Has fear of getting stumped by an interview question go you breaking into a cold sweat before you even put your new suit on? Our monthly Q&A with HR professionals will help you identify and understand the kind of questions interviewers ask, so you can ace the interview and get on with your new job. Karen Myers, a Manpower branch manager from St John's, shares her secrets.

Tell me what you liked most about working for your favorite manager or supervisor.
Manpower has different goals for an interview than most organizations. We profile our candidates for multiple employment opportunities as opposed to profiling multiple candidates for a single opportunity. Our need is to define our candidates by as many of their skills and talents as we possibly can uncover. I like this question because it will elicit responses that afford the opportunity to probe further for soft skills.
The following includes some of the responses I have received to this question, the type of probing I did around the response and why I went in that direction.
"He had faith in me and my ability to do the job. He gave me autonomy to reach the objectives set for me and my department." This answer demonstrates self-confidence and accountability. This candidate had leadership potential and so my probing was to establish whether he could lead a team as well as work co-operatively within it. I also probed around his management style which is very structured and directive. This person is very goal driven and results oriented and his response to this question was the first indicator of that.
"He was easy going and made it fun to work there." This answer had me asking about goal setting and achievement. The candidate did not mention she had fun while doing their jobs and meeting their objectives just that it was fun to work there. Further probing around her ability to set and meet goals and her organizational commitment established that she was not goal driven and preferred a work environment that lacked structure and focus.
"She communicated clearly." This answer had me asking more questions to determine if this person could work in a fast paced environment that is highly reactive or needed a structured, more direct management approach. I also probed further into the person's listening skills. We did confirm that she would require an environment that was highly structured with a controlled work pace to be successful. We further identified some challenges with her listening skills and helped her with training to lessen the impact of these challenges at work.
"He collaborated on things." Collaboration is an essential element in any successful team environment. This suggests the respondent would be a valuable team member. I probed around this person's possible need for a non-directive style of management. We later confirmed that she needed leadership that used a coaching style and that she prefers to work within a cohesive team structure.
"He was patient, diplomatic and had a sense of humour which created a friendly open atmosphere." Since this type of atmosphere cannot always be present in a work environment, I probed to establish the respondent's reactions to an environment where patience and diplomacy would be less important than meeting deadlines or objectives. We confirmed that she can perform well in both types of environments but is very unhappy in a position that is highly reactive and fast paced so would likely be looking to move if she found herself in this type of role.