It Is All A Question Of Preparation
KNOWING what questions to expect at interview is half the battle. While anticipating exact questions is impossible you may plan ahead for what sort of questions you might be asked:
BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS
These types of questions are becoming increasingly popular and it is essential that you know how to handle and respond to them. They are designed to gain insight into how you behave and react to certain situations and how you might handle future scenarios within the new job. They require you to talk about past situations, describing how you conducted yourself and what the result was.
Examples of these types of questions are:
— Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team and achieved a positive result
— Describe a situation whereby you had to work against a strict deadline
— Describe a challenge you faced within your past job and how you handled it’
The best way to answer these questions, is to employ the STAR approach. STAR is an acronym for:
S = situation: what was the situation and when did it take place?
T = task: what was the task? And what was the objective?
A = action: what action did you take?
R = result: what happened as a result of your action?
HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS
These questions are designed to see how you can think on your feet and how you would react in a hypothetical situation.
Examples include:
— How would you handle an angry customer, who was dissatisfied with the service we offered?
— How would you handle a situation whereby you are under staffed and have a deadline to hit?
— What would you do if there was conflict between two members of your team?’
As with any question, think your answer through before speaking. The interviewer is testing your ability to think on your feet and under pressure.