QUESTIONS WITHOUT RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS
There are some interview questions that don’t have a right – or a wrong – answer.
There are three different types of these questions:
- Hypothetical questions
- Open ended questions
- Behavioural questions
– Hypothetical interview questions
Hypothetical questions like, “How would you calculate the amount of toilet paper required to span the state of New Jersey?” are designed to reveal how you think and reason.
There will be no correct answer, but interviewers will be evaluating the quality of your logical analysis. Start by asking questions to gather as much information as possible from the interviewer in order to clarify the problem. For instance, in the example above you might ask if they would like the measurement to be north to south or east to west.
Then share your thought process in addressing the problem. This might include how you would gather the information, which you will need in order to make a calculation or solve the problem as well as the actual method you would use for your calculation.
For the example above, you might state that you would check with geographic resources on New Jersey to determine the length (or width) of the state in miles. You would then determine the length of the toilet tissue in the average roll. You would then convert the length of the state in miles to feet and divide that number by the average number of feet in a roll of toilet tissue to determine the number of rolls required to span the state.
– Open-ended interview questions
Open-ended questions like “Why should we hire you?” or “Describe yourself” also have no right answer. You should capitalise on these opportunities by sharing your most compelling assets with the employer.
Prepare for open-ended questions by assessing the requirements for your target job. Make a list of your assets (like skills, knowledge, personal qualities, certifications, experiences), which match the key job requirements. For each relevant asset, think of an example of how you have applied that strength to meet a challenge, solve a problem or add value to an organisation.
– Behavioural interview questions
Behavioural questions are designed to determine if you have the right skills, attitudes or qualities to succeed in a specific job. These types of queries will often contain a lead phrase like “Give me an example of when you”
Candidates will answer differently based on their own experience. Though there will be no one right answer, the best possible answer will be one which clearly references specific instances where the behaviour or skill was in evidence.
The best approach is to:
- Describe a situation or challenge which you encountered
- Relate how you intervened, referencing the skills or behaviour in question
- Describe the outcome, hopefully how you generated some positive result or outcome
Of course, it will be hard to prepare in advance for all possible behavioural questions. However, if you analyse the requirements of your target job, you can anticipate many of the qualities that employers will target with behavioural questions.
In addition, if you review each of your resume citations and think of your successes in each role and the strengths which enabled you to succeed, you will be ready to respond with specifics to many behavioural questions.
What is a behavioural interview? Behavioural based interviewing is interviewing based on discovering how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. The logic is that how you behaved in the past will predict how you will behave in the future i.e. past performance predicts future performance.