Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it could also land you your dream job. In this week’s KIQ, we look at how one employer uses this question to appraise potential job candidates.
Magnifying glass woman image from Shutterstock
Curiosity is defined by a strong desire to learn or understand something. Thanks to our curious nature, humans have progressed rapidly as a species. Significant scientific and technological discoveries are a result of our thirst for knowledge and our eagerness to seek out answers for a plethora of questions.
While we’re highly inquisitive as children, it is often a quality that diminishes with age as people become stuck in their ways and reject the need to learn new things and to understand the world around us. But curiosity is a quality that is extremely valuable to ANZ Bank global HR business manager Mel Parks when it comes to hiring new staff.
“People who are interested in the things around them, who are consistently and proactively learning are the people I always want on my team,” she told Lifehacker Australia. “I want to see people who are engaged and have the ability to find new things or new ways of doing things.”
Parks has asked this question before during interviews and said that the best answers are the ones that show what the candidate has done in the past to make use of their curiosity.
“I look for someone who can provide examples of where they’ve asked really great questions, investigated something, engaged with people outside of their own immediate sphere of understanding or connection to bring back something [to their work] that’s great and different,” she said.
Parks also wants to know how candidates make use of their curiosity to benefit their communities.
“If people can’t answer how they bring value to their own community, then how are they going to bring value to your organisation?,” she said.
How would you answer this interview question? Let us know in the comments.
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