The Human Resources Department has to weed through thousands of candidates in order to pass the creme of the crop on to the Hiring Manager for further screening. Most HR Departments use a variety of interviewing techniques. Being prepared for any of these interview methods could ensure you succeed to the next step in the hiring process.

When they ask specific interview questions, what are they looking for in your answers?

Traditional Questions

There are the traditional interview questions – you can search the Internet or your local library to find out how to answer these pretty confidently. These include some common ones like:

• Do you prefer to work alone or with a group?
• What are your greatest strengths or weaknesses?
• What did you enjoy most about your last position?

Situational Questions

Next, the situational questions become a bit harder to answer. These are also called the scenario-based, hypothetical questions, or the what-if questions. Candidates are evaluated on how they would handle specific situations, such as:

• How would you handle making a decision in a situation where you had conflicting information?
• You and a coworker were assigned to work jointly on a project, but your coworker is not holding up his end of the work – what would you do?
• What would you do if your supervisor instructed you to do something unethical or illegal?

Competency-Based Behavior Questions

Competency-based behavior questions help interviews learn whether a candidate has the technical skills and knowledge, the functional skills and abilities to do the job, and can demonstrate their individual competencies.

A competency is a skill or ability that describes the expected performance for a job function. Thus, this interviewing technique is developed through an extensive process of evaluating the job functions, developing questions based on that competency-based information of the job, and training the interviewers in properly administering this questioning technique, to include using an objective rating scale.

These questions focus on actual behaviors rather than hypothetical scenarios, and would help the interviewer determine how well you actually handled situations, rather than how you might handle them if they came up.

In looking at the job competency of being customer-focused, this is how the question is asked differently:

A traditional question – Have you had to deal with difficult customers in the past? (You might answer that with merely a yes or no, but should provide more detail.)

A situational question would take that further by asking – How would you handle dealing with a difficult customer? Again, this is posed as a “what if” question, and you could probably rehearse a good answer for that.

But, a competency-based behavioral question puts the candidate on the spot to answer based on past experience – Tell me about the most difficult customer that you’ve had to deal with.

The last question helps the interviewer analyze the candidate’s perception and competency. The answer will reveal what the candidate considers to be a difficult customer, as well as how that customer was actually dealt with.

When rehearsing prior to an interview, remember to ask yourself – what are they looking for in your answers? Pay attention to how the question is phrased, and answer it at the level they are expecting, or better.

The only way to outshine other candidates is to proficiently prove that you are capable of performing the job, and that may take some effort in how you answer the questions.

One of the best ways to prepare for an interview is to make sure your resume sells the value that you can bring to the next employer. That type of resume will give you the confidence you need to answer interview questions effectively.

Original Author : Naomi Lolley
Courtesy : http://ezinearticles.com