Interview Questions and Answers

ZENER

If this is the wrong forum please move this. Thanks.

I've searched about looking for clarification but so far I haven't been able to get any from my employer or the data protection website (i'm told it's applicable ?!)so maybe someone here could help.

I recently attended an interview for a new position that became available at my current employers. I was unsuccessful so asked for a post interview meeting with the HR dept to see where I went wrong. I asked that the questions and answers from my (standardised interview - ie same questions for all applicants) interview be available as well as the correct answers pre-agreed beforehand for the questions they used. I've been informed that I can see MY answers and discuss them but I won't be shown the "correct answers" or the list of questions used. I had certain issues about how the interview was conducted hence my concern.

Does this seem reasonable ?

Can I not expect to see the answers the interviewers sought ?

The questions were of a technical nature so there are concise answers to them but it appears they were not agreed beforehand and were left to the relavent interviewer to decide on there correctness !

Am I entitled to view the "correct" answers ?

ZEN

oli_ro

Was this a written test ?

oli_ro

So I will assume it was not written, in that case assuming that they would tell you the correct answers, how is that going to help you ? (you can probably find those out from other sources.)

The decision the interviewer made was not based on a direct match with the theoretical correct answers, but on his perception of you being able to answer them(the way you approach the problem, the way you think, etc)

Ok, it is a highly subjective process, but you have to move on.

Chanses are that you knew the answer to the most questions, but sometimes that's not enough.

ZENER

I appreciate your point but it's difficult to explain exactly why I have a problem with the interview other than to say I didn't think it was fair. I must also add that I am not the only one who thought this - of course the others all failed too. It was a face to face verbal interview with three people asking the questions by the way.

My problem with the process is that I have no way to gauge whether the answers they were looking for were in fact agreed on BEFORE the interview. It's easy for someone to change the answers to suit a particular candidate which is what I think happened here.

By not being able to provide me with the "correct" answers as agreed prior to the interview then my suspicions grow stronger.

Of course I can get the answers to the questions from other sources - I've already done so where possible - but some of the questions were just too vaugue and it's these I want to confirm.

Try to forget for a moment that I may be annoyed at not getting the position and ask yourself why they are not willing to show me the agreed upon answers - if indeed they exist. The H.R rep said that these answers were left to the interviewer who specialised in that area, fine no problem with that. If the answers are agreed on before hand then all the interviewers can satisfy themselves (and me) as to the integrity of the process.

ZEN

oli_ro

Ok, I see where you're coming from.
that happens a lot: when they want to give a job to somebody, but the internal regulations require a formal interviewing process.

if you could sense that, probably this is what happened.

It's hard to prove, and definetely not by finding the correct answers. I've never heard in my life of interviewers establishing beforehand what the correct answers are. It is left at their interpretation to judge your answers, their authority is trusted, that's why they ask those persons to conduct the technical interviews.

don't waste your time worrying about it.