Interview Questions

1. "Rate your skills on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best and 1 the worst."
2. "Why do you not have a Master's degree?"
3. "If you were an M&M, what color would you be?"
4. "Do you like working with people?"
5. "Are you comfortable in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines, multiple changes and tough customers?"
6. "What type of manager do you prefer working for?"
7. "What type of learner are you - one that learns quickly or one that will need training?"
8. "If you were a soda, what color would you be?"

For the past few weeks, I've been in a pretty intense interview process and the above questions have appeared in most (not all) of the interviews. I've come to the conclusion that there is an art to being the interviewer and an art to answering interview questions. Sadly, most people conducting the interviews are not trained interviewers. Therefore, the questions tend be either very broad-based or very job specific instead of an overall review of a candidate.

It is an exhausting process especially when some interviews last two to three hours, and you are interviewed by five or six team members in one day. This situation is normally after one or two phone conversations prior to the face-to-face interviews. In many ways, I'd rather be put in front of a panel and answer all questions at one time.

Anyhow, here's my thoughts on the above questions.

1. "Rate your skills on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best and 1 the worst." - I do not like this question. If I say that I'm a 10, then I need to be perfect. If I say that I'm a 7.5 or 8, then I do not value myself and my skills enough.
2. "Why do you not have a Master's degree?" - This seems to be a hot question these days. I do not have a Master's degree, but I let the interviewer know that I've chosen to follow the continuing education route (certifications, online courses, evening courses, etc.) rather than pursue a Master's Degree at this time.
3. "If you were an M&M, what color would you be?" - I do not like questions like this one. My answer is that I do not eat M&Ms, but if I were one, I'd want to be one of the new colors since I've only been working in Information Technology for a short while. Will me being a "new" colored M&M make me a better employee? I have no clue.
4. "Do you like working with people?" - This is such a terrible question. I realize that there are some people who do not work well in large teams or work better independently, but let's face it, you have to deal with people at some point in the work process.
5. "Are you comfortable in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines, multiple changes and tough customers?" - I love this question. This question tells me about the current environment of the company without me having to ask about it. Also, if an interviewer tells me there is a great deal of structure and limited change in an earlier part of the interview but follows up with this one later, this lets me know that the earlier statement might not have been so true.
6. "What type of manager do you prefer working for?" - This is a setup question. I have no clue what is the right answer, but I always say that I prefer to work for a manager that let's me work independently, but also provides guidance, knowledge and expertise when needed.
7. "What type of learner are you - one that learns quickly or one that will need training?" - I realize the importance of this question, but why do they add the options? I answer that I'm a fairly quick learner but that there is always some transfer of knowledge with any position.
8. "If you were a soda, what color would you be?" - This is similar to the M&M question and just as awful. Will my soda color make me a better employee?