Understanding strength-based interviews

Human resource interview research is designed to find the best way to predict job performance by reviewing predicted performance of a job interview applicant to actual performance within the workplace.

To date, the most successful interview format for accurately predicting job performance is the structured job interview. The flaw of the structured interview is the design of the interview questions.

A structured job interview uses behavioural and situational interview questions. This set of job interview questions, in the main, focus on competencies, asking if the applicant can complete the business-as-usual job duties.

Only asking questions based on job duties, does not take into account motivational factors within the workplace. A career professional may perform better in one organisation over another due to the culture of the company.

Interviewer’s, therefore, need to ask questions relating to the company culture and the personal values and motivational traits of each applicant to better predict the potential employee’s job performance.

The aim of strength-based interviews.

Strength-based job interviews, which focus the interview questions on what an applicant ‘enjoys’ within a workplace, help an employer to cross-reference the company culture and job duties against the candidate’s answers. 

Strength-based interviewers ask questions to help to uncover a candidate’s interest and best working styles. Whereas situational and behavioral interview questions, in the main, have a focus on the applicant’s ability to complete the required duties recorded on the job criteria form. 

Initially from the field of positive psychology, the idea is an employer, by identifying an applicant’s strengths required for the advertised role, will hire a high-performing team.

By focusing the questions on what the applicant enjoys should result in an employer recruiting an applicant who will enjoy working within the culture of the company, thus, hiring a highly motivated employee.

Strength-based interview questions then ask;

‘What do you like to do?’ instead of ‘What can you do?’

How to answer strength-based job interview questions.

With strength-based interviews, there is no right or wrong answer, instead, employers are looking for honesty to create a good match between employee and culture.

Strength-based interviews should be two-way. If the applicant answers truthly and is then rejected for the job role, this, long-term, should be a positive outcome, as it is unlikely that the candidate would have responded well to the company culture.

Interviewees still need to present answers confidently, highlighting a high level of knowledge and experience for the job role in question. Being ‘honest’ still requires self-promotion.

The ‘can-do’ vs ‘enjoy to do’ interview both have advantages and disadvantages, for both the employer and interviewee.

What is important for a career professional is to be able to recognise the type of interview question being asked. 

Strength-based interview scoring.

All interviewers, to help predict job performance, require applicants to give an honest answer.

A frank applicant has to be careful. Even though an interviewer’s objective is to hire the best candidate, in terms of job performance for a ‘typical’ day, an interviewee, answering questions with a ‘typical’ behaviour answer will be scored lower than a competitor who only states ‘best’ performance answers confidently, due to the interview scoring system. 

This is true with strength-based job interviews. Even though strength-based job interview questions ask ‘preference’ questions, each answer, to showcase the candidate’s level of knowledge and experience, often include an ‘example’ of the preferred approach.

Each real-life example needs to show how energised (or motivated) the applicant is by what the job entails. 

Some employers use a blended approach, with a mixture of behavioral or situational interview questions and a set of strength-based questions. Whereas other employers use only one interview format.

For all options, interviewers allocate a score for each applicant’s answer.

For blended strength-based interviews, the interviewer will either score the answer in a similar way as they do for the structured job interview, as each strength-based interview answer should be accompanied with an ‘example’.

When all questions are strength-based, many interviewers will ask additional questions to pin down an applicant’s motivational factors, using the combined answers to help them score the applicant on a large sliding scale.

In addition, the employer will ask multiple questions, framed differently, based on the same criteria or strength.

Strength-based interview question examples.

‘How would you respond in X situation?’

‘Do you prefer to be told what to do or to do tasks in your own way?’

‘How would colleagues describe you?’

‘What do you use to measure your success?’

‘When working to a deadline, do you prefer to make decisions or to be told what needs to be done?’

‘Who do you look up to and why?’

‘Describe a perfect day?’

‘What task do you most enjoy doing?’

‘What task do you always start first?’

‘Do you prefer starting or finsihing tasks?’

‘Does this position play to your strengths?’

‘What would you dislike about this role?’

‘How do you prefer to be managed?’

Job Interview Advice

Common Asked Housing Officer Questions

A housing officer will often be employed for housing associations or the local authority, supporting clients with the assessment of needs in terms of housing applications.

The housing officer may also specialise in working with homeless people and/or service users with additional needs.

How competitive is a Housing Officer job Interview?

Medium in competitiveness

Interview Specifics

Structural job interview last 45 minutes with 8 interview questions being asked

This article will list the commonly asked job interview questions for a housing officer.

By understanding the job interview structure and by knowing the commonly asked housing officer interview questions, applicants can prepare answers that highlight their level of competencies within this industry.

Common Asked Housing  Officer Interview Questions 

Can you tell me about your housing officer experience?

This housing officer interview question is asked for two reasons; 1 it is an open question to get you talking/feeling relax at the job interview start. 2, to gain a general overview of your experience (generic because the follow-up questions will go into more detail)

To answer this job interview question, start by summarising your experience as a housing officer, your relevant qualifications and a key unique skill relevant to the industry – something that makes you stand out, this could be a specialism you have IE working to house homeless service users.

How do you assess the needs of a client?

This interview question is key because this is the crux of the job role.

Split this answer into two sections. Section one is your people skills; explain how you build rapport, how you use effective listening skills, how open and closed questions have a powerful impact, and how you remain calm in stressful situations. Give a short example to highlight your level of expertise and competencies.

Section two should explain the interview structure; the questions you should ask, the information you need to collate, and how you follow GDPR, data protection and confidentiality legislation.

What does customer service mean to you?

You may be asked several customer services-related interview questions.

In the housing association sector often the service users can be stressed or angry. Some service users may have alcohol or drug addiction. In some cases, you will be speaking to clients who are struggling with finances and have been turned down for financial support.

When answering interview questions relating to customer service and communication,  explain how you can handle these situations;

What was the situation – why was the service user angry or upset?

How did you handle the situation – what did you say or do to help calm down the client?

What was the positive outcome – how did the client respond to you?

What do you look for during a housing inspection?

Competency-based job interview questions require you to fall back on your experience.

Give an example of when you have carried out an inspection that had issues (you need to pick an inspection with issues to show that you can deal with this in a professional way)

In the example explain what you look for during a general inspection, the inspection process you follow and quote safeguarding regulations, and how you, when required, challenge a service user.

Follow this up with the example “one time during an inspection I saw…” Give details of what you found, the potential safeguarding issue, and what you did to address this

How would you have a positive effect on your colleagues and team? 

A big part of the housing officers’ job criteria is to have the ability to work as part of a close-knit team. You will be asked one way or another about your ability to work within a team.

Open the teamwork answer by simply explaining how you enjoy working as part of a team and how in all previous housing roles teamwork has been an important aspect of the role. This opening confirmation statement shows how you have this required skill.

Now you have ticked the ‘teamwork’ box, you need to give a real-life example. A good frame for this job interview answer is to give a ‘helper’ perspective.

Describe how a colleague was having a problem with a housing issue and how this problem affected the output of the whole team.

Go on to describe how you took action and explain the action you took. Follow this up with the positive outcome focusing on how the whole team benefited from your quick actions.

You can also talk about the larger team – in this role, you will need to work with a range of agencies and stakeholders, including social services, jobcentre plus, citizens’ advice service.

Which other agencies would you refer a service user to? 

Part of a housing officer’s job role is to work with the tenants to help them to be successful.

To be effective in this job duty you will need to work with, signpost or refer to a large number of partner agencies from social services to the local job center, from doctor surgeries to career advice officers.

In your answer list the relevant agencies you would partner with and give an example of when you would make a referral compared to signposting.

The example has to be specific. First, explain the service users situation and the key block that was holding them back. Explain the limitations of your roles and how the service user required expert advice.

Go on to explain how the service user had attempted to get support but had failed. End the interview answer by stating what you did to ensure the client got the support and advice they required.

Do you have any questions for me?

A guaranteed question is the “do you have any questions for me?” question. And your answer should be YES! Always ask a question.

Good questions to ask in a housing officer job interview are;

  • What is your approach to supporting service users with their many barriers?
  • What development opportunities do you have to help upskill a housing officer?
  • How many hostels/houses do the organisations look after?
  • What is the best part of your day?

Aristotles Teaches How To Persuasion in a Job Interview

Aristotle’s Persuasion Technique

Persuasion is the goal of the job interview.

In the job interview, you need to influence, persuade and motivate through the answers of your job interview answers. You naturally persuade all the time, through the words you say and how you say these words. The problem is you may persuade people not to recruit rather than persuade them to offer you the desired job position.

Aristotle was a master of the persuasive language. We have taken the leanings of Aristotle’s rhetoric and made it relevant to the job interview.

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

Ethos is your character, how you come across to the interviewer. In a job interview, you need to be seen as credible, an authority. If the job interviewer believes in you, they will listen to you, if they listen to you, they will want to buy you (offer you the position) Aristotle said “We believe good men more fully and more readily than others.”

An example of an ethical appeal: “What I have learned from working in this industry for over 28 years is…” Your duration of experience has a direct path to your Ethos.

Pathos creates an emotional response from the interview panel. In the job interview situation, you need to appeal directly to the interviewer’s emotions. The great interviewee controllers the employer’s emotions throughout the job interview, taking them on an emotional roller coaster.

An example of an emotional interview answer is “have you ever been in a situation when a multi-pound deal was just about to be lost….what I did to turn things around was…” By getting an employer to imagine/remember a negative situation stirs up their negative emotions, before you create a positive emotional pull, by explaining your positive outcome.

 

Logos is a way to use logic; reasoning, data, statistics and even debates and arguments. Imagery creates an emotional pull, logos allows you to give the facts to back up the story. “This technique increased profit by 35%..” “9 out of 10 people benefited from X”

Interview Test

Job Interview Questions for a Job at Rise in Manchester

Job Interview Questions for a Job at Rise in Manchester

 

Rise Manchester offers a tailor-made space for the FinTech community, drawing together the city’s vibrant startup culture and its rich industrial past. In staff they are looking for friendly and fun staff who know there coffee and who can improve their customers experience.

 

If you want a job at rise, here is some questions you will need to answer

 

Below you can also access 101 Interview Questions and techniques to Influence the Job Interview. Good luck with your next job interview.

 

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Job Interview Questions for a Job at Rise in Manchester

 

Job Interview Question 1: 

 

“Tell me about your customer service experience?”

 

The opening question at Rise, will be a generic interview question to gain an insight into your customer service and barista experience.  Summarise your experience and have a focus on the key skills required for this position; how you welcome customers, how you promote the rise philosophy and how you go above and beyond

 

Ensure you mention

 

  • customer service skills
  • strong written and spoken communication skills
  • the ability to solve problems
  • the ability to deal tactfully with customers
  • your friendliness and rapport building skills  

 

 

Job Interview Question 2: 

 

“How do you handle difficult customers?”

 

For situational job interview questions, answer using a real life story or example

  • state the situation – why the customer was angry/difficult 
  • explain how you remain calm and how this calmed down the customer
  • discuss what you did to support the customer while following processes and procedure 
  • explain the outcome of the situation ***ensure this is positive 

 

 

Job Interview Question 3: 

 

“When have you gone and beyond to help a customer?” 

 

Rise isn’t just a coffee shop, its an experience. In an employee Rise are looking for staff members who go that extra mile. Answer this interview question by first stating your work ethic and your temperament. Second give a real life example of when you went above and beyond to help a customer. Remember at Rise the customer base isn’t just shoppers, in fact the percentage of customer are entrepreneurs who spend their day at Rise working

 

   

Job Interview Question 4: 

“What questions do you need when booking a room for a customer?”

 

Many customers book rooms and the stage area. This task requires a level of organisation. When answering this questions explain your strategy for   keeping the administration side of things on point. How do you ensure that you have the correct details; customer detailsl, booking details

 

 

Job Interview Question 5: 

 

“Why do you want to work at Rise?”

 

Be honest when answering this question – Rise has to be the right fit for you, and you need to be the right fit for Rise. What made you apply for this role? Why do you like the environment? To answer this question, start with “The three reasons I want to work at Rise are…” and then give 3 real reasons.

 

 

 

 

Interview questions and answers

 

 

 

 

 

Job Interview Question 6:

“Do you have any questions for me?”

 

Good interview questions to ask interviewers at the end of the job interview include questions on the company growth or expansion, questions on personal development and training and questions on company values, staff retention and company achievements.

 

Conclusion 

 

Many people are afraid of job interviews. The truth is if you prepare for your job interview, by predicting the job interview questions, you can easily prepare your job interview answers. If your job interview answers highlight your unique selling point, are stated in the positive and are said in a confident manner, then you can influence the job interview to increase job offer.

 

Interview Preparation Resources

 

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