Acing a non-interactive job interview
February 10, 2016 4:55 PM   Subscribe

Some time ago, I had a specific type of job interview which was new to me and I did not get offered a position. Now, I have this same type of interview again. How can I ace it this time?

The interview was with one of the local school boards, and it has a very non-interactive format. It was set up as follows:

You go in and there are 2-4 people sitting with laptops on one side of the table. You sit on the other side. First, they read me a statement about equity in hiring practices (which, I think, was meant to explain why the format of the interview was so rigid. Then they handed me a typed and laminated sheet with six questions on it. One of them read a question. They sat there and typed every word I said. Then the next one read the next question and they typed everything I said. They did not interact with me about my answers. They did not ask me to clarify or elaborate. They just sat there and read out the questions and typed everything I said.

I have a contact through a family member who conducts these types of interviews, and the only feedback he could offer me was that they score you on a matrix for every question, and I probably did not hit enough keywords to score high enough on the matrix. If they cannot ask me to clarify or elaborate, and they cannot interact with me beyond the recitation of the questions, I am not sure how to approach this interview in a way that demonstrates my capabilities. I have good credentials, and an in-demand specialty. I will be a good candidate for them. I just need to figure out the secret to passing this interview.

Any advice would be welcomed. And if it helps to know this, I am applying for French positions, and will be completing a language proficiency test in addition to the interview. When I completed that for the other school board, I did pass it and am still technically on their list for those positions, even though I did not get added to the general roster.

This is Toronto-area, too, so any TDSB-specific advice is always welcome :-)
posted by JoannaC to Work & Money (11 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
This sounds like a 'structured interview'. It is standard for hiring in many governmental positions. It is meant to remove personal biases from a hiring decision. If you google the term, you might be able to learn about the technique.

I don't have much to add, except I find them very difficult myself.
posted by chaotic at 5:22 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Can you describe the types of questions? Were they about your area of expertise or more general? If you can figure out what they are looking for you can nudge your responses in that direction.
posted by vrakatar at 5:27 PM on February 10, 2016


This seems like the stupidest way possible to hire someone. If I found out that would be the format of the interview, I would decline it. If I didn't find out until I got there, I would walk out. That said, you can probably game it. Here are some things I would try.

Rehearse answers to questions you are likely to be asked. You don't need to memorize an exact response, but you should know what direction you want to go in and the major points you want to make.

Find out as many synonyms as you can for the terms of art in your profession. I don't know what these would be in education, but surely people from different schools or backgrounds use slightly different terminology. Find out what these alternate terms are and use them liberally. Literally do not use X without also saying, e.g. "also called Y or Z." This should increase your chance of hitting some more of their buzzwords. If the other terms are slightly different from what you are actually talking about explain the differences briefly.

Anticipate the follow-up questions they might ask if they could, and ask them, then answer them. "Now you might well ask X. My response to that would be Y." After all, your answer isn't complete until you are done talking.

Look for related topics you could lead into from any given question and give at least a brief feint in that direction (a sentence or two). This will give you more of an opportunity to hit the buzzwords they want.

Look for any connections between the questions they give you and use them. "I see you're going to be asking me about X in a minute so I'll go into more detail then, but for now let me just say Y." Then when you get to the other question nod in the direction of your previous answer.
posted by kindall at 5:27 PM on February 10, 2016 [12 favorites]


There's a fair amount of material out there on preparing for a structured interview. I believe that the key is usually to read the job posting very very carefully-- so, for instance, if they're asking you for an example of how you handle situation xxx, you should choose an example applicable to the situation outlined in the job posting. If you analyse the needs in the job posting, you should be able to make some good guesses as to what questions will be there. I've been part of setting up a structured interview approach in the past, and this is how it was built up. Remember to structure all your answers about past experience so that your approach and results are clearly delineated. ( Note: am not an expert, am just sharing experience from one example, so collect other points of view.)
posted by frumiousb at 5:28 PM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


I had one of these (but in the US). One of the keys, I was told, is to specifically use the same vocabulary as the job description so your statements match the hiring criteria as closely as possible. Maybe even prep some responses that align with the requirements exactly, item by item. It seems insane but it worked for me, and once I was through the door it was a great job.

On preview, what frumiousB said.
posted by nkknkk at 6:02 PM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]


If I knew I had to do one of these, I would research the heck out of the school board, the hiring problems they'd had in the past, whether they used a specific consultant to set up the new hiring system, the issues they were having in modern language instruction now, the interests of any language clubs, etc.

I would also try really hard to get to talk to someone, anyone, on the hiring committee before the interview. Failing that, maybe someone who knows the concerns of the hiring committee.

Of course, I'm not a teacher, and I don't know this bureaucracy (which is a large part of _why_ I' not a teacher), so this may of course not be possible.

I hope it would be fair for you to request a chance to ask questions of the principal or the head of the department _before_ the interview, partly to at least find out your level of interest in the position -- that can be the reason you put forward the request.
posted by amtho at 6:25 PM on February 10, 2016


This is how the federal government (in Canada) does its hiring, and I have done LOTS of these interviews. They are a little weird at first, but you do get better at them over time - I find interactive interviews weird now! My advice is to make sure you read the questions VERY carefully. Sometimes the questions will have multiple parts, or ask for a few examples or something, and if you miss one little thing, you will pretty much fail the question. Also read the job description very carefully.

Another thing to clarify is whether there is a set amount of time for the interview - like, do you have an hour to get through the questions? This has been my experience. If so, when they ask their question, just say you are going to take a few moments to think about your response, and then take that time to compose your thoughts. It's totally awkward to do this - they are all sitting there! - but it really helped me to not just blurt out the first thing that jumps to my mind.

Finally, in training for these types of interviews, the STAR method is heavily emphasized for the "tell me about a time you did a thing and what was the result" type questions:
-Situation: what the situation was that led you to do a thing?
-Task: what was the specific thing you did?
-Action: what actions did you take to accomplish that thing in a particularly effective and awesome way?
-Result: what was the outcome of you having done a thing? It was probably great!

I hope that helps! As I said, all my experience is from federal government, but your description sounds super familiar to me (I usually even got the option to read the questions aloud myself!). Memail me if you have any more questions, and best of luck!
posted by just_ducky at 6:39 PM on February 10, 2016 [12 favorites]


frumiousb has it. Think of this as is a test of your rote memorization skills. You want to play back exact phrases from the posting. Come up with several sentences that demonstrate your experience in each of the criteria. When you go to the interview, listen to the entire question then pick from your script. If you can find postings for similar jobs in the same district look at those too.

The interviewers know the game and they aren't going to be surprised by this recitation.

(FWIW I think it's a terrible way to interview people, but what can you do?)
posted by 26.2 at 6:45 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm on my phone, but I just asked a similar question. I only got one answer but it was very helpful. After taking the exam, next time I would try to expand more broadly on my answers to try to hit more of the points they are looking for. Just be careful not to go over the time.
posted by sepviva at 6:22 AM on February 11, 2016


Being succinct will not help you here. It is unlikely you will be scored on your ability to be concise or answer quickly. Everyone is on board with this being a little awkward.

This type of interview works well for me because I can talk a lot. This interview allows me to do so and the more I talk, the more likely I'm going to say the thing they are looking for.

I agree that you should take a moment to prepare your answer. They often give you paper to do so. You may also be able to back to a previous question if something else comes to mind.

Good luck!
posted by Gor-ella at 8:06 AM on February 11, 2016


In the US, at least, you're allowed (sometimes?) to ask whether you've completely answered the question, and the interviewers can give you some direction. This was super helpful in a friend's experience.
posted by momus_window at 10:39 PM on February 11, 2016


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