Nội dung

• Describe a time when you received feedback about your performance and you disagreed with that feedback. What did you disagree with? • Was there ever a time when you initially disagreed with feedback you received and later came to accept it? Tell me about that. • Were you ever surprised by criticism you received? What was the criticism and why were you surprised? • What has been a consistent strength of yours? What evidence do you have that this is an area in which you are strong? • What has been a consistent area of development for you? How do you know that this is an area of development for you? • List three things you have learned about yourself in the last year that are relevant to the way you work. How did you learn this information? Describe a time when you used this new information. Self-Control or Self-Management Emotional Expression • Describe some things that make you angry or frustrated at work. Tell me what you do in those situations. • Describe some types of situations where you are likely to get annoyed at work. What do you do when you get annoyed? • Tell me about a time when you were angry with someone at work. What did you do? • Has there ever been a situation at work where you said something and later regretted saying it? Tell me about that. • Tell me about a time when you lost your temper at work. What did you do? What result did this have? • Tell me about a time when you had too much to do at work and it was causing you to feel stressed. What did you do? 164 THE EQ INTERVIEW • What do you do when you are feeling stressed at work? • Describe a stressful situation at work. What do you do? • Describe a situation at work when you were very enthusiastic about something. How did your enthusiasm affect others? • Describe a time when you felt excited about work. • When do you look forward to going to work? • Was there ever a time at work when you had to temper your enthusiasm for something? • Describe a time when you felt grateful at work. What did you do? • Give me an example of when you expressed gratitude toward someone at work. Courage or Assertiveness • Tell me about a time when you spoke up about something in the workplace. What was the issue? Why did you speak up about it? What did you say? What did others think? • Has there ever been a situation at work where you wish you had said something in a meeting or encounter but didn’t? Tell me about that. • Describe what you did the last time someone blamed you for something at work that wasn’t your fault. What did you do? • Describe a time when you were right and you knew you were right, but the other party (customer, coworker, your boss) at work didn’t believe you. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you felt something was unfair at work. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you knew that you were told to do something that you thought wasn’t a good idea. What did you do? QUESTIONS BY AREA AND COMPETENCIES 165 For managers or leaders: • Tell me about a time when you disagreed about the direction of the company or a policy. What did you do? • Describe a time when you and a peer were at odds about a particular decision or direction. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when your boss had a particular opinion that differed from yours. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a goal that you were told to achieve. How did that go? • Describe a difficult performance discussion that you had with an employee. • Tell me about a time when you decided not to discuss an issue with an employee. What did you consider? Resilience • Tell me about a time when you felt that you were defeated at work. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you were distracted or preoccupied about something. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you felt like giving up on something. What did you do? • Describe a time when you didn’t think things could get any worse, and then they did. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you decided to give up on a goal. • Tell me about a time when you were overwhelmed at your last job. How often does that occur? What do you do about it? • Talk about the last time you were criticized at work. How did that go? 166 THE EQ INTERVIEW Awareness in the Moment • Tell me about a time when you realized that a conversation wasn’t going very well. (Is the candidate able to realize during the situation the dynamics of the situation?) What did you do? (Is the candidate able to redirect the conversation for a better outcome?) • Tell me about a time when you realized that you weren’t speaking up during a meeting. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you realized that something was best left unsaid. What did you do? Planning Tone • Tell me about a time when you deliberately planned the tone of a particular conversation. (This indicates that the candidate is aware that tone affects outcome.) How did you do that? (This indicates skill.) What result did it have? • In your present job, can you tell me about some situations when you must think about how you are going to say something before saying it? What must you consider? • Tell me about a time when you planned the way you phrased a problem or situation so that you could get the best result. • Tell me about a time when you missed an opportunity to set the tone in a discussion. What happened? Empathy Respectful Listening • Think about a time when you didn’t understand something in the workplace. What did you do? • Describe a situation when you didn’t understand why someone was acting a certain way or taking a certain position on some issue? What did you do? QUESTIONS BY AREA AND COMPETENCIES 167 • Describe a time when you jumped to conclusions. • Tell me about a conversation with a coworker, employee, or customer that didn’t go very well. What specifically occurred? For managers or leaders: • Tell me about a time when you learned something by listening to an employee. • Describe a time when you asked someone for information about a problem. Feeling the Impact on Others • Tell me about a situation when you sensed something was bothering a peer or coworker. How did you know? What did you do? • Describe a situation when you knew that something was wrong with a relationship you had with a peer, customer, or supervisor. What did you do? • Relate a situation in which you determined that something that you did or said didn’t go over very well. How did you know? • Describe a time when you said something or did something that had a negative effect on someone. • Describe a time when you did or said something that had a negative effect on someone and you were unaware of it until someone else brought it to your attention. For managers or leaders: • Tell me about a time when you sensed that an employee was struggling. How did you know? What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you noticed that your staff was overwhelmed. How did you know? What did you do? 168 THE EQ INTERVIEW • Describe a time when a change you were implementing caused stress for your staff. How did you know? What did you do? Service Orientation • Tell me about a time when you offered assistance to someone without being asked. What did you do? • Describe a situation when you offered assistance to someone even though it was outside of your job description. What did you do? • Relate an instance when someone needed help and you couldn’t help him. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you recognized that someone needed help. What did you do? • Describe a situation when you were asked to help someone at work. What did you think about that? • Was there ever a time when you resented helping someone at work? Tell me about that. For the manager or leader: • Tell me about a time when an employee was struggling. What did you do? Social Expertness Building Relationships • Who are some key people within your organization who you currently must work with on a regular basis to get your work done? Describe your relationship with these people. • Describe your present responsibility for building and maintaining relationships at work. Whom do you build relationships with? How? Why? • Tell me about a time when you were able to get something done at work because of a relationship you had with another person. QUESTIONS BY AREA AND COMPETENCIES 169 • Tell me about some of the people whom you have to work with on a regular basis that you find difficult to get along with. What have you done to build stronger relationships with these people? • Tell me about a situation when you “won someone over” at work. What did you do? • Tell me about someone who is resistant to you. What did you do? • Tell me about your relationship with your manager. What works well? What would you like to see improved? • What do you do that makes you a good follower? Collaboration • Tell me how you recently solved a work problem. What process did you use? • Describe a time when you had to solve a problem that involved or affected other people within the company. How did you solve it? • Have you ever implemented an idea or solved a problem and had your solution meet with resistance? What do you think you could have done to avoid the resistance? • Describe a time when you sought someone’s ideas or opinions about a project or idea you were working on. • Was there ever a time when you rejected someone’s idea or opinion about a project? Tell me about that? • Tell me about a time when you offered your idea or opinion to someone. • Describe a time when your input improved someone’s work. • Have you ever offered an idea or opinion at work and had nothing to gain from it? Tell me about that. 170 THE EQ INTERVIEW Conflict Resolution • Tell me about a dispute with a peer. What was it about? What did you do? How did it end up? • Tell me about a time when someone suggested something that you disagreed with. What did you say? • How have you resolved differences with peers or others? Tell me about the process you use to resolve your differences. • Have you ever encountered someone at work who was unreasonable? What did you do? For managers or leaders: • Tell me about a time when there was a dispute between two coworkers. What did you do? • Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with an employee. What did you do? How was it resolved? • Describe a time when someone felt that you were unfair. What did you do? • Relate an incident when someone verbally attacked you about something you said or did. What did you do? Organizational Savvy • Did you ever have an opportunity to advance a new idea at your last job? How did you go about doing that? • Tell me about a time when you gained support for an idea that you had. How did you do that? Why was this idea important to you? • Describe a time when you couldn’t get support for an idea that you had. What happened? Why was this idea important to you? • Within your present position, what happens when you run into someone who isn’t supporting your efforts to get things done? Describe what you do. QUESTIONS BY AREA AND COMPETENCIES 171 • Have you ever had someone undermine your efforts? What did you do? • How can you tell who makes decisions in your organization? • Tell me about a time when you needed support from peers in order to get an idea across. How did you gain that support? Why was it important to you to get that particular idea or initiative accomplished? Personal Influence—Influencing Self Self-Confidence • Tell me about a time when you took on a task that you considered “out of your comfort zone.” How did you feel? Why did you do it? Did you think you were going to succeed or fail? • If you were going to try to persuade me regarding something, how would you do it? • Describe a time when you interjected a different point of view or a different side of an issue. How did you go about doing that? • Tell me about a time when you were confident enough to disagree with something or someone. • Tell me about your strengths. How do you know they are your strengths? How do you measure your strengths? What feedback have you gotten that indicates that this quality is a strength? • Tell me about a time that you were concerned about being successful at a task or you thought you were going to fail. What did you do? • When do you typically ask for assistance? Describe the last time you asked for help on something. • How do you think you’re going to perform at this job? 172 THE EQ INTERVIEW For managers and leaders: • Tell me about a time when you had to implement a change. What did you say to your staff? How did you convince them to follow you? • Tell me about a time when you had to lead others in a certain direction and you had some doubts. What did you do? What did you say? • Have you ever experienced a time when others questioned your ability to lead? Tell me about that. What did you do? Initiative and Accountability • Tell me about a time when you decided on your own that something needed to be done. What did you do? • Describe a time when you did more than was required on your job. How did you feel about that? • Have you ever made any improvements to your work without being asked? Give me some examples. How did you do it? • When you perform your present job, have you ever thought about a way to improve the quality of the product or service that you provide? Tell me about that. • Have you ever come up with a way to cut costs in your present position? What did that entail? How did you go about doing it? • Have you ever thought of a way to perform your present job in less time? What did you do about it? • Tell me about a time when something you did resulted in a change for your department or area. How did you go about doing it? How did you feel about that? • Have you ever taken the initiative to do something that didn’t work out? Describe that situation. What did you do? How did you feel about that? QUESTIONS BY AREA AND COMPETENCIES 173