Job interviews: what an employer doesn’t need to ask

“If, when looking for a purchasing manager or a sales manager, during job interviews you ask candidates how many golf balls can fit in a Boeing, it will not be professional. You can’t ask that because the positions are completely different. However, there are managers who have prepared such questions and, by some logic, ask them to everyone. However, if the candidate has a job, which means he has something to lose, and in the interview he is asked about golf balls, he will definitely think about his choice”, warns Karolis Blaževičius, Managing Partner of Indigroup, UAB, a top-level executive search and selection firm.

He says that most of the time, during job interviews these questions are asked to surprise, but they make little sense, if only because different candidates will choose different answers, all of which will be correct, and how do you measure the depth of intelligence or suitability for a particular position?

“Everything that has already been read and copied seems like a cliché. A smart candidate who has heard similar questions before will appreciate the fact that the manager has read the question in a book. If it is one “hanging” question, that’s fine, but if it is pressured and doesn’t feel natural, then after the interview the candidate says: “They asked strange questions, but they didn’t pay attention to me,”” Mr Blaževičius points out.

Questions are not directed

However, it is useful to ask unexpected questions that are more valuable to the topic of the interview.

The main thing, according to Mr Blaževičius, is not to rehearse them in advance, because waiting for the opportunity to ask that unexpected question can lead to missing out on more important moments in the interview, which would give a better insight into the personality of the candidate.

“There are unexpected but natural questions, of course not about golf balls and Boeing. Such questions give rise to new ideas, new insights. Let’s say we try to make the provocation related to the conversation, to the topic. Because it is unprofessional to be caught up in managerial questions and arguments that are not related to the topic. In addition, candidates from different positions need to be asked different specific questions,” says Mr Blaževičius, who advises to talk to candidates about their field of activity.

Read more: vz.lt