5 Best interview questions which made me introspect
Success or failure, never fail to introspect
Over the years I have attended a lot of job interviews. I met a few recruiters who actually put some thought into the process and made an effort to truly understand what the interviewee is all about.
I would like to share 5 questions, which made me go into introspection mode and I actually felt like this was a valuable experience. I also want to thank all those recruiters who are doing a wonderful job of making it worthwhile for the interviewees.
1. State a real-life problem instead of asking a question.
I was interviewing for the position of a continuous improvement specialist. The hiring manager presented me with an actual problem he was facing. He said that they were attempting to do a changeover on a machine in a top priority, fast paced line. He said it was taking really long and he asked me how I would approach this problem.
All he wanted to know was whether I was familiar with ‘SMED’ one of the lean tools used for changeovers. He could have asked me do you know SMED. But that wouldn’t tell him whether I know where to apply it and how to use it.
2. What is that one thing you have learnt about leadership, and you follow it every day?
A very intriguing question! For these types of questions, you cannot state the answer and stop at that. You need to make it credible and demonstrate how genuine you are.
My answer was: “ I am mother of a 4-year-old boy. I feel that in more ways than one, I have become a better person after I became a mother.
I was trying to teach him to pray by folding his hands, no matter what I say he wouldn’t fold his hands while praying. After several failed attempts of telling him and making him do it forcefully, I figured out something very interesting. One fine day I did not ask him to fold his hands , I just said we will pray together and I folded my hands and said the prayer. To my surprise, he is doing it too! A valuable leadership lesson of leading by example flashed in front of me. Since that day whenever I try to teach something to someone, guide someone, I do it first and this has made it a lot easier “
I think the key is to be genuine and have the right examples to back it up.
3. Teach me something fascinating that I did not know
A very out of the box question. What the recruiter is really trying to find out is how quickly you can think on your feet.
This was my answer:
“I was teaching my 4 year your old son how to play Tic Tac Toe. He listens to all the instructions, and he goes “Why do you need to put your cross in my line, you put it in your line, that way we both get to complete our lines and we can both win!”
What a mind-blowing perspective! It had aspects of leadership, collaboration, and teamwork all in just one simple statement by a 4-year-old!
That is when it occurred to me that we are so caught up with ‘winning’ that we sometimes forget what matters. Inherently all of us want everyone to succeed, we like to collaborate, we like synergy! All we need to do is find a way to tap it. This is something I learnt; do you find it fascinating? “
Yes, they did find it fascinating 😊
4. The recruiter gave me his watch and asked me to sell it to him.
For a moment I wondered am I applying for a sales position? No, I was not. Then I thought, lean manufacturing or any role for that matter where you are expected to bring in new ideas, is all about selling your idea to the stakeholders so they buy in to the concept and implement it. Whenever I try to implement a new idea, I ask myself,“ What’s in it for them , what makes them tick “ . I did the same in this situation as well .
I looked at the watch, it was one of those smart watches with a pedometer in it. I deduced that this person might be into fitness.
This is what I said-
“Hello Sir. Mind if I ask you what are your fitness goals for this year? How about a little help in achieving them?
The last time you went hiking with a heavy backpack and a friend offered to carry the backpack for a little while, how did it feel? Would you like to feel that way on your journey to fitness?
This watch here, not just shows you the time, but tells you how many steps you walked, what is your heart rate , how many calories you burned and much more ! Would you be interested in taking it for a walk? 😊”
Now how many of you will buy the watch from me? 😊
5. What do you like to me remembered for?
A very deep question. I think the recruiter wants to understand what you are truly passionate about and if it somehow aligns with the role you are applying for.
Here is what I said ,
“ I want to be remembered as a brilliant story teller . The presentations I make to communicate an idea, the training content I design to develop the skill of team members, how I communicate with my team about successes and failures , drafting a simple email to get the buy in from my stakeholders — all these are examples of how well I communicate, how well I tell my story . I want to create such a great impact with my stories that I immediately get the buy in from my stakeholders to implement lean projects and move towards operational excellence , self-actualization both personally and professionally , delight in the idea, delight in the story !”
Now I don’t know about you, but my son surely gets delighted with my stories 😊
Have you come across any interview questions which made you introspect? Please leave a comment 😊