Tell about yourself
In the job interview, job applicants will encounter various types of questions that serve to assess suitability for the vacant position. business-wissen.de summarized this in an article. Anyone who answers most of the questions about the ideas of the other party has a good chance of being included in the short list of candidates. Question type number one usually comes to the applicant at the beginning of the interview:
“Please take us through your CV.”
With this broad introduction to the conversation, applicants are asked to tell about themselves – but they should not go too far and always remain professional. All other questions are subcategories of open and closed questions: First, mostly open questions are asked:
“Are you planning to move for a specific reason?”
“Why should we hire you?”
“What makes you different from the other applicants?”
Questions like these prompt applicants to tell more about themselves and why they fit the company and job description. They should therefore never be answered in monosyllables. Closed questions, on the other hand, force applicants to take a clear position:
“Do you prefer to work in a team or alone?”
“What are your salary expectations?”
Here, too, job seekers should ideally justify their answer, because monosyllabic words have a repelling effect and therefore do not serve to be included in the shortlist of candidates.
Answers provide information about behavioral patterns
In the course of a job interview, questions are asked to get to know one another: there are self-assessment and stress questions that ask you to classify your own performance in a certain situation or even in the job interview itself on a scale. When answering these questions, calm and composure are required, because professional HR professionals use them to try to find out how stress-resistant, honest and capable of self-assessment applicants are:
“What are your strengths?”
“What are your weaknesses?”
“How would you rate your performance in the interview?”
“Where do you want to be in 10 years?”
A similar goal is pursued by the frequently asked triadic questions about the presumed opinion of a third party about the applicant himself:
“How would your colleagues describe your leadership style?”
Also popular in job interviews are the so-called situational questions, i.e. explicit questions about behavior in a (possibly previously mentioned) situation in the past, which can provide information about behavior in a similar situation in the future:
“How have you dealt with clients who did XY in the past?”
“How have you dealt with situations in which you had to delegate?”
The purpose of the brainteaser and estimation questions is to demonstrate the working method: “Why are manhole covers round?” probably has nothing to do with your expertise, but how you approach such a problem is indicative of how you approach other problems and is therefore worth its weight in gold for recruiters – who burst into tears when asked a question that probably not everyone knows the answer to , who is likely to react in a similar way in a job situation, many HR managers suspect.
Questions that are too personal do not need to be answered
Applicants may be asked if you are pregnant, frequently ill, or belong to a particular political party or religion. These questions are officially forbidden in the application process and do not have to be answered as it could lead to discrimination in selection. However, if you are obviously pregnant, you should inquire about possible procedures regarding maternity and parental leave during the interview.
At the end of the job interview, job applicants are allowed to quiz the interviewer – it can be helpful to jot down a few possible questions before the interview. Because although the most important thing has probably already been clarified in the interview, a lack of questions at the end of the interview can be equated with disinterest, which may lead to exclusion from the application process.
Questions learned by heart or even answers that only serve to pass the job interview are not well received by HR managers. That’s why before the interview you should only think about it a little and think about how you want to react to possible stressful questions. This way applicants can enter the interview calmly, relaxed and authentically and get to know their potential new boss.
Editorial office finanzen.net
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