Aibu to ask you to give me your best interview question?

[Iveputmyselfonthenaughtystep]

So I have two interviews this week (both for int comms roles) and I generally suck at interviews. I always get told that the interviewers liked me and thought I'd be great BUT i didn't really answer the question fully or the way they expected etc...

So I'm prepping my arse off writing STAR stories and trying to think about what they might ask me. So WIBU to ask you to throw me the question you dread at interview? (Or if you interview others, the one you love to ask)
I've already spent most of today writing up a presentation I have to give and I'm getting the collywobbles now...

Does the role involve management?

(line management, I mean)

I have both interviewed people and am interviewed a lot (when we pitch for projects) and the one tip I would give is to know as much as humanly possible about the situation, projects, people etc relevant to the role. I am always impressed by people who have done their research and it seems to impress others when I do it. Try to get comfortable with the details and talk about them as naturally as possible when you're answering the questions

So for example: tell me about a time when you had to deal with a negative reaction from the public
Well in 20x I had to deal with x reaction after x happened. I know there was a similar situation here and I was impressed by the way in which X did Y and I learned a lot from how it was dealt with. When I dealt with my situation I found that tactics that worked were a, b and c and I think my experience in D would be very useful when I deal with [something specific in the department who's interviewing you]

Sorry, was checking JD. No, no line management, only matrix management

A great example - this morning I interviewed someone who is a Very Big Deal in his industry. I mean nothing to him - he has no idea who I am and I am a nobody. He didn't need to impress me (not that sort of interview) but when we were chatting at the start he had clearly looked up the company I was working with, he knew where we were located, he talked about how he was close by etc. It's such a simple thing that gives a great impression - it shows the person is interested, builds an instant connection, breaks the ice - does loads of heavy lifting in terms of making an impression.

Thanks DailyCarbuncle, it's often harder with internal comms to find that kind of stuff out, but I do meet every one of their person specs and a couple of the thing they asked for (experience of working with volunteers, going through organisational change) are potentially things to focus on.

Just need to think of some STAR stories based on those...

Don't be afraid to say the really basic stuff, or to talk for a few minutes for each answer.

I've had candidates skip saying the really obvious things in an effort to sound special and impressive I think - which is difficult because we can only mark people on what they actually say, and can't prompt them.

That's a really good tip actually. I have ADHD and under pressure I can get my thoughts all muddled up so I know I rush, but that actually makes it worse. I need to stick up post it's round my monitor telling me to breathe I think!

A tip I would give is don’t be afraid to pause for a moment to think of an answer that really fits the question being asked. As an interviewee, the pause feels so long but it’s much better to take a few seconds to think carefully about it and then answer properly rather than just come out with a rehearsed answer that doesn’t quite fit or waffle in order to stall.

My friend went for an interview and when asked if she had any questions one of the ones she asked was
"what do you like about working for this company"?
I thought that was a pretty cool question to ask

I can't give you my best but I'll give you my most common ones. I've had 6 interviews in the last few months. Ive had these on pretty much every one.

-what would your manager say about you. (hate this one, me and my manager did not get along)

• Do you understand what this role about and explain?
• Tell me about yourself.
• what motivates you?
• how do you keep organised.

• I've also had whats your biggest achievement.
• what would be the biggest difficulties of the role.

I've been applying for office admin based, business support roles.

My advice is to write down a bunch of scenarios and headline them under different topics that could cover interview questions such as -
scenario 1 - could be an example of managing project, keeping organised
Scenario 2 - customer service, building relationships, being helpful

Hope that helps.

You can also say at the beginning, "I've made some notes and might look at them sometimes to make sure I've told you everything I wanted to, I hope that's okay."

(I mean, not perhaps "reading from a piece of paper", but bullets to prompt you.)

Agree knowing their business/output/products is really important. I interviewed people for a job recently and it was alarming that half of them clearly hadn't got a clue or done any research (very easy, almost harder not to I'd have thought). Often candidates are so worried about themselves they forget about the job/the interviewers, I reckon.

I'd also say if you don't get this one, ask for feedback that's more specific. Being told you "didn't really answer the question fully or the way they expected" isn't much help is it! You need to know what else you could have said to answer properly, or what they were expecting.

I don't know wht kind of job you're going for but usually interview questions now are designed for you to show off a particular skill. Try to work out which it is and refer to it a lot. For example if you're asked "how would you balance X and Y responsibilities" they want you to talk about ORGANISATION and how you prioritise, make sure you're on top of everything etc. So when you're prepping your STAR answers, try to talk about that stuff and mention organisation as well as the specific Q they asked.

I interview quite a lot and one of the things I’m really interested in is whether people can reflect and genuinely learn from things that have gone wrong.
Doesn’t mean a mistake has been made (could have been but that’s almost incidental), it’s about what could be/could have been done differently and the impact that might have. If you’ve got examples of putting that learning into practice so much the better.

You can also say at the beginning, "I've made some notes and might look at them sometimes to make sure I've told you everything I wanted to, I hope that's okay.
I also have a pen and paper in front of me. As I am answering a question something may pop into my head about a previously answered question. I jot down one word as a reminder.
Later I come back to it. I say something like ' Your second question asked what expierence I had in ...........(whatever), I would like add a little more information. ( and then answer the question some more)

The inteviews I go for usually mark you on what you have said so if you go back it's not an issue.

I know it is easy to be so nervous but I now take the view that it is a two way street. I am seeing if I actually want to work for them and if they are a good fit for me. That has changed my outlook and consequently made me relax a lot more.

And agree interest in the role and the organisation, and any challenges the organisation/sector faces.
Different/innovative internal comms or engagement methods?
How you test whether the comms met the mark?
Anything in company culture you can find out can help shape your thinking around answers.
What does the employee demographic look like?how does that change your approach?
Just some suggestions to think about. Good luck!

I am interviewing a lot at the moment. Typical questions I'd ask would be:

• what's your understanding of the role you applied for
• how are you measured in your current role? how do you perform against it?
• can you tell me about a time you had a disagreement with a coworker and what did you do?
• what's the best feedback you ever received? what did you do with it?
• describe a specific example of what have you done to grow and develop in your current job.

Oh and lastly, it sounds like just something people say, but remember, you are assessing them too. Try to get a feel for the organisation to see if you think you’ll enjoy working there. It can be quite intangible but often your instinct is right.

I had one interview years ago where I was asked what my greatest weaknesses were. Before even thinking, I blurted out " probably red wine and chocolate"!
One of the two interviewers ( one man, one woman ) answered "well, that sounds familiar, you'll fit in here alright".
I got the job, and she was my boss!

Make sure you have a clear response to being asked why this specific role, with this particular company at this stage in your career.

Thank you so much everyone. Had first interview today and got a lot of positive responses. Managed to drag in a couple of star stories I'd prepped and they really liked when I asked why they liked working there, so thanks for that tip!
If only this was a permanent position I'd be just as keen on it as I am on tomorrow's, because the culture and attitude sounded like a great place to work.

@CrystalBuddha

My friend went for an interview and when asked if she had any questions one of the ones she asked was "what do you like about working for this company"? I thought that was a pretty cool question to ask

That's always the one I use too!

Had three interviews now. Been offered one, waiting to hear back from two. Am staving off the offer for now as it's FTC for 9 months and the one I really want is perm, but it's positive so far.

Hate the wait though. Early this week, they said. It's now firmly into midweek and nothing!

But the "what do you like about working here" has had much positive feedback, so thanks!

Tell me about yourself is always worth prepping for! Usually in the form of STAR too I.e during my career I’ve done x,yz (summary) currently I lead x, y, z (into some detail) and these are some results I’ve driven.