BASIC INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WITH SIMPLE EXAMPLES
1. Tell me about yourself?
TRAPS: Beware, about
80% of all interviews begin with this “innocent”
question. Many candidates, unprepared for the question, skewer themselves by
rambling, recapping their life story, delving into ancient work history or
personal matters.
BEST ANSWER: Start
with the present and tell why you are well qualified for the position. Remember
that the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to
what the interviewer is looking for. In other words you must sell what the
buyer is buying. This is the single most important strategy in job hunting.
So, before you answer
this or any question it's imperative that you try to uncover your interviewer's
greatest need, want, problem or goal.
To do so, make you
take these two steps:
1. Do all the
homework you can before the interview to uncover this person's wants and needs
(not the generalized needs of the industry or company)
2. As early as you
can in the interview, ask for a more complete description of what the position
entails. You might say: “I have a number of accomplishments I'd like to
tell you about, but I want to make the best use of our time together and talk
directly to your needs. To help me do, that, could you tell me more about the
most important priorities of this position? All I know is what I (heard from
the recruiter, read in the classified ad, etc.)”
Then, ALWAYS follow-up with a second and
possibly, third question, to draw out his needs even more. Surprisingly, it's
usually this second or third question that unearths what the interviewer is
most looking for.
2 .What are your greatest strengths?
TRAPS: This question
seems like a softball lob, but be prepared. You don't want to come across as
egotistical or arrogant. Neither is this a time to be humble.
BEST ANSWER: You know
that your key strategy is to first uncover your interviewer's greatest wants
and needs before you answer questions. And from Question 1, you know how to do
this.
Prior to any
interview, you should have a list mentally prepared of your greatest strengths.
You should also have, a specific example or two, which illustrates each strength,
an example chosen from your most recent and most impressive achievements.
You should, have this
list of your greatest strengths and corresponding examples from your
achievements so well committed to memory that you can recite them cold after
being shaken awake at 2:30AM.
Then, once you
uncover your interviewer's greatest wants and needs, you can choose those
achievements from your list that best match up.
3. What are your greatest weaknesses?
TRAPS: Beware - this
is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any
admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for
honesty, but an “F” for the interview.
PASSABLE ANSWER:
Disguise a strength as a weakness.
Example 1: “I
sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and
everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”
Drawback: This
strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it's so widely used, it is
transparent to any experienced interviewer.
BEST ANSWER: (and
another reason it's so important to get a thorough description of your
interviewer's needs before you answer questions): Assure the interviewer that
you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this
position with excellence. Then, quickly review you strongest qualifications.
Example 2: “Nobody's
perfect, but based on what you've told me about this position, I believe I' d
make an outstanding match. I know that when I hire people, I look for two
things most of all. Do they have the qualifications to do the job well, and the
motivation to do it well? Everything in my background shows I have both the
qualifications and a strong desire to achieve excellence in whatever I take on.
So I can say in all honesty that I see nothing that would cause you even a
small concern about my ability or my strong desire to perform this job with
excellence.”
4. Tell me about something you did – or
failed to do – that you now feel a little ashamed of.
TRAPS: There are some
questions your interviewer has no business asking, and this is one. But while
you may feel like answering, “none of your business,”
naturally you can’t. Some interviewers ask this question on the
chance you admit to something, but if not, at least they’ll
see how you think on your feet.
Some unprepared
candidates, flustered by this question, unburden themselves of guilt from their
personal life or career, perhaps expressing regrets regarding a parent, spouse,
child, etc. All such answers can be disastrous.
BEST ANSWER: As with
faults and weaknesses, never confess a regret. But don’t
seem as if you’re stonewalling either.
Best strategy: Say
you harbour no regrets, then add a principle or habit you practice regularly
for healthy human relations.
Example 1: Pause for
reflection, as if the question never occurred to you. Then say, “You
know, I really can’t think of anything.”
(Pause again, then add): “I would add that as a general management
principle, I’ve found that the best way to avoid regrets is to
avoid causing them in the first place. I practice one habit that helps me a
great deal in this regard. At the end of each day, I mentally review the day’s
events and conversations to take a second look at the people and developments I’m
involved with and do a double check of what they’re likely to be
feeling. Sometimes I’ll see things that do need more follow-up,
whether a pat on the back, or maybe a five minute chat in someone’s
office to make sure we’re clear on things…whatever.”
5. Why are you leaving (or did you leave) this
position?
TRAPS: Never badmouth
your previous industry, company, board, boss, staff, employees or customers.
This rule is inviolable: never be negative. Any mud you hurl will only soil
your suit.
Especially avoid
words like “personality clash”, “didn’t
get along”, or others which cast a shadow on your
competence, integrity, or temperament.
BEST ANSWER:
(If you have a job
presently) If you’re not yet 100% committed to leaving your
present post, don’t be afraid to say so. Since you have a job, you
are in a stronger position than someone who does not. But don’t be
coy either. State honestly what you’d be hoping to find
in a new spot. Of course, as stated often before, you answer will all the
stronger if you have already uncovered what this position is all about and you
match your desires to it.
(If you do not
presently have a job.) Never lie about having been fired. It’s
unethical – and too easily checked. But do try to deflect
the reason from you personally. If your firing was the result of a takeover,
merger, division wide layoff, etc., so much the better.
6. The “Silent Treatment”
TRAPS: Beware – if
you are unprepared for this question, you will probably not handle it right and
possibly blow the interview. Thank goodness most interviewers don’t
employ it. It’s normally used by those determined to see how
you respond under stress. Here’s how it works:
You answer an
interviewer’s question and then, instead of asking another,
he just stares at you in a deafening silence.
You wait, growing a
bit uneasy, and there he sits, silent as Mt. Rushmore, as if he doesn’t
believe what you’ve just said, or perhaps making you feel that
you’ve unwittingly violated some cardinal rule of
interview etiquette.
When you get this
silent treatment after answering a particularly difficult question , such as “tell
me about your weaknesses”, its intimidating effect can be most
disquieting, even to polished job hunters.
BEST ANSWER: Like a
primitive tribal mask, the Silent Treatment loses all it power to frighten you
once you refuse to be intimidated. If your interviewer pulls it, keep quiet
yourself for a while and then ask, with sincere politeness and not a trace of
sarcasm, “Is there anything else I can fill in on that
point?” That’s all there is to it.
Whatever you do, don’t
let the Silent Treatment intimidate you into talking a blue streak, because you
could easily talk yourself out of the position.
7. Why
should I hire you?
TRAPS: Believe it or
not, this is a killer question because so many candidates are unprepared for
it. If you stammer or adlib you’ve blown it.
BEST ANSWER: By now
you can see how critical it is to apply the overall strategy of uncovering the
employer’s needs before you answer questions. If you know
the employer’s greatest needs and desires, this question will
give you a big leg up over other candidates because you will give him better
reasons for hiring you than anyone else is likely to…reasons
tied directly to his needs.
Whether your
interviewer asks you this question explicitly or not, this is the most
important question of your interview because he must answer this question
favorably in is own mind before you will be hired. So help him out! Walk
through each of the position’s requirements as you understand them, and
follow each with a reason why you meet that requirement so well.
Example: “As I
understand your needs, you are first and foremost looking for someone who can
manage the sales and marketing of your book publishing division. As you’ve
said you need someone with a strong background in trade book sales. This is
where I’ve spent almost all of my career, so I’ve
chalked up 18 years of experience exactly in this area. I believe that I know
the right contacts, methods, principles, and successful management techniques
as well as any person can in our industry.”
“You also need someone
who can expand your book distribution channels. In my prior post, my innovative
promotional ideas doubled, then tripled, the number of outlets selling our
books. I’m confident I can do the same for you.”
8. Aren’t you overqualified for this position?
TRAPS:
The employer may be concerned that you’ll grow dissatisfied and leave.
BEST
ANSWER: As with any objection, don’t view this as a sign of imminent defeat.
It’s an invitation to teach the interviewer a new way to think about this
situation, seeing advantages instead of drawbacks.
Example:
“I recognize the job market for what it is – a marketplace. Like any
marketplace, it’s subject to the laws of supply and demand. So ‘overqualified’
can be a relative term, depending on how tight the job market is. And right
now, it’s very tight. I understand and accept that.”
“I also
believe that there could be very positive benefits for both of us in this
match.”
“Because
of my unusually strong experience in ________________ , I could start to
contribute right away, perhaps much faster than someone who’d have to be
brought along more slowly.”
“There’s
also the value of all the training and years of experience that other companies
have invested tens of thousands of dollars to give me. You’d be getting all the
value of that without having to pay an extra dime for it. With someone who has
yet to acquire that experience, he’d have to gain it on your nickel.”
“I could
also help you in many things they don’t teach at the Harvard Business School.
For example…(how to hire, train, motivate, etc.) When it comes to knowing how
to work well with people and getting the most out of them, there’s just no
substitute for what you learn over many years of front-line experience. You
company would gain all this, too.”
“From my
side, there are strong benefits, as well. Right now, I am unemployed. I want to
work, very much, and the position you have here is exactly what I love to do
and am best at. I’ll be happy doing this work and that’s what matters most to
me, a lot more that money or title.”
9. Where do you see yourself five years from now?
TRAPS: One reason interviewers ask
this question is to see if you’re settling for this position, using it merely
as a stopover until something better comes along. Or they could be trying to
gauge your level of ambition.
If you’re too specific, i.e.,
naming the promotions you someday hope to win, you’ll sound presumptuous. If
you’re too vague, you’ll seem rudderless.
BEST ANSWER: Reassure your
interviewer that you’re looking to make a long-term commitment…that this
position entails exactly what you’re looking to do and what you do extremely
well. As for your future, you believe that if you perform each job at hand with
excellence, future opportunities will take care of themselves.
Example: “I am definitely
interested in making a long-term commitment to my next position. Judging by
what you’ve told me about this position, it’s exactly what I’m looking for and
what I am very well qualified to do. In terms of my future career path, I’m
confident that if I do my work with excellence, opportunities will inevitable
open up for me. It’s always been that way in my career, and I’m confident I’ll
have similar opportunities here.”
10. Describe your ideal company, location and job.
TRAPS: This is often
asked by an experienced interviewer who thinks you may be overqualified, but
knows better than to show his hand by posing his objection directly. So he’ll use this question instead, which often gets a candidate to reveal
that, indeed, he or she is looking for something other than the position at
hand.
BEST ANSWER: The only
right answer is to describe what this company is offering, being sure to make
your answer believable with specific reasons, stated with sincerity, why each
quality represented by this opportunity is attractive to you.
Remember that if you’re coming from a company that’s the leader in its field or from a glamorous or much admired company,
industry, city or position, your interviewer and his company may well have an “Avis” complex. That is, they may feel a bit defensive about being “second best” to the place you’re coming from, worried that you may consider them bush league.
This anxiety could
well be there even though you’ve done nothing to inspire it. You must go out of your way to assuage
such anxiety, even if it’s not expressed, by putting their virtues high on the list of exactly
what you’re looking for, providing credible reason for wanting these qualities.
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