Hello sir. How do interviewers spot analytical thinkers? I'm pretty sure I am, but I want to know what interviewers look for when determining whether someone is an analytical thinker. Is there a pattern of behavior/attitude/thought process analytical thinkers often show in interviews? I've been informed that analytical thinking is one of the most sought-after qualities by employers, but I'm a bit at a loss as to how to show it... - INTJ
Career 103: Tackling analytical thinking in job interviews
Analytical thinking is one of the most sought-after qualities by employers for roles that androids can’t fill yet and it’s tested by making you solve a problem on the spot. The 3 most common methods are:
Case interviews: These are interview questions that require solving a business problem through a back and forth sweat inducing dialogue with the interviewer. The goal is to see how the candidate structures the problem, processes the data, and delivers the recommendations. These are common in roles that ask for strategic thinking and mandatory in management consulting.
Technical interviews: These are interview questions that require solving a technical challenge through a question or assignment. The goal is to see how proficient the candidate is in certain skills, how they use those skills to achieve optimal solutions, and how they communicate the results. These are common in engineering, data science, and IT roles that require programming skills or knowledge of technical infrastructure.
Behavioral interviews: These are interview questions that require solving a situational problem. The goal is to see how the candidate navigates tricky interpersonal issues and to see what personality strengths or weaknesses they have (read: it’s to check that you’re not a psycho, or if you are, that you’re a socially functioning one). These are common in roles that requires human interaction so unless the job locks you alone in an underground bunker you should be prepared to answer these.
Pro tip: If a job interview only asks about past experience but doesn’t require solving any problems during the interview, there’s a high chance the role is operational and doesn’t require critical thinking. If that’s your cup of tea– then cool, but go in with eyes wide open and don’t rage about being misled.
5 ways to show your analytical thinking skills
1. The accuracy of your mental math because the ability to juggle numbers is critical to analyzing data and drawing useful insights. You can’t produce useful outputs if you have no idea what to do with the inputs. Most information in today’s world comes in the form of numbers, learn to be comfortable with them. There’s nothing quite like a junior analyst who botches a decimal point in their calculations and loses the client millions of dollars.
2. The quality of your clarifying questions. The ability to ask crisp, clear, and targeted questions shows high analytical aptitude because it tells us that 1) you understand the problem well enough to know what information you need to solve it 2) you know what information you don’t need to avoid going down a rabbit hole that leads to a dead end. In business, it’s not only about finding the solution but finding it by taking the most efficient path to minimize the cost of time, energy, and money. If two people are asked to build a table out of wood and one candidate does it using a single tree while the second does it using an entire forest then the first candidate will be chosen because they achieved the same result with fewer resources. Do more with less.
3. The comprehensiveness of your answer. The ability to deliver a complete answer that accounts for multiple possibilities shows analytical thinking and creativity. Don’t try to deliver an answer that accounts for every possibility (that violates the gist of #2), show that you’ve considered other options by stating what they are then explain why the one you chose is the best of them all. The ability to think outside of the box by presenting alternate solutions is a great way to flex analytical skills.
4. The clarity of your explanation. (This is very important for INTJs and INFJs) The ability to succinctly and clearly explain the logical steps it took to reach your conclusion. Avoid your type’s tendency to make logical leaps because it’ll be difficult for the other person to understand, the solution can also look like a guess that can’t be replicated, and it exposes poor communication skills. An intelligent person who can’t successfully transmit knowledge to another human being in a coherent way is no better than a mute who can’t speak at all. Be linear and sequential but brief by emphasizing the most important points of your thought process.
5. The resilience of your solution. The ability to defend your solution to the interviewer under scrutiny. They’re not going to listen to whatever you say and just agree with it, they’re going to probe and challenge so be prepared to explain why you made those choices and how they stand up against inquiry. One of the best ways to navigate this is to be flexible without folding: acknowledge their feedback, explain your thought process (see #4), and provide alternatives (see #3) using different assumptions but assert that your original recommendation is your best one unless new information comes up that completely changes it.
Don’t stress out– it’s an interview, not an interrogation.
