Job Interviews: 8 Common Trick Questions
In an increasingly competitive society, the mission of looking for and finding work can be one of the great challenges facing both the unemployed and those who want to qualify for a promotion.
This means, among other things, that selection processes have to fine-tune their methods to identify those characteristics that, although they could remain hidden for a time, would be a reason to discard someone.
Recruitment and HR technicians know it, and that is why in recent years they have begun to make use of the cheat questions. Knowing how to identify them and being aware of the weight they have in a job interview can help you let us communicate our candidacy in the best possible way, without falling into errors as a result of the doubts and nerves of the moment.
What are cheat questions for?
The objective behind the use of these questions is to explore the possible reasons why a candidacy may not be interesting although formally the Curriculum vitae is suitable for the vacant position. In other words, it is intended that it is the candidate who, indirectly and without realizing it, give reasons why it does not fit what you are looking for, instead of asking you directly about these issues.
Cheat questions can also serve to lighten the pool of candidates before testing them. using evaluation methods that take more time and effort than the initial contact. In some way, they are part of the basic filter that takes place in all selection processes, even if they do not serve to collect simple and objective data but speeches that do not fit with the philosophy of the company or with the ideal profile.
8 cheat questions widely used in interviews
At this point... What are the most used trap questions in job interviews? And, equally or more importantly: how can we respond adequately to convince the recruitment team? Let's look at some useful tips to deal with these tricky moments.
1. What was the biggest mistake you made in your previous job?
Those in charge of carrying out the selection of personnel are aware that no worker is perfect, and that most likely your work life is full of more or less big failures and notorious. However, They are interested in knowing what your vision is on the subject.
How to manage it
The best thing is to know how to admit responsibility in the error of which you are talking, without diverting the topic of the conversation too much towards the mistakes made by others and that could trigger your own mistake.
2. Why did you leave your previous job?
This trick question serves, first of all, to have information about your previous jobs and your motivations when working on them. However, it also has a hidden side to test us: it leaves us in a situation where we can lie about what happened, or to speak ill of the company we worked for.
How to manage it
There is no single way to answer this question correctly, and the best option will depend on each case, but yes It is necessary to bear in mind that speaking ill of previous employers may be a reason for not passing the selection. If we really left that job because the conditions or the personal treatment were not good, this will be should communicate in the most sparing and neutral way possible, without showing revenge in explanations given.
3. Why do you want to change companies?
This question serves to explore your motivations and assess your degree of commitment to companies. By answering it, you are indirectly communicating what things you don't want in your new job.
How to manage it
The best way to prepare this question is, simply, inform you before about the characteristics of the company and the competencies, functions and responsibilities associated with the job to which you aspire.
4. Why have you been so long without work?
This trick question It is used to explore the reasons why there has been a break in your working lifel, if there has been. In this way, it can be known if you have simply had bad luck or if you are not very proactive, something that would be reflected in the way you look for a job and also in the way you work once employee.
In addition, it must be taken into account that this question may appear even though this temporary hiatus without work has not occurred in the last few months but some time ago.
How to manage it
If during that time that appears blank on your resume you have been doing other things that you have not left written because it is not considered important or is not related to the sector in which the company works, you must communicate it. Even if it involves personal projects, unpaid jobs or hobbies that require a lot of involvement, will serve to reflect that you are a more active person than what is reflected in your CV.
5. Do you prefer individual work or teamwork?
It is a fairly clear question, but it also has a hidden side in store. Depending on how you respond, it may seem like you are always depending on others for work., or that you don't like having to interact with people. That implies that your answer cannot be short, they will always ask you for explanations to see in which category you fit the most.
How to manage it
You must bear in mind that although there are more and more specialized profiles, most organizations prefer that everyone has basic skills that allow them teamwork, since in this way it responds more quickly and efficiently to changes and developments in the market.
6. What can you contribute to this organization?
This question is a means by which you can talk about the skills you think are required in the job and about your vision of how your abilities fit in with them. But the most important thing here is not what you say, but how you say it: what is your way of "selling yourself" and speak positively of yourself, and in what way are you able to argue something based on concepts abstract.
How to manage it
Here you should talk about those personal strengths that you have not included in your CV, as well as those that do appear in writing and you think are related to what is requested. It is important that you do not try to force your speech to make very specific skills or little related to the position seem very relevant, since that gives the image that you have little to offer and you try to justify your candidacy in any way.
7. What are your flaws or weaknesses?
This question serves to test you in a situation that generates tension and nervousness, but it also serves to see to what extent you are able to identify those skills in which you limp and what solutions you can provide so that this is not a major problem. A person with little self-criticism will have a hard time trying to give an answer, because he will have to improvise it, and also what is said here will be very important.
How to manage it
It is important that you go to the interview having thought about what measures you are capable of implementing in the coming weeks or months to work on those weaknesses. That way you won't have to improvise, something that would make your nervousness before this question increase.
8. What is, according to you, the appropriate salary for this job?
The question of "how much do you think you should charge?" It is a classic and one of the trickiest moments of the interview. A mistake can be made whether the answer is too low or too high a quantity.
How to manage it
There is no correct way to answer this trick question, and it all depends, in part, on luck. However, one way to avoid putting yourself in a compromising situation is to first ask that you be told about the amounts being shuffled and that you can negotiate from there. You can also investigate on your own the days before the interview to know, approximately, how much is charged and from that data decide where your cache is.