Blog Archives

Equality Act (UK) Interview Questions

Over the past few days I’ve had lots of people ask me about the Equality Act (UK) and specifically the type of questions that can and can’t be asked at an interview.

This video clip may help to identify some of the questions you shouldn’t be asking at an interview. The Act rightly identifies the reason that it’s the candidate’s qualifications, experiences and ability to be able to perform a job satisfactorily is what’s relevant and not aspects of home life, age, gender, sexual preference and so on.

Equality Act (UK) interview questions you must NOT ask

The Act covers many areas of discrimination at work, not covered in this video clip, and there is a huge amount of information on the web. We always always advise that you ask your professional advisor for help if needed and in preparing to hire talent.

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Is Management to Blame for Staff Turnover?

I was asked a question on LinkedIn and this is a brief outline of my answer that I thought those in my network might find interesting

For many people there is a direct relationship with management
capability
and high staff turnover. In my opinion, however, there also needs to be other
considerations before one always blames team managers.

I will often talk to CEO’s and team managers about their “Poach rate”. This
is a calculation that identifies the increase in the current salary that a competitor company has to pay to lure talent away and is represented as a percentage of the salary. The higher the percentage (around 10-15%) the more money has played a part in a person moving jobs. The manager may have little control over this given that pay scales are decided centrally.

If the Poach rate is less that 6% then the cause of the talent  leaving is unlikely more likely to be poor culture, lack of training, lack of career structure or poor management style. In this circumstance the Company is responsible for driving away the staff member and if turnover is high then significant attention needs to be paid to these other factors.

Another aspect to why people leave a job is to consider the individual’s circumstances:

Young talent will look to improve their resume (CV) and will remain in a job for as long as they are learning, working on new projects and that the company continues to deliver value to their resume etc.
As soon as another company is identified as providing greater value then the young talent will
leave.

Talent aged 30 -50 may be seeking to maximise earnings or responsibility and if this is not available within their present position will seek to move. (Team managers often have little impact upon career ladders)

Over 50 talent will often seek to reduce responsibility and the time spent at work (once again the team manager has little impact on this area)

Too often, in my experience, blame is placed on “Salary” as a reason why talent leaves when in fact the real reasons are in the company’s power to prevent. A motivating statistic is that when a talented individual
leaves the RISK that further talent will follow increases by 50%
.

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More sales job questions

I’ve had so many comments on the first sales job interview film clip that I’ve decided to make another that includes some of the questions I’ve been asked to include. The popularity of the first film probably means that sales is an area that I should explore more in future video clips.

Thanks to Paul, Derek, and Sarah, thanks for supplying the questions:

“Do you enjoy working with people?”
“What is it about sales that you like?”
“How do you manage with different types of buying styles?”
“What’s your approach to selling?

Best wishes and contact me if you want a specific interview question answered.

If you are looking for tips on “Interviewing” visit my YouTube channel at stephenharvarddavis

More Sales Job Interview questions

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Interviewer’s mistakes

A number of people in my network have complained that I am forgetting those that tend to interview people as opposed to being interviewed.

They also, correctly say that, unless you are interviewing regularly the skills and techniques are often lost through lack of practice and would I upload some advice on “How to interview”

So here goes

Interviewer’s mistakes

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The question on salary

Another difficult question at the interview is the one on salary.

“What are you expecting as a salary” is difficult because if you pitch your answer too low then that’s what you get and if it’s too high you might lose the job.

This clip looks at what you could say if salary is mentioned by the interviewer.

Also remember that there’s a book on “negotiating for what you want” on the website at www.assimilating-talent.com that includes a section on negotiating for a salary increase.

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How to get a job you’ll love

I’ve just had the pleasure of reviewing an advance copy of the book “How To Get a Job You’ll Love”  by John Lees and suggest that you buy it when it is published in a few days time.

My review is as follows:

Here’s a novelty – a book about career planning that has something new to say.

John Lees begins by tackling the agonising debate that one has with oneself over the dissatisfaction with the current job.Then chapter by chapter he walks you through not just “The dream job!” but the practicalities of how much one must earn, what skills and personality one brings to the table for a potential employer.
 
The primary value in this book is that it’s not a comfortable “get rich quick book”. The exercises and thought processes that John takes you through are superbly designed to make you think through your options and your marketability to an employer clearly and truthfully.
 
The chapter (11) on creative job search strategies is particularly useful as it debunks many of the job hunting myths that persist. Other chapters deal with CV creation, using social media to find a job, attending interviews and even changing career.
 
As a coach and mentor that integrates senior executives into a new job I will be recommending this book as a “Must buy and read”
 
£14.99  Mc Graw Hill   ISBN: 978-007712993

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Interview mistakes and howlers

In this clip I look at some mistakes that are made at interviews and also some howlers and one story where the candidate showed great humour but lost the job.
Enjoy

Interview Howlers & Mistakes

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Sales Job Interview Questions

A number of people in my network manage sales teams or are salespeople and I’ve been asked to include some questions asked at sales job interviews.

So here’s the clip first with questions:

“What’s your attitude to a challenge?”
How do you handle rejection?”

and
Describe a difficult sale you’ve made”

and there will be more to follow

Sales and Marketing interview questions

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How do you assess risk?

 Thanks to Mark for sending me this question which is one that is often asked at interviews for management positions.

The reason is that all managers need to take risks and interviewers are wanting to ensure that the candidate can demonstrate that they can assess risks as opposed to being a maverick.

If you have a question you want to have considered them email me and I’d be delighted to include it in the library.

Your attitude to risk

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Questions to ask at an interview

A few days a go a good friend of mine phoned me and wanted to discuss what questions he should ask at the interview. One of the areas he wanted to discuss was when to raise the topic of salary and benefits. He was worried that too early and it could look as if one’s focus is all on money rather than the job and too later could mean the loss of advantage.

I then mentioned to him that I was doing this film series on how to answer difficult interview questions on YouTube and he told me to “Pull my finger out” and get one uploaded on the questions to ask at an interview.

So for Mark…Here it is!

Questions you should ask the interviewer

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