Can you prepare enough for an interview? Here are examples of questions that might catch you off guard and sample answers.
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There are sayings that people like throwing around often to show that you can never prepare enough for something, for instance, it is said that you can never prepare enough for life, marriage, children and so much more. But can you prepare enough for an interview?
When you go to the internet, there are a lot of experts that guide candidates on how to go about an interview. There are also thousands of articles online that help predict the kind of questions that you’ll be asked.
These resources can make you feel well equipped for any interview. However, there are questions that you could be asked that you never anticipated. Recruiters and companies are different. Therefore, the kind of questions they ask and the evaluation they conduct will be unique to their company.
What are these unforeseen questions that you can be asked in an interview? These questions have the capacity to make you freeze and leave you scampering for an answer because you didn’t see it coming. The quagmire worsens when you’re not sure what the right answer is.
Statistics
According to Legal Jobs, interviews last between 45 minutes and 1 hour on average. Marija Lazic writes that interviews that last less than 15 minutes are mediocre ones. When the interviewer takes time, they probe the candidate further and get to know them better. This is where they throw around the generic questions that we’re all familiar with and others which could throw the interviewee off.
Findings by Legal Jobs alluded to the fact that 50% of applicants failed their interviews because they didn’t have enough knowledge of the company they were applying to. For any serious interview, they will ask questions that will test how much you know the company. And these will not just be the typical traditional questions.
When it comes to getting the right candidate for a job, HR managers also conduct behavioral interviews. A survey by LinkedIn revealed that 73% of recruiters use behavioral interviews. Many companies want to know how you would act in different scenarios.
Seed scientific says that the statistics show that managers want people who have great soft skills. These are the soft skills that they could be looking for:
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Analytical skills
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Interpersonal skills
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Listening skills
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Problem-solving skills
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Communication skills
The above statistics guide us in dissecting the following unexpected questions that you might encounter in an interview
How do you define success?
If you go for an interview, and you’re asked how you would define success, it would be very wise to take it slow and think about it. Recruiters know that you’re already prepared for generic questions such as:
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What is your weakness?
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Tell me about your strengths
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What attracted you to our company?
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Where do you see yourself in five years?
This particular question is very intuitive and provokes you to reveal your identity, your goals, and most importantly how your values align to the company values and mission. Greg Lewis of LinkedIn says that this particular question probes into a candidate’s personal vision. At the same time, it also assesses what a candidate can add to the company culture.
To get it right, Lewis recommends that you have a well-defined purpose and show how it aligns with the values of the company. There is no right or wrong answer, but the response should show motivation, drive, and a perspective that aligns with the team that you’ll be joining.
Talent acquisition expert Nimrod told me that when you encounter this question, you can also highlight your past success and validate them with numbers.
For example “During my tenure as Business Development Associate, I was able to bring more than 20 B2B clients who converted from mere leads. Out of my target of 15, I exceeded by 5. So success for me is meeting targets and exceeding them.”
Behavioral question: If you caught your colleague stealing what would you do?
This is obviously a tough question to tackle. Some would even refer to it as a trick question. It tests your values and character because you would face the challenge of being a team player and standing for integrity.
A commentator on the Business Insider magazine once encountered this question and they took a while before responding. They responded by asking what the company policy was on such matters. Then they proceeded to say that they would use the guidelines that the company has laid out on such matters.
Nimrod Kimani says that in such a case, the employer wants to know where you stand on integrity and whether you understand the hierarchy in an organization.
Therefore the best response would be to first independently investigate whether your colleague is indeed stealing or misappropriating company funds. Kimani says you should also confront the co-worker and find out why they are engaging in that nefarious behavior. Once you have established that, you can now report to your supervisor.
Nimrod adds that this question would only be asked in sensitive roles that handle sensitive issues such as accounting and finance roles
If you could compare yourself with any animal, which one would it be and why?
This is one unconventional question that could catch you off-guard. According to Hubspot, the way a candidate answers shows their innovativeness, quick-thinking, and creativity skills.
You should use this question to highlight your character, attitude towards life and also advertise your strengths. As a wildlife enthusiast, I have been able to analyze different animals and this is how I would go about that question.
“I’d be a lion because they are confident and incredibly bold. That means I wouldn’t be intimidated by challenges, problems, or big tasks. Additionally, lions hunt in prides which gives them a high success rate in the jungle. I love working in a team and collaborating to solve problems. Similar to the lion, I would leverage on my colleagues’ strength to tackle a challenging task.”
Conclusion
Statistics show that a 10% more challenging interview process leads to 2.6% higher employee satisfaction. When interviewers come up with challenging and creative ways to hire the best and smartest candidate, the employee that eventually gets hired becomes happier and more satisfied in that job in the long run.
