George Bradt wrote in Forbes Magazine (2011) that there are only three true job interview questions.

1. Can you do the job?

2. Will you love the job?

3. Can we tolerate working with you?

He argued that every question that an interviewer asks should be a subset of in-depth follow up to one of these three key questions.

Let us try to understand each of the above questions put forth by him. It is very important for both the interviewer and interviewee to identify the answers for these questions.

The first question “Can you do the job?” represents the area of STRENGTHS.

The following questions would form a sub-set of the above question:

· What are your technical skills?

· What are your strengths?

· Your achievements in technical skills?

· Past experience in the relevant discipline?

· What are you good at?

· Questions on General Awareness

· Give us three examples of the types of problems you like to solve.

· Examples to demonstrate your leadership skills

The second question “Will you love the job?” represents the MOTIVATION.

The following questions would form a sub-set of the above question:

· What is your career goal?

· Why do you need this job?

· What kind of positive change could you bring in?

· To what extent you think you could be innovative in this job?

· What motivates you?

· How would you like me to tell you you’re doing a great job?

· Do you set performance standards for yourself, and if so, how?

· Give us an example of when you were successful in identifying and developing business opportunities outside existing business.

· When scheduling your time, how do you determine what constitutes a priority?

The third question “Can we tolerate working with you?” represents the ORGANISATIONAL FIT.

The following questions would form a sub-set of the above question:

· What makes you happy?

· What’s your value system?

· What is a ‘blind spot’ in our business and how would you implement improvement?

· What do you think you are best in the world at?

· Tell me about a time when you have had to communicate an unpopular management decision to your team. How did you deliver this information?

· What management style do you find works best for you?

· Give me an example of a time when your ideas were strongly opposed in a discussion. How did you react?

· How would your coworkers describe your work style and contributions in your former job?

· What are the three to five expectations that you have of senior leaders in an organization where you will work successfully?

Reference:

http://goo.gl/XL9ze

Balaji.M

Faculty Member – Operations Area

Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai.