I HOPE THEY DON’T PUSH ME TOO FAR ON ...

Most people dislike questions which push hard: ‘What exactly do you mean by ... ?’ or ‘Tell me a little bit more about ... ’. Probing questions test your evidence rather like cross-examination in court; words you have spoken or written are examined to see if they hold water. Many candidates are concerned about being ‘found out’ and their weaknesses laid bare.

However, probing questions are in fact very good news. It takes an above-average interviewer to ask them: someone who really understands the job, someone who will listen to your answer properly and can summarise what you have said. A probing question takes your evidence seriously by placing it under a spotlight. It may be uncomfortable, but it is also a buying signal – what you have to offer is being weighed up and will be remembered.

THE KILLER PROBE

Be clear – a question which is just difficult is not really a probing question. Probing questions seek additional detail or a more rounded picture, and are designed to provide an interviewer with clear information about what you did, and how well you did it.

If you are thrown by a totally unpredictable question, that’s perfectly understandable. If you are pushed off balance by a probing question, you probably haven’t thought carefully about what the interview is about. Recruitment specialist Graeme Dixon suggests ‘determine why the interviewer is asking the question’ – largely through your advance planning, but also by listening to the things that are given special attention in the room; probing questions offer big clues about what an employer is really looking for.

FIRST LEVEL QUESTIONS

First level questions are about fact-finding. This may simply cover obvious ground about your qualifications and experience. Listen carefully for the first level questions, because you may only need to provide outline details, rather than going into great depth.

Answer briefly but with some interesting facts, and if the interviewer indicates that more would be helpful, carry on. In general, be careful not to over-deliver where the interviewer is trying to ensure coverage – this is often indicated by quick changes of topic. If you get bogged down in detail or debate you may prevent the interviewer getting through all the question areas. Not only will you fail to get your evidence across, failure to be concise may also be taken as a sign that you are unfocused.

Early on in an interview, questions will probably focus on any skills you list in your application form or CV, particularly if you mention a skill without indicating your level of performance. Since there are some skills which are critical to each role, don’t wait to be probed – give examples, particularly if you mention higher level people skills, including supervision, appraisal, managing difficult situations or customers, negotiation or communication.

Take advice from people with interview experience who can tell you the phrases or topics which are more likely to be probed. Later questions may probe (a) the things you say in the interview itself and (b) topics that haven’t been addressed at all yet. These are gift moments for the well-prepared candidate. When answering, try to find ways of describing your work history differently from the words which appear in your CV – interviewer boredom is increased if you simply trot out the same phrases.

SECOND AND THIRD LEVEL QUESTIONS

Second level questions drill down into specifics. Having established that you have a particular skill or personal quality, second level questions probe further. You will hear not just ‘tell me more about ...’ but also ‘exactly what ... ?’ and ‘exactly how ... ?’ If you have claimed to have management experience, an interviewer may want to know how many people you have supervised. What is uppermost in the interviewer’s mind is detail.

Third level questions, on the other hand, are about credibility. Are you really as good as you claim? These questions really test what you did, looking hard at past performance (‘Was that really a success?’, ‘Can you really sell?’) or seek confirmatory evidence (‘That’s your view – what would your boss say about your contribution?’).

THE NEGATIVE ZONE

Be warned – second and third level probes don’t just draw out facts, but also reveal attitude and personality – particularly if you are not used to talking about yourself. Here we are back to the big puzzle in interview preparation – most candidates know that their skills are going to be probed, but their answers often sound as if they are newly constructed, raw first attempts at getting information across. If you are telling a complicated story about your ability, it rarely comes out right the first time you tell it. So rehearse it before you get to the interview.

Probing is all about disclosure – getting you to open up. Material revealed may match the employer’s shopping list, but some may be negative information which falls into the following three categories:

1. Negatives which the interviewer perceives and wants to know more about. This is one of the reasons for an interview. In broad terms you match the job, so rather than spending all the time confirming those points, the interviewer chooses to focus on gaps or concerns. This is particularly important in second interviews.
2. Negatives you reveal in passing. Some of these are relatively minor, such as using words like ‘just’ or ‘only’ (see below), or constantly saying ‘we’, making an interviewer worry that you didn’t contribute very much.
3. Bigger negatives drawn out by probing. These are much more dangerous. When talking about the way you handled a meeting, for example, you might indicate your frustration at colleagues’ behaviour or your attitude to certain individuals. Sometimes you do this through generalisation – saying ‘People are always ...’ or ‘It happens every time’. Evidence that you only see stereotypes and can’t respond to the particular circumstances can show lack of flexibility. Criticising past bosses and employers sets off warning signals; don’t risk it.

RESPONSES TO PROBING

Candidates respond to probing questions in a wide variety of ways. Occasionally candidates don’t understand the question. Usually this is not because the question is complex (e.g. ‘What are you most proud of in your career?’), but because the candidate has never thought about the issues involved. These candidates usually have CVs which are rehashed job descriptions rather than evidence about what the individual added to the role.

It’s surprising how often candidates say they can’t remember an example or occasion. An interview isn’t supposed to be a memory test, but what that sounds like to an interviewer is ‘I haven’t bothered to think about this before today’ and will certainly be interpreted as lack of evidence.

Some interviewees describe their experience pretty well in response to first level questions (see above) but crumble at the first real challenge. They talk about how they managed an under-motivated member of staff, but struggle to answer follow-up questions like ‘How exactly did you do that?’ or ‘What were the limitations of that approach?’.

The problem is that we tend to capture our experiences as headlines rather than as fully developed segments, so at interview you might say ‘I negotiated the deal’ rather than breaking it down into the challenge, the actions and strategies you chose to adopt, and the result. Probing questions favour candidates who not only reflect on past actions but learn from them, changing behaviours where necessary.

Four steps for mining job evidence

If reflecting beyond the broad headlines isn’t your natural method, get a colleague to ask you key questions about each job undertaken:

1. What exactly did you do in the job?
2. What were the highlights? Where did you add something to the role?
3. What new skills and knowledge did you acquire?
4. What didn’t go well? What did you learn from that? How would you act differently next time?

Here’s an example. You are asked about working in a team, so you talk about a time you led a team, achieving results on time and on target. Next the interviewer asks about a time you worked with obstructive or difficult team members. Talk about a particular meeting (better to give a specific example of one event than to generalise), ideally explaining how you dealt with someone who disrupted the agenda. Describe your behaviours as well as your strategy, and hold further evidence ready in case you’re probed or asked how you would react in different circumstances. With questions about interpersonal skills interviewers are often looking for balance – show you are consultative, but also capable of drawing a line on obstructive behaviour.

Be careful not to talk yourself down with words like ‘just’ and ‘only’. When asked how you managed in a crisis, don’t say ‘I just followed my training’ or ‘All I did was defuse the situation’. Much better to point to the real difficulties you faced: ‘I was trained to deal with some of this stuff, but the rest I had to improvise. What I did was ...’.

Probing questions don’t necessarily come out of your answers. Sometimes an employer will throw in a high level question that requires you to think fast: ‘Looking at all the jobs you’ve done, which one did you enjoy most?’ Think hard about the evidence you don’t want probing, because this is where you may flounder, but don’t neglect straightforward areas either. Anticipate how a critical listener might pull your mini-narratives apart. Bait the hook as you dangle it in front of the interviewer – saying ‘I found that a real challenge’ might get an interviewer to probe in an area where you want to introduce strong evidence.

Remember that answers sound more authentic if they describe specific events (ideally within the course of one day), and less if you generalise: ‘What I usually do is’. Weaker candidates state rather obvious principles (‘It’s important to lead from the front’), better candidates say what they actually did.

Even if you are asked for your views on a topic, give a real example. Too often candidates try to fill in memory gaps by making things up, a sure-fire way to face additional pressure. Conversely an answer which clearly shows how you acted, the outcome, and what you learned from it, may need little probing because you are providing exactly what is required.

WHAT ANSWERS ARE MOST LIKELY TO BE PROBED?

Probing could mean that your answers are unclear, insufficient, or vague – hence the importance of really listening to the question. It could mean that your claims sound too grand, or too modest. Perhaps you haven’t given enough detail to persuade the selector to tick the relevant box.

Types of answers more likely to be interrogated

THE PROBLEM – give the right detail about the size and nature of the problems you solved.

BROAD CLAIM – making claims like ‘I’m a people person’ without offering supporting evidence.

ME – if you keep talking about what a big impact you made, a good interviewer will probe to find out your effect on other people.

WE – ‘What did you do?’

TOP BANANA – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t present yourself as a big cheese if probing will show you’re small fry.

WINNER WINNER – second level questions may push for examples of times when things didn’t go so well, your usual strategy didn’t work, and what you learned from past mistakes.

BEST IN SHOW – if you really were ‘salesperson of the year’ or ‘top student’ be clear about the competition and what you did to gain the award.

MIRROR, MIRROR – you may be asked how others in your team, or past bosses, would describe you. Offer a balanced picture, but emphasise strengths.

TEAM TALK – saying ‘I work well in a team’ isn’t enough. You need to be able to say what you normally bring to a team, and examples of where you have helped others make their own contribution.

PRESSURE – how do you respond when you are under pressure, e.g. from conflicting deadlines, or criticism?

THE DARK SIDE – your picture may sound too idealised. No one is perfect, so be prepared to talk about times you got things wrong, or areas of work where you need to develop.

REFLECTION – be prepared to say what you learned from your experience and how you would do things differently next time.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS – because an interviewer needs to second guess how you will be with work colleagues and customers, you should be probed on your past history. Where have you dealt with difficult people?

HUMBLE SERVANT – if you under-sell yourself only the most astute interviewer will probe what you personally added to a team or situation.

SELF-AWARENESS – the best interviews probe how far you understand yourself, your motivation, and your impact on other people. Don’t generalise – build up a databank of good examples.