Our one-day interviewing skills course is tailored for delegates who would like to gain better interviewing skills and learn how to conduct successful interviews for choosing the right employee(s). Our Interviewing course will show candidates how to; gain winning interview skills; give better interviews; be a better interviewer and learn how to interview effectively. As well as improving interviewing skills, delegates will also learn recruitment and employment law.

QUESTIONING SKILLS P5: COMPETENCE BASED QUESTIONS

The following sample questions focus on competence, and might be suitable for someone being interviewed for a junior/middle management post. (N.B. Where two or three questions are listed as one, you would use them one at a time.) These are similar in structure to behavioural questions.

Remember to define clearly what it is you want and then phrase your questions around that. The information you get in the overview section or the interview will help you to focus your questions appropriately to the candidate’s experience.

Organisational Skills

• Describe how you organise your work on a day to day basis.
• What tasks come top of your pile: what sinks to the bottom?
• What hours do you work? What factors influence volume and quality of work output?
• How do you organise the administrative parts of your job?
• How do you manage conflicting priorities?
• What objectives were you set for this year? How are they measured? What have you achieved? (What is the reason for the shortfall?)
• Give me an example of where you have had to be highly organised in order to meet a tight deadline.

Decision Making/Problem Solving

• What do you find most difficult about your job?
• Describe a major decision you have had to tackle at work recently.
• Take me through how and why you decided to tackle the problem the way you did.
• Describe any risks you have taken in your job. How did you assess them?
• Give me an example of where you have to take the initiative in order to solve a problem.

Career Commitment

• Which elements of your job put you under the most pressure? How do you cope with the pressure?
• Give an example of when you have achieved a task where it was necessary to overcome a difficult obstacle. Give an example where you have failed.

Team Working

• Describe a time when you had to help someone else in your team in order for them to complete a task on time.
• What size is your team and what are the roles within it?
• Give me an example of where you supported a team member in solving a problem.
• How do you share work amongst the team?
• How much time do you spend working alone?

People Management

• Give me an example of a difficult/demanding situation with which you have had to take charge and lead others.
• Give me an example of setting objectives for someone when reviewing their performance or handling under-performance or discipline.
• Give me an example of a problem/situation involving one of your team, where you had to make a decision. Take me through what happened and why you decided to tackle the problem the way you did. In retrospect, is there anything you would have done differently and why?
• How do you judge the performance of your staff?
• How do you ensure you communicate effectively with your team?
• What kinds of people have you found it difficult to develop working relationships with? Why? How have you handled this?

Motivation

• What aspects of your job do you most enjoy the most? Why? And least? Why?
• Why are you leaving/ thinking of leaving your current firm?
• What attracted you to this position?
• What are the important factors to you in your choice of career?
• What do you see as the potential challenges/frustrations in this career?
• How would you like to see your career developing in the future?

Communicating

This is a big area, so focus on key parts of it one at a time:

• What would you describe as your strong points as a communicator? Why? What are your limitations?
• Have you been required to give presentations as part of your job? To whom? How do you feel about them? How have you prepared for them? What feedback have you had?
• Give me an example of when someone has misinterpreted your communication? Why did it happen? In retrospect, would you change the way you communicated it?
• What type of meetings do you attend and what is your role in them? Give examples

Influencing

• Give an example of when you have had to work with someone who isn’t easy to get on with. Why was that person difficult? How did you handle the situation?
• Give an example of when you persuaded a subordinate to do something they didn’t want to do. How did you persuade them? Give an example of when you were unsuccessful. Why?
• Describe some projects or idea (not necessarily your own) that were sold or implemented successfully, primarily because of your efforts.

Interpersonal Skills

• Give me an example of when you had to deal with conflict between you and a customer/team member. What happened?
• Give me an example of where you had to negotiate a workable compromise over a work situation.
• Give me an example of where you decided to change your viewpoint as a result of decisions with another person.

Interviewing Skills Course

This course will cover the practical skills needed for successful interviewing and our reputation for effective recruitment training has been endorsed by many delegates. Those who have attended the course have described it as being productive, informative and focused. It allows delegates to understand the stages of carrying out interviews and shows them how to conduct an effective interview so that they are able to attract the best candidates and choose the best person for the job. We guarantee to deliver the best employment strategies, tips and techniques for better interviewing and recruiting skills.

Course Dates

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Who will benefit from the course?

Our course will cover the practical skills needed to make recruitment interviews productive and focused. It will allow delegates to understand the stages of the recruitment process and how to conduct an effective interview so that they are able to attract the best candidates and choose the best person for the job.

Our courses allow all staff to benefit from enhanced interviewing skills. The types of delegate we have trained previously are:

• Directors and senior managers
• Sales and fundraising staff
• Local government employees
• Managers, department heads, team leaders and supervisors
• Technical and academic team members

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