What is the best answer for behavioural interview question “what you do outside of the office”?

So when someone asks a question like this, you don’t know if they’re following one or other method, or are simply going to pick the candidate who most appeals to them.

  Hr Classes   Apr 17, 2024   166  Add to Reading List

The best answer is the true answer.

Lots of studies have demonstrated that nobody has a reliable hiring process. More ‘scientific’ approaches come into and go out of fashion, as do more social approaches, gut-feeling approaches, and strict policy-based ‘equal opportunities’ approaches.

So when someone asks a question like this, you don’t know if they’re following one or other method, or are simply going to pick the candidate who most appeals to them. By the way, simply rolling dice is as good as some methods when it comes down to picking between two candidates.

If it was me, I would say ‘sports, photography, music, writing, romance, hanging out, and church stuff’.

Why these, and why in such a vague way?

The last one is there because it tells them something important about me. The first four are effectively my ‘hobbies’. I could have said ‘Fencing competitively, semi-professional photography, recording and performing guitar and writing for publication.’

So why not? Because putting all those details in sounds like trying too hard. It sounds like I’m issuing a competitive challenge. What I’m hoping is that the interviewer(s) will pick on one of them and say ‘playing sport or watching sport?’ or ‘what kind of photography?’

On the other hand, if they were simply ticking a box, or wanted to hear that I didn’t just work, or that I did something productive in my free time instead of just going down the pub, then I’ve already given them more than enough information.

In an interview, every minute is precious. You have 20 minutes to an hour depending on the interviewing policy. A short interview will have fewer questions, a longer one will have more. If you get into a ten minute conversation about your hobbies, it will mean cutting down time on the more important questions later on.

So, why ‘romance and hanging out’? Because listing only things that are proactive and intense can make you sound like a driven, borderline-crazy person.

But don’t use my answer, use your own.

If you’re trying to prepare, I would suggest using Steven Covey’s four ‘sharpen the saw’ elements: emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual. Talk about something which builds you up emotionally, some kind of physical exercise, something which challenges you intellectually and something which develops you spiritually (however you define that). But just mention them. Let the interviewer pick up on them if they want to, and don’t overstate.