that you can't really memorize a sample answer to behavioral interview questions. But looking at a possible answer can still help you think quickly on your feet. Take the following question:

Describe a difficult problem you had to sort out in your last job. Uncomfotable? Yes. It is asking you to describe how you problem-solved your way out of that. That is the key. When you hear the question then, ask yourself what the interviewer is really asking.

So I don't have a sample answer to this behavioral interview question for you but here are some tips:

Use your STAR (situation, task, action, result)
Relate anecdotes about how you identified the problem, then gathered information and selected the best solution.

You could start something like this:

"At one time when we had a lot of complaints about late deliveries'... (Situation)
"I held meetings with employees in the delivery department and found that some of the inventory was not arriving on time..." (Task)

"I looked into this further and discovered
I investigated and found that requests for new inventory were not been processed fast enough. The backlog was in the orders department as they were not following up adequately with the suppliers. A system for regular follow up was quickly implemented. (Action)

This resolved our stock problems and the delivery staff were able to meet their deadlines." (Result)

Tips for behavioral interviews

Behavioral Interview Tips

Author:

Sanjay

Positive Approach
You must always remember that a positive approach is absolutely essential in all the matters we undertake, particularly with reference to going for job interviews. People often forget that a healthy attitude in what we attempt to do would add to the success of the venture. A negative outlook, a defeatist mentality often would doom the attempt. We are not suggesting that there are any mysterious forces governing the events. But what we do know is that pessimism does not go hand in hand with a healthy attitude. An optimistic approach undoubtedly adds to the vigor with which we pursue a course of action.

Behavioral Interviews
Behavioral interviews are catching up fast in the present day scenario. Companies like AT&T have been conducting behavioral interviews from past 15 years. The reason behind this shift is that an employee\'s future behavior can be predicted. The company, by performing psychoanalysis of the candidate can understand his behavioral patterns. They generally look for qualities like flexibility, oral and written interaction, management, analytical reasoning, decision making, entrepreneurship, enterprise, veracity, prudence, leadership, technical knowledge, risk taking capabilities amongst other features.
Such interviews can envisage 55of the candidate\'s on-the-job behavior whereas only 10can be foretold by conventional ways of interviewing.

What Do The Companies Look For?
The employers seek for the applicant\'s experiences, knowledge and conduct so as to ascertain his or hers aptitude for accomplishments. The company looks for and detects professional skills, performances, education and intelligence that are a requisite of the job profile. Some traits that all employers search for are analytical assessments, urge of initiation, desire to learn, and desire to travel, self confidence, teamwork and joint efforts and most importantly professionalism. The employers then target very precise question like describe…..., state…. etc. Whatever the case may be, you have to be totally prepared for any kind of question that is thrown at you.

Some Questions Asked During Behavioral Interviews:
Elucidate a circumstance in which you were capable of influencing someone successfully to perceive things your way?
Describe a phase when you were confronted with a demanding situation that revealed your management skills?
State an exclusive instance of a time when you utilized fine wisdom and logic in resolving a crisis.
Give a case in point of a time when you established an aim and were capable of achieving it.
Relate an instance when you had to exploit your presentation skills to manipulate someone\'s point of view.

Some More Questions:
Talk about an essential document that you were supposed to finalize.
Speak about an instance when you had to prioritize your assignments amongst a whole lot.
Give an example of time when you were required to make decisions within seconds.
How do you usually react to a controversial situation? State an example.
There are times when people are not fond of you. Have you ever been able to effectively interact with such people?
Any challenging decisions you have made till now?
Talk about the times when you had been unsuccessful.

The Flow of Energy
Answer to above queries lie in the flow of energy which may be described as a force which sustains and induces a particular work to be accomplished. When you are filled with a positive approach, there is this energy flow of enthusiasm which brightens the chances of victory. There is no magic in it. The fact that you are positive gives you an additional feeling of security, well-being and ability to put forth the best in the venture. This flow would reverse or even be sapped if you have self-doubt, negative thinking and a feeling of despair even before you undertake the work. Emotions do have their own contribution to make in the endeavors and you should be full of positive buoyancy.

Preparing for Behavioral Interviews
Best way to prepare for such interviews is that you should use as many examples as possible. Remember your experiences from college days, school days, professional days, school projects, extra-curricular activities, team-work, even use your hobbies to explain the positive side of your actions. Always enumerate your findings. It makes an impression on the employers. Many interviewers ask questions about your downbeat incidents. Answer them but relate such incidents that will demonstrate your positive outcomes. Put forward those experiences that exhibit your best behavior. Present lots of examples. 50of the time, you should focus on amplifying your achievements and targets.

During the Behavioral Interviews
Go through your resume just before appearing for an interview. This will freshen your memory and you will remember the achievements that you have jotted down in the resume. While facing an interview, concentrate on each and every question. Remember and reply according to your preparation and aptly relate your preferred behavior response. Same examples can be applied to diverse situations. Try to speak of those incidents that have recently occurred with you. If you are absolutely new to professional atmosphere, you can relate cases from your college life or school life. Have confidence and you will fly through it.

A Balanced Outlook, Much Sought After Virtue
You have come up to the level of job-seeking. That is to say, you have received your educational and other general attainments which should help you to launch your career. This is no easy task. There are a number of choices. Naturally, you ponder over various options and choose the one that appeal to your talents and temperament. At the same time you must make conscious efforts to improve the core of your disciplined approach to life and work. A balanced outlook in everything you undertake is a must. There must be proper proportion in work, recreation or whatever you undertake to do.

Are you looking to find a job in India? A job portal is an important link between employers and job seekers. Visit www.JobSitesIndia.com for most popular and top Indian job sites.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/career-management-articles/behavioral-interview-tips-2899884.html

About the Author

Sanjay is one of the leading writers of India, who writes on website content, news articles, and technical articles on various topics.

Difficult behavioral interview questions: how to answer them

The most difficulast behavioral interview questions force you to look at times where things went wrong, and how you handled that situation. Certainly it is easier to answer the questions where we triumphed with a certain amount of bravado and confidence but what about the times where it didn't go so well? I have found it is important to be honest. Use the STAR technique. But also add some information about what you learned, indeed how you would do things better. Try your hand at some of these:

1. Describe the most significant or creative presentation that you have had to complete.
2. Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual may not have personally liked you (or vice versa).
3. Sometimes it's easy to get in "over your head." Describe a situation where you had to request help or assistance on a project or assignment.
4. Describe a situation where others you were working with on a project disagreed with your ideas. What did you do?
5. Describe a situation in which you found that your results were not up to your professor's or supervisor's expectations. What happened? What action did you take?
6. Tell of a time when you worked with a colleague who was not completing his or her share of the work. Who, if anyone, did you tell or talk to about it? Did the manager take any steps to correct your colleague? Did you agree or disagree with the manager's actions?
7. Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or guide others to a compromise.
8. In a supervisory or group leader role, have you ever had to discipline or counsel an employee or group member? What was the nature of the discipline? What steps did you take? How did that make you feel? How did you prepare yourself?
9. Compare and contrast the times when you did work which was above the standard with times your work was below the standard.
10. Describe some times when you were not very satisfied or pleased with your performance. What
11. What kind of supervisor do you work best for? Provide examples.
12. Tell of the most difficult customer service experience that you have ever had to handle -- perhaps an angry or irate customer. Be specific and tell what you did and what was the outcome.
13. Give an example of when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with. Why was this person difficult? How did you handle that person?
14. Describe a situation where you found yourself dealing with someone who didn't like you. How did you handle it?

Bracing yourself for difficult behavioral interview questions will certainlty give you more dimension, and demonstrate resilience, if you can prepare for these curve balls in advance.

Behavioral Interviewing tips

This video gives good behavioral interivewing tips. The presenter walks her talk, demonstrating the Star Technique for answering questions. She also talkes about what not to do, such as being vauge or saying that you were "pretty good" instead of "great". Ultimately stories sell, andecdotes that are specific and that demonstrate your competency. It's an old rule of "show", don't "tell".

Job search new year's resolutions

This year, aside from doing my blogging and online businesses, I am also on a work search as I reshape my own career. Here are some new year's resolutions for every job seeker to think about. The behaviorl interview is just part of the trip!


I will only apply for positions I am qualified for
I will meet (on the phone or in person) three new people a week who can help me with my job search.
I will learn to leverage such tools as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogging and other social media as part of my job search.
I will not place the burdon of my job search on another person's shoulders hoping they can get me a job. They may have information about possible openings or know someone I need to meet.
I will set up informal discussions with decision-makers/hiring managers even if they are not hiring right now. They may be hiring soon.
I will consider that my resume may not be as good as it could be and seek advice.
I will give my resume a makeover. A professional may see more than I can and give me some constructive feedback. (This is one for me especially, since I write resumes for others).

I will consider my job search to be a full time job, more important than TV, or browsing the Internet for fun.
I will build a plan for my job hunt by outlining resources to research and key people to contact. I will create a schedule, too. Milestones and goals are important.
I will enlist the support of others who care about me and who can offer good advice (instead of giving up hope).

I will keep busy if I'm unemployed. I will volutter, use my time to meet new people and offer my assistance to others who can use it.

I will keep learning in my subject matter. I will read, take online courses or self study modules or attend free lectures and trade shows.

I will exercise I will do something I like to do such as walking or cycling.


I will think about what I liked and disliked in previous jobs and develop the ultimate job description. I will use this to give my search focus