Standard Interview Questions and the Right Answers

How to pass the "lie detector"?

People around us don't love the honest, but the kind.
Not the brave, but the sensitive. Not the principled, but the lenient.
In other words — the unprincipled. S. Dovlatov

After reading this article, you will no longer fall into the job-seeker's trap that recruiters have prepared for you. What do I mean by that? Recruiting companies very often use John Younger's six-question method during an interview to determine a candidate's true reasons for leaving a particular company, as well as to reveal their dominant motivation at work.

John Younger is the CEO of Accolo and one of the leaders in the field of recruiting. He rejects all traditional personnel-selection methods and successfully implements new ideas for finding ideal employees. Younger founded 5 companies and is constantly coming up with new ways of hiring staff. Currently, his best-known model is the "Rule of Six Interview Questions."

The "Rule of Six Questions" method consists of professionally training recruiters to select the ideal candidate and minimize hiring mistakes. Overall, the methods used by J. Younger are consistent with my own courses on interview preparation. The fundamental difference is that we stand on opposite sides of the barricade. John Younger trains recruiters how to choose worthy candidates, while I help candidates get worthy jobs.

2 important aspects of the job search for candidates, from me, that deserve special attention and maximum effort at the first stage:

• Create a resume that sells, tailored to market requirements. A universal method for creating a resume.
• Adapt your resume for each vacancy. How to make a resume that sells even more effectively.

2 key pieces of advice for recruiters from John Younger:

• Never read "raw" resumes that don't attract attention and are indistinguishable from one another.
• Never consider a candidate who doesn't match the competencies stated in the job profile.

What I particularly like about him is his position on maintaining ethics and dignified treatment of every candidate. I would like all companies to adopt this principle as the basis for building their HR policy.

"Every candidate deserves respect and attentiveness, regardless of the outcome. This is central to our company's vision and values." Accolo

Let's break down how the "Rule of Six Questions" model works, so as not to fall into the trap prepared by HR managers. The essence of this method comes down to the fact that, by getting answers to six proposed questions, a recruiter can determine whether the candidate's answers are true or false. The candidate is asked to answer six questions during the interview, which are asked in a certain sequence and spaced apart in time, i.e., they don't follow one another directly. This is done in order to mislead the candidate and create a trap.

The main principle for answering the 6 questions is to stick to one reason for leaving the company and one reason for deciding to join the new company. So, you must clearly know the answers to 2 questions:

• Why did you leave your previous job?
• Why did you decide to join another company?

Remember the 6 key questions:

1. Why did you choose our company? (reveals motivation)
2. What didn't you like about your previous job? (reason for leaving)
3. Where do you see yourself in a few years? (motivation)
4. How did you find out about the job? (reason for leaving + motivation)
5. What interested you most about your previous job before you started it? (reason for leaving + motivation)
6. Why did you leave? (reason for leaving)

I have prepared some example answers to the 6 questions for you. You can see that in these answers the candidate sticks to one reason for leaving and one motivator for the new job, both of which prompted them to leave the company and to decide on the new one.

Question #1. Why did you choose our company?
Answer:
I take the choice of companies I would like to work for very seriously. I have 3 main criteria by which I determine whether my expectations about the job match the company's requirements.
First, this is the company's professional image on the market and the reviews of employees working there. Your company is a leader, and not only invests in technology but also supports the continuous development of its employees and cares about their professional growth.
Second, I pay attention to the list of required competencies and skills stated in the vacancy and determine for myself whether I will be able to successfully handle the work. The regional manager job profile matches my work experience 100%, and I will be able to become a productive employee.
Third, I determine my level of motivation based on the conditions the company offers for this position. Your company meets my selection criteria, and I am very interested in getting this job with you specifically.

Question #2. What didn't you like about your previous job?
Answer:
I can't say that anything about my previous job didn't suit me; I was very happy to work at that firm. I'm grateful to my manager for the trust he placed in me and for the new experience of independently running a business in the region. However, I still made the decision to change jobs because I was offered a position at company "X" as a regional manager. By that time, I had received a second higher education degree in management and wanted to work in a new leadership role. Unfortunately, there were no suitable vacancies for me at the company at that time.

Question #3. Where do you see yourself in a few years?
Answer:
I would like to build my career at one company and achieve high results. It's very hard to predict what position I'll be in in a few years, but in a couple of years I will definitely hold a senior leadership position in the sales department.

Question #4. How did you find out about the job? How did you get your last job?
Answer:
I found out about the vacancy on your website, since I search for companies I would like to work for myself, and I also heard positive feedback about working at your company from a colleague. I got my last job on the recommendation of my former manager from company "X."

Question #5. What interested you most about your previous job before you started it?
Answer:
First, the professional status and image of the company.
Second, the level of requirements for the position.
Third, the content of the job and the position. I viewed this move as a promotion and an opportunity to apply my knowledge at a new level. It was important for me to get a job specifically at that company and in the position of regional manager.

Question #6. Why did you leave?
Answer:
I worked there for about 2 years and gained enormous experience in direct sales. I'm very grateful to my manager for their help and support at work. Unfortunately, at that time there were no vacancies for leadership positions at the company, and I made the rather difficult decision to leave.

Let's sum up

I hope you were able to determine, from this candidate's answers, the main reason for their leaving the company and their main motivator at work. Their motivation and reason for leaving are a deliberate approach to career-building, confirmed by their decision to change companies in order to get a promotion. This candidate has passed the "lie detector" test. Now it's your turn.

• Choose which factors motivate you the most at work and determine the relevant reason for leaving a company.

List of motivators:

• Company reputation
• Large-scale and interesting tasks/projects
• Career growth opportunities
• Opportunities for additional training, professionalism of colleagues
• Level of pay
• Social benefits package (official employment and "clean"/legal salary)
• Convenient office location
• Flexible schedule/working from home

List of reasons for leaving:

• Restructuring
• Routine nature of the work
• Lack of career growth
• No training
• Low income level
• Informal employment, lack of social guarantees
• Office relocation
• Regular overtime, poor working conditions

How did you get the job at the company? Where did you hear about the vacancy?

• Recommendations from colleagues/acquaintances
• Specialized communities, news sites, internet portals (which ones)
• The employer's official website
• Social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Job search sites: HH.ru, Superjob.ru, etc.
• Sites with employer reviews

Write down the answers to the 6 questions:

1. Why did you choose our company?
2. What didn't you like about your previous job?
3. Where do you see yourself in a few years?
4. How did you find out about the vacancy? (Through which channels did you find each job on your resume)
5. What interested you most about your previous job before you started it?
6. Why did you leave the company?

I wish you confidence in passing the "lie detector" and giving the right answers to the toughest questions.

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