Interviewing Skills Articles

How much did / do you make? Here’s a question guaranteed to make you uncomfortable in the job interview process. It’s one of the big hot-potato questions. No one wants to say a number first. But you don’t have to feel pressured or stressed. There are some great ways to handle this question.

What’s Your Greatest Weakness? “What’s your greatest weakness?” is possibly the most annoying job interview question just because of its sheer ridiculousness…your choices seem to be either to give them an obviously fake weakness (like you’re a perfectionist or you work too hard…ugh!), or a real weakness (like you’re disorganized or you have a bad temper), which means you might as well kiss your job offer goodbye now. Most people stick with the safe route and go for the fake one. Do you? It turns out, the ‘safe’ route is not the best route.

Why do you want to switch from an academic field to business/industry? The one big perception / misconception about academics is that they can’t make it in the ‘real’ world. They are secure in their ivory towers and not coming out any time soon. So if you find yourself trying to leap from your own ivory tower (or ivory laboratory, as the case may be) your interviewer is going to want to know why. What will you have to say for yourself? This question is an excellent jumping-off point for you to talk about your drive, your enthusiasm, and your ambition. Break the stereotype!

Job interviews are all about communication, right? You will only get the job if you can successfully communicate that you understand the job, that you can do the job, that you will do the job, and that you pose no risk to this person’s continued employment. (That’s why 30-60-90-day plans are such great job interview tools.) That requires good, clear communication.

I was talking to a prospective client yesterday and he asked me, "How do I make myself memorable in an interview or when networking?" We discussed a variety of tactics which will surely help him out, but there was one that stood out. We were talking about a specific chapter in How To Win Friends and Influence People; "Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language." Let's discuss.

Previous Bosses Did you know that there are a lot of things your previous bosses can do for you in your quest to find a job? They might have a job lead for you, they can definitely offer insight you can use to be a better job seeker, and they are excellent references.

Is there anything I haven’t told you about the company that you’d like to know? Toward the end of the interview, hiring managers will ask some version of, “Do you have any questions for me?” Your answer is ALWAYS going to be “yes.” You always want to have a list of questions to ask in the interview. If you don’t have any, it makes you look like you’re not that interested in the role. Here are some examples of great questions to ask: Why is the position open?

Who was your best boss and who was your worst? This job interview question tests several things about you and gives a lot of information to the interviewer: Are you adaptable? Can you get along with a wide variety of people? Do you carry grudges? Do you fit their company’s cultural style? Do you fit your potential hiring manager’s leadership style? How do you react to negative situations? Your overall goal to keep in mind is to stay positive and communicate that you can work with any boss in any situation.

How would you feel about working for someone who knows less than you? It’s not ideal to work for someone who does, in fact, know less than you. In fact, it’s kind of aggravating. But typically, they don’t know less than you in all areas. There is usually a reason they are where they are. They must know more than you in at least one little area, or they wouldn’t be the person in charge. Right?

What was your most difficult work experience and how did you deal with it? This is a great job interview question to talk about how you have overcome a challenge and ended up a winner! You can talk about how you stepped up to a difficult situation and got a good outcome, or how you overcame something that was holding you back in your job (maybe you learned a new skill).

What salary are you looking for?

You have much more power over your phone interview than you probably think you do, including when to schedule it. If you can exercise that power, please do so.

We are looking for someone with experience…or, You don’t have enough experience—why should we hire you?

As painful as looking for a new job can sometimes be, job seekers often overlook the simplest way to make the search easier: work with a recruiter. A recruiter can ease the pain of the search in several ways: she has contacts you can only dream of, she knows where the jobs are that you probably won't, and she will help you prepare for interviews with inside knowledge of the company and an objective eye for you. However, sometimes there are misconceptions about recruiters that cause a candidate to question the process.

With the current state of economic affairs in the United States and other countries being what they are, jobs are hard to come by. If you are fortunate enough to be granted a job interview, don’t arrive unprepared. There are many aspects to interview preparation, but an area often overlooked is interview questioning. This particular part of an interview is twofold. You must anticipate questions a hiring manager or recruiter might ask you as well as have questions you should

How many jobs have you applied to online—only to receive no response? Or maybe you received a “thanks but no thanks” letter. Either way, you aren’t making much progress in landing a job. If this applies to you, I have a question: Do you have a LinkedIn profile?

Congratulations! You've just landed an interview for your dream job. Now all you need to do is ace the interview and show your potential new employer that you're the perfect person for the position. Preparing for an important interview takes time and practice. The following are tips and tricks designed to give you the upper hand at your interview. Research, research, research. The more you know about the company, the more you will know about their specific problems and the be

I love it when an opportunity presents itself to listen in on a “normal” interview. Arriving early for an appointment at a Starbuck’s in the Denver area, I was enjoying an amazing cup of black tea as the store manager began interviewing for a potential staff member. As effective interviewing is my passion, I was fascinated by the exchange I observed.

Tell me about a time when you failed. The key to answering the failure question is that you can’t say you’ve never failed. I know you probably really want to, because you don’t want to be seen in a bad light. But you can’t. And it’s OK.

What would you do first at this job? When they ask you this question in the job interview, they want to get a picture of how you would be in the role. How you answer tells them about your personality and your work style. Do you attack it from day one? Do you take it all in and analyze it first?

As an executive, you’ve probably been on plenty of interviews in your lifetime – from that entry-level position to the management positions you’ve held. But nothing quite compares to the executive-level interview; if you’ve been on even one you know this is a true statement. So how do you properly prepare for executive-level interviews? There are a number of steps involved to get you on the right track and keep you there. Let’s take a look at what they are … Make Sure You’r

Tell me your life story (more of your personal history). Hiring managers want to find out as much as they can about you in the interview. It’s a little bit of a risk management thing. The more they know, the less likely they’ll make a mistake by extending you a job offer. But even if they ask you to specifically reveal more of your personal history, it’s still very important that you remember that your focus is not to make a new best friend here…it’s to get a job. For that reason, here’s how you want to talk about your personal story in the interview:

What would your manager say was the area you needed most development in? This question might also sound like, “What would your boss say you need to improve on?” No doubt about it…impressing your boss is always important, and we all have things about ourselves that we could improve on. But, as with all job interview questions, you must be thoughtful and strategic with how you answer it.

For companies, the phone interview is a screening process. The hiring manager or human resources manager has a stack of resumes of potential candidates sitting in front of them, and their job is to wade through the stack and get it to a manageable number. Many candidates don’t realize just how much they are under the microscope in a phone interview and how closely the company is looking for a reason to eliminate them from the stack. Your job is to stay in the stack, or to qualify for the face-to-face interview. Show them you’re worth spending the time to talk to.

Phone interviews are really phone screens. They are screening candidates, narrowing down a list that’s too long, figuring out who to invite in for a face-to-face interview. So really, in a phone interview, they’re looking for reasons to mark you off the list—to screen you out. Your job in phone interview is to keep them from eliminating you, so you can get to the face-to-face interview. How can you keep them from screening you out? The answer might surprise you.

I noticed that you are applying for a position that is not as senior as your past positions. Why would you consider a job that is, in effect, a demotion for you? This is a question you might get asked early on in the process, like in a phone interview. If you have a lot of experience, it’s going to be obvious that you’re overqualified. So the question is, ‘Why would you take a job that’s less than what you’re qualified for?’ rnr

What type of work environment do you prefer? The best answer to this job interview question of what work environment do you prefer is the same answer you’d give to “What’s your ideal job?” The correct answer is: “This one.” Of course, you need to respond with the type of work environment that they have, or at least close to it, or you’re not going to get the job. But, you don’t just want to get the offer, you want to get a job that fits you as well.

For such a short conversation, phone interviews are a surprisingly wide-open opportunity for screw-ups. Why is that? Partly, it’s because in a phone interview, the interviewer is really looking for mistakes. Telephone interviews are a screening process—a way to weed out too many candidates. So they’re looking for reasons to mark you off the list. Here are the biggest ways to make that happen: Failing to Prepare for the Interviewr

The days when a young college grad could start with a great company and settle in for a 30-year promotion-filled career with them are gone. Not only do we job-hop from company to company these days, more and more of us career-hop….but that’s where it gets tricky. Career-hopping in mid-life brings a unique set of challenges for the job candidate. It can be done, and done well. Older candidates can bring experience, good judgment, and stability to a position, but there are a few negative stereotypes you might have to overcome before you land the job.

Tell us about a time that you went against corporate directives. Why? How did it turn out? I once did a survey of job seekers as part of my mock interview program, asking them to give me actual questions they’ve been asked in job interviews, and this was one of the responses. I almost couldn’t believe it. This is not a normal or typical interview question. To me, this is a little like saying, “Tell me about the last time you shoplifted.”

How do you deal with stressful situations? If I got asked about how I deal with stressful situations, the first thing that would pop into my head is, “You mean like this one?” (Job interviews are very, very stressful. The way you deal with that stress is recognizing that it’s going to be stressful, preparing for the interview as much as possible, and taking a few deep relaxing breaths before you start.) But now is not the time to make that joke. My philosophy is ‘never let them see you sweat.’rnr

What are your workplace values? Asking about your workplace values is similar to asking “What is your work ethic?” Or, “What are your workplace ethics?” They want to know what kind of person you are. What matters to you?

There was an interesting blog post recently by a resume guru noting the frustration job seekers experience when faced with conflicting advice from resume experts. That frustration is easy to relate to because even we professionals don't always agree on what's correct. Every advice giver relies on his or her own experience (whatever that may be). And because of all the variables involved in hiring processes across the board, there is no one correct answer for most aspects of the job search including the construction of resumes.

At the beginning of our career, most of us probably dreamed about a good job interview in which we would make such a positive impression on the interviewer that they wouldn’t want to wait another day before hiring us. As we grew up, however, it became more and more obvious that not every interview is a perfect one. Ask anyone how many jobs they have had and how many interviews they have been to: chances are the latter will outnumber the former.nnTo prevent any feelings of m

How long would you plan to stay with us? Asking about your future plans in this way is really not asking you about your future plans. You don’t have to go into your 5-year life plan or your career goals. It’s a brief question that requires only a brief answer. Personally, my response to that question would be “How long would you like me to stay?”

Even though your interviewer can’t see you, using the right body language in your phone interview will help you to have a better outcome. Smiler One of the simplest things you can do to project confidence and enthusiasm over the phone is to smile while you talk. It’s amazing what smiling does to the sound of your voice. You sound friendlier. You sound more relaxed. It’s all good. Stand Upr

In any job interview, it’s important to use your best manners—and telephone interviews are no exception. Besides your resume, this is their first impression of you. Make it a great one by being super-polite and professional. Set Up Your Space for Quietr Nothing says “I don’t care about this phone interview” more than having it in a noisy space where you are constantly distracted. It’s better to put off the call until a later time rather than trying to talk over interruptions. Make sure you have a quiet space to talk with no distractions. Address the Interviewer by Namer

It's guaranteed to happen to all of us at some point in our interviews; we get asked about our salary expectations and if you were not coached on how to answer the question, you can immediately disqualify yourself. The salary question can be very tricky because you don't want to say something that is too high or too low. So, what do you do? Luckily for you, I've put together a few ideas for you. How To Discuss The Salary Question In An Interview

Recently I was working on a couple of interrogation tapes thatnsome agencies ask me to review and soon after presented two ofnmy Level 3 & 4 classes. On the fourth day of this class, studentsnget the opportunity to participate in live interviews with voluntee subjects from a nearby ...

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? In other words, are you going to bail on them in a few months for another job, or are you going to stick around and make their training and investment in you pay off? Is this a stepping stone on your career path, or is this a job to pay the bills until you can do what you really want to do?

Career Coaching If you’re in the job search, you have certainly heard advice about job boards, networking, or even temporary work. But have you ever considered a career coach as a path to a new job? When I say “Career Coach,” I do not mean the kind of life coach who helps you decide what you should do with your life. Don’t get me wrong, they have their place, but what I’m talking about is a coach who helps you with your career: finding and getting a job that will help you further your career goals.

Resume Blasts I included resume blasts on my Fastest Way to Find a Job Series not because I like them, but because some job seekers think these are the way to go, and I have a better alternative.

Even if you’ve got all the big factors covered for your phone interview (quiet spot, landline, preparation), there are still some pretty small phone interview mistakes that will get you screened out and marked off their short list. Sometimes it doesn’t take much….phone interviews are real tipping points in the process, and even seemingly insignificant factors can tilt the scale. Some of these mistakes will surprise you. Drinking a glass of water with ice (or anything with ice)r

What do you consider to be your most significant accomplishment? This is a fantastic job interview question. It sets you up to shine a giant spotlight on yourself as the ideal candidate for this job. Never, ever answer this question by talking about something you achieved or accomplished outside of work. No stories about your kids, or how you climbed Mount Everest. Always focus your answer on work-related accomplishments.

Job Shadowing Job shadowing is ideal for college students as they graduate, but it’s not just for the kids. Anytime you’re transitioning into a new field (either by choice or because you were laid off), a job shadowing experience can give you a big boost in your job search. Why should you job shadow? It helps you see if you will really like that field before you invest the time and energy into getting yourself there. It helps you build your network because you’ll meet people as you go through your day (or week, in some cases).

What was your least favorite part of your last job? Why does the hiring manager want to know about your least favorite part of your last job? Because they want to find out more about you, and they are hoping to uncover any potential weaknesses or problems before they hire you. What you say and the way you say it will tell them a lot more than you think.

In every interview, whether it’s a phone interview or a face-to-face interview, it is absolutely, critically important to ask questions. Why? (1) It makes you seem more engaged and interested in the job. No hiring manager wants to hire someone who isn’t going to be excited about working there. (2) It makes you seem more intelligent—if you ask good questions. Don’t ask questions you could easily find the answers to on Google. (3) It gives you a strategic advantage. Ask good questions, and you can easily find out what the interviewer really cares about. Focus your conversation and answer

Think you can talk on the phone anywhere? That might be true if you’re discussing dinner plans, but it is not true for your phone interview. For that, you have to choose your location carefully. Why? Because this phone conversation is the gate you have to pass through to get to your face-to-face interview. If you don’t do well here, there is no face-to-face interview, which means there is no job. This is a critical tipping point in the interview process.

Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you know…it’s WHO you know”? That’s not entirely true, but there’s a healthy-enough grain of truth in that statement to make networking a very powerful strategy for your job search.

What have you been doing since you got laid off? I know…this job interview question makes you want to roll your eyes. The painfully obvious answer is, “I’ve been trying to find a new job!” But you can’t say that. Why would they ask you this question? It turns out, they have several good reasons for asking. There are a lot of questions behind this question, and if you know what they are, you can answer it more effectively. Here’s what they’re really asking: