On Monday, I helped interview seven graduate applicants for positions in the Environment Group. At our company, there are two rounds of interviews. The first is with a senior manager of the group and a YP (Young Professional, that’s me). Those that make it through this round are interviewed by the human resources people, and participate in personality profiling and a group exercise.
Each interview on Monday lasted between 40 and 50 minutes. David and I asked questions from a form that HR had prepared. The questions ranged from, ‘What was your favourite subject at university?’ to ‘Describe a situation where you had to handle multiple tasks. What did you do and how did it turn out?’
Although the questions were pre-determined, David and I often had to ask the applicants additional questions in order to get STAR responses out of them. It wasn’t a test; we were trying to help them show us their experiences as fully as they could.
After I escorted the applicant out of the office, we came back together to determine a mark out of five for each response, then an overall mark.
The first two or three applicants were all right. I wouldn’t have minded putting them through to the second round. But then John walked in and it was all over.
“We want this guy!” I thought.
He interviewed so well. I wish I interviewed like him. He was well dressed, quiet. When we asked him a question, he thought about it and gave a relevant response. He didn’t sound rehearsed or eager to please, like the previous interviewee. He demonstrated his competence through his examples instead of just saying how good he was.
“Well, that’s the end of our questions,” David said. “Do you have any for us?”
“Yes.” John paused, then: “I know I’m being interviewed for the Environment Group. I’m a chemical engineer so I was a bit surprised to be offered this position but I’m happy about it. I’ve taken a few environmental electives and it’s an area I personally feel strongly about. But what can I, as a chemical engineer, offer to the Environment Group? Can you give me some examples of the work I would be doing as a graduate?”
David looked to me.
“There are quite a few chemical engineers and chemists in our group,” I said. “An understanding of chemistry is so useful in environment work. For example, I work in toxicology and human health risk assessment. For that, I need to understand the effect of chemicals on people, dose and response. You could be working with the Air Group on pollution control, which is really an application of process engineering. You could be auditing chemical processing facilities, like refineries.”
John nodded slowly.
“But I want to make one thing clear,” I continued. “You’ll come in as a graduate. I’m an environmental engineer but I look around and I’m doing the same work as scientists, planners, chemical engineers, botanists… You won’t be put into a ‘chemical engineering’ box. We want our graduates to do everything then figure out what they’re interested in.”
John smiled. “That’s good to hear!” he exclaimed. “I don’t want to be working on heat exchangers all my life. I’m interested in a place where I’ll be doing a variety of work.”
Normally, a job with our company is high on any engineering graduate’s wishlist. I just hope that John doesn’t get a better offer.
I should get you to help me in my interviewing prowess, I don’t think i’m doing too well at the moment. I feel awkward being so serious.
I answered “describe a time you tried to help someone develop, and failed” with “for my sister’s wedding i tried to teach my mum to dance. Unfortunately she got dizzy after the first spin and had to sit down”
That’s actually a really good idea. Maybe we should make a time sometime in the future and get together in a group and interview each other. Then, at the end of it all, sit down and evaluate how we all went.
I’ve heard about alot of strange interview questions and I reckon that, in my arrogance, I would probably give a very scathing (but probably amusing) response… one which would probably result in me being shown the door. For example:
Q: If you had to identify with a fruit, which fruit would it be?
(proper answer: A grape, grapes taste very nice on their own but work best in a bunch, each one contributing in a small but significant way to the greater whole)
A: A banana of course, yellow on the outside, white on the inside, I am often found in a bunch and my preferred state is bent. My skin is very slippery but once you get under it I’m a bit of a softie.
I don’t know, I just don’t think that I would be able to take anything (especially myself) seriously enough to *behave* in a job interview.
Carlo, I was going to say that if you don’t get a job by next semester we should mock interview you and see what’s “wrong”! You’re obviously doing well enough to get an interview, so if we fix that…
I think doing a group workshop would be a great idea. In fact, I’ll organise one for after the exams. If someone tells me when they end, I’ll put together a curriculum 🙂