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What awaits you at the interview or 10 tricky questions of the recruiter . In it, we will talk about common questions that sometimes baffle beginners (and not only beginners) applicants. Please note that this is not a technical interview, but the very first conversation with an HR specialist.
During the interview, you plan to talk about education, work experience, responsibilities and career growth, but instead they ask you to draw a little man, tell a joke, solve a logical problem, and at the end of the interview they want to know how many fishing rods will fit into the truck. Your indignation is well founded. You have been psychologically tested. Tricky questions are divided into two main groups.
The first is questions that provoke stress.This category includes supposed information about your previous successes, family composition, where your parents worked, and so on. These questions help to catch the interlocutor and identify inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Of course, the employer represented by the recruiter is quite able to carefully read your profile and learn almost everything from there. However, to see your reaction to him is more important than the data about you. In this case, you must be as honest as possible without unnecessary emotions.
Another group of questions is aimed at revealing your erudition, sense of humor, eloquence and logic, ability to respond quickly and present yourself. Unlike the first category, these questions do not put you in a stressful state and carry practical significance. The recruiter's imagination is sometimes limitless, so it is difficult to specifically identify the topics of the questions of the second group. Unexpected moments and abrupt transitions from the official part of the interview to curious provocations. In a state of stress, you unwittingly give much more information than you initially would like. Let's find out how to answer the most popular questions of the first category.
1. Tell us about yourself
This simple question often confuses the candidate. It helps to understand your priorities in life. First of all, the employer wants to know about your education and work experience. Your personal history should be kept to a minimum. However, you should be prepared to talk briefly about your personal life without details.
2. What do you do in your free time? Do you have a hobby?
This question is a logical continuation of the previous one. It helps the recruiter draw your psychological portrait and identify the suitability of the intended position. For example, a company needs an active person with strong leadership qualities and a willingness to travel. And the candidate says that he loves floriculture, home comfort and does not tolerate moving. The person may be a very good specialist, but he will not fit. The employer wants to see an active, versatile worker.
When the conversation turns to hobbies in an interview, you need to emphasize those qualities that are valuable for the proposed position. Analysts can boast of success in solving crossword puzzles, managers emphasize their leadership qualities, expressed in sports achievements, designers can boast of creative activity. Also, questions about hobbies help to assess the intellectual level of applicants, the degree of health and physical fitness (if the hobby is related to sports). Remember, if your hobby is reading books, then you should mention not only the latest bestsellers, but also professional literature.
3. Why did you quit your previous job?
The employer wants to know what happened at the previous job and what you expect from the new job. The main rule: never say nasty things about the former boss and colleagues. Your new manager does not know how things really were, but may consider you a problematic and conflicting employee. You can refer to a routine, an uncomfortable schedule, a change of leadership. But your main arguments should be that you want to become part of a stable team, have the opportunity to grow your career, work on interesting and useful projects, etc.
4. What are your shortcomings?
The answer to this question will show the employer how mature you are. Only such a person can talk about his strengths and weaknesses calmly and with self-irony. But it is important to know the measure, not to go too far. No need to joke, they say, how lazy I am. It's better to say, "Sometimes I can get so carried away that I lose track of time." The shortcomings that you attribute to yourself should in the end turn out to be useful and positive for future work: pedantry and meticulousness are good for accountants, excessive sociability for advertising agents. You can answer neutrally: "I have flaws, but they do not affect the work." Avoid long, overly explicit, detailed stories.
Another wording of this question might be: "What failures have you had in your life?" The recruiter is not as interested in the very fact of mistakes as your personal attitude to ups and downs and your ability to quickly recover and move on.
5. Tell us about your achievements
It is important for a recruiter to understand the degree of your self-esteem. Here you can talk about a successfully implemented project, advanced training, received corporate awards. The main thing is not to overdo it. But you can’t go to the other extreme - underestimating your own capabilities and abilities. An interview is not a time for being overly modest. Therefore, if you are asked if you know German, and you decide to be modest, then, most likely, HR will mark itself as “not fluent in the language” and give preference to a more confident candidate. Therefore, answer clearly and convincingly.
6. Are you looking forward to long-term cooperation with our company?
This question gives the recruiter an opportunity to understand your goals and how honest you are. Of course, you can get away from a direct answer by saying that you first need to work in the company in order to understand whether the team likes to solve interesting tasks that you will set (if you go to a management position, for example). “If everything goes well, then our cooperation with you will be long and mutually beneficial” is the ideal answer.
7. What is your desired salary level?
The employer is interested in whether the company can "buy" you. Feel free to voice the amount, which will be 10-15% more than you received in the previous place. The minimum cannot be less than your previous salary (or some additional benefit must be offered). If you are applying for a job for the first time, then study the labor market for similar offers in order to understand how much you can claim.
8. Are you ready to work with large volumes of information?
If you are asked this question, then most likely the company often works overtime. In this case, you can specify how often you have to work extra hours and how it is paid. For the same purpose, you will be asked about your marital status, do you have children and what is their age. From the answers, it will be possible to understand how stable and able-bodied an employee you are, and how often you will need sick leave, time off, vacation, etc.
9. What would you like to face in your new workplace?
What are the most embarrassing moments at work for you? This question is aimed at testing your personal qualities. Based on generally recognized values, the answer should be: lies, unprofessionalism, scandals, gossip.
10. Why are you interested in this position?
It is important for the employer to understand what exactly attracted you to the proposed position in order to determine your priorities. Focus on the fact that you would like to work in a large, prosperous company, and you have enough knowledge to be useful to her.
11. Are you ready to take the test?
Often, when considering candidates for IT positions, HR conducts only an initial interview. If your experience, skills, personal qualities match the requirements of the company, then you should be prepared for the fact that you will be asked to complete a test task. It is not a recruiter who evaluates the test, but a technical specialist of your profile, because HR is not competent to understand how technically correctly you completed it. If you successfully completed the task, you may be invited to a second interview, where either the head of the IT department or a person authorized by him will be present. Be prepared for this.
| Have you gone to interviews yet? Share in the comments tricky questions that recruiters asked you |
What to do before an interview?
During the interview, the main task of the recruiter is to form a psychological portrait of the candidate, assess his moral qualities, ambitions, career requirements, and identify the degree of interest in the proposed position. It is not always possible for a recruiter to get reliable information about a potential employee, so you need to be prepared to provide references from previous jobs. You must answer all questions without exception.
Of course, you can't predict every question, because every interview is unique. However, you must be prepared. You can browse the dedicated forums to see what you can expect. You can find testimonials from those who have already been interviewed exactly where you are going. And, good advice, you should know about the company you are going to the meeting with. Your behavior during the interview is very important. Be calm, confident, speak clearly, ask questions. Believe in yourself, you are the best candidate who understands that the interview is an integral part of the employment process. Do not go to extremes - do not be overly modest, but do not show excessive frankness, you should be positive and friendly in any situation. Perhaps your interlocutor will become your future colleague. And even if not, be sure that you will find the job of your dreams. You will succeed! Good luck with your interview!
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