AIBU to ask the toughest interview question

[Livingonachair]

What is the toughest interview question you've faced?

Mine was for a job at our sister company where I was asked what didn't I like about the company in terms of process. As I hadn't worked for that part of the company before it was basically impossible to answer as I didn't know the processes!

What salary are you currently on? What salary are you looking for?

These aren’t trick questions or trying to work out how to underpay someone. I have to ask people what their current package. If someone is currently on 80k but has applied for a job with us which is 50-60k, it’s a waste of everyone’s time if we can’t negotiate a figure that everyone’s happy with.

I generally hate interviews. In my first proper interview for a webmaster job (it was supposed to be a prank thing) I got asked what my favourite website was. This was 1998, eastern europe and I have not seen the internet before. Ever. I said Rolling stone magazine :) They must have a site, right? I actually got the job (fck know how or why) :D

As an interviewer I like to ask personal(ish) questions, because you get a lot more info about a person through directed chitchat. Eg: do you like boardgames? Yes. Which is your fav? XZ. I am a gamer, so i know what personality types tend to like those...
or
go chatting with a guy about where he lives. he moved out to the country into a house surrounded by green and massive garden. Because his partner always wanted to live in a setting like that.
This tells me he is submissive and will try to please. In some jobs that actually is bad.
other guy talked about his latest vacation. Asked him why they went to that specific place. BEcause of partner. And what types of places have they been to (eg: oh and have you seen XYZ in DDD city?)
Again, how he behaves when there is a decision to be made was crucial to the job I was hiring for. I am a strong personality and was looking for someone who will stand up and confront me. Both guys shied away from confrontation professional questions + their personal behavioral traits seemed a mismatch.

Totally agree @Dontjumptoconclusions

I dislike this question and take the view that it’s none of their business. Of course, deflecting it gracefully can be a challenge, which is what they are counting on. Cheek!

@TerribleCustomerCervix

But that will quickly become apparent once you mention what salary range you can offer.

A company can ask what someone’s looking for, sure, but the applicant’s current salary is none of their business IMHO.

@NC29

But couldn’t that actually be telling you that lots of people like to make their partners happy?

Although in fairness, I don’t think I’ve ever chosen a holiday destination or a place to live chiefly because that’s where a partner wanted to go to. Maybe I’m actually going out with one if these guys

I got asked what animal I would be in an interview for a legal PA role - I said shark (off the top of my head because they are my favourite animal) and got the job

Mine was for a teaching job. Not a question as such. I had to play 3 previously
unseen pieces of music in front of the interview panel of 7.

Talk us through a conflict you experienced at work and how you handled it. I answered too quickly and left out a crucial detail so ended up looking like the person who drove the conflict 🙈 Asked that question many times when I was interviewing people and never had a good answer. They either pretended they have never been in a workplace conflict or similar to me, came out looking like assholes 🤷🏻‍♀️

In a teaching interview I was asked to recite their school prayer.

After admitting that I didn't know it (why would I??) the follow up question was : how would you incorporate our school prayer into your lessons?

I bumbled my way through.

I got asked 'if you were a cocktail, which would you be?' for a job at a national newspaper. Can't remember what I said but I don't think I answered smoothly. I got the job and worked there for a few years. To this day have no idea why I was asked or what relevance it had to the job.

Nc29 hell if you asked me about board games I would have to say I’m far too competitive and my family refuse to play with me. The monopoly incident is still ingrained.
Never played it since.

The cocktail question- my fave is porn star martini! Take from that what you will!

The salary question is really important - dh was asked his current salary early in the process - they continues to interview him - he met several partners - probably 8 different chats and everyone was keen to give him the job - then they offered him 2/3 of the salary he was currently on - it was enormously frustrating because they had no wiggle room - could increase by a few percent but they had wasted everyone's time - they knew the salary dh was on was legit - even had they managed to pull together the extra cash for the offer - they made themselves look stupid and incompetent.
I think companies sometimes forget that the best candidates are interviewing them too - everybody should be putting their best show on - companies coming across badly in an interview is never good for recruitment - word spreads quickly.

So why don’t companies say the salary is x
Or between x and y.

I was once asked to explain a statute but the interviewer (one of a panel of 5) gave just the statute number. I said I didn't know but could look it up and tell him. It was to see how thoroughly I had done my research as the statute was related to Government Precepts (that funded the department) but not directly related to the post I was applying for.

Another interviewer started by telling me she did not tolerate fools. I told her we had that in common. Was offered role on a conditional basis, turned it down gleefully as was offered something better.

Second interview, this time with external accountant joining us as the role would require me to work with her extensively. She snorted derisively and rolled her eyes at every suggestion I made but I did have the pleasure in informing the Company why the accountancy practice was hell-bent on moving them to a new accounting system (having just migrated to it in my previous role) as they could charge them the same for providing a cheaper service. With that, I stopped the interview, explained politely that I had no intention of working with this person and left to open mouths. They were a luxury brand and seemed to think that people would be falling over themselves to work there. Again, I had another offer to fall back on.

ohhh favourite cocktail! Not sure what relevance that would have though! Maybe working out how drunk you might get at a weekend if you consumed said favourite cocktail?

Another one I’ve had before is what 3 items would you take with you to Mars. I said a rocket, spacesuit and food. I didn’t get that job!

@NC29 which industry do you recruit in?

@Bonzabaybee: if it's more than one sentence you can tell if it's because they want to avoid conflict or genuinely just want to make the other happy. Also if the person says he loves the mountains and later states that for the past 10 years he was on vacation in sunny/desert/waterfront places, that is also telling.

@emilybrontescorsett: :)

@GreenGreenGrassofSloane: software industry, design/experience area.

To be fair, I'm probably an odd one out. I drew up a psych profile of what type of person I would like to be my partner in crime in leading a small department. then factored in the ppl I line manage personalities and their needs and came up with a "profile".

There are plenty of ppl who have the knowledge and even if they fall slightly short, it can be learnt. We hired 8 months ago based on just knowledge/merit. I wasn't the main hiring person then, just sitting in.
It was a disaster. We had to let him go before end of probation. And if I went with my gut feeling and chatted with him instead of talking through his portfolio (which I can see/analyze on my own time) I would probs picked up on how he is not going to fit with me or the team. So learnt from that.

I also think that asking cocktails, animals,.... is pointless. The interviewer should have a range of things in their head and find the connection points. I always start with books (sci-fi) and boardgames. No match, then move on and find what the candidate's interests are.

@NC29 When I spoke to dh about your response - he said what about collaboration, communication, listening not overwhelming...the funny thing is dh was successful in the top four and now runs his own business but he is successful at home - where he keeps me happy with my needs(no one singularly decides on holidays) and successful at business, where he focuses on keeping his client happy, that seems to work... he was confused by your suggestion that life seemed to be full of confrontation and getting your own way - clearly he needs to deal with difficult issues when they happens but mostly he tries to ensure it doesn't!

@GreenGreenGrassofSloane

Think that’s a good point. The best negotiators and managers will concede that the hardball approach often won’t get you near as far as working with people.

Fair enough though @NC29, sounds like you knew what you were after!

So why don’t companies say the salary is x
Or between x and y.

Because sometimes an employer will be willing to pay more than y for someone with the right experience and skills.

And more often than you’d think, candidates don’t bother reading the full job description and the salary scale.

Or they’re currently getting a company car, life assurance and private health cover and we need to see if we can work that into the offer.

Honestly, whoever’s asking doesn’t give a shite what wage a random candidates on. They just want to make sure no one is wasting their time going through a lengthy and expensive recruitment process for nothing.

Not so much a difficult question, I was being interviewed by a bloke on a power trip and he asked "tell me what you are thinking right now". I told him he probably didn't want to know.

The interview ended quite quickly after that.

I don't apply for jobs where the salary range is not given. It's such a waste of time.

It's like they want you to pretend you want the job just for its own inherent transcendent properties and would do it for buttons and a slap on the back. Well, I wouldn't! I'm not spending my free time writing gobs of code and doing presentations and sitting through rounds and rounds of interviews unless the money is going to be better than what I'm already on.