Interview Skills

Knowing what an employer is looking for in a potential employee can help someone to prepare for an interview. An interviewer for a major corporation was asked these questions: What specific skills are you looking for in the people who apply for a job? And how do you identify these skills? He responded:

Most important for us in the way of skills is the ability to communicate—can people speak clearly? Can they express the kind of person they believe themselves to be? In what kind of work situations do they perform well? What are their strengths and weaknesses? We want to know about the personal qualities of the individual, so I try to ask questions to draw them out and attempt to find out if they have a sense of themselves. What I am looking for is an ability to verbalize an idea in clear, simple, understandable language.

I am looking for creativity. I will ask some "odd" questions just to see if this throws them. How do they respond in these tough situations—can they be creative with their answers? This is very important when they are out in business situations with customers. They will have to respond to very sudden changes and problem solving situation that they are not necessarily familiar with, and I want to know if they can handle them.

What I look for the most are personal qualities—assertiveness, drive, ambition, and a competitive instinct. They should be high achievers and want to work hard. I can usually tell about these qualities from the way the person presents himself or herself and some of the activities they have been engaged in. I pick up things from the applications and resume—how they have written them and the kind of things they say. How they present their experiences is often very informative. For example, an assertive person will say, "I can do these things" and "I decided in this course of action," whereas a more passive person might say, "These are the experiences I have had." All of these things describe the person in some way.

Short Answer Questions

1. What qualities do employers seek in a potential employee?
2. How can an interviewer find the interviewee's strengths and weaknesses?
3. Why does the interviewer ask interviewees some odd questions?
4. What does "I can do these things" show in terms of one's personal quality?
5. What qualities are valued most by an employer?

(Keys.)