How to answer hard interview question

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The right of Charlie Gibbs to be identified as the author of this work
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© 2008 Charlie Gibbs

First published in 2008
First published in electronic form 2008

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ISBN 978 1 84803 245 3

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NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good
faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted
for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular
circumstances on statements made in this book. Laws and
regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should
check the current position with the relevant authorities before
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CONTENTS
PREFACE xi
1 FINDING THAT JOB 1
Filling in your application form 2
Curricula vitae 3
2 PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW 5
Assessing yourself 6
Personal ratings and competencies 6
Levels of competence 10
Researching the organisation 31
Timing is everything 34
Planning what to wear 35
What should I take with me? 38
Outside the dragon’s den 39
3 LEGISLATION THAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO COMPLY WITH 40
Legislation affecting recruitment 40
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 41
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 41
Race Relations Act 1976 44
Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 45
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 45
Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 48
Police Act 1997 50
Employment Equality Regulations 2003 51
Data Protection Act 1998 51
The employment tribunal 51
V

4 UNDERSTANDING THE EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVE 54
Preparation 54
Conducting the interview 55
The importance of interview notes 56
5 CONDUCTING YOURSELF AT THE INTERVIEW 57
6 COMMON INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND HOW
TO ANSWER THEM 60
Questions about
your drive for achievement 60
your strategic thinking 65
your relationship building 69
your commercial awareness 73
your leadership of change 77
your leadership skills 81
your continuous improvement 86
your customer awareness 91
your decision-making skills and judgement 94
your influencing skills 97
your development of self and others 101
your teamworking skills 105
The ‘ and finally’ questions 109
7 QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK AT YOUR INTERVIEW 111
First-round interviews 111
Final-stage interview 113
8 AFTER THE INTERVIEW 115
Learning from rejection 115
Resigning from your current job 120
VI
•
HOW TO ANSWER HARD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

9 TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS 123
10 FURTHER TYPICAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 126
Drive for achievement 126
Strategic thinking 129
Relationship building 130
Commercial awareness 131
Leadership of change 133
Leadership skills 135
Continuous improvement 137
Customer awareness 140
Decision-making skills and judgement 142
Influencing skills 144
Development of self and others 147
Teamworking skills 149
Specialist knowledge 150
Appendix: The joke’s on HR 152
Index of questions 157
Index 161
CONTENTS
•
VII

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I’d like to thank all those who have directly or indirectly contributed
to this book by inspiring the questions, giving both great and terrible
answers when I’ve asked them, or have simply been supportive during
the creative process – that means you Julie Fry, to whom this book is
dedicated.

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PREFACE
We are now living in a world where changing jobs is considered a
natural thing to do. Only a generation ago, my father being a prime
example, it was common for people to clock up 20, 30, 40+ years of
service with the one organisation. Most of us cannot conceive of
remaining with the one employer for the vast majority of our working
lives. It is a combination of the increase in individual aspirations and the
nature of commerce which has brought about this change. The
consequence is that practically all of us, whether by choice or
circumstance, will be required to seek employment elsewhere and will
need to go through the whole process of job seeking, applying and then
being scrutinised in some way (the interview still being the most
common example), before we can actually spend that first pay cheque.
I will briefly cover the search and application process, however the main
thrust of this book is the employment interview itself.
It’s getting on for twenty years now that I have been fortunate enough
(some might say unfortunate enough) to be on the side of the desk
where sits that scariest of dragons: the interviewer. During that time I
have seen candidates who have inspired me to almost offer them the
job there and then and not let them leave the building until they’ve
signed a contract. I’ve seen candidates excuse themselves to go and
throw up due to nerves. I’ve seen candidates who have tried to convince
me that they were doing me the greatest favour in the world by
deigning to come for interview. I’ve seen candidates whom I’ve thought
were mute, such was their reticence. I’ve seen candidates whose
vocabulary ranged all the way from ‘yes’ to ‘no’. I’ve seen candidates
who gave me such detailed answers to my questions that I was on the
verge of losing the will to live.
XI

The sheer variation of quality in the performance of interviewees has
prompted me to distil what I’ve learned into one manageable body of
advice which, I hope, will give you the edge when it comes to getting
that job.
What follows are my tips on how to prepare for the interview itself, how
to conduct yourself at the interview and, most crucially perhaps,
examples of the kind of answers we interviewers REALLY want to hear.
These are grouped into categories known as ‘competencies’ as the
approach most modern organisations take these days is the
‘competency-focused’ interview. After all, we, as professional managers,
are trying, on behalf of our organisations to secure the services of the
most wonderful, motivated, efficient and productive employee, while
trying to show how clever we are at recruitment at the same time!
The interviewer(s) are never the enemy. They may use methods which
you think are in turn obvious, brutal or downright devious, but
remember it is all in the cause of getting the right person for the job
who will fit in because of their skill set, personality and attitude – for
cultural fit is really important in terms of the likely longevity of their
term in post. One day you may very well be sitting where they are and
I’ll bet you will be able to justify your approach for the cause!
Finally, if you have been asked a particular question in the past that
stumped you, or you are anticipating a question that I haven’t covered
in this edition, you are welcome to email me your question and I will
personally give you a considered response. Send your question to:
charlie.gibbs@live.co.uk.
I hope you will find this book useful and I wish you every success in
your chosen career.
Charlie Gibbs
XII
•
HOW TO ANSWER HARD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Chapter 1
FINDING THAT JOB
While the intention of this book is to provide you with great answers to
tough interview questions, it would be remiss of me not to at least
touch on the subject of job-hunting. After all, you either need to be
actively looking for and applying for jobs or be the subject of a
headhunting exercise before you can stun them with your carefully
crafted answers!
Job vacancies fall into two camps: those that are advertised and are
made available to the public (either the internal population of an
organisation or the public at large) and those which are sometimes
known as ‘hidden vacancies’ – those which are given to recruitment
agencies, headhunters and the like, or those which are not yet
advertised but you have made a speculative application for.
Did you know that it has been estimated that only around 15 per cent
of availa
ble vacancies are actually advertised in newspapers or magazines?
Newspaper advertising costs are verging on the prohibitive for many
organisations these days. Even small-circulation, provincial newspapers
can charge several thousands of pounds for one-off adverts in the
‘situations vacant’ section, so many employers are turning to alternative
media such as the Internet. There are many well-known job sites in the UK
such as TotalJobs.com, Reed.co.uk, Monster.co.uk etc. Most job sites will
also allow you to register your search preferences and then e-mail you
when jobs matching your selection criteria are posted.
However, many employers still like to place adverts in specialist
publications such as trade and professional magazines in the hope that
the specialist readership is more likely to elicit a greater response than
1

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