Second Interview Questions - How To Prepare Your Interview Answers

A second interview may be arranged for any number of reasons, but none of them mean that you can relax when you attend. You still need to be on your best form because the final selection has not yet been made by the hiring manager and there will be more questions to answer.

Most second interviews do not follow quite the same format as the first interview. Frequently they will involve another more senior member of the organization's staff being part of this 2nd interview and sometimes potential future co-workers will be asked to meet you and give their opinion. However, the chances are that the interviewer you already met will have already briefed them about you and your performance at the first interview. The emphasis is often on getting to know you better as an individual so keep your mind on building rapport with the people you meet at this second interview.

It may be that time was against your interviewer at the first meeting and more questions needed to be asked. If this is the reason that you have been invited back for a second time, it will simply be to clarify any outstanding points that your interviewer couldn’t cover in the first place.

You must also remember that the interview shortlist will almost certainly have at least one other candidate on it and your your interviewer may want to explore and compare your experience or interpersonal skills in more detail. However it should be reassuring that if you have got this far it is a positive indication that they think you are worth considering further.

Questions On Any Areas Of Concern

If there are certain specific areas of concern from your first interview, you will be asked more questions to clarify the issue based upon your past performance with previous employers.

So you should expect that some of the questions will be along the lines of “give me a specific example of a time when you had to criticize the performance of one of your team members” or “explain how you managed to reduce your weekly machine downtime from x to y”.

Most second interviews do usually follow a slightly more informal approach than the first interview, after all they have already met you and if you are to be chosen, this is the first stage of your induction.

Sometimes your interviewer may arrange the second interview outside of the office in a pub or restaurant. The interviewer tries to put you in a more relaxed environment so you will let your guard down and gives answers that are more truthful.

Assessing Your Interpersonal Skills

More likely though is that your interviewer wants to assess your interpersonal and communication skills outside of an office environment – something that may be relevant if the job role is going to demand a social element. Just don’t let yourself get lured into a false sense of security, keep professionalism and enthusiasm for the job at the forefront of your mind and only say what you would say if the interview was being conducted in the office.

If you are offered an alcoholic drink, accept one if you think the circumstances are right (obviously if you don’t drink you can say so) but keep it to one, otherwise you may become too relaxed, let your guard down and end up saying something you regret.