Interview Questions and Answers: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

Erin O'Connor Jones, Director of Candidate Services and Managing Associate

Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group LLC

 

Hurry up and wait. All of us have looked for a job at some point and know first-hand what it’s like to wait by the phone for a call or to check email throughout the day for news from a potential employer. Aside from a call with a job offer, the next best call is an invitation to meet in-person or via the telephone for an interview, bringing you one-step closer to a new position. After investing countless hours polishing your resume and rewriting cover letters to grab the attention of a human resource assistant, CEO or hiring manager, it is now time to showcase your skills, share your knowledge and demonstrate how you will bring value to their organization.

Every experienced job seeker knows the trepidation that accompanies the interview process. It can be tenuous for even the most confident, well-qualified and experienced candidate, especially when faced with difficult or inappropriate questions. The usual, hackneyed questions and practiced answers are easy and, in the end, don’t really do much to move the process forward. Those surprise or Gotcha! questions, however, can make or break it for you. Sometimes the interview can feel more like an interrogation than a friendly “meet and greet.” You can be sure that if there is uncomfortable territory like a short job history or an unfavorable former colleague, then it is going to come up. Worse than this, interviewers sometimes tread into illegal areas about religion, age, sexual preference and even if you have a plan to start a family. We’ve seen and heard it all, so we offer a few techniques for taking charge of an interview to present your best self:

The interview hotseat. The interview starts-off friendly enough, with you seated and confidently making small talk when the President blurts out, “Tell me again, why were you
fired?” Before you bolt for the nearest exit or jump to the conclusion that the job prospect is dead, take a deep breath, a sip of water (always accept an offer of water) and make or hold eye contact while you think about your answer. If you were fired or left involuntarily, you should be ready to tell this story, candidly, but in the best possible light. It’s more likely that you’ll be asked a more polite version of this question, “So, tell me, why did you leave your last job?” It’s important to tell the story by pointing out the positive lessons you learned from the experience. The interviewer wants to hear the good things, not the bad and ugly.

Take charge and redirect. It is possible to handle a difficult or uncomfortable question by deftly moving the interviewer toward a topic that better shows why you are a strong candidate for the position. If you don’t want to spend time discussing something that happened in the recent past, point out your accomplishments from a current position or the one prior to being fired. You can do this by answering the question with something positive such as “Yes, it was an unfortunate situation at the time. Despite this, I did accomplish a full reorganization of staff which led to significant cost-savings.” Chances are very good that the interviewer will be interested in your ability to make a reorganization happen, and follow-up with relevant questions.

Did she really just ask that??  Every so often, an interviewer will ask an inappropriate or illegal question. Sometimes a conversation just “heads south” before s/he has time to consider the litigious consequences. In my experience, these questions are innocent, asked by inexperienced managers or at organizations without human resource departments. The list of questionable topics is lengthy, but includes age, disability, sexual preference, children, pregnancy, childcare, living arrangements, and health. If you are faced with a question from one of these areas, try to contain any outrage or a lecture about legalities. If the incident was egregious, you always have the opportunity to pursue it later. For now, use the opportunity to demonstrate that you are a consummate professional.

You have the right to remain silent. When faced with an uncomfortable or illegal question, it’s probably best to pause a few moments and frame an appropriate answer. For example, if you are over 50 and the interviewer asks “You have a lot of experience, are you sure you’ll be happy here?” Due to your age, this question shows some age-bias, but the interviewer could have some legitimate concerns that you’ll be bored and as a result, leave sooner rather than later. The best answer sounds something like this, “Your agency deserves a well-qualified, experienced COO and my track record will allow me to tackle the most difficult issues with no learning curve.” If you’re asked about religion or family-related matters, the interviewer may simply be baiting you or measuring your reaction. That may be bad form, but it’s not a reason to panic. You can answer the question or diffuse the situation by simply stating you don’t think it’s relevant to the job.

Now it’s your turn to ask the difficult questions. It is important to remember that you are interviewing them, as well. If you are genuinely interested in the position, you’ll have developed some quality questions that demonstrate you’ve done your homework. At the very least, review the position description and note the areas where you excel or need clarification. The interview is your opportunity to demonstrate your maturity, interest and personality. Resist the urge to get “too comfortable” or let down your professional guard when things seem to be going well. Conversely, do not get reactionary or defensive if you fee challenged. Remember, you are being judged not only for your knowledge and experience, but cultural fit, demeanor and depth of interest, as well. Everything you say, every reaction (or non-reaction), every smile or frown will be noted on some level.

Finally, that’s over. Once the interview has ended, take another deep breath and get ready to wait. If you think it went well, it probably did. But keep in mind, it doesn’t really matter what you think. Could you have offered a “better” answer to this or that question? Maybe. The reality is that hiring decisions are always complicated and as an outsider to their process, you’ll never know what exactly what happened. It’s time to move on and incorporate what you learned into your next interview.