101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview (16 page)

Some hiring managers consult with the group after the interview for an evaluation of your performance. Others determine their decision using group consensus. The good news is that you don’t have to worry that the subjective opinion of just one person will determine your shot at the job. If one member of the group thinks you lacked confidence or came across as arrogant, others in the group may disagree. The interviewer who leveled the criticism will have to defend her opinion to the satisfaction of the group—or be shot down herself.

A group of people is also more likely (but not guaranteed) to ask you a broader range of questions that may uncover and underline your skills and expertise. Just take your time, and treat every member of the team with the same respect and deference you would the hiring manager.

If you face a series of separate interrogations with a variety of interviewers and are hit with many of the same questions, be sure to vary your answers. Cite different projects, experiences, successes, and even failures. Otherwise, when they meet to compare notes, you’ll come off as a “Johnny One Note.”

The Stress Interview

Formal qualifications are important, but in some jobs, the emotional demands, sudden emergencies, and breakneck pace of work can be downright intimidating—not once in a while, but every day. Even a candidate who knows all the technical moves may wilt under the glare of an etiquette-challenged boss or crumble when inheriting a surrealistically compressed deadline.

When you’re interviewing for such a position, whether you’re seeking a job as a stockbroker, an air traffic controller, or a prison guard, an interviewer may feel it’s almost meaningless to determine whether you are capable of performing the job under the
best
conditions. He may well try to assess how you will do under the very
worst
conditions. And that’s where the stress interview comes in.

Anyone who has been through one of these never forgets it. A common enough question in this setting could sound gruff or rude, which is exactly how it’s supposed to sound. Rather than a pleasant,
“So, tell me about yourself,”
a stress interviewer may snarl (literally),
“So, why the hell should I hire you for anything?”

How do you know you’re facing a stress interview? Here are some techniques an interviewer may use:

He ridicules everything you say and questions why you’re even interviewing at his company.

He says nothing when you walk into the room . . . and for five minutes afterward . . . then just stares at you after you answer his first question.

She keeps you waiting past the scheduled time, and then keeps looking at her watch as you answer questions.

She stares out the window and seems to be completely uninterested in everything you have to say.

He challenges every answer, disagrees with every opinion, and interrupts you at every turn.

He doesn’t introduce himself when you walk in, just hits you with a tough question.

She takes phone calls, works on her computer, and/or eats lunch as you interview.

You may be seated in a broken chair, directly in front of a high-speed fan, or next to an open window . . . in the dead of winter.

If you are subjected to a stress interview, you may well question seeking a job with a company that utilizes such techniques. If they think insulting and belittling you during the interview are effective techniques, what’s their management philosophy—gruel at nine, thumbscrews at two?

Don’t confuse a stress interview with a
negative
interview. In the latter, the interviewer merely stresses the negative aspects of the job at every opportunity. He may even make some up:
“Would you have any problem cleaning the toilets every Saturday morning?”
or
“Is three hours of daily overtime a problem for you?”

The Case Interview

“You’re dealing with a publishing client. His printer just called and said the biggest book of the year had a typo on the spine. A bad typo. More than 100,000 books have already been printed. What should he do?”

There’s nothing quite like the terror of the hypothetical question. Especially when it is a product of the interviewer’s rich imagination. It’s your signal that you are about to undergo an increasingly popular type of interview—the case (or situational) interview. If you are seeking a job at a consulting firm, law firm, or counseling organization, you should expect to confront this type of interview.

The premise is sound: Present the candidate with situations that might, hypothetically, occur on the job, in order to gauge the degree to which he or she demonstrates the traits that will lead to success. It’s hard, if not impossible, for you to prepare for these kinds of questions beforehand, which means you have to analyze an unfamiliar problem and develop a strategy to solve it, right then and there.

What most interviewers want to see is a combination of real-world experience, inspired creativity, and the willingness to acknowledge
when more information or assistance is in order. (Many interviewers will pose hypothetical questions designed to smoke out people who find it difficult to reach out to other team members for help.) They want to understand how you approach a problem, the framework within which you seek a solution, and the thought process you utilize.

You need to devote a great deal of thought to each of these questions. Here are some tips for confronting a case interview:

Take notes on the problem that’s presented. Ask questions about the details. Be aware that not all information is pertinent to the solution. (That wily interviewer!)