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Helena Job Service » Job Seekers » Interviewing     

INTERVIEWING CHECKLIST

Before the Interview

  • Review the company’s website
  • Review your application materials
  • Dress up
  • Know the location of the interview.
  • Be early
  • Breathe
  • Use the rest room
  • Consider skipping coffee for a few hours prior

At the Interview

  • Greet everyone with a handshake
  • Make eye contact
  • Don’t bring any food or drinks to the interview
  • Cell phone completely off!
  • Pack light; don’t bring a ton of gear with you.
  • If you can, strike up a conversation with the interviewers. It can diffuse tensions.

During the Interview

  • Make eye contact.
  • Be complete in your answers.
  • Try to avoid verbal tics (ummm, well I, etc.)
  • Don’t fidget with pens or paper. Hands on the table or in your lap.
  • Indicate when you have finished answering a question.
  • Ask if the interviewers need more information.

After the Interview

  • Shake hands again.
  • Thank everyone for their time.
  • Have a simple question in mind if they ask if you have a question for them.  

Job Service can help you with any part of finding and applying for jobs.
We have staff available for more personal assistance as well as copiers, printers, computers, fax machines and internet access for any of your job search needs.
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Definition-A live communication (most often in person) where a potential employer asks questions of an applicant.

Purpose- So an employer can better understand the skills, abilities, education and experience can benefit the organization. It can also determine your in-person communications style.
 

Question Types

Skill, Knowledge and Experience Questions

  • Research the company and discover what questions may come.
  • Be complete in your answer.
  • How much do you know?
  • How thoroughly do you know it?
  • Where you gained that skill, knowledge or experience.

Motive and Philosophies

  • These questions partly evaluate how well you know yourself.
  • There are a list of questions at the end of this guide. Answer them and have someone you know or Job Service staff review your answers.
  • Weakness’ and Strengths
    • A weakness in one type of job is strength in another.
    • Example-The strength of being organized and turning out a highly polished and thorough product is a weakness if you were applying for a high volume cashier.
    • And the strength of thriving in a high volume, multi-tasking environment would be a weakness in a methodical, accounting environment.
    • When asked “what did you like least” about a supervisor or job, be rational, logical and describe a minor flaw. It is helpful if you are addressing the problem to make it better.

Sample Motivation and Philosophy Questions

Do you have experience in this field?

Do you prefer to work alone or with others?

In what kind of environment are you most comfortable?

What are you looking for in a position?

What are your pet peeves?

What are your top 5 weaknesses and top 5 strengths?

What did you like least or most about your last job?

What did you like least about your last supervisor?

What do you believe you bring to this job?

What do you know about the company?

What is more important to you, the money or the job?

What is your management style?

What is your training style?

What kind of people do you find it hard to work with?

What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Who else are you interviewing with?

Why are you the best candidate for this position?

Why did you leave your previous job?

Why have you been unemployed so long?

Why should I hire you?

Behavioral Questions

  • Request a story. “Tell us about a time when…..”, “Give us an example of….”
    • They are looking for an example of how you handled a situation in your past that may come up again at this job.
    • And then the interviewers compare that to how they would want their employee to handle the situation.
  • These questions are trying to understand why and how you reacted the way you did.
  • The story itself is secondary to understanding you, your role and why you made the choices you made.
  • Please see the following guide for more thorough instructions.

The basic premise behind behavioral questioning is this:  The most accurate predictor of future performance is past performance in a similar situation.  By using behavior-based questions, the employer is seeking to understand how you handled situations in the past and compare your reactions to how they would want their employee to react. 

Employers predetermine the traits necessary for the job opening. Clues about the traits they find important are located in the job announcement. These questions are generally identified when they begin with “tell us about a time” or “describe a time” You will need to tell them a story about a particular situation that relates to the question. 

One way to make sure you answer the question completely is to use the STAR Method.
 
Situation:  Where did you work, when did you work there, what you were doing, and 
                    what was the situation?

Task:  What did you want to accomplish, your goal or responsibility.

Action:  What steps did you take? How did you know to take them. Why did you make those choices

Results:  What happened in the end?

Here is an example question and how to approach the answer.

Tell me about a challenging situation when you worked to earn trust and credibility within your team by completing your share of the team's work.

An example where you were on a team, but no one seemed to want you there, you worked really hard and at the end of the day, your work was thrown out. Not a good example.
It would show that your efforts didn’t work the way you wanted them to, and, it ended badly.

Likewise, being the leader of a team where everything went smoothly and you were respected from the start would not be a good example. It wouldn’t have shown a challenge and wouldn’t have shown you had to work very hard to earn trust and credibility.

 Here is one way to answer the question.

Situation-I was hired as a telephone customer service representative for some corporation in April of 1999. I had just completed the 10 day training period and was scheduled to spend the next two weeks taking easy calls with a supervisor listening in so I could gain experience and receive feedback.  

Task-Just two days into this training, our call volume increased dramatically. Our supervisor attempted to call in additional staff with no luck. We were evaluated on the number of calls successfully answered and resolved.

Action-I felt ready to meet the challenge and asked my supervisor if I could take all calls instead of just the easy ones. They liked my initiative and agreed with me. I didn’t do this on purpose, but I happened to be in the area where all new staff were located. Others overheard my conversation with the supervisor. After I was granted permission, they all asked for the same permission. We were all allowed to receive all calls. We had the supervisor at hand for any questions from the group. We made use of our supervisor quite a bit to help our customers.

Result-The remainder of the night, we helped take the pressure off of the experienced customer service representatives. Our customers were all served in a timely fashion. Because we had stepped up to the plate in a time of need, we gained the respect and trust of the experienced customer service representatives and we all received a note of thanks from the overall area supervisors.

The points made in the story were…..

  • Willingly helps and works well with others
  • Shares roles with others on team; willing to take turns with different jobs, cross train or assist others as needed
  • Aware of and sensitive to co-worker workload and offers assistance when necessary
  • Assists and develops collaborative work efforts toward solutions which benefit the team, group or organization

I would say this answer showed very strong evidence of all points. Not all stories will display all of the behaviors listed, that’s to be expected.

There are questions about conflict with co-workers, supervisors or customers. Take a second to review your choice of stories. Sometimes, the first story you think of is the one with an unhappy ending, still makes you mad, and doesn’t show your skills in productive conflict resolution. Use a story that shows your skill in resolving the situation to a satisfactory conclusion. Conflict can mean a simple miscommunication, disagreement or proving a point of fact to someone.

Here are some sample behavioral questions to consider

TEAMWORK:

  1. Tell me about a time when you were a member of a team, what obstacles were you faced with and how did you help the team overcome them?  Please give specific examples.
  2. Tell of a time when you worked with a colleague who was not completing their share of the work.  What steps did you take to address the problem and what was the outcome?
  3. Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or guide others to a compromise.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

  1. Our company is committed to providing exceptional customer service.  Please describe a time when you provided customer service that was above and beyond what was required of you.
  2. Tell me about a time when you had an irate customer.  What was the problem?  How did you handle the situation?  What were the results?

PLANNING AND ORGANIZING:

  1. How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time?  Give examples.
  2. This position involves routine daily, weekly and monthly job duties to be performed.  While you are performing these duties, customers in person and on the telephone will interrupt you.  Describe a situation that illustrates how well you manage multiple projects or tasks.  How did you prioritize those tasks?  What steps did you take to get them all done?

COMMUNICATION:

  1. Tell of a time when your active listening skills really paid off for you.
  2. What has been your experience in giving presentations to small or large groups?  How did you prepare to make it a successful presentation?
  3. This job requires the ability to communicate with co-workers and management.  Tell me about a time when you had to communicate under difficult circumstances.
  4. In some jobs it is necessary to document various activities or write detailed reports.  Give me an example of your experience in using your written communication skills.

ADAPTABILITY:

  1. This position requires flexibility in providing quality customer service and accepting change to your job duties.  Please describe an experience that indicates your ability at being flexible, adaptable, and how you handle change.
  2. At times in a work setting, we need to compromise to make effective changes.  Tell me about a time when you felt it necessary to compromise your own immediate interest, values or beliefs for the good of the group.
  3. Tell of some situation in which you have had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had no control.  What impact did the change have on you?
  4. Describe a time when you were faced with problems or stresses at work that tested your coping skills.  What was the situation?  How did you handle it?  What were the results?

INITIATIVE:

  1. Describe some projects or ideas (not necessarily your own) that were implemented or carried out successfully primarily because of your efforts.

ANALYSIS:

  1. We can sometimes identify a small problem and fix it before it becomes a major problem.  Give an example of how you have done this?
  2. Describe a situation in which you had to collect information by asking many questions of several people.
  3. Recall a time from your work experience when your manager or supervisor was unavailable and a problem arose.  What was the nature of the problem?  How did you handle that situation?
  4. Recall a time when you were assigned what you considered to be a complex project.  Specifically, what steps did you take to prepare for and finish the project?  What one step would you have done differently if given the chance?

ABILITY TO LEARN:

  1. What tricks or techniques have you learned to make a job easier, or to make yourself more effective?  How did you learn that?

COMPUTER:

  1. Describe a project you have completed using advanced computer programs.  What features did you use and how did you use them?

SENSITIVITY:

  1. Give an example of when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with.  How did you handle this sensitive situation successfully?
  2. Describe a situation where you found yourself dealing with someone who didn’t like you.  How did you handle it?

CRITICISM:

  1. Tell us about a time when you completed a task and your supervisor or co-worker criticized the quality of your work.  How did you handle the situation and what was the outcome?

SUPERVISORY:

  1. This position will be responsible for supervising up to 10 seasonal employees and volunteers.  Please describe a time when you had to supervise multiple employees.
  2. This position will require scheduling, accurate record keeping and the ability to prioritize work to be performed.  Please describe your experience in doing similar activities.
  3. Tell me about a time when a person you were supervising was not satisfactorily performing the job.  Please give me specific examples, which include:  what was the behavior/situation, how did you approach the employee, and what were the results?

MISCELLEANEOUS:

  1. Give an example of an important goal you had to set and tell me about your progress in reaching that goal.
  2. Describe the most creative project (paid or unpaid) you have completed.  What obstacles were you faced with, how did you overcome them, and what were the results?
  3. Describe a situation in which you found that your results were not up to your supervisor’s expectations.  What happened?  What action did you take?
  4. This position will require editing and proofreading prior to your information being published.  Please give specific examples of your editing and proof reading experience.

For samples of Behavioral Questions and how your answers are being evaluated, visit http://hr.mt.gov/content/hrpp/docs/hrpp/CompetencyCh04aStateModel.doc in Microsoft Word

or http://wsd.dli.mt.gov/local/helena/CompetencyCh04aStateModel.pdf in Adobe Acrobat