Interview Guide
Interviews:
- Are one of the most important components of your job search strategy
- Can be the strongest factor in the organization’s decision to hire you
- Skills can be learned with thoughtful preparation and practice
- Involve a mutual exchange of information
- Are opportunities for candidates and employers to mutually evaluate the match between the candidate’s qualifications and the organization’s needs
- Are your best opportunity to evaluate the organization
A Traditional Job Interview uses broad-based questions such as “why do you want to
work for this company,” and “tell me about your strengths and weaknesses”. Interviewing
success or failure are more often based on the ability of the job-seeker to communicate
than on truthfulness or content of answers. Employers are looking for: does the job-seeker
have the skills and abilities to perform the job; does the job-seeker possess the
enthusiasm and work ethic that the employer expects; and will the job-seeker be a
team player and fit into the organization
The Behavioral Interview is based on the theory that past performance is the best
indicator of future behavior and uses questions that probe specific past behaviors,
such as: “tell me about a time where you confronted an unexpected problem,” “tell
me about an experience when you failed to achieve a goal’” and “give me a specific
example of a time when you managed several projects at once.” Job-seekers need to
prepare for these interviews by recalling scenarios that fit the various types of
behavioral interviewing questions.
- Prior to Interview: You should have an excellent understanding of yourself and the specific job for which you are interviewing.
- Breaking the Ice: Always shake hands and introduce yourself. Relax! Be friendly and responsive to small talk.
- General Information Sharing: This is your opportunity to fill in the gaps and provide details that your resume did not. Know what characteristics about yourself that you want to stress.
- Further probing of key characteristics: The interviewer will be trying to gain a clearer understanding of your style and your potential for blending with the company/organization.
- Solicit Questions: In addition to the “excellent answers” you have given, you should have “excellent questions” for the interviewer. Ask questions that will clarify your understanding of the job and the company/organization.
- Tying it together and closing: Any loose ends are addressed and any other questions the interviewer or interviewee need answered in order to make a decision are asked here.
- Follow-up: Here is yet another opportunity to make a good impression. Always write a thank you letter right after the interview. Respect the employer’s timeline, but if you are unsure of the timeline and if you haven’t heard anything after one week, you might call to inquire as to the progress of the candidate search and ask about your current status as a candidate.
Mock Interview Questions - Contact StudentLife@nccc.edu to schedule a mock interview.
- Tell me about a time when you accomplished something significant that wouldn't have happened if you had not been there to make it happen.
- Tell me about a time when you were able to step into a situation, take charge, muster support and achieve good results.
- Describe for me a time when you may have been disappointed in your behavior.
- Tell me about a time when you had to discipline or fire a friend.
- Tell me about a time when you've had to develop leaders under you.
- Give me an example of a situation where you had to overcome major obstacles to achieve your objectives.
- Tell me about a goal that you set that took a long time to achieve or that you are still working towards.
- Tell me about a time when you won (or lost) an important contract.
- Tell me about a time when you used your political savvy to push a program through that you really believed in.
- Tell me about a situation that you had significant impact on because of your follow-through.
- Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, define key issues, and respond immediately or develop a plan that produced good results.
- If you had to do that activity over again, how would you do it differently?
- Describe for me a situation where you may have missed an obvious solution to a problem.
- Tell me about a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventative measures.
- Tell me about a time when you surmounted a major obstacle.
- Tell me about a time when you had to present a proposal to a person in authority and were able to do this successfully.
- Tell me about a situation where you had to be persuasive and sell your idea to someone else.
- Describe for me a situation where you persuaded team members to do things your way. What was the effect?
- Tell me about a time when you were tolerant of an opinion that was different from yours.
- Give me an example that would show that you've been able to develop and maintain productive relations with others, though there were differing points of view.
- Tell me about a time when you were able to motivate others to get the desired results.
- Tell me about a difficult situation with a co-worker, and how you handled it.
- Tell me about a time when you played an integral role in getting a team (or work group) back on track.
- Tell me about a time when you wrote a report that was well received. What do you attribute that to?
- Tell me about a time when you wrote a report that was not well received. What do you attribute that to?
- Tell me about a specific project or program that you were involved with that resulted in improvement in a major work area.
- Tell me about a time when you set your sights too high (or too low).
- Tell me about a situation in which you were able to find a new and better way of doing something significant.
- Tell me about a time when you were creative in solving a problem.
- Describe a time when you were able to come up with new ideas that were key to the success of some activity or project.
- Tell me about a time when you had to bring out the creativity in others.
- Tell me about a time when you had to balance competing priorities and did so successfully.
- Tell me about a time when you had to pick out the most important things in some activity and make sure those got done.
- Tell me about a time that you prioritized the elements of a complicated project.
- Tell me about a time when you got bogged down in the details of a project.
- Describe for me a time when you had to make an important decision with limited facts.
- Tell me about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision.
- Describe for me a time when you had to adapt to a difficult situation. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision.
- Tell me about a time when you hired (or fired) the wrong person.
- Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure.
- Tell me about a time when you were unable to complete a project on time.
- Tell me about a time when you had to change work mid-stream because of changing organizational priorities.
- Describe for me what you do to handle stressful situations.
- Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively.
- Tell me about a time when you did a poor job of delegating.
- Describe for me a time when you had to delegate to a person with a full workload, and how you went about doing it.
- Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer.
- Tell me about one or two customer-service related programs that you've done that you're particularly proud of.
- Tell me about a time when you made a lasting, positive impression on a customer.