Interviewing Skills Training Course: QUESTIONING SKILLS P4

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 P4: BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS 

The key to asking behavioural questions is to:

  • Ask open questions which are structured to elicit specific answers (such as those below).
  • Ensure the interviewee answers the question fully. This may mean a couple of silent pauses during the interview while you wait for the answer, but under no circumstances should you pass over the question or answer it for them.
  • If you find there are follow-up questions which arise from the answers given, then ask them. Use a technique such as funnelling your questions (following a particular issue and making the questions more specific after each answer) until you have arrived at the answer you are seeking.

Typical Behavioural Questions:

  1. What types of decisions do you make in your current position without consulting your boss?
  2. Give me an example of a time when you came up with a clever way of motivating someone.
  3. What were the major obstacles you had to overcome in your last job and how did you deal with them?
  4. What types of things have made you angry and how did you react to those situations?
  5. Describe for me a time when you made a mistake that illustrates your need for improvement?
  6. Think of a problem person you had to deal with in your last job and how you handed it.
  7. Describe a situation in which you felt it might be justified to break Company Policy or alter standard procedure.
  8. Give me an example of a time when communicating with a customer was very difficult. Tell me how you handled it.
  9. Think of a day when you had many things to do. Describe how you scheduled your time.
  10. Give me a general view of your responsibilities in your current job.
  11. Tell me about something you’ve done in your job that’s creative.
  12. Tell me about an important goal you’ve set in the past and how successful you were in accomplishing it.
  13. When you had to do a job that was particularly uninteresting, how did you deal with it?
  14. What experience have you had of a miscommunication with a fellow employee or customer, and what did you do to solve the problem?
  15. Tell me about a time when an upper level decision or policy change held up your work. How did you deal with it?
  16. Describe a situation in your last job when you could structure your own work schedule. How did you deal with it?
  17. In your last job experience tell me about a situation when you stuck to Company Policy when it might have been easier or more immediately effective not to.
  18. Tell me about a time when you had a problem with decisiveness. How did you deal with it?
  19. Have you ever had to make a sticky decision when no Company Policy existed to cover it? Tell me about what you did.
  20. Describe a time when you communicated some unpleasant feelings to a supervisor. What happened?
  21. What’s been your experience of dealing with poor performance of a subordinate? Describe how you handled it?

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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