Originally Posted by
The Mixmaster
I do find with some of these questions that you're just playing a big game of tick the box with the interviewer.
Of course you are! That's the whole point of an interview. Methods used in the past have been the old friendly chat with the Chief Pilot, the two-on-one interview where one plays good cop, the other bad cop, and now we have the HR driven 'Key Events' interview where they try to put you fully at ease in hope of getting the best from you.
It is all about them building up a picture of you as a potential employee in the space of 45 minutes to an hour. You could argue that the best way to get a proper picture would be to follow you round for a week or two and observe you day to day. That of course is unrealistic, so they are trying to get a snap shot in a very short space of time. They are asking about your experiences and how you dealt with things, what decisions you made, what motivations you had, what justifications you made for these decisions and what your perceptions are of the 'ideal' employee etc.
I fail to see how in 45 minutes you could get a better picture of an individual by asking something else.... your personality is described by your characteristics, your decision making style, how you react to situations, whether you choose to do 'this' or 'that', i.e your preferences. This is why they often run the personality profile test before they interview you. It is all about trying to get an overall picture of you and running the psych test on personality can give them some sort of 'scientific' idea about you which they can either re-affirm or deny through interview questioning. For instance, your profile might say that you lacked leadership qualities (compared to the 'norm group' of other current job holders). They could then ask you for an example of when you have been the leader of something. Answer that with a good SPECIFIC example or two and you may allay their fears. Be unable to come up with something, or talk in generalisations of 'how you would lead' and you will probably confirm their thoughts. You won't know the results of your profile before the interview and not all the interview questions will be about areas where you haven't shone.
You need to come across as honest and genuine, so the old addage 'just be yourself' is a good one. It doesn't mean don't prepare though, it means find out what the selection is going to entail, the sort of questions being asked at interview and think about how you would deliver your experiences in a manner which will answer their questions in a positive light and show them your best. It is not always the best candidate on paper that gets the job offer; it can often be the best prepared candidate.....
PP