How would you answer these interview questions.

[SoCalAznGuy]

So a good friend of mine had an interview on friday, and he was asked some atypical interview questions. So I wanted to see how ATOT would answer them.

1. Describe a time you had a disagreement with a team member on a team project. What was the disgreement, and how was it resolved?

2. Describe a time when something didn't go as plan when working on a large project?

3. You are tasked with determining if a college run bookstore is opperating efficiently. What information would you gather to make this determination?

The first two if you are honest they might think you have problems working on projects or groups. But if youi claim those things never happen then they might think you are a liar, or have little experience.

 

[jersiq]

N/A

 

[JS80]

These are HR questions designed to test if you'll fall for the stupid test. All you really need are 5 examples of specific work stories and you can pretty much make them fit any general lame HR question. It's to see if you've done your homework.

Whenever I get stupid questions like this, I would always say something like how I can't say I've encountered this exact situation, but I can tell you about a time when [insert your prepared "story" here].

 

[Leros]

I hate questions like 1 and 2.

The best I've had was "Describe a time you were leading a project that was not going well, but you managed to take the aspects that were contributing to failure and turn them around to contribute to the successful completion of the project".

I was a sophomore in college at the time. I don't know what they expected me to say. The whole interview was stupid questions like this about situations I've never even gone through.

I've never had a successful interview if the interviewer was from HR. Every interview I've had where they actually send an engineer has gone really well.

 

[xanis]

I hate questions like 1 and 2.

The best I've had was "Describe a time you were leading a project that was not going well, but you managed to take the aspects that were contributing to failure and turn them around to contribute to the successful completion of the project".

Keep in mind, I'm a sophomore in college at the time.

Yeah, I've gotten those too. Usually I just made stuff up from group projects that I participated in.

 

[JS80]

I hate questions like 1 and 2.

The best I've had was "Describe a time you were leading a project that was not going well, but you managed to take the aspects that were contributing to failure and turn them around to contribute to the successful completion of the project".

Keep in mind, I'm a sophomore in college at the time.

"As you can imagine in college you get group projects all the time, and often times certain personalities butt against each other. I like to think that I can act as the peacemaker in bringing the group together and find a median. This one time in X class these two team members wanted to go in different directions. Personally I did not think it was necessarily conflicting direction so I explained this to them and we were able to find a middle ground."

"What was the conflict"

"One person wanted Times New Roman font on the presentation and the other wanted Courier. I suggested Arial, and they both agreed."

 

[Leros]

"As you can imagine in college you get group projects all the time, and often times certain personalities butt against each other. I like to think that I can act as the peacemaker in bringing the group together and find a median. This one time in X class these two team members wanted to go in different directions. Personally I did not think it was necessarily conflicting direction so I explained this to them and we were able to find a middle ground."

Oh I'm certainly capable of making up answers. The thing that bugs me is that these are situations that most people probably haven't been in.

 

[JS80]

Oh I'm certainly capable of making up answers. The thing that bugs me is that these are situations that most people probably haven't been in.

That's certainly not the point of these questions. HR people know their questions are stupid. It's designed to be very broad while sounding specific. They're not even necessarily trying to trip you up. They are checking if you did the minimum requirement of researching HR questions and thinking up of bullshit answers so they can write something in their stupid notes.

 

[SoCalAznGuy]

He was applying for a job as an accountant, and he even studied a bunch of accounting stuff before hand too. This first interview had no real acounting questions on it. I assume it is because this was the first interview design to weed people out before they get the real interview.

 

[JS80]

He was applying for a job as an accountant, and he even studied a bunch of accounting stuff before hand too. This first interview had no real acounting questions on it. I assume it is because this was the first interview design to weed people out before they get the real interview.

Once you get to management level they don't ask you stupid questions like these. Plus the jobs come to you.

But all HR questions are the same in any industry.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

In defense of the questions, the "ideal answer" is what Leros described....you're asked to describe a situation/project which wasn't proceeding smoothly but you somehow recovered or handled the challenges.

Granted, a rote checklist of questions esp. for say a minimum wage retail job leads to some double-takes...

 

[KaOTiK]

I was asked questions similar to this once. I told them I don't remember because I don't bother remembering trivial things. Then told them the project was finished on time and above managements exceptions as well.

I remember the interviewer not liking my answer and then asked me some other BS question and I asked him, how does that effect my ability to work in photoshop and maya.

You can imagine that interview didn't go well. Oddly enough though the art director called me like 4 days later and offered me the job lol.

 

[ModerateRepZero]

I was asked questions similar to this once. I told them I don't remember because I don't bother remembering trivial things. Then told them the project was finished on time and above managements exceptions as well.

I remember the interviewer not liking my answer and then asked me some other BS question and I asked him, how does that effect my ability to work in photoshop and maya.

You can imagine that interview didn't go well. Oddly enough though the art director called me like 4 days later and offered me the job lol.

imagine that interviewers want to know 2 things:

- Do you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be able to do the job if hired? (HR has every reason to be skeptical as it's not uncommon for people to exaggerate if not outright lie about themselves)

- Can you fit in with the company's culture, myriad personalities, co-workers, etc?

Every job involves dealing with other people whether it be co-workers, customers, and/or management, so of course interviewers are going to want to know about your interpersonal skills for example.

 

[KaOTiK]

imagine that interviewers want to know 2 things:

- Do you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be able to do the job if hired? (HR has every reason to be skeptical as it's not uncommon for people to exaggerate if not outright lie about themselves)

- Can you fit in with the company's culture, myriad personalities, co-workers, etc?

Every job involves dealing with other people whether it be co-workers, customers, and/or management, so of course interviewers are going to want to know about your interpersonal skills for example.

Believe me I know. Especially in my field where everything is worked on as a team. It was an odd situation what I described above. Cause every other job in my field I interviewed for I was interviewed by the art director and then if they liked what I offered had me meet the rest of their team. Vs versa as I've been the person on a team that met potential candidates to get a feel for them as well and the team as a whole would generally make the decision if that person fit in or not.

I turned down the job above anyways. I went back to the place and met the team and such, the art director was cool and I liked him quite a bit, but the rest were douchebags overall.

 

[KentState]

The first two if you are honest they might think you have problems working on projects or groups. But if youi claim those things never happen then they might think you are a liar, or have little experience.

Maybe you don't have a lot of work experience, but one of the biggest advantages of working in a group is having multiple perspectives on how to handle different situations. If you can't honestly give a positive example of disagreeing with a co-worker, then you probably don't have what it takes because either you are just a yes man or you never bring an original thought to the table. With second question, any large project has challenges and a few set backs and if not, then the project wasn't important.

 

[Leros]

That's certainly not the point of these questions. HR people know their questions are stupid. It's designed to be very broad while sounding specific. They're not even necessarily trying to trip you up. They are checking if you did the minimum requirement of researching HR questions and thinking up of bullshit answers so they can write something in their stupid notes.

If the minimal requirements include wasting my time thinking of fake answers to bullcrap HR questions, then I don't really feel like working for that company.

In fact, I've gotten to the point where I ask if the interviewer will be an engineer or not and I selectively choose who I will interview with that way. Its worked pretty well so far.

 

[CRXican]

those aren't really atypical from my experience, stupid questions though I agree

They should just ask "Are you going to flip out and punch people if they don't agree with you?"

The fact that I have solid work history and good references should show that I'm not a crazy person

 

[JS80]

If the minimal requirements include wasting my time thinking of fake answers to bullcrap HR questions, then I don't really feel like working for a company.

In fact, I've gotten to the point where I ask if the interviewer will be an engineer or not and I selectively choose who I will interview with that way. Its worked pretty well so far.

Your e-peen is huge.

 

[Leros]

Your e-peen is huge.

I just don't feel like dealing with crap like that. I have a history of doing poorly in the HR interviews and doing well with interviews with engineers. Why should I waste my time?

 

[JS80]

I just don't feel like dealing with crap like that. I have a history of doing poorly in the HR interviews and doing well with interviews with engineers. Why should I waste my time?

Unfortunately, these HR monkeys are the gatekeepers (for most companies) and you have to deal with them to get through the door. Unless you're hand picked by your hiring manager to get your foot in the door, it behooves you to scratch the HR monkeys' backs.

 

[Leros]

Unfortunately, these HR monkeys are the gatekeepers (for most companies) and you have to deal with them to get through the door. Unless you're hand picked by your hiring manager to get your foot in the door, it behooves you to scratch the HR monkeys' backs.

Well like I said, as long as I still have enough good opportunities, I'll avoid the HR interviews.

 

[Herr Kutz]

I had an interview last April with stupid questions like these and it went HORRIBLY. I tried going over tons of these questions before the interview, but I don't really have any experience except my education so I didn't have a good way to answer any of these questions, unless I wanted to lie. Long story short the company didn't contact me back after the interview.

 

[BoomerD]

I hate "situational interviews." All too "oftenly," you end up having to make up stuff...and unless you're good...they KNOW you're just talking out of your ass.

Best answer to the OP's original question:

"If you don't stop asking stupid questions like this and get on with what's important to the job, I'm gonna stab you in the fucking head.'

That should do the trick.

 

[shiner]

Could be worse...I had the following asked of me in an group interview once:

If you were stranded on a desert island what one item would you want?

I answered "a boat" and then the supervisor that asked the question told me that wasn't a valid answer so we spent about 10 minutes arguing over it.

The interview proceeded after that and went back around the table until the same woman asked me "If you were a tree what kind of tree would you be?"

I told her that was a stupid question and I wasn't wasting my time answering it. I got up and left the interview.

The next day I got a call offering me the job. This October I will have been there 13 years.

The person that interviewed me was gone less than a month after I was hired.

 

[Skillet49]

I was talking with my sister-in-law about these before some interviews who is getting her master's in human resource management. She was saying to think about why they are asking the questions so basically for these they want to know how you would handle a disagreement. They understand that disagreements happen so unless you were thinking way out of line they don't really care what the disagreement was. Basically, they want to know that you went through the correct chain of command regarding the disagreement, that you handled it appropriately, and that you learned from it.