Tell Me About What Motivates You
Youre not going to know what motivates a candidate just from reading their resume or asking about skills and experience. Its best to just ask them directly, perhaps by asking them hypothetical questions or inquiries into what motivated them in past roles.
If what drives the interviewee matches the position and your corporate culture, you have a winner.
What Interests You About This Role
Hiring managers often ask this question to ensure you understand the role and give you an opportunity to highlight your relevant skills. Study the job description carefully and compare its requirements to your skills and experience. Choose a few responsibilities you particularly enjoy or excel at and focus on those in your answer.
Example answer:While I highly valued my time at my previous company, there are no longer opportunities for growth that align with my career goals. This position fits perfectly with my skill set and how Im looking to grow in my career. Im also looking for a position at a company like yours that supports underserved communities, which is a personal passion of mine.
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What Is Double Brace Initialization
Double brace initialization is a combination of two separate process in java. There are two { braces involved in it. If you see two consecutive curly braces { in java code, it is an usage of double brace initialization.First brace is creation of an anonymous inner class.Second brace is an initialization block. When you use the initialization block for an anonymous inner class it becomes java double brace initialization.
Let us see its implementation:
/*Here we will create a list in which the elements are stored with the help of double brace initialization.*/import java.util.* public class Main} // print the list System.out.println }}
Output:
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What Are The Next Steps In Your Recruitment Process Before You Can Make An Offer
This is a good next steps question great for a candidate to ask last as it closes up the interview, Brady says.
Finally, theres the question of how many of these questions to ask. Dont ask them all!
Theres no perfect number of questions you should ask, but more than one is usually good. Aoife Brady says candidates should always ask at least two or three questions.
And if thats not enough to really find out all that you want to know, just check with the interviewer and they should be happy to tell you how many questions they have time to answer.
Do You Have Any Questions For Me
This is another classic interview question, and like the one above, you’re seeing how candidates think on their feet. The answer to this question also reveals what’s important to the candidate. Are they wondering about company culture, or compensation? Are they curious about growth potential, or learning opportunities?
A good answer to this question:
There are no right or wrong answers, but personality and communication style are important factors when considering hiring someone to join your team, and you can get a sense of these factors with their answer.
Want more interview tips? Learn about some of the real questions HubSpot’s CMO asks in marketing interviews.
If you happen to be on the other side of the interview table, you can make your resume even more appealing to potential employers by becoming a certified inbound marketing professional with HubSpot’s free . Get started here.
Originally published Aug 20, 2018 11:17:00 PM, updated April 24 2020
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How Many People Were On Your Team At Your Last Job
This is a good interview question for screening people with management positions on their resumes. The number of people on their team should match what you would expect for the position.
Reg flag: If they were in a management position and didn’t oversee the number of people you’d expect, this could be a red flag and could indicate an inflated title. For example, a Vice President of Sales who didn’t oversee any salespeople could be a bad sign.
What’s Your Management Style
Obviously this question is only applicable to people that you’re interviewing for senior or management roles.
Bad management techniques can kill company culture and employee happiness in the blink of an eye, you need to know that anyone you hire isn’t going to f*ck up the culture
Ask candidates about specific examples of times when they feel like the displayed positive a positive management style, as well as times when they got things wrong.
Good traits to look out for include a willingness to take feedback and make time for employees, a clear indicator of this are a manager running monthly one-on-one sessions with their team.
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How Would Your Boss Or Coworkers Describe You
This question is pretty much the same as what are your greatest strengths, the only difference is that it should be from the point of view from your boss or coworkers.
Here, you want to focus on your traits and achievements that youve previously been praised for .
There are at least 2 ways to answer this question:
1) Describe a specific situation where you excelled at work
Sample Answer
Theyd say Im super hard working. During my weekend-off, not one, but three of my coworkers got sick, and I had to spot for them.
The weekend was peak season in Nantucket, so the restaurant was getting seriously overwhelmed. All of a sudden, we went from being very prepared for the season, to complete panic.
Had to jump between serving, bussing, and line-cooking, but overall, managed to survive through the weekend successfully.
2) Quote a performance review
If youve previously worked in an office job, youre probably all too familiar with these.
Did your boss give you a glowing performance review? Make sure to mention it here!
Sample answer:
Well, in my last performance review in September, my boss described me as someone who takes initiative.
My position as a PR manager involves constantly keeping track of our clients brand reputation, and if something goes wrong, dealing with it as fast as possible.
In a lot of cases, you need to be very proactive – if you wait for your entire team to have a meeting on how to deal with the issue, it might already be too late.
How Do You Think Technology Advances Will Impact Your Job
New technology continues to change many IT roles. How aware of that is the candidate youre interviewing? Do they know, for example, that automated testing is a major part of DevOps, which allows for faster development cycles and quicker deployment? A candidate may talk about the automation tools they use or the challenges of working with machine learning and big data. They may also discuss emerging tech, like AI, Web3, or the Metaverse. This question is a good way to start a conversation about trends and advancements in the field, and it will also give you insight into how the candidate perceives their role over the long term.
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Go Beyond The Common Interview Questions
Yes, the job search is intimidating, but reviewing interview questions and answers in advance is one way to calm your nerves and boost your confidence. Are you looking for more ways to stand apart from the competition? Set up a free profile with Monster and we can send you career advice, workplace insights, and more job interview tips directly to your inbox. It’s a quick and easy way to stay one step ahead.
What Is The One Professional And/or Technical Skill You Would Most Like To Develop
Why employers ask this: This is about determining whether youre interested in learning and growing which can be a great quality in an employee. Employers want to find out if you have an appetite for self-development and improvement, Shepard says.
How to respond well: An answer that shows a desire to improve behaviour and continuously learn and grow is important, he says. Always offer a reason for why you want to develop a particular skill. For example, you might say youre interested in developing your photoshop skills in order to enhance your marketing ability.
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The 25 Best Interview Questions
How many golf balls can you fit in a limousine? Who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman? Who’s your favourite Disney Princess?
Some of today’s hiring managers rely on some pretty unconventional questions to identify talent.
Google’s famous interview questions have inspired a generation of interviewers who try to outsmart and confuse candidates with complex brainteasers.
This style of interviewing is going out of fashion though, and even .
It still pays to be a little creative when you’re speaking to applicants though, as you need to dig deep and ask interview questions to determine skill, cultural fit and intelligence.
With this in mind, we’ve put together a collection of 25 top interview questions that will show you whether any candidate is a fit for you.
Some of these might seem boring, but they serve a purpose. They’re the perfect way to ease candidates into the interview and get the background information you need to move up a gear.
What Are You Better At Than Most Anyone Else Whats Your Superpower And How Will You Leverage That To Make An Impact At This Company
Roli Saxena has some incredibly insightful interview questions up her sleeve. The current Chief Customer Officer at Brex has previously spoken to the Review about how she hunts for resilience and prioritization to find candidates who are well-equipped to combat burnout and overwhelm.
Another one of her favorite questions similarly straddles two qualities. By asking about their superpower and how that will specifically help them in this role, you can learn a lot about candidates self-awareness and how prepared they are, she says. If they can tailor their response to what our team is focused on and how they can add value, I know theyve done the homework both on our company, and on themselves.
Lenny Rachitsky is also a fan of asking candidates to share their superpowers. As a manager, its important to help people flex what theyre really good at, instead of just trying to improve on the areas theyre struggling with, he noted in his recent advice for handling performance reviews.
Heres what the former Airbnb product lead is specifically looking for in answers to this interview question:
Getting thoughtful and concrete. The best candidates take the time to pause and really think about it, says Rachitsky. Its a red flag for me if they jump to stock-sounding generic answers. I want them to identify something focused, not vague.
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Tell Me About The Toughest Decision You Had To Make In The Last Six Months
The goal of this question is to evaluate the candidate’s reasoning ability, problem-solving skills, judgment, and possibly even willingness to take intelligent risks.
Having no answer is a definite warning sign. Everyone makes tough decisions, regardless of their position. My daughter worked part-time as a server at a local restaurant and made difficult decisions all the time — like the best way to deal with a regular customer whose behavior constituted borderline harassment.
A good answer proves you can make a difficult analytical or reasoning-based decision — for example, wading through reams of data to determine the best solution to a problem.
A great answer proves you can make a difficult interpersonal decision, or better yet a difficult data-driven decision that includes interpersonal considerations and ramifications.
Making decisions based on data is important, but almost every decision has an impact on people as well. The best candidates naturally weigh all sides of an issue, not just the business or human side exclusively.
You Disagree With The Way Your Manager And Supervisor Say To Handle A Problem What Would You Do
Why employers ask this: Employers want to find out how you handle confrontation, Shepard explains. Are you someone who is argumentative, or do you stay silent? Or perhaps you are someone who calmly states your case and offers alternatives in a constructive way, accepting that not everyone will agree with your point of view.
How to respond well:This type of behavioural question is best answered using an example, Shepard says. He recommends working through the example like this: This was a time I didnt agree with my boss, this is how I handled it, this was the outcome and this is what I learned. Of course, its best to pick an example where the disagreement was resolved well./
Its natural to be nervous in the lead up to an interview, but preparing your answers to these common questions can help you to feel more confident and at ease, and ready to show what you can bring to the role.
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Run Through A Hypothetical Scenario
Imagine your boss, coach, or teacher gives you a group project that needs to be completed by the end of the week.
Your success at your job, on the court, or in the classroom depends solely upon completing this activity well, and it’s a great opportunity to show what you’re made of.
Seriously, think of an example in your head. Create a hypothetical situation that’s relevant to your life and where you’re at right now, in which you have three team members joining you on this project.
Now, ask yourself which role you naturally assume within your group. Do you become the organizer, leader, creative, a moderator, take a back seat, or something else entirely?
Is there a specific part of the project you’re more naturally inclined to take on? Do you like the overall planning phase, or do you prefer getting straight down to business and doing the actual legwork during the project? Do you take the initiative to assign responsibilities, or do you prefer to be given your role within the group? Do you interject if someone else starts to take over the role you want within the group?
Answering all of these questions for yourself will tell you a great deal about how you work in teams, and which strengths you’ll naturally play to. From there, you can take a look back at which soft skills help you through the process of working on a group project.
Tell Me About A Time You Had To Deal With A Difficult Client How Did You Handle It
This question may be more relevant to some roles than others, but what interviewers want to know is this: can you stay level headed in a challenging situation? Are you able to put aside your anger and frustration in order to do a professional job? What do your conflict-resolution skills look like?
A variation of this is likely to come up regardless of whether you have a customer-facing role. It may be phrased like this:
- Have you had any experience responding to unhappy clients?
- Tell us about a time you made a mistake at work.
- Tell us about a time you led a team while there was conflict.
The best way to answer this question is, again, utilising the STAR method.
Describe the situation outline the task you were responsible for talk about the action you took and why you chose to response in that way and end with the result, and perhaps a lesson you learned.
For example: In my last position as a receptionist, I received a call from an unhappy customer demanding a refund for a faulty product. However, as I worked at the corporate office, I couldnt process the refund myself that had to be done at a store level.
So, I expressed my understanding at their frustration, apologised that they had received a product that didnt work, and told them that their local store would be able to work with them to either provide a working product, or process a refund. I asked them what suburb they lived in in order to provide the phone number and address of the store closest to them.
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What Do You Find Most Challenging About Your Job
Ask this question to learn more about potential challenges in the workplace. This may be especially important if one of your interviewers is someone who will manage you directly if you receive this job. Use their response to evaluate potential organizational challenges, and discuss relevant experiences you have that may help resolve these issues.
Career Goal Questions To Ask Job Candidates:
- Why do you want this job?
- Where would you like to be in your career five years from now?
- Why should we hire you?
- Why are you leaving your present job?
- What salary are you seeking?
- Whats your salary history?
- If I were to give you the salary you requested, but let you write your job description for the next year, what would it say?
- What are you looking for in terms of career development?
- How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
- What kind of goals would you have in mind if you got this job?
Which questions do you think are most helpful when it comes to hiring new employees? Have you had better luck focusing on personality or work experience? Id love to hear your thoughts in the comments, or on Twitter
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Career Goal Interview Questions
Finally, get a sense of where your job candidate sees him or herself going in life. What is their required salary for the current position, and tentative career trajectory? What are their big-picture dreams?
Answers to these questions will reveal a lot about your interviewees longevity as an employee, and their long-range goals. If they mention that theyd like to move up within the company, that could signify that theyre ready to work hard and could potentially be built into your business as an integral, foundational memberbut what if you dont have a vacancy for them to grow into?
Again, the right answers will depend on your business and the role you are hiring for, so keep that in mind and have a sense beforehand of what the deal breakers arefor example, if you know youd rather hire someone for the long haul, and they tell you that their five-year plan involves starting up their own company within the next few years.
