Hiring Technical People

Top Ten Questions… Maybe

October 15th, 2003

Here’s a list of the top ten questions interviewers ask. (How do they know??) I really like the way these questions are framed in behavior-description style.I have a nit to pick with question 2: What did you like best and least about your previous job? I don’t think that’s a question about administrative and management skills — unless a manager answers the question that way. It is a technique to discover what the person thinks they enjoy (and possibly excels at) in their previous job.One interviewer asked me that question once, and what I wanted to say was I liked the work best and my manager the least. I knew that wasn’t a good answer, so I said that I really enjoyed the work and distracted the interviewer with several stories of the work. Luckily, the interviewer wasn’t too savvy, so he never asked me what I liked the least :-)This is a great question to practice those stories.Interviewers, make sure you listen to what’s not said in answer to this question. Candidates, think about the pieces of your job and your interactions with others. Then decide how you want to answer this question.

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