General Interview Question Part 2

Q9. ‘What other careers are you interested in?’

If you are applying for a computer operator’s job in order to pay the rent and secretly want to be a police officer or a ballet dancer, keep that to yourself. Again, think – why is the employer interested in this question? He or she will be most impressed by the candidate who seems serious about the job on offer and about making a career in this line of work. Talk more about your interest in this work. What attracted you to
apply and why do you think you are suitable for it? Imply that your career ambitions are in this exact field. You could add that in the future you would be interested in working your way up to a position with more responsibility, or perhaps specializing in a particular area of the work.

Q10. ‘Which other organisations have you applied to workfor?’

This question has similarities to the one above. The employer does not want a candidate whom every other company has rejected. They feel their organisation is special and offering you the job represents a big investment. You want to convey the impression that you feel this particular vacancy is exactly the right one for you, and you have been saving yourself for it. I recommend that you say you are being choosy about the
companies you approach. In other words, imply that you have not found such an interesting vacancy as this before, and say why.

Q11. ‘What does equal opportunities mean to you?’

This is the most difficult question to answer and one people worry about. But, fortunately, most interviewers themselves are not too sure what the correct answer is. Think this through. Why would the employer be asking this question? The employer must be concerned with offering services or goods to the widest range of the public. They only want employees who share their interest in providing fairly and equitably to their users, clients or customers. As long as you demonstrate that you understand the importance of everyone getting the
same chances in employment and access to services, the employer will be impressed.

Many people answer: ‘Treating everyone in the same way.’ I think this answer is a little too simple. Some people with special needs may need extra help. For instance, someone with a visual impairment may need special facilities or aids in order to do their job properly. You may have some personal awareness of this subject and feel like expressing it in the interview. For instance: ‘As a woman, I know how it feels not
to be taken seriously sometimes, so I always try to make sure that I treat everyone with respect,’ or ‘When I first arrived in this country I felt like an outsider and I am keen to help those who may need more support to make full use of the services offered by this organisation.’

Q12. ‘How would you put equal opportunities into practice?’

This is often asked together with the previous question. The trick here is to think about the best answer in the light of the organisation applied to. Why has the employer decided to ask you this? It is likely that the current vacancy is with a large organisation, not-for-profit organisation or local authority which is looking for staff who will be aware of two things: first, that services need to be made available to the whole population and, second, that colleagues may need support and understanding too. Explain how you would aim to fulfil these requirements in that job both internally and externally.

Draw on past experience and think of practical steps that can be taken to achieve this, such as translations of documents into different languages or by using visual images that are representative of the client group.

Q13. ‘When have you needed to be at your most tactful in your work?’

A question asking for unusual examples of behavior can take us by surprise, so it is good to plan for a curve-ball question like this that can come out of the blue. The interviewer will be interested to see what kind of answer you come up with and will be able to gauge if exhibiting tactful behavior is something that you do regularly. It may be a very relevant question if your new team is full of prickly characters but probably means that the new job involves dealing with clients, colleagues or customers who will respond to you being tactful. Perhaps you have had experience of answering customers’ queries about what suits them in the past or have had to give advice to people that they did not want to hear. Try to think about work situations where you were able to convey sensitive information smoothly and easily. Have you ever had to give feedback to people working for you or to those in your team? Have you smoothed over awkward incidents between colleagues to keep the peace? Any of these examples would be good to include in your answer.

Q14. ‘What sort of person are you?’

This is a question that is wide open for you to sell yourself. Think about your strengths rather than your weaknesses. The list you compiled in question 23 can provide the basis for your answer. Try to think of the way you come over to other people in the work situation and describe yourself at your best. How would the people you got on best with in your last job talk about you? What would they say impressed them about you and what aspects of you do they miss now that you have moved on?

Q15. ‘How would you describe your team/management style?’

If the job you are applying for is in management, you may well be asked how you see your management style. If not in management you could still be asked what kind of a team player you are. This question invites you to analyse yourself in terms of the way that you work with other people. Do you lead from the front? How do you convince people to do what you want them to? What would be your approach to dealing
with problems in your team? If you are applying for management jobs, read some current books on being a leader to see where you fit in the range of styles described. Most people would say they consult with their team when it comes to gathering views but that sometimes they may need to make decisions that not everyone agrees with. Most of us would like to come over as firm but fair in our dealings with others. Even if you have not had much experience in managing other people, consider team experiences that you have had,
to see what role you played. What makes you think you could be a good manager? Think about the best people who have managed you. What style of management would you say they exhibited?

Q16. ‘Are you a creative person?’

Creativity is greatly prized in the workplace. Someone who can help to think of new ideas, or improve processes and reassess the old ways of doing things, can be worth their weight in gold. There are not many employers who wouldn’t like to employ creative people given the chance. Giving an example of being creative in the workplace will give you an advantage. Even if you cannot think of a work example, most of us can think of some way in which we demonstrate creative aspects of our character. Whether you can make things, play an instrument, grow things, cook or are artistic, you should be able to find some area to talk about if you are asked this question. It could be playing a sport or helping your children with their homework but you must come up with something. Have you been creative in the past? Enjoyed art when you were younger, visited galleries or the cinema? Find a way to be able to answer with a positive response.

Q17. ‘What would you say has been your biggest mistake?’

Choose your biggest mistake carefully when answering this question. Pick an example when you were able to retrieve the situation and turn the result around. We all make mistakes but you need to cite one that turned out well or at least provided you with a valuable learning experience. If you can prove that you turned the situation around, so much the better. One good example I heard was when a team lost a contract for highly profitable work because they missed the deadline for bidding for the contract. They learned a lesson, established a much tighter checking process on dates and work plans… and managed to win the contract back again the next time it was on offer. Every team in the unit benefited from the original mistake because they all used the new system and were more effective as a result.

Q18. ‘Have you made any career choices that you nowregret?’

Even if you don’t feel regretful about your career path to date, you can probably think of a time when you did not grab an opportunity that could have been better for you. Many of us stumble into our first job when perhaps we could have been more selective. It is best not to reveal that you secretly hanker after a major career change when you answer this question. The interviewer wants to feel that you are the perfect candidate for the job on offer, so anything that you can say to show that your career dreams have always been pointing in this direction, the better. Perhaps you struggled with some subjects at school or college and you might have been better off studying something that appealed to you more. You may feel that you stayed in earlier dead-end jobs too long rather than searching for a better opportunity. Try to re-evaluate your work decisions to see if you can come up with something that shows you are where you want to be right now but that you could have got there more directly had you made different choices.