Why prep for an interview

I have only had a couple of interviews in my life. I do however, with only a handful of interview experiences, think that as someone who is conducting the interview it is very important to know what you want out of the interview. If the Interviewers goal is to get to better know how the perspective hire thinks through problems, or how they work with people. Also, if an interviewer wants to see if they have the necessary skills for the job, or even to figure out what kind of work really excites them then they have to figure out how to get the information out of the small amount of time that you have to conduct the interview.

To find out what you want to know an interviewer needs to have questions set in stone before the meeting as well as some questions to ease the tension when an interview is taking a turn that wouldn’t be as useful. These are known as structured and unstructured questions. Although these are not the only kinds of questions that can be posed in the interview process, they are very simple to understand and use in all interviews.

Structured questions are best when the interviewer is trying to qualify if the interviewee is aligned with the company’s goals and or values. These are questions that really make the interviewee talk and explain his/her thoughts or feelings about really anything. These questions aren’t yes no but really only have a couple answers that would have similar answers. These have a great use or utility because these questions can be re-used time and time again in interviews.

The other kind of question that I believe are very valuable are unstructured questions. These kinds of questions are really more open ended and give the opportunity to the interviewee to surprise them with a great answer or show that they have a strong ability to think on their feet. By using these types of questions, the interviewer can get a very valid sense of their abilities and general knowledge.

Through the use of different types of questions interviewers and interviewees alike can better get to know and understand each other better. Which is really what an interview is all about.