The essence of all job interview questions

4.72M

Petroschool presentation

1.

Maria Kuklila
ESL Teacher, interpreter
15 years in education
1000+ tests
300+ students in 5 countries
Trained staff in Coca-Cola, Intel, SoftLab companies
and SB RAS
Interpreted for Michael Cremo and John Favors
TKT Certificates from University of Cambridge

2.

Self-presentation
How to answer "tell me about yourself"
What are other most typical and tricky questions
What HR really wants to see and hear
About body language, right attitude and common mistakes
Vacancy analysis
How to prepare and feel confident

3.

4.

You are invited for a job interview!
• Technical test
• Personal interview

5.

Employer/HR is a person!
HR: “Many companies have 1 or 2 people carrying out interviews, but
we give a lot of importance to recruiting the right people even though
we are a small organization (50 people) so we are 3 or 4 when we
interview. This takes the form of a discussion and chat and not just
interview. We talk to the person and try to understand his or her
character, psyche, and way of reasoning. There is no secret or formula
for understanding who is the right person or not”.
*psyche - In psychology, your psyche is your mind and your deepest feelings and attitudes.
*Reasoning - the action of thinking about something in a logical, sensible way

6.

What does it mean for you?
• Establish personal contact
• He perceives different aspects of your personality

7. The essence of all job interview questions

WHY YOU?

8.

Desired result:
he sees you in this role

9.

Positioning
2 extremes:
Defensive – give excuses, begging
Attacking – prove, convince

10.

Balance
Know yourself, +/ Confidence
You BOTH are choosing

11.

Pitch
Need to know who you are
Your value
Your strengths
Weaknesses
What you want
You say:
• That’s me
• That’s my talent
• That’s what I am good at
That’s what I can
That’s what I’ve learned
That’s what I’ve done
That’s what I’m going to learn
Try to demonstrate that

12. BODY LANGUAGE

55% - body language
38% voice, intonation
7% - content
“I’m a very active person”

13.

Attitude in 1 phrase
“want to do”

14.

I don’t have any experience. What are my chances?
“Besides looking for the above, we listen to them a lot to make sure that
they get within our organization and team. We look for team players
and are ready to train someone who we think got this, rather than get
the better qualified person who may disrupt the team due to his or her
character or attitude”.

15. Small talk

• Thanks for meeting with me!
• It’s a pleasure meeting you!
• Glad to finally see you!

16.

Question № 1
• How are you? =
Normal
VERY well, thank you!
Great!
• How are you doing? =
All right.
• How are you going? =
Pretty good.
• How is it going? =
• How are things? =
• How is everything? =
• How’s life treating you?

17.

Following questions
How is life in Russia? – Not bad) Life is going on.
We are doing our best.
What’s the time in your place now? - It’s 8 in the
morning, the day has just started for me.
Have you had a busy week? –Yeah, pretty busy.
No time to relax/I’m working on my computer a
lot these days.
How was your weekend? – Really wonderful. I
was relaxing and spent time with my family.

18.

So tell me about yourself

19.

Tell me about yourself
DON’Ts:
Retell your CV or biography
Give memorized answers
Be boring and monotonous
Be shy or confused
Lie
DOs:
Tell what you’ve studied and why
Give highlights of your previous experience
Mention your unique skills, achievements that
match the vacancy
Select the most powerful facts
Speak with energy and confidence
Be live and positive
Show your interest and motivation

20.

Self-presentation
Personality + story+ results = great impression
Personality – qualities and skills (soft+hard)
Story – your way, experience, interesting facts
Results in the past – guarantee ones in the future

21.

Possible start
• I know that for this position of {..} you are looking for someone with strong
{..} skills. Due to my good education/skills/profound
knowledge/understanding/ experience/achievements in {…} I am confident
I will succeed in this role.
• I completed my education in 20.. with a Degree in {..}.
• I chose this field because {reason}. I have always wanted to {…}
• During my years at University I got especially interested in {..} So I took
more training in this and got {certificate/qualification…}
• I learned a lot about{..}

22.

If you are shy…
• People who know me best say that I’m…
hardworking, helpful, and never waste my time
• The compliment people give me most frequently is…
That I have great planning skills

23.

Summary
• I can summarize who I am in a few words:
• a lifelong student, have a creative side, and enjoy a good challenge
• Well, I googled myself this morning, and here’s what I
found
I am a big picture thinker, who can still focus on details. This combination makes
me an effective team leader.

24.

Skill description
soft skills
hard skills
Expert in Safety, Quality & Environment Management Systems
Attention to details
rig machinery
design
financial statements preparation
conflict management
analytical skills

25.

Soft skills
Big picture thinker who can still
focus on the details
Мыслю глобально, при этом
сохраняю внимание к деталям
possess proactive approach
обладаю активной жизненной
позицией, инициативен
quality-oriented
ориентирован на качество
trying to learn from past mistakes
стараюсь учиться на ошибках
well-organized
организован
а quick learner (enjoy learning new
things)
быстро обучаемый (люблю изучать
новое)
Strong analytic ability and curious
nature
Сильные способности к анализу и
любознательность
problem solver
Решатель проблем
Self-motivated and determined
Самомотивированный и
решительный

26.

Soft skills
able to keep deadlines
способен выполнять работу в срок
able to prioritize
способен расставлять приоритеты
able to work independently
with little or no supervision
способен работать независимо, без
контроля (или с минимальным контролем)
adapt well to new situations
легко адаптируюсь к новым ситуациям
have good communication /
interpersonal skills
имею хорошие коммуникативные навыки
have great planning skills
имею отличные навыки планирования
open to change/flexible
готов меняться/гибкий
passionate story-teller
Увлекательно рассказываю истории
Hardworking
трудолюбивый

27.

Vacancy analysis
Drilling engineers are a part of the wells discipline and bp’s global wells
organization (GWO).
GWO is an upstream operating function whose goal is to deliver safe, compliant,
and reliable wells. In GWO, drilling engineers take part in engineering activity
covering the planning, programme preparation, and execution of drilling
operations within the wells team.
As a drilling engineer, you are involved in designing, planning and programming of
drilling activities. During construction of the well, you are responsible for
supporting rig operations and ensuring the well is built safely and within budget.
Drilling engineers support rig operations to get to the target zone and design the
well to withstand conditions that may be experienced when the well is put on
production or injection. There are many types of well programmes including
exploration wells, appraising existing prospects and production wells in
established acreage.

28.

hard skills
• Know specific well programs (name)
• Experience in well design
Soft skills
• Experience in drill operations
• Team player
• Work well with drilling equipment
(including repairing)
• Communication
• Know well safety standards and
requirements
• Attention to details
*Could quickly identify shortcomings and
specify corrective actions
• Accurate
*Regularly ran Safety Audits and Quality
Control checks
• Work well under pressure
• Safety-oriented
• Highly reliable
• Good with numbers and calculations
• Like solving challenging tasks and exploring
new things
+ story to demonstrate it!

29.

Secret TIP
give a little MORE than they want.

30.

Story to prove
I have good communication skills.
For example, I persuaded an entire group to ...

31.

What are other typical questions?

32.

Why do you want to work for us?
What can you bring to our organisation?
The usually mention hearing about us as good employers, or
else they say that they can help us grow our business through
their input, or else because they want to gain experience with
us and grow with us

33.

Job interview questions list
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2.
3.
4.
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6.
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8.
9.
Tell me about yourself
Tell about your education
Why did you choose this area?
What or who influenced your career choice?
How did you know about the vacancy?
What made you interested in this position?
How can you characterize yourself?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
10.
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16.
17.
18.
How many years of experience do you have?
What are your most important personal skills?
What can you offer us that someone else can not?
How do you handle pressure?
How do you work better: in a team or on your own?
Are you a leader or a follower?
What are some of your leadership experiences?
What stack of technologies do you use?
Do you have any experience working with foreign customers?
1.
2.
3.
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5.
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7.
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What motivates you?
What is your dream job?
Describe your perfect day at work
What do you want to achieve in the future?
What kind of job do you want to have?
What are your career goals?
What skills would you like to improve or learn in the short term?
Where do you see yourself in 1/5/10 years?
Why should we hire you?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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7.
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11.
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13.
Are you currently employed?
Are you interested in remote positions?
How do you feel about late-night meetings?
What are your salary expectations?
Have you been promoted?
What would you do in the first 30 days of starting?
How many hours are you ready to take?
When are you ready to start?
Will you be willing to work extra time?
Will you be willing to go on business trips?
How long are you planning to stay with us?
Will you be willing to move to another place? If yes, any preferences?
Why did you leave (want to leave) the previous job?
1.
2.
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5.
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10.
Have you ever had failures in your projects?
What was your biggest failure/mistake?
Tell about problems you had with clients
Tell about problems you had with boss
Tell about problems you had with colleagues
What would you do if you didn’t get on well with someone in your team?
Give an example of how you took care of a customer
Tell about improvements and contributions you made
Can you tell me please about your biggest achievement/accomplishment from you previous project?
What are you mostly proud of?
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What do you do in your spare time?
What things you don’t like about people?
What was the last book you’ve read for fun?
What’s your favorite film?
What would you do if you had $1 million ?
What do you think of garden gnomes?
Personality and background
Skills and experience
Motivation and career growth
Schedule and salary
Behavioral
Out-of-work/logic/weird

34.

Some other questions
How did you hear about this position?
Would you work holidays/weekends?
Where do you want to be five years from now?
What are your salary expectations?
What is your dream job?
Why are you leaving your current job?
How would you deal with an angry customer?
If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you, and why?
Why is a manhole cover round?

35.

Behavioral Questions
Tell me about a situation where you had to solve a difficult problem.
Describe a situation in which you found a creative way to overcome an
obstacle.
Tell me about a time that you identified a need and went above and
beyond the call of duty to get things done.
Tell me about two improvements you have made in the last six months.
What was the best idea you came up with at your last job?
Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and
developed preventive measures.

36.

Victory lies in preparation

37.

Welcome to my intense course!

38.

Step 1 – watch the videos and read through the materials.
Select phrases that you can use for yourself
Step 2 – plan and write your own answers to the questions
Step 3 - Send me for correction (text)
Step 4 – Read out loud several times and record
Step 5 - Send me for corrections (audio reading)
Step 6 – practice the answers out loud until you sound
natural, fluent, confident. Don’t learn by heart – be
flexible, paraphrase, try different ways to express main
points.
Step 7 - record and send to me for final checking (audio
speaking)