What are some interview questions that i could be asked at a University library interveiw?
I have a schelduled interview in a University library to be a library assistant. What are some questions i could be asked? and what is the correct way to answer them??? also….if you have any info you could give me about becoming a library assistant.
Thanks!
There is such a wide variety of job requirements for this position that knowing a few of them might be nice in answering this question. You might work in a math library or a film library. You might be responsible for ordering books or supervising the circulation staff. Each job requirement will suggest several specific questions. "Have you had experience supervising student assistants?" "Are you familiar with programming an Excel spreadsheet?" But, if you are not required to do any work in those areas, they certainly won’t waste time asking you about them.
These days, people can’t generally ask you revealing questions about your personality: "Are you married?" "Do you attend a church?" "Do you eat small students for breakfast?" Although those questions could really tell the interviewer if the person would likely fit in or cause problems and become antagonistic towards their supervisor. I’ve found interviews have become longer and chit chat has become more mundane as interviewers are uncertain of how they can find out what makes a person tick.
So, be open, confident, and hopefully humorous. Generally, don’t even answer a "Yes" or "No" question with just one word. Don’t equivocate, talk from the heart.
I once asked a candidate how they would respond to a person making a threat to them and they responded, "I would respond in the manner outlined in your policy manual, whatever it says to do." I’m thinking, if I were threatened physically, I’m calling for help and the police, and maybe afterwards clear it up with any policy manual. Who reads and rereads policy manuals at a time like that? So, I didn’t hire her. She was persistant though and was hired by another department. Getting to know her, I realize that she can be just as impulsive as anyone else and regularly responds to library incidents as necessary, but her intuition told her that I wanted to hire an automaton and that is SO far from this library’s organizational culture, I figured she wouldn’t fit in.
December 21st, 2009 at 3:13 am
There is such a wide variety of job requirements for this position that knowing a few of them might be nice in answering this question. You might work in a math library or a film library. You might be responsible for ordering books or supervising the circulation staff. Each job requirement will suggest several specific questions. "Have you had experience supervising student assistants?" "Are you familiar with programming an Excel spreadsheet?" But, if you are not required to do any work in those areas, they certainly won’t waste time asking you about them.
These days, people can’t generally ask you revealing questions about your personality: "Are you married?" "Do you attend a church?" "Do you eat small students for breakfast?" Although those questions could really tell the interviewer if the person would likely fit in or cause problems and become antagonistic towards their supervisor. I’ve found interviews have become longer and chit chat has become more mundane as interviewers are uncertain of how they can find out what makes a person tick.
So, be open, confident, and hopefully humorous. Generally, don’t even answer a "Yes" or "No" question with just one word. Don’t equivocate, talk from the heart.
I once asked a candidate how they would respond to a person making a threat to them and they responded, "I would respond in the manner outlined in your policy manual, whatever it says to do." I’m thinking, if I were threatened physically, I’m calling for help and the police, and maybe afterwards clear it up with any policy manual. Who reads and rereads policy manuals at a time like that? So, I didn’t hire her. She was persistant though and was hired by another department. Getting to know her, I realize that she can be just as impulsive as anyone else and regularly responds to library incidents as necessary, but her intuition told her that I wanted to hire an automaton and that is SO far from this library’s organizational culture, I figured she wouldn’t fit in.
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