A reader writes:
I’m a current faculty graduate and final week I had my first job interview that wasn’t for a retail or meals service place. I discovered among the interviewer’s questions odd and I wished to get the opinion of somebody extra skilled. If it issues, I’m a younger lady seeking to enter a pink collar area.
After preliminary pleasantries, the interviewer opened with, “Who is your best friend?”
I used to be stunned as a result of I wasn’t anticipating one thing that non-public. I are typically a fairly non-public particular person and I don’t like sharing my private life with my coworkers. It took me a second to even consider the right way to reply the query. I lastly instructed him my roommate.
He then asked, “How would she describe you?” Again, I struggled as a result of my persona at residence is not what I carry to work. My roommate sees me at my best and worst, however a extra “real” model than the skilled particular person I carry to work. I attempted to supply him some optimistic traits that I feel she’d agree I’ve.
He then asked, “What would she tell me is your worst habit?”
Without considering, I blurted out, “Leaving my dishes in the sink too long,” as a result of I used to be getting more and more uncomfortable with the road of questioning. At this level he introduced within the supervisor who would be my direct supervisor and the questions took on a extra skilled tone.
I appreciated the supervisor I’d be working with, and the primary interviewer appeared fairly happy with my solutions (he laughed about my dish reply and mentioned his spouse would say the identical of him) however the questions have been simply so odd.
Are these typical inquiries to anticipate? How would you reply to somebody asking you about your pals and what they’d say about you?
No, these aren’t typical interview questions. Moreover, they’re dangerous questions and the mark of an interviewer who doesn’t know the right way to interview.
If I squint, I can type of see how “how would your best friend describe you?” may very well be an try to only get a higher sense of who you might be (one thing that’s not completely off-limits for a job interview, though this explicit query is nonetheless a dangerous one), however “what would your best friend say is your worst habit?” is simply a ridiculous factor to ask. The overwhelming majority of individuals’s solutions wouldn’t be related to work — it’s wildly irrelevant in case your best friend thinks you must eat out much less or provoke plans extra or be much less choosy about guys or any of the opposite potential solutions right here. Plus, it’s going to make folks uncomfortable, simply because it did you. (Also, how many individuals even know what their best buddies would say their worst habit is? I simply considered my two closest buddies and couldn’t consider a “worst habit” for both of them.)
Obviously it’s an try and get you speaking about your weaknesses, however why the hell didn’t he make it related to work by asking, “What would your manager say your worst habit is?” Or higher, “What kind of feedback have managers given you in the past, both things they saw as strengths and areas they encouraged you to grow in?” (I’ve realized a ton of fascinating stuff by asking candidates that!)
Anyway, whereas these aren’t typical interview questions, it’s not unusual to come across an interviewer who doesn’t know the right way to interview effectively and makes use of questions that appear off-base or simply throw you. You can’t put together for these as a result of there are such a lot of potentialities for bizarre, off-base issues a dangerous interviewer may land on.
What you can have are normal methods. For instance, if somebody asks you a non-work-related query that you just’d relatively not reply, you possibly can (a) make up a solution that highlights one thing you wish to reinforce in your candidacy, with out sounding clearly disingenuous or excessive, (b) give a light-hearted response that highlights that the query isn’t fitted to the context, like your reply about leaving dishes within the sink, (c) explicitly redirect it to one thing related to work (“I’m not sure my best friend would say anything relevant to work, but I’ll tell you what a close colleague would say…”), or (d) in notably egregious conditions, calmly say, “I wasn’t expecting that question. Why do you ask?” That final one is particularly fitted to interviewers who’re treading on problematic authorized territory — like asking when you’ve got children or what church you go to.
You can even anticipate you may be asked one thing about your life exterior of labor — whether or not it’s pursuits, hobbies, studying tastes, or who is aware of what — and have a couple of matters ready that you just’re snug speaking about and which you’ll be able to adapt for various questions.
It additionally helps to get actually clear in your head concerning the energy dynamics in interviews — particularly, that you just’re there to evaluate them simply as a lot as they’re assessing you, and also you don’t hand over all your personal energy when you sit down within the interview chair. I’m not saying that’s what occurred to you — there’s nothing to point that — but it surely’s actually widespread for candidates, particularly early-career candidates, to really feel like they’re simply there to be judged and the interviewer holds all the ability. Getting clear in your head that interviews are two-way streets and also you get to determine whether or not you are concerned with working with them can typically make bizarre interview questions simpler to deal with .
