Job Interviews: 8 Trick Questions (and How To Manage Them Successfully)
In an increasingly competitive society, the mission of searching for and finding work can be one of the great challenges that both the unemployed and those who want to qualify for a promotion have to face.
This means, among other things, that selection processes have to refine their methods to identify those characteristics that, although they could remain hidden for a time, would be a reason to discard someone.
Recruitment and human resources technicians know this and that is why in recent years they have begun to make use of the trick questions. Knowing how to identify them and being aware of the weight they have in a job interview can help us communicate our candidacy in the best possible way, without making mistakes resulting from doubts and nerves of the moment.
The objective behind using these questions is to explore the possible reasons why an application may not be interesting even if the CV is formally suitable for the vacant position. In other words, it is intended that the candidate himself or herself be the one who, indirectly and without realizing it, gives reasons why he or she does not fit with what is being sought, instead of asking him or her directly about these questions.
Trick questions can also serve to lighten the pool of candidates before putting them to the test through 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, although they do not serve to collect simple and objective data but rather speeches that do not fit with the company’s philosophy or with the ideal profile.
At this point… What are the most commonly used trick questions in job interviews? And, just as important or more important: how can we respond appropriately to convince the recruitment team? Let’s look at several useful tips to face these tricky moments.
1. What was the biggest mistake you made in your previous job?
Those in charge of carrying out personnel selection are aware that no worker is perfect, and that most likely your work life will be full of more or less large and noticeable failures. 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 for the error you are talking about without diverting the too much topic of the conversation 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 for working on them However, it also has a hidden side to test us: it leaves us in a situation in which we can lie about what happened, or to speak badly about 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 keep in mind that speaking badly about previous employers can be a reason for not passing the selection If we really left that job because the conditions or personal treatment were not good, this should be communicated in the most parsimonious and neutral way possible, without showing revenge in the explanations given.
3. Why do you want to change companies?
This question serves to explore your motivations and evaluate your degree of commitment to companies By answering it, you will indirectly be communicating what things you don’t want in your new job.
How to manage it
The best way to prepare for this question is to simply: inform you beforehand about the characteristics of the company and the skills, functions and responsibilities associated with the job you aspire to.
This trick question serves to explore the reasons why there has been a break in your work life l, if there has been one. In this way you can know 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 employed.
Furthermore, it must be taken into account that this question may appear even if this temporary break without work has not occurred in recent 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 written down because you do not consider them important or not related to the sector in which the company works, you must communicate this. Even if they are personal projects, unpaid jobs or hobbies that require a lot of involvement, They 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 team work?
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 to get work done , or that you don’t like having to interact with people. This implies that your answer cannot be short, they will always ask you for explanations to see which category you fit most into.
How to manage it
You must keep in mind that although there are increasingly more specialized profiles, most organizations prefer that everyone has basic skills that allow them to work as a team, since in this way they respond more quickly and effectively to changes and news on 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 capabilities fit with these. But the most important thing here is not what you say, but how you say it: what is your way of “selling yourself” and speaking positively about yourself, and how you are able to argue something based on abstract concepts.
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 believe are related to what is requested. It is important that you do not try to force your speech to make very specific competencies or not very 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 defects or weak points?
This question It 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 lack 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 what is said here will have a lot of importance.
How to manage it
It is important that you go to the interview having thought about what measures you are able to implement in the coming weeks or months to work on those weak points. That way you won’t have to improvise something that would make your nervousness about this question increase.
8. What, according to you, is 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. An error can be made whether the answer is too low or too high
How to manage it
There is no right 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 to be told about the amounts being considered and to negotiate from there. You can also do your own research the days before the interview to know, approximately, how much is charged and from that information decide where your cache is.
