Interviews: what to ask... and how not to act. Discuss...

Hi Steve,

My pet hate with interview candidates is when they refuse to admit to any mistakes or weaknesses at all. Everyone has made mistakes, everyone has weaknesses. Admit to them and then talk about what you learned from the mistake or how you overcome a weakness - that it what I am interested in.

In regard to the questions candidates should ask, I think these will really depend. Some candidates will ask questions (similar to the ones above) at the end of the interview just because they had read somewhere that that is what you should do. They can come off sounding forced and sometimes the candidate shows no real interest in the answer - eg asking about the challenges and then not going any deeper or asking follow up questions etc.

If they sound natural and the candidate is engaging with the answer then that is great and they are good questions to ask - just don't ask them because an internet article told you to!

Racism? Had that from a candidate once (completely unselfconsciously). Also one candidate (for a very junior position) rigged out in a Chanel suit (I am unfortunately not qualified to judge whether fake or real) looking down her nose at the recruiting manager, whose job involved looking after building / facilities, because she happened to be wearing jeans that day to clear out a store room. So I'd add snobbishness to the above list. And overt sexual displays, eg very low cut and/or see through tops, very short skirts combined with very high heels and associated "wriggling" of assets. Although I suppose this could count as "lack of professionalism"? Although in some places I have worked, this behaviour was advantageous so it might merit an extra category? Alternatively, we might just need to accept that for some employers, lack of professionalism in certain roles is a positive reason to recruit or promote someone...

Yes... be yourself. Follow-up questions are good, although I do recall in my distant past the sense the interviewer stops listening and just wants to shout "next!" ;)

Do I detect a hint of cynicism, Anka? ;)

I wouldn't have had a clue if she'd been wearing a 'Chanel' suit in the 1st place anyway! ;-)

But I do remember a local authority telling me at an interview that; "They were running 20 minutes late", and this was followed by, "we always end up running 20 minutes late". I did avoid the obvious question/statement as to why they simply didn't allow for that when they were doing their timings!!Q

I have a friend who trained as a fashion designer and, over many years, managed to instil a very superficial knowledge of certain iconic styles/designs - that's as far as I can go without rubbing the fabric and checking the quality of the stitching! Thinking about it now, it might have been quite funny if I had tried that :).

;)

Don't tell me that you're brilliant. You may be, but that's my conclusion to arrive at - and I'm much more likely to do so if you give me some evidence rather than assertions.

Brilliant post ;)

From my experience being on both sides these same qualities applies to the recruiters not just candidates as recruitment is two ways road