www.lifehack.org: Knowing how to deal with tough interview questions properly can put you miles above the other candidates. Your body language, voice and content of your answers are all factors that play into you getting hired.
This article will detail some tough and misleading questions that generally confuse potential employees and will help you get an insiders view on what employers are looking for in your responses.
5 comments:
Interview is something I have not had to do to much. It is something that does not terrify me either. I once had a interview class in undergrad and the professor said you are selling your best product, yourself. This is the one time and place in life where it is not bad to talk about yourself and to toot your own horn. There is of course a line to be drawn in this with pride, confidence, assurance, and arrogance, One must be able to walk that line very carefully during interviews. I really like the advice the article gave and I plan on taking the article and answering the questions myself. Taking the time to prepare for a interview is not just answering these questions. The article makes a good point that research of the company and the overall mission statement of the company is something good to have a firm understanding of. Talking about how you will improve and mesh with the companies environment and mission is something important to stress. These are all things I will be starting to thinking about very soon.
Way back in high school and again when I was in college I took a couple courses that included interview prep in the course schedule. They ended up being mostly about practice interviews and how to present yourself and less on how to prepare yourself or handle certain questions. In the end, one kind of lead to the other but there was never a clear answer given to what interviewers were looking for when they asked certain questions, almost as if it was assumed that doing trial interviews would somehow give you the answer because now you were “prepared”. Well practice doesn't necessarily make perfect like some think, in fact practice develops muscle memory and habits – good or bad. Just because you've repeated an action over and over and over again until you’re blue in the face doesn't mean that you’re actually any better at…what if your form and technique and flawed (even slightly). Well then you've made yourself very good and rehearsed at doing something incorrectly, something that when attributed to athletics or working out can quickly lead to injuries. Even something as simple as lifting, not sure weights in the gym, but everyday objects at work and home. More than 80% of people don’t lift objects with the proper form, which is one reason it’s the leading cause of worker’s compensation claims in the workplace and #1 non-fatal injury according to OSHA.
So what does all that have to do with this article? Well in a few short paragraphs this article at least attempts to provide you with a roadmap for conquering challenging interviews. Regardless of the fact that it’s somewhat vague here and there it’s some of the best advice I've ever been given about interviewing. Does that mean that my next interview will be flawless, no? But it might give me a fighting chance at not sounding like or presenting myself like jackass because I wasn't clear, concise and targeted with my responses. I’ve walked out of interviews feeling like a complete idiot because I got tripped up by one or more of these questions that I wasn't exactly expecting. To be honest I rarely “prep” for an interview past doing some research about the company, but if I’m to take anything away from this article it’s that I should be more diligent and aggressive if I want to get the job I want, not one that will just barely pay the bills.
I think that the hardest interview questions to answer are the ones about your personality and your strengths and weaknesses. There is so much pressure to not only present your self in a positive light, but also to speak honestly and candidly about who you are. It is so easy to veer off into generic answers or to not give enough information to satisfy the interviewer’s underlying questions. I think articles like this are a great reminder of what employers are really trying to get us to convey when they ask difficult or what seem like off topic questions.
Interview questions are a really hard thing. No question is stupid, but some are redundant. I personally like to ask questions about the mission of the organization. When I am asked questions I make sure to answer them honestly. I don't want to focus on presenting "the right answer." I want the interviewer to get to know me as a person and my skills.
Interview questions are a really hard thing. No question is stupid, but some are redundant. I personally like to ask questions about the mission of the organization. When I am asked questions I make sure to answer them honestly. I don't want to focus on presenting "the right answer." I want the interviewer to get to know me as a person and my skills.
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