In an interview dou you, give the answer they want or the answer they need

[Steve M]

I have recently been to an interview, I passed the first interview and got to the second interview stage.

The first interview was easy, I told them what I have done and what I can do for their business.

The second was with the site managers, they were asking me questions regarding the site.
I made a mistake to start with when they asked me about the site and what did I see, I inadvertently told the truth but I could have put it a bit more tactfully, lesson learnt, my mistake.

The next question was where would I see myself in three months' time, my answer was exactly as I achieved in my last 2 contracts, effectively gain the trust of the employees, have a good understanding of the processes already in place, have a gap analysis complete or substantially underway, set in place small quick fixes and a plan to determine the best approach to complete more in-depth or longer-term fixes.

They didn't want that answer, they wanted me to explain what I would do to rectify their issues, I said I can't tell them that from a 20-minute tour of the factory, I said I need to understand the issues and what causes them,
They asked me what would I do if there was resistance from the staff, but again I couldn't answer, I said it depends on the issue, what their reason for the resistance was and what drives them.
I think they wanted me to show my strength of character to lay down the law, demand they obey and there will be consequences if they didn't.
There will be times when I would need to demand things, but this is a last resort and if it gets to that stage you have all but lost that member of staff anyway.

I left that interview pretty much deflated.

Do you think I did the right thing? I could have made something up to satisfy their answer but it wouldn't have been me, it's not the way I work, if you have to force H&S it doesn't come naturally and won't be ingrained in their everyday routine.

I am not sure what I am expecting from this post but it made me more confident that I acted properly by just writing it.

[Blackstone]

Hi Steve,

Actually a really good post!
You 100% did the right thing IMHO to give the answer you did! They might not have liked the answer and wanted you to be the H&S police with the big stick. If that not you and you don't get the job, probably a good thing!
And you are right, you get to that point and you've lost that employee.

I had a similar thing in Feb. Went for a job for a small (32 FTE's) but successful company. They asked me a similar question "what would I do if there was resistance from the staff". I said i'd want to understand why, explains reasons why they need to follow, give examples of consequences. Then i said if they still would not follow instruction, then it needs to be taken further.
They asked how i would do that. I said it depends on the person, the company etc but i said it should be dealt with by the line managers as the H&S person should ideally be there to advise from legal and compliance point and assist with (insert lots of other bits and bobs) things but really this should be line managers if we are talking about disciplinary things or forcing compliance.

They did not like that answer and when i got rejected for the roll i felt the feedback was a bit ridiculous given my work history. It seems they did actually wants someone with the big stick! Which as you said, and i agree, is the last resort.

I was frustrated at the feedback and i reflected that if i had given them the answer they wanted "Yes well, i'll just discipline them if they do not follow instruction!", actually no that's not me, last resort yes, but not matter of course.

All in all, i was happy with the answer i gave, might just word it slightly differently next time