Job Interview: What questions cause you the most anxiety?

[Cyched]

If that is your company's interview team, can you set me up an interview with the middle interviewer?

I’d interview the brunette

 

[CtownCyclone]

I get a lot of feedback from interviewers and here's a few often heard comments:

If a candidate cannot identify a weakness in themselves it can show either arrogance or unwillingness to engage in self improvement.

Behavior based ( tell me about a time....) are designed to separate that while you may know how to do something but you have actually done it . ie. walk the walk vs talk the talk.

Lastly when I prep my candidates for an interview I encourage them to bring a minimum of 10 questions to ask the interviewer. This could be about the company, how the position is trained or evaluated, or could be about the hiring manager. It shows you are prepared and have done your research.

I've literally have had candidates lost jobs in an interview because they did not have questions to ask. Especially true if you are interviewing for a managerial, marketing, or sales role.


One last thought. Some interview questions are asked only to put pressure on a candidate and see how they respond.

Agree with the weakness one. Everybody's got a weakness - even Superman. If you tell me you don't have any, you're either lying to me or you have a blind spot. Either way, that's going to go against you. When answering it, be truthful (if you get the job, they WILL find out what it is anyway) but also tell how you work around it.

And don't forget to ask them questions as well! If you don't, I will think you didn't do any research and don't care.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Totally agree. I tell people to know their story. It's your story. You wrote the resume. Be relaxed and make your point. Have a conversation.

If you are comfortable with your story then there shouldn't be any "gotcha" questions.

Also. Lay off the Axe body spray or whatever stink juice you wear to the club. It's an interview, not a date.

The best interviews are the conversational ones. You can really get a feel for each other in those. Especially if you go out for dinner and drinks. That's when the truth REALLY comes out (I've seen some real winners there...).

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

Sure, it could be. Dont get me wrong, people can have bad interviews, and when another candidate does better, then you got the short end of the deal. However, I think way to many people come to job interviews to sell their skill set. Thats what your resume is for. Let the job sell you as a person.

I think its OK to have a weakness, but be creative with it. We just hired a guy whose weakness was that he thrived off of positive reinforcement, and if he didn't get it often he thinks he is doing something wrong. It was a good reminder for me to let my staff know when they are doing a good job.

Wait, that was a weakness? I'd think his weakness would be more that he didn't let his employer know that positive reinforcement and recognition helps him do his job better and more productively/efficiently. And as you said, those actions often aren't a part of our everyday work culture, unfortunately.

 

[CTTB78]

The weirdest question I've had was from a HR VP who at the end of the interview asked-- "What are you not telling us?"

I on the other hand always closed my hiring interviews with-- "Do you know who Iowa State opens their football season with?"

 

[TheHelgo]

I am more often on the side of the interviewer these days, and I can confirm what some have said on here that the interview is more of a personality and 'fit' test than a knowledge test. Of course, they have to demonstrate the ability to accomplish the job requirements, but even more important is the individual's personality / work ethic, and how the individual will mesh with the team.

A lot of the canned questions that I used to hate on both sides have already been mentioned, but one that I dislike is the question on salary. "What is your current salary with and without bonus?" It is just awkward to answer no matter how you feel about your current salary.

 

[KnappShack]

I took over a situation where a manager that reported to me would have her staff panel interview a candidate and then vote.

Knowing the knuckleheads on her staff I was shocked the company hadn't been sued

 

[CtownCyclone]

"What is your current salary with and without bonus?"

I hate this one. Because you have just told them how much they can offer you. "What are your salary requirements" is a little better, but still a sucky question, especially since (at least in my case) you haven't seen the benefits to be able to compare to what you've got already.

 

[cykee05]

I hate this one. Because you have just told them how much they can offer you. "What are your salary requirements" is a little better, but still a sucky question, especially since (at least in my case) you haven't seen the benefits to be able to compare to what you've got already.

I would normally answer this with some form of.."Negotiable based on the requirements of the position and other benefits"

 

[JP4CY]

Not anxious but one of the dumber ones is applying/interviewing/all is well, and then at the end they ask what type of salary are you expecting. You haven't gone thru their med benefits, life insurance, sick leave, vacation, flex scheduling, holidays, etc.

Luckily I've been at the same place for a long time.

 

[Clonefan32]

Reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg joke:

"At an interview I was once asked 'where do you see yourself in 5 years'? I said 'Celebrating the 5 year anniversary of you asking me this question."

 

[Knownothing]

For me, it has to be "What is your greatest strength?" or "What are your weaknesses?"

For the first one, I have a tendency to be humble to a fault. I don't perceive myself to be the best at anything, or even remarkably good. Just adequate at many things. I feel most employers I have interviewed for are unimpressed by this response.

For number 2, I feel like all of my actual weaknesses are enough to eliminate from any job considerations. For my weaknesses, although I normally just bs something else, I am perpetually late (not late-late, but like 2-3 minutes daily) and I am not a people person . I feel like it is hard to bring up any of these things without the interviewer immediately sending some sort of body signal to me that I shouldn't have said what I said.

Does anyone have any tried and true work-arounds for these questions?

I would always say make your greatest weakness and actual strength. Don't use this but for example. My greatest weakness is "I generally care to much about what I am doing", "Sometimes I just need to get over the fact that not everything can be perfect". That way your greatest weakness is actually a strength instead of a weakness.

My greatest strength is "I don't like to fail, but when I do, I learn from it and never make that same mistake.

 

[TheHelgo]

I hate this one. Because you have just told them how much they can offer you. "What are your salary requirements" is a little better, but still a sucky question, especially since (at least in my case) you haven't seen the benefits to be able to compare to what you've got already.

There are just several potential landmines with this questions. First, as you stated, they now have target that may have been less than what they initially thought for the position. Also, you may lose the job due to another candidate having a lower current salary. Finally, you've just given information to a potential peer in the industry. As a side, the interviewer cannot hide a reaction to what you tell them here, which is almost always deflating since you either get a 'surprised its so low' vibe or a 'that is way above what we were going to offer' vibe.

IMO, that issue should come out in the negotiation. Find the best candidate and then offer them a salary. If that salary doesn't work for the candidate, you can negotiate a bit or move on to the next candidate. More often than not, the company should know the range of potential salaries for a certain position.

 

[cowgirl836]

I like this question as an interviewer.
It lets me know how much the prospect has thought about the position or if they are just going through the motions.
If we listed every thing that we do in the job advertisement, it would essentially be unreadable. Also, cultures vary from institution to institution, so it helps us answer those types of questions.

I always ask that question. If you have none, I question how interested you really are. For those who struggle with what to ask, here are some easy ones -

"What is your favorite thing about working at X company or in this department?"
"Is this a newly created position or backfill?"
If backfill......what happened to the prior person?
Can you talk about how you develop your people or opportunities for career advancement within the company?

 

[Halincandenza]

Have you committed any felonies?

 

[Walden4Prez]

Interviewer: Have you ever been convicted of a felony?

Me: Convicted? No...No never convicted.

 

[BCClone]

I would always say make your greatest weakness and actual strength. Don't use this but for example. My greatest weakness is "I generally care to much about what I am doing", "Sometimes I just need to get over the fact that not everything can be perfect". That way your greatest weakness is actually a strength instead of a weakness.

My greatest strength is "I don't like to fail, but when I do, I learn from it and never make that same mistake.

I ran a place that if someone mentioned the word perfection, you ran from them quickly. It was way too fast paced to ever consider perfect results so a person who responded like that would be throwing a monkey wrench into this crazy machine.

 

[Clonefan32]

During grad school big firms used to come to campus and interview 12-15 people for maybe one open internship/job. They'd usually be at other schools too. So I always just chalked them up as good experience and never really expected anything to come of it.

There was one instance where I had about 4 in one week and by the fourth one I was sick of them. My last one was a big firm in Chicago. I get in there and within about 30 seconds I knew I had no shot. I could just tell. So I decided then and there I was just going to completely mail it in. Brutally honest and smug answers to their questions. I remember at one point them asking me if I had any experience in a certain area and I said "honestly I don't even know what that word means."

So you'd like to think this story ends with them appreciating my refreshingly honest approach. But not so much. They hired someone way smarter and better qualified. But I'll be damned if it wasn't kind of fun.

 

[Mr Janny]

I am more often on the side of the interviewer these days, and I can confirm what some have said on here that the interview is more of a personality and 'fit' test than a knowledge test. Of course, they have to demonstrate the ability to accomplish the job requirements, but even more important is the individual's personality / work ethic, and how the individual will mesh with the team.

A lot of the canned questions that I used to hate on both sides have already been mentioned, but one that I dislike is the question on salary. "What is your current salary with and without bonus?" It is just awkward to answer no matter how you feel about your current salary.

There are a growing number of states where asking that question is against the law. Iowa is not one of them yet, but a labor lawyer will advise you to get that question out of your interviews. It's better to phrase it "What salary range are you looking for?"

It's an equal pay thing. It's been successfully argued that a new company will tend to tie the salary they offer you to the salary of your old job, and if there was a pay disparity there, say on the basis of gender, then the new company might be perpetuating that disparity, even if they don't intend to. Not saying I agree with it, but it's what it is. As a result, companies are no longer advised to ask about specific pay.

 

[Knownothing]

During grad school big firms used to come to campus and interview 12-15 people for maybe one open internship/job. They'd usually be at other schools too. So I always just chalked them up as good experience and never really expected anything to come of it.

There was one instance where I had about 4 in one week and by the fourth one I was sick of them. My last one was a big firm in Chicago. I get in there and within about 30 seconds I knew I had no shot. I could just tell. So I decided then and there I was just going to completely mail it in. Brutally honest and smug answers to their questions. I remember at one point them asking me if I had any experience in a certain area and I said "honestly I don't even know what that word means."

So you'd like to think this story ends with them appreciating my refreshingly honest approach. But not so much. They hired someone way smarter and better qualified. But I'll be damned if it wasn't kind of fun.

That is awesome. I have had two interviews where I knew within 30 seconds that I was not getting the job.

1. I was interviewing for a Project Manager. The guy was asking some seriously strange questions that I had not prepared to answer. Like job specific type stuff. Not normal first interview stuff. I was lost. I walked out and said "It was nice meeting you, hope you find the right person for the job".

2. When I was young my dad ask his friend to interview me for a possible position. They sent the newest Supervisor in to interview me. He had been working there 3 days. I was like "No way they are letting this guy hire a new guy". I realized pretty quick that it was a pitty interview to satisfy my dad. That was the last time I allowed anyone to help me get a job.