Questions Interviewers Might Ask: Post COVID-19
With over 30 million unemployed people on the job market, it isn’t just your hard skills or technical skills that will land you the job. As businesses re-open and interviewing resumes, in today’s climate recruiters and hiring managers will want to know how job seekers have adapted and remained resilient and relevant throughout the COVID-19 disruption.
The following four categories list questions associated with a competency that many hiring managers use to evaluate your cultural fit with their team.
- Personal and/or Professional Development – What did you do to continue developing your skills throughout the disruption regardless of your employment status (employed, furloughed, or laid off)? A hiring manager will want to know if you remained productive and if you have the ability to stay current on your skills with what is trending in the industry. Regardless of a disruption, continuing to advance in your skills helps a hiring manager understand if you’ll help the business innovate and grow the business.
- Being Adaptable/Resilient – How did you adapt to the current climate and how did you help others adapt? The only thing constant is change and what’s a bigger lesson is tour ability to remain nimble and influence others to stay positive when faced with adversity. It is easy to accept defeat and to bring others with you down a spiral of emotions. A hiring manager will want assurance that you’ll stand with them and work through any challenging situation to inspire the team and how you inspired others to move through and past the disruption will them understand how you would face a situation in the future.
- Innovation and/or Solution-Oriented – How did you overcome your challenges? What solutions did you come up with to overcome the circumstances you faced or are still facing? How did you push past your perceived limitations? Each challenge presents an opportunity and how you rise above the occasion speaks to your critical thinking skills. A hiring manager will want to know if you can come up with unique and creative solutions when problems arise. Bonus points if you can speak to what you’ve saved, achieved, or made an organization through your example(s).
- Self-Leadership and/or Emotional Intelligence – What did you learn about yourself in this process?
They will most likely assess your Emotional Intelligence and check for your ability to self-reflect and/or self-regulate to manage your emotions when faced with a crisis. The last thing a hiring manager needs on their team is someone who is going to be reactive in a crisis. Your ability to respond appropriately and make informed decisions will help the hiring manager see you as someone who can lead themselves and others through uncertain times.
What we are experiencing isn’t over and this won’t be the last time businesses will face uncertainty. Recruiters and hiring managers will want the assurance that you’ll be someone who can be a cultural fit and an essential person to hire, not just to sustain their business, but also to help them grow.
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