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Open & Closed Questions

Some interviewers are better than others. Good ones use open questions to open you up and get you talking. Poorer ones fall into the trap of asking closed questions. Look out for open questions - you want them because they give you the chance to make your points.

Recognising an open question helps you to understand how in principle you're going to give them answers that knock their socks off and it can even help you to give a good answer to a bad question.

Overheard at a sales training course:

Rookie salesperson: 'I'm not quite getting this. Could you just give me an example of an open question?'

Trainer: 'Why?'

Rookie salesperson: 'Because maybe I'll understand an example better than I understand the theory.'

Trainer: 'Why?'

Rookie salesperson: 'Oh, this is getting so frustrating! Why don't you just give me an example?'

Trainer: 'Ah, now that's a good question.'

Here is the single-word open question 'Why' doing its job beautifully. Although the rookie doesn't yet understand what an open question is, she does exactly what the questioner wants. She makes the person answering give honest and instinctive answers.

DISPLAYING KNOWLEDGE IN ANSWERING OPEN QUESTIONS

'What interests you about our industry?' is an open question. It requires you to reveal what you know about the business the organisation is in and why you are interested in being involved in it. So be prepared. A poor answer to this question, particularly one that demonstrates that you don't know anything about the industry or the organisation, is a showstopper that'll get you off to the poorest possible start. In fact, many people regard it as quite rude for an interviewee not to have done such basic research.

Good interviewers use a 'funnel' technique in their questioning. They start with a very open question and then funnel down deeper and deeper into specifics. So, it's always dangerous to say anything that you can't substantiate or expand on.

It's easy enough nowadays to brief yourself on an industry using the internet. Look not only at the website of the organisation you're thinking of joining but also at their main competitors. Look for how fast the industry is growing, how profitable it is and how much change has occurred in recent years. All of these investigations lead you to a good answer. You can be interested in the business no matter what state it is in. 'I want to take part in the rapid growth and change that is taking place in the telecommunications industry. I'm excited about being involved in a rapidly changing market where you have to be very light on your feet to keep up with the competition.' Or alternatively, 'The food-retailing industry is very interesting because over many years you've developed very detailed and sophisticated answers to all the tough business problems such as branding, planned discounting and so on. I think I can learn most and quickest in such an environment.'

Another good source of information is the company's annual report. Have a look at the mission statement and try to find out why you want to be involved with an organisation with this particular stated aim. Quote from a recent newspaper article to show that you're taking an interest. (If it's a big organisation then go into any newspaper site and search for the name of the company. If it's smaller then use a search engine and you'll probably come up with something.)

USING WELL-PREPARED ANSWERS

The industry sector will come up in some way whether they ask the question this way or not; so it's good technique to have the actual words you're going to use in your head before you go in. In fact all the preparation you've done in this area will help at some point in the interview. It just shows that you're keen to be part of the business that, after all, the interviewer is giving a large chunk of their working life to.

Now think about the question as asked by a less skilled interviewer: 'Are you interested in our industry?' This is an easy closed question - as if you're going to say, 'No, I'd much rather be in showbiz'! Answer it as though it were an open one. In fact it's the same answer with a slightly different starting point.


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