I
A knob fell off my dresser drawer. Months ago.
I procrastinated on fixing it as anything to do with tools isn’t a strength for me.
Finally, I thought,
C’mon. How hard can this be??
I said to myself, “just get your arse down to the pantry and get a screwdriver.” (Yes, my basket of tools is in my pantry. Ha. Yes, a basket.)
The top of the screw was a square box.
I giggled to myself when I thought,
Why do screwdrivers have names that have
nothing
to do with their shape?
With a square screwdriver in hand, the fix was quick. And, easy.
I chuckled with Mom-Betty last night when I shared my screwdriver observation. And, I knew I had to turn this into an article!
After firing up Google, I learned the square screwdriver is called a “Robertson” after a Canadian named Mr. Robertson.
He created the square screwdriver in 1908.
111 years later the name (for some, GRIN) has stuck.
Which strangely led me to thinking about interviews.(Yeah. I know you’re shocked.)
Just as I didn’t know the name of the screwdriver, you may not know the
technical name of types of interviews.
1.
Behavioural based interview questions =
the dreaded “Tell me about a time” questions. The idea is past performance is the best indicator of how you’ll perform in the future.
2.
Old interview questions
= I have no idea what I should be asking, so I’m going to ask the very predictable question such as “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”
3.
Competency questions
= do you have the skills to perform the job?
4.
Out-of-the-blue questions
= can you think on your feet and tell me how many ping pong balls would fit in my office?
5.
Make it or break it question
= walk me through your resume. Most candidates make an absolute debacle of this question… (unless they’ve read my book or attended my seminar…then they’ll know the secret on how to knock this one out of the park!)
6.
Problem solving questions =
an actual example of what types of situations the candidate will need to solve on a daily basis.
7.
Nonsense questions
= what type of animal would you like to be? (Pleaseeeeeeeeee tell me you’re not asking this crazy question!) Or, following the last newsletter,
Give me your most creative use of SPAM (the canned meat)?
Remember. Interviews go both ways. Your questions can either attract or repel amazing candidates. Great candidates will look elsewhere if they are asked nonsense questions.
There you have it. Spice up your next interview with a few new interview questions.
#screwdrivernames #robertson #interviews #pingpongballs #whatsyouranimal
Till next time,
Sheila
