Sono sicura che in occasione di una ‘job interview’ vi preoccupate e vi preparate con cura. Siete sicuramente più preoccupati se l’intervista si svolgerà in tutto o in parte in lingua inglese.

Non voglio aggiungere altre ansie a quelle già esistenti, ma vi voglio avvertire che esiste il ‘behavioral interviewing’. In questo tipo di approccio l’intervistatore cercherà di scoprire come vi siete comportati in passato in analoghe situazioni critiche.

Nell’intervista tradizionale l’approccio potrebbe essere:

• What is your experience?
• Why do you want to work here?
• What do you know about our company?
• Tell me a little about yourself.
• What do you feel has been your greatest work-related accomplishment?
• What is your greatest strength?
• What is your greatest weakness?
• Why do you want this position?
• Why are you the best person for this job?
• Why did you leave your last job?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• Would you say you are very diplomatic with people?

Naturalmente su queste domande vi sarete preparati ed esercitati.

Ma preparatevi anche ad un altro approccio.

Immaginate che le domande non siano così scontate magari formulate come domande chiuse che portano in automatico alla risposta: ‘ Yes, I am ‘.

Immaginate domande del tipo:

• How do you handle stressful situations?
• What is the toughest problem you've had to face, and how did you overcome it?
• Have you ever had to discipline a problem employee? If so, how did you handle it?

In questo caso dovrete dare una risposta articolata. L’intervistatore vuol capire come reagite in una situazione di stress. Il modo in cui avete reagito in passato può fargli capire come vi comportereste in una
situazione simile in futuro.

Questo significa che:

• L’intervistatore ha definito accuratamente le competenze richieste per quel ruolo. Ha anche raccolto feedback da più persone che conoscono bene le mansioni che quel ruolo comporta.
• Che il candidato non avrà modo di parlare in generale della sua motivazione, creatività, della sua capacità di lavorare sotto pressione, ecc. ma dovrà portare esempi adeguati a conferma di tutto ciò.

Eccovi alcuni esempi di domande di questa tipologia.

In questo caso le domande riguardano un’intervista per un posto di Responsabile Vendite in una multinazionale specializzata in forniture per ufficio.

• Tell me about a time when you had to make a sales presentation to a major client. Did you get your message across successfully?
• Tell me how you handle conflict? Please give me a recent example?
• Tell me about the last time you had to use your negotiating skills to bring about increased sales from a major client.
• Tell me about a salesperson you met who has inspired you . What did you learn from him/her?
• How do you deal with negative feedback from irritated customers? How do you normally react?
• Have you ever felt that the existing solutions to meet customers’ needs should be changed? If so, tell me more.
• Tell me about the methods you use to keep informed of your sales teams’ activities and progress towards their set objectives.
• How do you keep up to date with recent developments in your field
• Tell me about a recent sales and marketing strategy you implemented which failed to reach its objectives. What did you learn from it?
• When you need to employ somebody with strong sales skills, what do you look out for?
• Tell me about a successful pilot project that you created or improved.
• When your sales team is in danger of failing to reach the targets, what steps do you normally take?
• What steps do you undertake when you have an idea to improve either a company service or product? Give me a recent example.
• Describe a project you undertook that required researching for possible foreign distributors for your products, how did you go about it?
• Tell me about the most difficult client you have had to deal with? Why were they so difficult? How did you handle them?
• What steps have you taken to become proficient in the use of modern office software? Which software programs are you familiar with?
• Tell me about a time when you anticipated a serious potential problem in a company's marketing strategy. How were you able to anticipate it?
• Tell me about a recent sales and marketing strategy you implemented which failed to reach its objectives. What did you learn from it?
• What steps do you undertake when you have an idea to improve one of your organization marketing strategies in relation to incentive programs, brand management or online campaigns? Please give me a recent example.

Questi sono solo alcuni esempi di risposte ‘aperte’ che potrebbero porvi.

Perché non esercitarsi a rispondervi e magari immaginarne altre?