Interview googlies that you must prepare for

Jappreet Sethi

Clearing the job interview requires dexterity in handling technical and non-technical questions with the same finesse.  it is widely believed that 90 per cent of the new hires fail due to behavioural skills, and the companies are putting a lot of emphasis on finding the right cultural fit, here are five interview questions that can throw you off the guard and reduce your chances of securing the job.

1. Have you ever failed in an assignment, done a poor job? Tell me about it

We don’t like talking about failures, more so during a job interview when a stranger is evaluating your candidature. However, your ability to discuss failure in a mature way goes a long way in showcasing your truthfulness and ability to learn from your mistakes. This question is one of the ways the interviewer wants to see if you can take calculated risks and learn from your mistakes. You should speak about a failure that doesn’t reveal any serious mistakes or unprofessional behaviour that could potentially raise red flags about your job fitment. It best to pick a project or initiative that failed due to multiple factors and not just because of you. The best answers are the ones, which subtly showcase some of your strengths.

2. Why do you believe that you would be good at this job?

This question is a bit confrontational, and the interviewer may be trying to test your patience. The best way to handle this question is by staying calm and confidently explains why you think you have what it takes to succeed if hired for the job. This question is a great opportunity for you to reiterate the key reasons as to why you're an excellent candidate.

3. Oh, you know there are many candidates for this job, why should we hire you?

One thing for sure, the interviewer isn’t demonstrating warmth or friendliness. The best way to answer this question is rephrase your key strengths or experience. The interviewer will be watching out for your confidence level while you are answering this question. They are trying to evaluate your ability to handle tough questions and situations, especially those with high stakes.

4. How is our industry evolving, what are the key trends?

Through this question, the interviewer is trying to test your knowledge of the industry and your wider ability to understand the macro trends. In case you are moving industries; it's recommended that you study the latest updates; key trends and know the significant challenges the industry faces. It's best to use google to research this question and lastly remember that the interviewer is evaluating your keenness in the job by asking this question.

5. Have you ever been criticised? How did you handle it?

The ability to take feedback positively is one of the biggest predictors of job success, through this question the interviewer wants to understand how you handle criticism and feedback. From your experience identify a situation in which your colleagues or manager gave you constructive feedback, and it helped you become better at the job. It’s best to stay away from highly negative feedback, or the one that highlights your weakness glaringly. The interviewer is looking for proof that you can handle criticism constructively and are willingness and forthcoming to learn from it. So, put your best foot forward.

— The writer is an HR & Strategy consultant and writes on www.humanresourcesblog.in

Cubicle trends

Incentives add to work stress

Do incentives at your workplace make things stressful? A study finds that incentive-related pay schemes cause stress rather than motivating employees.

The results, published in Human Resource Management Journal, confirm that performance-related pay is also associated with more intense working. This could mean employees are encouraged to work too hard and too much, leading to work-related stress or poor well-being and offsetting some of its positive impact on staff.

“Our study is the first to show empirical support for claims that the productivity gains of these pay schemes might be associated with employees’ experience of more intense working. Performance-related pay in particular is associated with the feeling that work might be too demanding or that there is insufficient time to get work done,” said lead researcher Dr Chidiebere Ogbonnaya.

“By tying employees’ performance to financial incentives, employers send signals to employees about their intention to reward extra work effort with more pay. Employees in turn receive these signals and feel obliged to work harder in exchange for more pay,” Dr Ogbonnaya added.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia in London explored the relationship between three types of ‘contingent pay’ — performance-related, profit-related and employee share-ownership — and positive employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, employee commitment and trust in management.  — ANI