Interview questions

The interviewer may ask both open-ended and close-ended questions. You will also be expected to have questions of your own. The quality of your answers and insight of your questions are critical elements of your final evaluation, so we advise you to practice both your answers and questions. (More examples will be listed later).

Open-ended questions: These are questions like “tell me about yourself.” To answer, be brief, about three or four minutes. For such questions spend half the time on the early days and the rest on the more recent and relevant years.
Closed-ended questions: These are questions like “tell me about a significant career achievement.” To answer, remember STAR. ST = describe the Situation, A = Action taken and R = Results, punctuated with facts and figures. Be precise and clear in your communication.
Your questions: This is a golden opportunity for you to demonstrate your preparation and knowledge of the company and your interest in the role. Do your homework by reading the brief given by Charteris, visiting the Client’s website, googling for industry news, etc.
Ask questions first about the company, its growth, strategy, plans and any specific questions pertaining to the assignment. At this point it is appropriate to ask specific questions about the role, your growth prospects, etc.

Remuneration
The initial meeting shouldn’t be the time for salary negotiations. If asked, however, do provide your current remuneration. If asked about the expected package, reply tactfully that you will leave it to them to assess your fair value to the corporation.

Closing
As the interview comes to a close, summarise what makes you unique as a candidate for this role, taking into account the information you have gleaned from the interview. Enquire about next steps and most importantly, thank them for the opportunity to meet.

In the end, it is the person-to-person connection that sells a candidate. So, if you feel it is warranted and you are truly sincere, tell the interviewer you are excited about the meeting and the prospect of joining their organisation. Send an email of thanks later, including any materials you may have promised to send (articles, tables of data, etc.) and don’t forget to call us with your initial thoughts.

Library of questions
In every search conducted by Charteris we evaluate candidates on six key leadership characteristics:
• Integrity
• Problem Solving
• Communications Skills
• Motivation
• Interpersonal Skills
• Execution

To prepare you for similar assessments, here is a collection of potential interview questions arranged under those six key characteristics, plus a concluding section entitled “Self-Analysis.” You should prepare answers with which you feel personally comfortable sharing and which fit your goals for the interview.

Integrity
o In your present role, how have you balanced the needs of customers, stakeholders, management, employees and others? Please give examples of conflicts, trade-offs and how you handled them.
o What are your views on governance and the role of the Board of Directors?
o What governance issues have you personally encountered? How have you dealt with them?
o How have you handled cases of dishonesty in your business career?
o How would you react to an accusation of dishonest dealings against your company and/or against yourself?
o How do you evaluate and manage the advice of lawyers, accountants, bankers and other professional advisors?
o How do you feel about diversity and minority issues?
o How do you balance your personal and business life?
o Is there anything you feel we should know which might raise questions about your integrity regarding this role?

Problem Solving
o In your present position, what problems have you identified that had previously been overlooked?
o How have you changed the nature of your role?
o What are three basic managerial criteria you use in judging a colleague?
o Have you helped reduce costs? How?
o Have you helped increase sales? Profits? How?
o Describe typical problems you are likely to face during the day and ways in which you reach solutions.
o What was your most serious problem in the last year?
o What was your biggest mistake in recent years? How did you rectify it?
o Describe changes you have recommended.
o Describe situations where your judgement proved valuable
o Who has sought your opinion in the last month and what was the nature of the inquiry?
o Why did you take product into “X” market?
o What are some of how would you evaluate your current company?
o When you are planning, how do you go about acquiring the right information?
o In what situation has your work been criticised?
o Would your colleagues rate you as the person with whom they would discuss their problems?
o Describe several successes you have had in problem solving for you company.
o What was the most difficult problem you have faced?
o How did you go about resolving it?
o What human relations problems have you faced? How were they resolved?

Communications Skills
o How do you generally function in group discussions?
o Have you ever led a workshop or seminar?
o What makes you effective in person-to-person or small group situations?
o What accomplishments can you tell me about to show you are a good communicator?
o Do you prefer to communicate by telephone, email or face-to-face?
o How do you communicate with individuals who work for you? With others within your organisation?
o How do you rate yourself as a presenter?
o Describe your “platform” skills.
o How do you go about selling/presenting your ideas?
o How would you improve your communication skills?
o Do you volunteer to speak at gatherings?
o Describe some of your presentations.
o From whom have you sought advice in the last five years? Last month? This week?
o When you are in a discussion, do you consider yourself a good listener? Why?
o For whom are you a mentor?

Motivation
o Where are you now in your career and where will you be in three years?
o What are your short and long-term objectives?
o What do you look for in a job?
o Give me the reasons for your last 3 job changes.
o What new goals or objectives have you established recently?
o What is the best aspect of your current role and what is the worst?
o Given the advantages you started with, how far have you advanced in real terms?
o What interests you most about the position we are discussing? And the least?
o What factors would you lead you to leave your present role?
o What aspects of your previous positions have you liked or disliked?
o What kinds of events make you emotional?
o How do you react when your boss, (clients or stakeholders) puts pressure on you?
o What are the aggravations of your present position?
o Do you enjoy hectic activity?
o What would your colleagues say about your drive? Your Boss?
o What failing situation have you rescued?
o How do you get things done?
o How would you react to heading a start-up situation?
o In describing your leadership style, what is more important — form or content?
o Have you ever left a position because the standards set were not high enough?
o In your expectations for others, how close do your colleagues come to meeting the mark?
o Describe situations in which you have had to “bend” to achieve objectives.
o Which is more important — completing a job on time or doing it right?
o What are your outside interests — social, community, arts, sports?
o What does success mean to you?
o What is most important in your life?
o Who is a well-known figure (dead or alive) that you admire? Why?
o Did you have a mentor and, if so, how did that individual affect your career?
o What is the legacy you will leave in your current job?
o What might it be in this new role?

Interpersonal Skills
o In what situations do you mandate and when do you consult?
o Describe your management style.
o How do you motivate people?
o What makes a good leader in business?
o Describe several examples of your leadership skills.
o Describe an ideal leader.
o Describe an ideal subordinate.
o What perceptions do colleagues have of you?
o How have you improved subordinates’ performance?
o What do you think of your current line manager?
o What do you look for in hiring people?
o How would you go about firing people?
o To what degree have you developed subordinates who have been promoted to other executive positions?
o What techniques have you used to build team spirit?
o How have you supported the weaker members of your group?
o Do you generally speak to people before they speak to you?
o Have you been a spokesperson for your company?
o Are you asked to take on special assignments?
o Describe special projects for which you were selected.
o How would you describe your impact on your company?

Execution
o What results have you delivered in previous and present jobs?
o What are the obstacles to results in this new role?
o How would you overcome them?
o How do you allocate your time during a typical day?
o How do you set priorities?
o How do you assign tasks? What controls do you use?
o What types of tasks do you feel you cannot delegate?
o Do you have a succession plan?
o How have you contributed to change in your organisation?
o How do you determine if a subordinate is effective?
o Have you used Management by Objectives (MBO)? What were the results?
o Describe how you plan to organise delivery of results.
o Have you had many “crises” in your job? Why?
o Are you better at planning or implementation?
o How do you administer the subjective part of your incentive program?

Self-Analysis
o How would your boss rate you in the following areas and why? How would you rate yourself?
o Integrity
o Problem Solving
o Communication Skills
o Motivation
o Interpersonal Skills
o Execution
o What might your closest friend say they disliked about you?
o What would your direct reports say about you?
o What is your greatest strength? Weakness?
o Why should we hire you?
o What can you do for us that another candidate could not do?
o How would you describe your personality?
o Why didn’t you do better in college, or in your job?
o If you could start your career again what would you do differently?
o What are five biggest accomplishments in your present job?
o How do you know when you’ve done a good job?
o Why aren’t you earning more?
o Why do you feel you have top management potential?
o What are the weak spots in your work habits?
o Tell me what you consider your greatest abilities and how they will help you in this job.
o Don’t you feel you might be better off in a different company or career?

Interviewing is an art form and critical to the success of any business as well as to successful career progression.
Your interviewer will be prepared, and so should you. Preparation is critical to a successful interview