Re: common interview question

Subject: Re: common interview question
From: Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 15:03:06 +0200


Like Michael said, the classic stock answers are "Sometimes I work too
hard" or "I am too much of a perfectionist" and so on. Yes, those are
stock answers. But they're also stock questions. When in Rome...

[...]

Job interviewing is a game. Learn the rules, and you'll probably win.
Don't worry about whether the rules make sense.

Also, the interviewer most likely does not expect an honest answer.

A girlfriend who worked in HR (but apart from that was really nice :-) once told me that this kind of question was more intended to test the reaction of the applicant. According to her, it was not uncommon for interviewees even for management positions to hem and haw and be unable to formulate a coherent response.

This kind of reaction may be interpreted as a sign that the applicant may have trouble functioning under stress or unexpected circumstances - something that is clearly a minus. Some others would reluctantly confide an actual weakness (such as "I have problems talking to people I don't know.") and that's a minus, too.

A 'correct' answer like "I have trouble accepting second-best results." doesn't, of course, tell you anything about the prospect's weaknesses. But you know that he or she knows about functioning smoothly in business situations, and that probably was what the question was mostly about.

Regards
Jan Henning

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Jan Henning
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Am Schlossberg 14, D-82547 Eurasburg, Germany

Phone: +49 700 0200 0700, Fax: +49 8179 9307-12
E-Mail: henning -at- r-l -dot- de, Web: www.r-l.de
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