How to pose your own questions

Generating your own questions is a simple process if you tackle it
from the perspective of the interviewer. Put yourself in the shoes of
the interviewer and ask yourself what questions you would need to
34 interview skills that win the job ask to ascertain whether the interviewee
could perform the relevantduty or job requirement.

You will need to take into account behavioural questioning techniques,
which are designed to uncover the specific actions behind stated claims.

An example of a behaviouralbased question relating to working in an
entrepreneurial environment is: ‘Tell us about the way you dealt with
working in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment. What steps or
techniques worked for you?’ Notice the key phrases: ‘the way you dealt
with’ and ‘Whatsteps or techniques worked for you?’ This question is trying to uncover
the key behaviours underpinning successful work in an
entrepreneurial environment.

By asking yourself such questions, there is a good chance that you
will come close to anticipating the interview questions—or at least
be more precise about the intent of the interview questions. The actual
question at the interview probably will sound different to the question
you posed yourself, but its intent or purpose will be similar. In other
words, even though questions may be worded differently, the content
of your answers should be relevant to the interview.
Where possible begin your answer with the context (see step 3).
Think of context as the foundation upon which you build some of
your answers. The clearer the context, the more sense the rest of
your answer will make to the interviewer. The interviewer will know
what sort of environment you were working in and how important
your duties were to the success of the job, not to mention your own
employment.

Once you’ve established context in one question you do not
have to keep on mentioning the same context for every question
relating to the same workplace. Only mention context again if a
new one is being discussed.