Are you prepared? Tough Interview Questions

Like every good girl scout or boy scout you need to be prepared for your interview.  The typical questions that you are asked about your previous employment are a cinch. But some of the following may take some thought and preparation.

• Tell me about yourself - prepare a few sentences that gives employers a rounded look at you and your personality.  Don't get too personal or talk on and on.
• Companies want to know if you have done your research about them, so you may end up with questions like: Why do you want to work here; how can you help our company; or why do want to work in _____ field?
• Questions often come up about your weaknesses or your strengths, achievements or disappointments, biggest mistake - prepare one or two for each and how you are coping or overcoming them.
• Often interviewers will ask about previous positions, bosses or co-workers, what you liked or disliked, pet peeves - be very careful to be as positive as possible.  Do not bash, but if there were challenges between you and something at a previous job, make a simple statement and move on.
• What will your references, co-workers, subordinates, or supervisors say about you? With social media, the "checking references" and only getting dates of employment is now secondary.  The savvy employer will know how to search you on the internet and find out what they want to know about you.
• Knowing about your goals and plans are important to employers so asking about where you see yourself in x years or will you be pursuing further education or what do you really want to do in life? How have you improved yourself over the last year? What has kept you from progressing as fast as you would like?
• Then may come the thought process development questions - how would you handle x? What does success mean to you? What motivates you? How do you motivate others? Your philosophy of life, work or your field?
• Knowing how you work is important to employers - whether you are a team player or work alone, help others succeed, offer suggestions to management, lead or motivate others, or how you deal with stressful situations.
• Why did you leave your last position? This isn't a big deal if it was to take an advancement or because the company closed, but if you were fired, you need a diplomatic, yet truthful response.
• How long have you been out of work?  What have you been doing since? Are two questions that a few years ago would not have come into play.  If you have been volunteering, working with a temporary agency, or taken on more domestic engineer responsibilities yet kept active with industry organizations, this will be a bit easier to offer a response. Employers want to know that your skills are still current.
• How do you spend your spare time? They can't ask if you smoke or drink or are involved in illegal activities, but they can  often deduce from your answers whether you might fit within their corporate culture.
• Additional questions may include whether you are willing to relocate or travel, work extra hours, or considering other positions and if your employer knows you are planning to leave.
• Employers cannot ask you:
  

1. Marital status
2. Sexual orientation
3. If you belong to a union
4. If you are on public assistance
5. When did you graduate from (high school or college)
6. Do you have a heart condition? Do you have asthma or any other difficulties breathing?
7. Do you have a disability which would interfere with your ability to perform the job?
8. How many days were you sick last year?
9. Have you ever filed for workers' compensation? Have you ever been injured on the job?
10. Have you ever been treated for mental health problems?
11. What prescription drugs are you currently taking?

If you are prepared, you can answer any question and hopefully, find your way into a new position.

Important soft skill - Teamwork

TEAMWORK – Internal customer service is a great segue into how teamwork is a desirable soft skill to have. A team is a group of individuals who work together to complete a task. The team is focused on a situation or an issue to achieve a result. Learning how to work with a variety of personalities within the group is a key factor as to how effective the group performance is.

 

How the team collaborates – cooperates with each other, join forces, or work in partnership, is one of the main ways to analyze the team’s effectiveness.

• Communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. Does the team communicate in a productive fashion? Are they sharing the information so all team members can do their part to participate effectively?
• Coordination - making different people or things work together for a goal or effect. Is each team member working on one part for the good of the whole? Does the team leader know where everyone is in the process to keep the task on target? 
• Balance of contributions - is the problem of ensuring that all participants believe that they are doing equal shares or their “fair share” toward the completion of the task. No relationship is ever 50/50. At times one member of the team may be doing more than another, but as long as everyone feels that their share of the project is in proportion, it is in balance.
• Mutual support – team members provide and evaluate relevant information, share experience and knowledge, listening to ideas (brainstorm), provide understanding and establishing networks. If one member of a team is struggling with a particular portion of a project or needs to connect with a resource, someone else on the team may offer assistance or knowledge. It may be nothing more than a word of encouragement to help maintain or boost another team members’ self-confidence or self-esteem.
• Effort – The amount of energy a team member exerts to accomplish the goal. Again, this may not be a perceived equal distribution of energy. Some team members may be able to “breeze” through their portion of a task, depending upon their experience or expertise, but, is that member giving it all of their effort to meet deadlines for the rest of the group?
• Cohesion - the bonds or "glue" between members of a group. Often, you can hear people remark that “that couple has no chemistry” which can apply to a team. The old adage “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch” is representative of one team member not being cohesive with the rest. Do you do your part to be a positive active member of your team?

Once you have the team working the reason for the team is to solve a problem. To solve a problem you have to make decisions. Having a decision making process in place is essential to getting the best results in the most efficient manner. Utilizing the following or similar steps could help the process: 

• Create a constructive environment - focus on the issue not the person
• Generate good alternatives – brainstorm to obtain a number of alternatives
• Explore these alternatives - flow charts allow you to determine the paths should one alternative be selected over another.
• Choose the best alternative – not necessarily the most popular, but the best for the resolution to the situation.
• Check your decision.
• Communicate your decision, and take action.

Finally, as a member of the team are you leading by example. This doesn’t mean that you have to be the team leader, but are your actions reflective of how you would like to be treated by others?