Hit me with your hardest interview questions!

[Stressedgiraffe]

I have a 2nd formal interview on Monday.
So I'm going to prep over the weekend..
I really want this job to away from a toxic manager and its a promotion.
But I'm looking for your hardest/ wackiest questions you've been asked?

Anyone?

We ask one that throws most people:

tell us about a time you’ve adapted your way of working to work better with others

Why do you want to leave your current position?

What was the last book that you read?

What are your career ambitions?

I once had "what does the word "technical" mean to you? " - still no idea what they were on about. Person that gave me feedback also had no idea what they were on about. It was a bank job. I didn't get it.

Tell me about an initiative you recently implemented and its impact; ensure to include how you implemented it and how you got cynical staff members on board

what do you believe are the 3 main challenges of this job and how do you plan on overcoming them?

Put the job spec into chatGPT and ask it what the interview question should be. That is now how I prepare questions when I’m interviewing 😁

I was interviewing this week for a senior role. It was staggering how little research about us most candidates had done. The question most of them fell down on was 'Tell us what three USPs of our organisation are' (glossing over the fact you can't really have three!)

Tell me about a time you had to learn about something complicated in a short time frame.

How to implement something that isn't popular with your team

Tell us how you will drive performance.

What are your weaknesses?

All good questions. I'll prepare answers to them.
Any wierd ones? I was asked which biscuit I'd be once

Is it an internal job or external?
Rough idea of the sector/job type

A time that you failed - lie about this one

If you were an animal, what would you be???

It's a management role doing IT but not an IT company. It's not a technical role more a delivery role.

How would you calculate total sales of dog food in Bulgaria? (Problem solving, analysis and making reasonable assumptions).

When have you made a risky decision that didn’t pay off? What did you learn?

What does ‘leadership’ mean to you?

Tell me about a time you've had to have a difficult conversation with someone at work?

What did you most enjoy about your last role?

What did you like least about your previous role?

What does professionalism mean to you?

What can you do to help us to improve x ?

Tell us about your most valuable learning / training.

What have you done that you are most proud of? In or outside of work.

Tell me about a time there was conflict in a team you were part of. What happened and was it resolved.

I always ask people 'What have you seen in the news about us recently?"

The number of people it stumps is astounding. We even have a bloody "in the news" section on our website. Make sure you do a basic google/website review the morning of the interview!

What would you do if your colleague lied repeatedly on their timesheet? I had no clue how to answer it... not a clue.

If you don't get this job, what would be the reason ...?

If it was a 2nd interview I would ask you the question you answered most poorly last time.

Others I can of think of:

1. What do you think are the biggest challenges for the company st present?
2. Is there anything you think our main competitors do better than us?
3. How do you deal with change and managing resistance to it?
4. What's your attitude towards risk?
5. What has been your biggest career highlight/biggest career mistake?
6. How would you describe your management style?
7. How do colleagues who don't like you describe you? (This one threw me first time I heard it)
8. In the current climate, I would expect an ESG type question too

Describe a mistake you made, and how you rectified it.
Describe a mistake someone else made that you discovered. How did you handle that?

Thanks all. Lots of things to think about.

How would you deal with a colleague who was performing poorly in their role?

Tell us about a time you had to implement an unpopular change and how you influenced people who were reluctant to change?