The other day I posted a few
dumb interview answers. Well now its time for the opposite:
great interview answers.
Not everyone who replied to my request gave a good one but here are my favorites.
Kate Sutter wrote:
When interviewing for positions that have a lot of customer interaction I typically ask the candidate "Is the customer always right?" The typical (canned) answer is yes. I had one candidate however, who said "No. But it is my job to make them feel like they are." I made him an offer immediately!
Stacy Evans wrote:
While I was still in the restaurant business, a woman said I gave her the best answer in ten years.
She asked me "what do you do if your co-workers are lagging behind in order for them to pick up the pace.?"
Most people say something similar to "I try to the help them out or ask them to pick up the pace."
I said, "I just keep my pace and do what I have to do and more in order to set the bar for other co-workers because people for the most part pick up when they are falling behind when they see others doing their job correctly."
She loved that.
Dawn Boyer wrote:
The best 'interview answers' are questions about the company - turn the interview around so that the candidate is interviewing the company. The problem is most folks go into an interview without studying the company website, not looking at the structure, the market, and the product or service.
An interviewee should say at the end of the hiring manager's interview - OK, now I have some 'interview questions for you" - and then ask about:
1) The company's future - what specifically does the company have in mind for future growth and business development, AND how does this position for which I'm interviewing fit into the big picture.
2) What do employees who have left the company say about the company? What is the rate of turnover within the last one to two years? (If the manager doesn't know - they are a flop at their job - everyone should know the numbers if it's a small company, and if large, the manager should know within his department or segment, or business unit.)
3) What incentives does the company provide employees in the form of perks, benefits, training, development, tuition reimbursement, etc., to assist the employee in developing their current skills or learning new skills to adapt to the company's need for now or in the future?
4) Does the company pay for memberships to trade organizations? Does it allow short time periods off for attending trade organization meetings? Does it pay for employees to attend conventions for trade organization meetings?
5) What does the company do to build internal morale within the company employees? Does it recognize years of service? Does it provide a venue for a company picnic or holiday party?
6) Does the company have any contracts in the works that would cause the business to explode in the near future?
7) How long has the current manager / hiring interviewer worked for the company and what enticed him/her to the company, and what has kept them with the company?
Hope this is helpful - it's not so much the answers you provide - those are going to be very close to being canned, but the questions you ask back are what makes you stand out from the crowd.
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