Why Do Employers Ask the Kinds of Questions That They Ask

Welcome.  This is David Richardson with a Job Search Moment. 

I am a career consultant with over 20 years experience helping people find jobs.  And this is the first in a series I’ve written—a series of what I call short info packets, each offering creative and effective strategies to help you find employment more effectively.

In future installments, we will be exploring methods of job search, the resume—both paper and electronic, how to handle the job interview itself, strategies of personal marketing that you can effectively use–both before AND after the job interview, and related topics—all designed to equip you to find and get the job you’re looking for–especially in today’s highly competitive job market.

In this first edition of a Job Search Moment, we’re going to address a puzzling issue:  Why do employers ask the kinds of questions that they ask–“Tell me about yourself?”; “Are you good under pressure?”; “What do you do in your spare time?” and similar questions.  When you go to a job interview, you can expect a barrage of questions such as these.  Do they intimidate you?  They are designed to do precisely that–to get you to say the first thing that comes to your mind that seems halfway related to the question.  And that’s probably not what you to do.

So what’s going on?

Perhaps this will help.  The question you hear (Tell me about yourself?) really isn’t the question at all.  In fact, none of the questions in an interview are actually what they seem?  The employer has invited you into his office for only one reason—to solve HIS problem.  So he’s not really looking for you to tell him the story of your life or provide other personal information.

Instead, he is looking for the answer to three actual questions.  The answers to these three questions will help him make a prediction about how well suited you are for the job.  He probably won’t ask these directly, because he already knows what you’ll say in answer to them.  But he’ll ask other questions, such as “Tell me about yourself?” or “Why did you apply to our company?” in order answer them.

What are these three questions?  They’re simple to state.

1.   Can you do the job?  This has to do with your skills.  In other words, do you have the training and experience required to fill the job opening the employer needs filled.

2.   Do you want to do the job?  This isn’t about skills.  It’s about motivation.  Just because you are able to do something doesn’t mean you actually want to do it.  So the employer wants to know if the job opening he needs filled matches your career interests.

3.   Will you fit in with the company?  This is about Good Worker Traits, like teamwork, the ability to accept supervision, problem solving, and related social skills that are required to create a smooth running system for the production of goods or the delivery of services.

If asked directly, you’d say “YES!” to each question.  That’s predictable.  You want the job.  And employers know this.  So they will take the answers that you give to the actual interview questions and use them to construct answers for the three questions they really want to know about.

Sound complicated?  Well, it is.  Hiring people is complicated.  And successful job seekers know it.  So they approach the interview from the employer’s point of view.  Each answer they give is designed to respond effectively to the employer’s real questions—“Can you do the job?”, “Do you want to do the job?”, and “Will you fit in with the company?”

In the next Job-Search moment, we’ll apply this insight to help us effectively answer a question frequently asked during job interviews:  “Why did you apply to our company?”

Until next time, this is David Richardson, for Job Search Moment, saying “You can get that job, so let’s get it done!”