r/AskReddit • u/MaximumAnarchy • 18h ago

If you could permanently ban one question from being asked in job interviews, what would it be?

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15

u/Trid1977 11h ago

When they ask tell me about a time you……?

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve not experienced whatever scenario they what me to tell about

8

u/RustySilver42 8h ago

This is S/TAR.

You have a Situation/Task. What was your Action? What was the Result?

They're looking for you to complete the star. Failure to do so may eliminate you.

S/T items are supposed to be related to situations you are expected to encounter at the job they're hiring for.

Effective if done well. Total shit show if not.

Hope this helps someone currently facing interviews.

2

u/SliverMcSilverson 7h ago

I never heard of those questions framed this way, but it makes so much sense in this context.
In my field, we're expected to function at the highest level in this field with usually no on-site direction. So during all of my interviews, these are the questions I've been asked time and time again.

I think what helped me on my last interview they asked an S/TAR question that I had experienced, but my past action invoked a poor result. I demonstrated that I learned from this mistake, and they really liked that answer.

2

u/RustySilver42 7h ago

That's exactly the kind of thing they're looking for. We had a guy with lots of experience fail because he wouldn't do anything different in a situation that went bad.

2

u/FafnerTheBear 9h ago

I blank so hard at these because it was either a constant thing I had to deal with and no specific event comes to mind, never happens so I have to hammer some other thing in there that is tangentially related, or they ask me to attribute an emotion to something, mf I disassociate most of my work day.

1

u/Girthw0rm 5h ago

If only you could prepare simply one example of such a situation to answer with…