10 lamest interview questions asked by HRs

Gazillions of managers and HR people have been trained to interview job applicants like it’s 1965 all over again. They ask the world’s lamest interview questions.

Sometimes they hold the interview script on a clipboard in their hands while they talk to you. That’s gross. That’s what you expect the doctor to do when the doctor is asking you “So, any history of high blood pressure? No? Asthma? Heart disease?”

Scripted interviews are nasty with or without the clipboard, but I wouldn’t write off a manager right away just because he or she uses a script. Some companies require it. That’s not a great sign for the organization you are interviewing to work for, but it’s not an instant knock-out item, either.

Many if not most managers will ask you at last one standard, brainless interview question straight off the standard, brainless script:

1. Why do you want to work here?
2. What’s your greatest strength?
3. What do you bring to our team?
4. What would your last boss say about you?

These are dumb questions. It would be much smarter and more fun for all of us if the manager would simply describe the role and chat with you about its challenges and requirements.

That is a human job interview and it’s much more adult and useful than a scripted one, but many managers are still stuck in Script Land. That’s okay! You can use new-millennium interviewing techniques to nudge your hiring manager off the script and into a real conversation.

We can forgive a hiring manager for being asleep while interviewing techniques have evolved over the past three decades.

What’s not so easy to forgive or overlook is a hiring manager’s arch, mean or snippy tone and attitude during a job interview, as manifested in his or her speech, body language, and of course the questions the manager chooses to ask you.

Here are ten questions your hiring manager may ask you – questions that scream ”Don’t work for this person!”

These questions are the job-interview equivalent of a Do Not Enter sign. They signal “Caution — Weak Manager Ahead.”

Weak managers are people in fear who happen to have positions that put them in charge of other people.

You can’t afford to work for a weak manager. He or she does not have the mojo or personal presence right now to lead you with integrity and respect. It’s not that your weak manager is an evil person or an arch villain.

Don’t give your weak manager that much credit! He or she is just a normal person operating in a state of fear. Fear crunches people down. It makes them crabby and impatient. It drains their energy and impairs their judgment.

There is no mojo-juice left over in a fearful manager’s tank to collaborate, innovate or set you free to use your super powers.

A weak manager will need to be in control. Fear makes a weak manager suspicious, negative and even competitive with his or her team members. You deserve a better leadership experience than that!

If you run into a weak manager on a job interview, you can keep your interview answers clipped and wrap the interview up quickly. If you know for sure you’re wasting your time, you can also get up and leave the room and the building.

Source: techgig.com