WHO thinks up these HR interview questions???

[dejr_8]

I had an interview today to be an Instructor at a local community college. It was a five-on-one interview and all the questions were HR type.

What are three strengths, weakness, etc.

Some were just b.s.

Tell us a time when you were overloaded with information and how did you handle the overload.

Tell about a time when things did not go as planned and how did that impact you.

Have you ever had to explain something to a group of people and did they understand you explanation.

 

[DawnM]

Yeah, I have had some odd questions that really put you on the spot and sometimes I am nervous and just can't think of anything!

How did you do?

Dawn

 

[dejr_8]

Yeah, I have had some odd questions that really put you on the spot and sometimes I am nervous and just can't think of anything!

How did you do?

Dawn

I screwed the pooch. I'm a technical person and don't handle soft questions well.

 

[Silent1CB]

I think I'm glad I left corporate America.
Hope you did well.

Like you, I'm technically minded & don't sell things or b.s. well.

 

[Planogirl]

If you were a tree what kind would you be and why?

Yes, they really get weird sometimes.

 

[BlueIrish]

I feel your pain. sorry to anyone that works in HR that thinks of interview questions but seriously, the questions that are asked anymore are so stupid.

One of the dumbest I had to answer was "If I were a flower what would I be? What that question had to do with being an office assistant I will never know.

Thankfully I got out of the private sector.

Keep plugging away OP, you will land a job.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I was once asked during an interview "Did your parents ever drop in on you and find you in bed with your boyfriend?" I don't think his intent was to find out if I would be good doing the actual job. (And then he told me about his own situation when HIS parents found him in bed with his girlfriend.)

I was young and stupid (college...a summer job) and it really threw me, but I REALLY needed a summer job, so I said "My parents don't drop in." I told my boyfriend (now my DH of 26 years ) and he flipped! And I decided that if I got offered the job, I'd turn it down...I wasn't THAT dumb and stupid, or that desperate for money that I'd work there. The guy called and offered me the job, because he liked my smile (jerk), and I said no thanks. Months later, I ran into a former classmate who had applied and gotten the job, and she said he was a real jerk. DUH! Wonder whatever happened to that guy...he's probably in prison. Wish I could remember his name...I'd love to say to him now what I should have said then.

As far as "real" interview questions...I don't remember offhand...it's been a while! (SAHM) But that one above, I'll never forget!

Sorry for going OT! Haven't thought about that situation in a long time. But good luck with interviewing...I hope you get the position you want.

 

[DawnM]

ARGH!

We had a VP who we joked would only hire young blondes with big you know whats.......

Dawn

I was once asked during an interview "Did your parents ever drop in on you and find you in bed with your boyfriend?" I don't think his intent was to find out if I would be good doing the actual job. (And then he told me about his own situation when HIS parents found him in bed with his girlfriend.)

I was young and stupid (college...a summer job) and it really threw me, but I REALLY needed a summer job, so I said "My parents don't drop in." I told my boyfriend (now my DH of 26 years ) and he flipped! And I decided that if I got offered the job, I'd turn it down...I wasn't THAT dumb and stupid, or that desperate for money that I'd work there. The guy called and offered me the job, because he liked my smile (jerk), and I said no thanks. Months later, I ran into a former classmate who had applied and gotten the job, and she said he was a real jerk. DUH! Wonder whatever happened to that guy...he's probably in prison. Wish I could remember his name...I'd love to say to him now what I should have said then.

As far as "real" interview questions...I don't remember offhand...it's been a while! (SAHM) But that one above, I'll never forget!

Sorry for going OT! Haven't thought about that situation in a long time. But good luck with interviewing...I hope you get the position you want.

 

[Polydweller]

I had an interview today to be an Instructor at a local community college. It was a five-on-one interview and all the questions were HR type.

What are three strengths, weakness, etc.

Some were just b.s.

Tell us a time when you were overloaded with information and how did you handle the overload.

Tell about a time when things did not go as planned and how did that impact you.

Have you ever had to explain something to a group of people and did they understand you explanation.

Hope you did well! The trick here is to understand what the questions are really asking and these are pretty good really.

1. The overloaded question. Its about how do you prioritize your work and how can you sort what is important to read/learn first and what can wait. In every job you hit overload moments and the really successful person is able to manage information and quickly see what is immediately relevant and needs first attention and what can be put aside for the moment.

2. Not going as planned. Again, a good question about two things really. One is how adaptable you are when your plans have to be quickly adjusted and the second is about frustration tolerance. Basically, how do you handle setbacks and how effectively can you handle them.

3. Well, that looks to be specific to this job. Looks to be about how well are can you get your message across and you could add to this about how you managed to adapt your message to get people to understand it.

Interviews are frustrating but in my experience the best candidates are able to deal with that frustration and get to what the meaning of a question really is. Hope you were able to do that and get the job.

 

[Ceila]

I had an interview today to be an Instructor at a local community college. It was a five-on-one interview and all the questions were HR type.

What are three strengths, weakness, etc.

Some were just b.s.

Tell us a time when you were overloaded with information and how did you handle the overload.

Tell about a time when things did not go as planned and how did that impact you.

Have you ever had to explain something to a group of people and did they understand you explanation.

Sounds like they were using the Behavioral Interviewing technique. The basic premise is that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. So, instead of asking "what would you do in X situation?" you are asked to describe an actual situation and how you handled it. As a PP explained, each question targets different traits. The studies I've read show that this method is more effective than the traditional "tell me about yourself" and "what would you do" interview style.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Reminds me of a job interview that required me to take a two hour test of over 300 questions. Every fifth question was do you hate your mother.

 

[pixiewings71]

I had those same questions, the problem is I didn't run into issues like that very often in my last job. My job was pretty basic and simple to do, not a lot issues arose that I had to try to deal with. Good luck OP!

 

[VickiVM]

HR manager here...yep, these are actually the kinds of questions hiring managers should be asking. Sorry if they sound bs, but instead of asking the kind of questions that are already answered in your resume ("tell me about your experience...what were your duties @ XYZ company, etc"), how one answers the questions the op posted can be very helpful in discerning the right person for a job.

What kind of flower would you be....that is BS.

 

[srferson]

I had an interview today to be an Instructor at a local community college. It was a five-on-one interview and all the questions were HR type.

What are three strengths, weakness, etc.

Some were just b.s.

Tell us a time when you were overloaded with information and how did you handle the overload.

Tell about a time when things did not go as planned and how did that impact you.

Have you ever had to explain something to a group of people and did they understand you explanation.

For the last one I'd be so tempted to say "Well, I just explained a bunch of stuff to you five. Did you understand?"

 

[Starbrite]

I had an interview last week & was all prepared to answer questions like yours. Instead I got a bunch of yes & no questions.....

We feel teamwork is essential, blah blah blah - do you agree? Umm, yes - aside from restating everything you just said...what's the best answer to this?

This is a fast paced department, multi-tasking & proritization is key. We need someone who is well organized & reliable...are you? Again, what the heck?

I did not get one "tell me about a time", " how would you handle" or "tell me about yourself" type of question. The whole thing was just awkward.

 

[AustinTink]

I was once asked in an interview "Who would play you and why in a movie about your life?"

 

[MsLeFever]

Lately I've been on the hiring side (which is much less stressful...) for instructors.

I always ask "What are you watching or reading for fun?"

This isn't a BS question - I want to know a couple of things

a) does this person read for fun? (I'm wary of non-readers)
b) it allows the person to relax for a second and talk about what they want - which can reveal much about who they are and who they might be in the classroom!

 

[jwhtewolfd]

The first interview I ever had for a "real" summer job during college was one of those t-shirt screening places in the mall called "T-shirt Heaven." The guy asked me who I admired (or something similar). My first answer was a local musician who had become known nationally. He said he didn't know who that was, and to pick someone else. Being a psych major, I picked Freud, b/c let's face it, he's really interesting. He grilled me several times on why I would pick Freud. No answer was good enough, until I finally told him to move on.

I was later telling my mom how bad the interview went, especially that question. She said, "Duh, he was waiting for you to say God or Jesus. The place is called T-shirt HEAVEN." After a moment, I just replied, "oh." The thought never crossed my mind. I didn't know there was a wrong answer (or many wrong answers) to a personal opinion question.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Sometimes I think HR managers forget that the interviewee is interviewing the company just as much as the company is interviewing them! Having been on both sides of the table, I can tell you that there are many times I would skip many of the HR managers questions and insert my own.

However, I will say that I think the questions you were asked were typical for an instructor's job.

The oddest question I was ever asked was "when you die, where do you want to be buried?" True! I told the interviewer that I hadn't really contemplated my death since I was only 22 at the time and that while I believed planning ahead was a good practice, I hadn't gotten around to planning that aspect of my future. Sheesh! Needless to say, when that job was offered, I turned it down. In addition to this "lulu" of a question, he asked a few others that made me think he was either suicidal, homicidal or just plan weird!

 

[autumnpalm]

I was asked at a job interview once, if I was a newspaper, what would my headline be?