Employment Interview Questions

The employment interview questions that follow can be adapted to any discipline. The first question deals with how external customers describe you. If you are in an internal department that does not interact with external customers, think about your internal customers. We all have internal customers, and how we treat them matters. Trust me. Your internal customers will have an opinion about you and how responsive you are to their needs. Are you a "go to" person in your organization? Or are you always the naysayer, telling your internal customers why things they want to do can't be done? If this hits a little close to home, you might want to think about how you'll respond to an "internal customer" question. Companies don't like to hire people who put up road blocks. They like to hire people who can find solutions to problems and who can be creative in getting the job done.

So, even though the employment interview questions below might reference a function that you're not in, they can easily apply to you. Think outside the box. How do these questions apply to your area of expertise?

HOW WOULD YOUR CUSTOMERS DESCRIBE YOU?

Whether you're in a sales environment where the sales team sells the deal and then the operations or sales engineering team takes over, or you deal with internal customers all day in a marketing, finance or operations role, this question is a good one! Think about how your customers view you, whether they are internal or external. We're looking for good solid customer service skills here -- not necessarily that you're the slickest sales person they've encountered in a while. Dependable, great follow through skills, strong problem solver, super communicator...these are things that might come to mind. Make sure that you have examples to back up what you say. It's not uncommon for companies to request a few customer references before an offer is made.

HOW DO YOU SEGMENT YOUR MARKET? HOW DO YOU QUALIFY YOUR PROSPECTS?

Market segmentation should be fundamental in identifying good prospects for your product or service. Not everyone is a customer, and even among viable prospects, some are better than others. Good sales people are laser focused on who their targets are -- and not just because someone gave them a list. Understanding the segmentation strategy is expected of top performing sales professionals. Top performers focus on the 20% of their prospects who are likely to give them profitable business. Do you know who these prospects are for your business? Be prepared to speak about this.

IS THE CUSTOMER ALWAYS RIGHT?

The typical response to this question is, "No, but..." Give the interviewer a sense of how far you're willing to go for a customer. However, temper your response with some real world constraints. It's OK to walk away from a customer that is not going to be profitable for your business. This can come up in either a pricing discussion or a servicing discussion. And while the customer might always be right, they are likely not always right for your company. Knowing when to decline an opportunity to do business is sometimes just as valuable as booking that big account.