Many employers today are looking beyond skills and technical qualifications to include strong cultural fit, communication skills and other traditionally “soft” skills. Fittingly, interview questions have evolved to meet this evolution as well.
For Salesforce talent, this means going beyond traditional interview preparation. You know your resume and skill set inside and out. You are ready to talk about your project work and past employers.
Now what?
Start thinking about these creative questions.
Check out these unique questions being used in many major Salesforce job interviews today (along with insights into why interviewers may ask them). They’ll get your creative wheels turning and help you stay on your toes during your next interview:
1. If they made a movie about your life, who would play you and why?
A question like this seems like a fun way to break the ice, but it actually provides valuable insight into your personality and priorities. Maybe you choose the “strong, silent” type to play the role of, well, you? That could signal to an interviewer that you lead by example, but may not necessarily be the first to speak up during meetings.
Did you choose “the girl next door” who leads a lot of safe, family movies? Interviewers could interpret that type of a response as indication you value many of the traditionally “important” things that make people successful and happy.
2. Tell me a funny story about something that happened to you recently.
Your first instinct may be that this question is a sort of fishing expedition to determine your style of humor. To some extent, interviewers find value in understanding your personality and sense of humor to determine culture fit.
But this question offers even more depth of insight for interviewers. Particularly, your ability to recall and articulate a fully-fleshed out story while under pressure. This skill can translate to the workplace in a myriad of ways, including leading meetings, training co-workers or even speaking at conferences.
3. I’m going to grab you a coffee — how do you take it?
You may find that some interviewers always ask this question to be polite – they want to get you something to drink! But this is increasingly a question asked in the actual interviewer to glean some insight into candidate behavior.
Similar to the previous question, your ability to clearly articulate you how take your coffee can indicate your ability to clearly articulate other, more important, things in the workplace. Your tone and language choices while responding can also help give some insight into your personality, and whether you’ll be a culture fit for the organization.
4. If someone was writing your biography, what would they call it?
This is similar to question 1, in that your response will give considerable insight into your priorities and self perception. The title of your biography, in many cases, summarizes your life to that point. It is the ultimate highlight, and there is limited space. How you choose to use that space can speak volumes about your personality and help interviewers determine whether you’re a cultural fit for the organization.
It can be easy to slip into humorous answers with questions like this one – they’re inherently fun and can even make you think back to your school days. While exhibiting appropriate humor can be an effective way to ease tension and be memorable, resist the urge to give humorous responses to this type of question. While it may seem like a funny question, interviewers ask it to gain real insight into your potential fit within their organization. An inappropriate response could mean you are no longer considered for the position.
5. What kind of music do you listen to while at your desk. Why?
This is particularly true for developers, but many professionals like to hunker down with some headphones and dig into their work. Music is a nice way to block out the noise of an office environment and get “lost” in the work.
Interviewers may ask this question to gauge the type of work environment you like best, as well as to gain insight into what helps you be productive and successful.
6. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the winnings?
We’ve all probably thought about the answer to this one at some point! Interviewers may ask you this question to learn more about your priorities and to determine a cultural fit. For organizations with a demonstrated commitment to non-profit endeavors, they may be trying to gauge whether you would be on board with volunteer days or other non-profit work as part of your employment.
7. If you were stranded alone on a desert island, what three things would you take with you?
During the course of a work day, week or year, employees are faced with many choices. Your ability to think on your feet is a desirable trait for many organizations. As is your ability to be resourceful and get the job done with whatever tools and resources are available to you. Interviewers will often ask this question for insights into both of them.
Before you can interview, you have to find the right Salesforce jobs.
Here at Tech2 Resources, we work with top companies across the country to find top Salesforce talent like you. Whether you’re actively looking for work or simply open to new opportunities, send us a note and let us know what will help you be deliriously happy at work. We’re here to help.
