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Sorry Niall, some of them aren’t that silly. I’ve asked some of those questions specifically to see how a person responds to them, it’s irrelevant what their answer is- it’s how they deal with the question is what’s revealing.

If I were interviewing you and you said that seems a silly question, I’d ask you to elaborate on why you thought they were silly, and I’d like to do that now… What’s so silly about them?

Although I agree, some of those above have been poorly phrased, when appropriately asked these questions give me an insight into the true personality of the person I’m interviewing. Not who they want me to think that they are.

My second question is what do you think are the 10 most intelligent questions to ask at interview?

Maybe, you could have asked why on earth are these questions asked at interview? Just because they don’t make sense to you, doesn’t mean they don’t have reasoning behind them.

How can you disagree that these questions give me additional insight?

I know that asking some of these questions HAVE given me additional insight.
My background is in HR, and as such I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates, each answer these types of questions differently- and their reactions to them have given me great insight into their personality. How a person responds to these types of questions is very revealing.

You still haven’t told me what is silly about these questions. I’d guess that the reason you think they’re silly is that you don’t know the purpose & value of asking them.

Claire, meant you plural as opposed to you singular and in some cases I recognise the purpose but no I don’t see the value I’m afraid.

For instance, have you ever lied? has neither purpose or value and is an illogical question because all people tell lies. Answering yes or no simply proves that I am human.

In overall terms, you believe (have experienced) that these questions give insights that can lead to bettter decision making around hiring, that’s perfectly fine and your opinion is welcomed & backed up by your experience.

Ive also interviewed, advised & hired a great many times and my experience has been contrary. I believe that these same questions ilicit largely predictable responses that give very little evidence as to a person suitability.

If someone can’t be honest about themselves, I wouldn’t want them on my team.

I realised you weren’t saying that

For me a weakness I have is that I’m not good at consistently doing admin.
However, seeing as I am a coach, a presenter, a leader, an entrepreneur- (what I’m good at) I’m not required to do administration duties 9-5 Mon-Fri.

Recognising that I’m not strong at all tasks gives an indication that I accept I’m human, that I have a realistic viewpoint of myself. Having a realistic viewpoint of myself is likely to indicate that I have a realistic expectation of others, which is likely to mean I’m a good team player- not expecting too much of my team members & realising that others may need help in some areas & other members of the team may help me.

OK, If the value is in someone answering “no” and I was the ask this question across say 100 interviews?

L. O. L.

The problem with all this is the “answers” you get are a very vague indication. Sure you will be able to filter out some blatant cases but is it really worth it when also you can’t be sure that you got the right person.

Hi Niall,

I think the issues arising from these types of questions are dependant on the interviewee’s perception. After reading Claire’s responses, I can see how these questions relate, but the problem is that some don’t realise what they are being asked. Now, we could argue ‘thats the point’. It’s a form of indirect questioning after all, the purpose is to uncover natural answers.
BUT – in an interview, its a pressured environment with an imbalance of power in the interviewers favour.
How many of use weigh a question in our heads and search for the ‘correct response’, which is not always the ‘right’ respnse or even the honest one.
The example ‘Have you ever lied?’ seeks to find out if the interviewee is honest. The interviewee however, feels that they are between a rock and a hard place – to answer ‘yes’ suggests a lier, but an honest one (oxymoron). To answer ‘no’ suggests a lier who seeks to please and thinks this is the right way to answer.
Non-transparent questions can be misunderstood or laughable. Hence, how can the interviewer know that the response is honest ?
There is always a tendancy to social desirability response bias and projective techniques can be a way round these, but is it fair or ethical to ask a question that isn’t understood?

I see both sides and personally, I see it this way – be honest at the interview because if you are not the right person for the job, its not the right job.

Tina

Yeah, I love the “weakness” question. Everyone is coached to say “I work too hard” or “I pay too much attention to detail.” How about instead saying “I am too good an employee, but don’t worrry – I’ve resolved to fix that this year.”

Yes, perhaps I would agree.

The big problem is that decision making around suitability is suffering badly, genuine management talent is not getting through which in turn is creating a leadership void at the very top. This is hugely apparent in say places like the public sector.

We are promoting the wrong people because the wrong people are asking the wrong questions and the wrong people are making the wrong decisions around potentail & talent.
I can walk in to an interview in the morning, auto pilot it & get the job. It requires very little by way of talent.

Fiona,

This article may help you tackle the dreaded “Weakness” question.

http://www.theundercoverrecruiter.com/content/job-interview-how-answer-greatest-weaknesses-question

An addition that I would make, not a stupid question I know, but the fact that an amazing amount of interviewers don’t prep beforehand and have patently not read your cv! It gives a seriously bad impression of the interviewing company.

Lol, thanks David

Hi Tina,
I actually think you’ve hit the nail on the head there – in a perfect world, we would be honest and find the best fit job. I believe the big question you have raised here is – are we honest with ourselves?

Niall appreciates that humans aim to please, unfortunately it is ultimately going to benefit no-one if the interviewee reverts to pleasing anyone but themselves. It just takes one bad “apple” in a team to hold back progress.

Niall, I would think the common sense you refer to is to “say whatever it takes to get the job” which I agree is prolific here in Ireland, but back to my previous point – if one is not honest with themselves, that is the beginning of the end. I have been there myself, it doesn’t work long term.

Elaine – your last point is very true. When you’re desperate your choices are limited and constrained by time. So yes, many are accepting what they can get. The annoying thing is (and I’ve had this before) is that a potential employer can discount you based on a job that fulfilled a basic need and meant survival. What will happen next year when we move from the ‘quick fix’ job to the main one? Will employers understand or will the lucky ones who found a strong match straight off clinch the role.
As I always say – fate dictates the pattern of life….

Tina

Elaine, I agree but we are in ideal world territory here, the reality is that there are now more people than jobs, and these people have bills to pay & mouths to feed. It is entirely natural that they will attempt to put their best foot forward.

Ultimately the person/s I am questioning here is the interviewer & their ability to do the job. Far too many interviews are personality based rather than on the evidence. I have yet to hear a comprehensive argument why questions such as these are deemed necessary. The general consensus appears to be that the value is how the person responds rather than what they say.

This is illogical because a person can also be judged in how they respond to intelligent and/or probing questions. For instance, if I was to ask someone, which areas they might require support/training if hired, I am probably going to get a closer to reality answer than what are your weaknesses.

Hi guys,
Thanks for the comments,
I think we’re all full of surprises, if an employer can show some faith in his staff and encourage them instead of trying to force them the results can be astounding. the company I work for runs a sales team and they reward their sales staff with incentives, I know that it may not be the most ethical thing to do but it works and all the sales team have something to work for at the end of the month.
It’s also important that an employer recognises even small achievements by any member of his staff but to also make sure the rest of his team are also aware. Sending a quick thank you email will only take seconds, but that employee will leave work that even feeling good about themselves. You don’t need to lavish praise on your staff but you need to be aware of their achievements and what they bring to the team.

Thjanks a lot, David – now I know how to answer such stupid questions!

Claire, are you that naive and arrogant that you think you can figure out somebody’s personality based on a question?nI am sorry to say this but you are the typical HR representative that everybody criticizes, so an engineer or a nurse can really demonstrate their abilities by informing you if they lie or not or by even being dishonest with their answer.nLet me ask you, do you work for a sales organization that promotes having fun and encouragement in the workplace? And what I mean is a place that truly does not value their employees but promote appreciation days and other worthless events that are nothing more than a ploy.nnI find it contradictory that you defend such interview questions and then claim that you would not use it. You know what, don’t even reply, I already know your type, you are the type of person working in a company that believes they have success in their hiring structure yet have a problem with employee retention.

Claire, trust me, if we were in an interview situation, I would tell you I am not interested after hearing your questions.nnAs a hiring manager I can tell you that it is not in the best interest of the company to waste anyone’s time, be it the applicant or myself. nLike I said, you are the type of person that believes you can find out days worth of information from a simple question. I know you will not listen, but if you do, take this as advice, a person’s ability to handle a stressful situation varies on the degree of the situation.nnSince you know so much, can you answer me why HR is outsourced so often?? Companies like ADP and Paychex are often hired by many companies that have realized that HR departments don’t contribute much, and I can cleary see why, you think you can find good talent based on an applicant’s well rehearsed answer to stupid questions.nSorry Claire, but I think the crowd here agrees with me.

Well done Greg @careerscoacheu:disqus Great interview! I’m delighted to say that Jill is someone I really admire and was one of the first people to introduce me to the how the online world could benefit me as a salesperson. Her advice is always on the money, and I really like what she had to say about helping rather than selling to your customers. Looking forward to her webinar with Seth which will be fantastic, I’m sure.

Thanks Niall.n

Glorious interview

Thanks Frank. In relation to the choppy parts, we have some issues on the technical side, where we are unsure if it is the broadband conenction or the recording software. We are still looking for ways to improve this but it is challenging to say the least n

Sales has a bad rep from bad reps! Great inspiration there Greg, thanks.u00a0

Thanks Niall, I agree in some cases it can actually damage business, particularly if customer comments are ignored.

Interviews in general are useless not only to the perspective employee  but also to the employer.  Studies have shown that the only interviews that predict job performance at all are those that ask the interviewed individual to demonstrate competence at the job that are applying for.

Unfortunately, most employers (like the general population) ignore scientific evidence (not that a study was really needed to come to this conclusion) and somehow believe that a person’s bullshitting ability is correlated with job performance.  

All of the questions you mentioned here were beyond stupid, but none of them top one I that I was asked today in a scholarship interview, and that is “If you were going to a costume party, what would you dress up as and what would you bring?”  Seriously?  What the fuck is this bullshit?  And there was also “Name three things that you are not.”  Less shocking, but still, what the hell was ever wrong with being straightforward and asking three things that I AM?

Gotta stop ranting and do some school work now.  But man, do I despise interviews.  If I ever am conducting an interview it’ll be “hi, how are you, do you think interviews are meaningless time-wasters?”  If they answer yes they get the job, if they say no they don’t.  That’s the only interview I need.

Elaine, I know that fear well! But getting better and in actual fact, now I think about it….your tips are why. I started to notice how uncomfortable people were, so switched to sitting down and chatted to them like a collaborative group. Suddenly barriors dropped and we felt much calmer. Obviously this tactic doesn’t work with large audiences, but it does highlight that mindset and approach are key.

Hi Warren,

Thank you and just to expand a little on the WIIFT (or WIFT for short). This is the first Q we should ask ourselves as presenters, speakers and trainers. The next Q is WIFM (What’s in it for ME) – also vitally important because if we do not know why we are there, well then all bets are off!

I have taken this a step further to the WIFE (no not that one but – What’s in it for EVERYONE) – my personal favourite – a WIN/WIN me thinks

Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment!