There are a lot of articles giving advice on how to answer the questions often asked in a job interview. If you follow that advice the law of averages will catch up with you and you’ll give the exact same answer your competition gave. To get noticed you’ll need to prepare for the interview more extensively and put some thought into it, and most importantly be honest with the answers. Hiring managers have usually interviewed enough people to see when someone isn’t being honest. Stand out by being yourself.
5 comments:
I find it extremely ironic that this article is entitled "Never Give an Answer You Found Online in a Job Interview" and that the article is nothing more than a list of common questions asked in interviews and how to answer them. If you want to know how to answer an interview question, the best thing you can do is research the company, come up with your own original answers, and practice them. Why would you want to take an answer from someone you don't know that you found online when you could be yourself and make a much better impression? If the person interviewing you doesn't want to hire you, then at least you were rejected for being yourself instead of being hired for being someone else. If you didn't get the job, then there's a reason why, and it might not have been the right job for you anyway. All of these articles about how to nail the job interview all say the same thing, and it's really not all that helpful. Have some common sense!
This is one of the best interview advice articles I have read. I appreciate that the author provides advice for how to go about preparing for an interview, and how to begin the process of thinking up your own personal, unique answers to standard interview questions. Jess, the author is not providing answers to the questions, but providing a guide for how to go about coming up with your own answers to the questions...there is a huge difference between those two things. Many of these types of articles feed the readers answers to standard questions, but the whole point of this article (note the title) is that it doesn't do that. Anyways, this article also makes great points about the function of different questions and your answers for them- some can allow you to make a connection with your interviewer, others can allow you to indicate positive motivations for applying for the job, etc. I love this way of looking at the questions and shaping your answers.
Basically, answer questions honestly except when you shouldn't. Not really helpful advice, I have to say, and definitely not original either.
As great as interview books and how to articles are, the best experience and place you can most easily learn about how to interview is at, well, interviews. Interviews aren't something that everyone realizes you have to practice at, but they really are. After some practice, you learn how to sell yourself, how to explain your contributions to the company, how to emphasize your abilities, and how to improve on where you fall short.
I like that this article points out that if you always answer questions according to what you learned from articles online, chances are high that you'll be giving the exact same answer as every other candidate. It's not exactly the best way to stand out. I like how the article gives the outline of what you should be saying, without telling you exactly what to say- it's the perfect way to prepare you for the interview while ensuring that you're still answering the questions honestly. It's especially useful to know what the goal of the question is, so that you can craft your answer accordingly- for instance, I never realized that one of the goals of the "tell me something about yourself" question was to find something in common with the interviewer.
I think it's funny that this article is called "Never Give An Answer You Found Online in an Interview" and then is an online article that tells you how to give answers questions in interviews. It is never a good idea to give answers from online it looks forced and canned and like you aren't interesting enough to give your own answers. It also is probably not what the employer wants to hear. They are looking to find out who you are not what you think they want to hear.
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