Interviews are changing. Most organizations used to use skill and experience questions – questions that ask what you have done before, or questions that you hear all the time – “what are you good at, what do you need to improve, why should I hire you, etc.” These questions allow you to prepare ahead, which means a hiring manager is not getting a fair look at how you think – and how you will think in the workplace. And they pay you to think in the workplace.

A talent-based question is a question that asks you to handle a situation you will encounter in the workplace, of the top of your head, and then assesses whether your approach to handling the situation will be successful.

In most jobs, your manager will not be able to tell you about everything you will encounter in the day. Instead, he/she will need to know that you think in a way that will be successful for the kinds of things the job will require. Thinking matters. On the spot thinking matters. Talent-based questions force you to think on the spot.

Good news:
1. You can’t prepare for talent-based questions. You have to share what you think. So go to bed and get a good night’s sleep before your interview.

2. You can’t look to answer based on what you think the hiring manager wants you to say. You must respond based on what you think.

3. Every question is geared to the events that will happen in the workplace so you can assess for yourself during the interview if the job plays to what you are good at or makes you feel out of your league. Remember, an interview is as much for you to determine if the job is right for you as it is for the hiring manager to determine if you are right for the job.

Here are some examples of talent-based questions:
1. If I were to ask your previous boss or co-worker how you handle change in the workplace, what would he say. Give me an example.
2. What was your latest and greatest idea in your last job? How did you present it? How was it received?
3. What does a customer mean to you? For the situation I give you, how would you maximize your connection to the customer?
4. What makes a job interesting for you? How do you make a job interesting?

New economy, new interview approach. Get good at applying for jobs that play to your talents, then go to your interview confident that you will respond in a meaningful way to any workplace question they can present. Talent-based interview allow for a great and meaningful discussion between the hiring manager and the candidate – no more bluffing, making up things and practicing stock answers. Now, you have to think on your feet. But that is what you have to do in the workplace anyway.

See a great resource by career counselor Debbie Benami-Rahm, titled Tap Your Interview Talent.