If you are interviewing candidates for a position, buyer beware. Here is what you are up against.
While you and your management team are flipping a coin to see who is going to handle the interview, your candidate is in a seminar with a professional coach with the sole purpose to beat you. The stakes are high. The candidate has nothing to lose, everything to gain. And they WILL beat you. This comment posted by a professional coach to demonstrate how the candidate takes advantage of STUPID INTERVIEW QUESTIONS by unprepared managers.
Janet Palmer – Communication Excellence Institute comments, “From the interviewee’s perspective, ‘Tell me about yourself’ is a great question! It allows the candidate to talk about his or her background and capabilities, and how they link to the job description and needs of the hiring organization. For over 20 years, our firm has successfully coached high-level candidates to take full advantage of the wonderful opening question–“Tell me about yourself” or “Tell us why you are interested in this position,” which are essentially the same question–and to respond clearly and directly to the match between the candidate and the position for 3 to 4 minutes, the time during which serious first impressions are made. Our logic (proven by positive results) is that if the candidate can dominate the first critical 3.5 minutes of the interview (as suggested by research), then he or she has the greatest ability to make a favorable impression that is likely to last. I frankly hope interviewers never stop asking that opening question! It’s a gift to the smart candidate.”
And yes, one of the most STUPID INTERVIEW QUESTIONS is “Tell me about yourself.” But not as STUPID as “Tell me where you would like to be in five years.”
Both of these questions allow the candidate to talk in non-specific, inflated, exaggerated drivel. Which is exactly what they are coached to do. One of the Big Five Mistakes made by managers is –
- The manager loses control of the interview.
Most managers lose control because they are not prepared to ask the real questions that would be helpful in making a sound decision. And if the manager is not prepared, the candidate is trained to take over. Janet is right. It is a GIFT to the candidate.
I disagree. Having been a hiring manager for many years, this question is presented more to eliminate candidates rather than select the best ones. It is surprising with all the interviewing information available how many candidates do not prepare appropriately for their interviews; if they cannot take advantage of all the preparation tools available, I don’t want them. If it is the only question asked, then I would agree that the hiring manager is in trouble. Hopefully there are more tools in the interviewer’s arsenal than this one.
To Wendy’s comment, do you eliminate the poor candidates after this first question, or do you continue on with the real questions to which I think Tom is referring? Either way, as soon as you have eliminated the person from consideration, everyone’s time is being wasted by continuing the interview. If you only stuck with the real questions, wouldn’t the poor candidates be eliminated just as quickly? What additional benefit do you get from the “tell me about yourself” question?