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It is a Dept. Director Position, and very rare in this area, in fact in my County. 

I asked if the Recruiter could verify if there will be pre-employment testing and if he could find out that would be helpful but not necessary.

(I know I am still a 7-2-4-1 on DISC more or less)

It is with the President/Owner of  the Company.  I have NO network connections there, this is straight from a recruiters finding my resume' on CB.

I am already nervous, having listened to MT cast for the last week, I have lot to practice.

Oy.

douglase's picture

Here is a bunch of questions in no particular order that tend to get asked.   And they don't really include the industry specific ones you might also get asked. 

1.    What do you feel has been your greatest work-related accomplishment?   
2.    What is your greatest strength?   
3.    What is your greatest weakness?   
4.    How do you handle stressful situations?   
5.    What is the toughest problem you've had to face, and how did you overcome it?   
6.    Have you ever had to discipline a problem employee? If so, how did you handle it?   
7.    Why do you want this position?   
8.    Tell me about yourself.   
9.    What do you know about our organization?   
10.    Why do you want to work for us?   
11.    What can you do for us that someone else can't?   
12.    What do you look for in a job?   
13.    Please give me your definition of [the position for which you are being interviewed].   
14.    How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our firm?   
15.    How long would you stay with us?   
16a    What is your leadership style?

16b.  What is your management style?   
17.    What do you look for when You hire people?   
18.    Have you ever had to fire people? What were the reasons, and how did you handle the situation?   
19.    What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a manager or executive?   
20.    What important trends do you see in our industry?   
21.    Why are you leaving (did you leave) your present (last) job?   
22.    In your current (last) position, what features do (did) you like the most? The least?   
23.    What do you think of your boss?   
24.    What are your long-range goals?   
25.    How successful do you you've been so far?   
26.    How do you approach Change?   
27.    How do you coach/performance manage staff?

Good luck

Regards

Douglas.

DPWade's picture

Not 10 minutes after I was notified of this Director Interview, the President of a different company I sent my resume off to 2 months ago, called my cell phone and said:

"Hi Dave, this is XXXXX  XXXXXXX and I'd like to have a phone interview if possible, I am shortlisting candidates for a position and I have questions, are you able to do this now?"

I said "Yes Sir!"

Turns out I know many people He knows and while I stuck to the 5 Laws the best I could, I wont know if I made the shortlist til later this week.

I missed the rain.  Its great to be wet, I am grateful.

So, Douglas thanks for all those questions, I am writing and refining answers to be prepared.

-Dave

 

 

asteriskrntt1's picture

Dave,

If your original comment is indicative of your communication style, I hope you are more specific and direct when you answer interview questions. 

Maybe you were just blowing off some nervous energy and were not asking for any help at all.  However, if you truly need help, you really need to specify what you need help with.  Good luck.

*RNTT

 

 

 

 

 

 

douglase's picture

Well, good luck.

There are some casts on some of the questions, like weakness and I also remember Mark (I think) commenting about leadership and management being different.  ie. if you are asked to describe your management style, don't correct them and say "my leadership style" is blah.

As I have interviews (successful or otherwise) i collect more questions that my industry/speciality frequently ask.

For example one of the ones I have seen 3 times in the last 4 interviews now has been - Prepare a 20 minute "presentation" in 30 minutes on how you would setup a 'greenfield' service desk.  You may have similar ones in your industry.
 

Regards

Douglas

basking2's picture

I recently got asked, "Who are you," as a form of "give me a quick work history I want to hear." Well, that is how I interpretted it.

The phrasing threw me for a second or two. Intersting. 

Sam

DPWade's picture

RNTT makes a point.  Yes all advice/help/insight is appreciated in that outside of the Casts instruction on what to practice, given I have only a day now, what would you do?  I only discovered M-T last week and have not spent much effort on this M-T approach and application to interviewing.  ( I did practice the handshake and smile during an industry networking event last Thursday).

To be clear, If you had 24 hours to prepare, what would you concentrate on?

-Dave

 

stephenbooth_uk's picture

  1. What do I know about the job?  What does the job involve?
  2. What can I talk about  that makes me spot on for that job?
  3. Is my interview suit clean and pressed?  Do I have a clean and pressed suitable shirt and tie?  Are my shoes clean?  Does my hair need a trim?
  4. Do I know where the interview is?  Do I know the route to get to there on time with a comfortable margin?  Do I have a backup plan in case my main route/mode of transport is blocked/fails (car won't start, train is cancelled &c)?

These are largely based on interviewing people who clearly didn't concentrate on these things.  It is amazing to me how often I've seen people who forget numbers 3 and 4.

Stephen

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

I would focus on my my Tell Me About Yourself answer, my management style answer (if it were a management position) and my top 2-3 accomplishments.  Then I would double check my logistics.  Then back to the first sentence.

Good luck!

Mark

DPWade's picture

Thats where I am at Mark, writing and rehearsing those and the accomplishments using the MT sequence of Start with the End, background, 3 concepts and result for each.

I had the recruiter pre-interview face to face yesterday (nothng noteworthy) and the Client rescheduled for tomorrow giving a day extra prep.

I was told there will be an HR interview first, with a "profile" test which the Recruiter didnt have details on, then interview with the President.

It is a VP of 4 Depts, Management position, AND for a company listed in our areas BPTW.  How cool is that !?!

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

Today, that sir is beyond cool....it's FROSTY!

Keep us posted.

Mark

DPWade's picture

Well...I didnt make it past the HR dept. 

Upon entry, I met (HR) and they showed me to a room to take a personality test....40 minutes.  HR and I then sat in HR's office and I was asked to expand on my experience in the industry.  I had energy to the 10th exponent.  Then the "Management Style" question came, which I believe I nailed well.

At the end of that question "HR" handed me their card and said to wait in the lobby while HR checked the President's availability.  5 minutes later HR says " Not today, but we'll let you know"

I left dumbfounded.

I called my recruiter and expressed my take and asked him to call HR and get some level of feedback so I know what happened.

HR told Recruiter that I was "great" but how I answered experience questions led them to believe thay were recruiting the wrong Manager candidates, they now want Engineer Managers.  Recruiter said, "HR is open to your call, and normally if this HR has a problem with the Candidate, they wont hand them a card or allow contact outside ot the Recruiter protocol.

I still dont know what happened but have moved onto other Rejectors now.

hrrummph.

jhack's picture

Dave,

Sigh.  Sorry it didn't work out.  

Unfortunately, some folks don't know what they're looking for until they start interviewing folks and realize they had the wrong requirements.   It's a shame you lost out because they were not prepared.  

You held up your end, and that's all you can do.  Well done!  

Good luck, and keep us posted.  

John Hack

asteriskrntt1's picture

D,

I know this stings.  Stuff like this happens to me every few weeks and it has nothing to do with me (or you). 

Just keep preparing and you will smoke the one hiring manager who has his/her act together when  it counts.

 

*RNTT

 

PS - on the upside, at least you did not fail the personality test and have confirmation that you do in fact have a personality! ;)

 

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

It sure sounds to me like you have an opportunity to reach out to them.  Am I missing something?  Are you going to?

Mark

asteriskrntt1's picture

So Mark

Are you saing this is possibly a test as part of the interview or just an opportunity to build a relationship?

 

*RNTT

 

AManagerTool's picture

I think he's telling you that you didn't blow it.  Stay in touch using the MT followups.....

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

But sorry I wasn't clear.  If I read the post right, your recruiter suggests that the company's behavior indicated that they didn't rule you out so much as decide to go in a different direction.  Unless I can categorically say that I'm ruled out, I think the door is still open.  If the door's still open - not because it's some secret ploy to test my interest, but just because it's not closed for whatever reason, I'm going to try to walk through it.  If they meant it to be closed, they would have closed it, or will close it when I try to go through.  Worst case, it's a phone call or two.

Ping the company.  Ask your recruiter if you feel you have to.  Ask if there are other openings.  Wish them well in their search, and ask for referrals elsewhere in the firm.

Mark

DPWade's picture

OK then, I will call them and test the door.

 

-D