Ace the Interview & Get the Job Offer – 10 Questions You May be Asked in a Job Interview & the Best Ways to Handle Them (part 1 of 10)
How to Answer those Tough Questions you may be asked at a Job Interview – Part One of a Series of Ten Articles
When interviewing for a new job, whether it be your first or a job change, you will be asked lots of questions. The sometimes highly skilled human resources people and managers of your prospective employer want to find out as ,much as they can about you. Will you fit in? Will you stay or are you just looking for a parking place until you can find something else? Are you a team player? In most cases they won’t ask these questions in this way. rather, they will likely ask indirectly. The more people who interview you, the more questions you will be asked. A short manual written several years ago for use in conjunction with a resume’ service I ran contains a list of 100 questions. Ten of them are presented here.
Better to be prepared in advance than to fumble around for answers during the interview. The mere fact that you did or did not prepare ahead says something about you. Being prepared is one of the attributes that may win you the job. Do otherwise at your own peril. Having changed jobs several times during my career, I learned how to answer most of them with ease. To be successful you need to do the same. The answers I propose are not the only answers, but hopefully they will serve as a guide for you in your search for a job. Good luck (or as a friend of mine once said good skill) to you in finding your new job!
Q1 – What do you know about our company?
You should consider this question as an opportunity to let the interviewer know you are interested, and that you have done your homework. Use can now use this as a springboard to tell the interviewer how your experience and/ or education and training relates to what their company does, the products they make, etc.
Q2 – What do you want to be doing 5 years from now?
Answering this question gives you the opportunity to state your goals, career milestones you hope to achieve, etc. Hopefully you have thought about this and put it down on paper. If you haven’t done it be sure you do it before the interview. Vague answers like “I hadn’t really though about ” will be scored against you and lessen your chances of getting the job offer. An answer well thought out in advance will work in your favor.
Q3 – What is your greatest weakness?
This question is a little tricky to handle, but obviously you should not start spouting out all your bad points (we all have a few). Rather you should turn the question around on the interviewer, so that your greatest weakness is not really a weakness at all, but is really a strength, i.e. – You could say that your greatest weakness is that you talk too much, but that in most cases this helps you communicate better and you usually learn more than you would if you were quiet all the time. Another example: I’m afraid I’m a “workaholic.” While this might seem like a weakness because of all the material that’s been written about this “disease.”
On the contrary, most employers look at a “workaholic” as one who is “dedicated to their job.” Many great musicians, for example have become great by spending most of their waking hours practicing, and who can say this is really a weakness?
Q4 – Why should I hire you?
Answer this one with all the attributes, accomplishments, etc. that make you the best choice for this job. Tell them that you like this kind of work, or that you want to help contribute to your new employer’s success. If you have done something in the past that specifically relates to what they do, tell them about it in detail, then tell them you can do the same for them. The absolute WORST answer here is “I don’t know” Please don’t give that answer, rather go over this question in advance and be ready for it when asked!
Q5 – Why are you leaving your present job?
If you are presently employed, the best answer is that I haven’t left my present job yet, and I may not, but that depends upon the opportunity I am offered. Another acceptable answer would be that my present job has little opportunity for growth, and that I am looking for a job with more responsibility, or I want to broaden my experience, or a similar answer that is positive.
Q6 – What was your biggest problem with your last job (or the job you are in now)?
This is another question you need to turn from negative to positive. Example of a good answer – My biggest problem was that I wanted more responsibility and authority and then job you are offering looks like just what I was looking for.. Or – My present job is not challenging enough and your offering looks like it is more challenging.
Q7 – Do you make mistakes?
Best answer here is – I am only human but I don’t make any more than the next guy, and any mistakes I make are usually minor ones and I learn from them.. If true, you could also mention that you are a stickler for doing things right the first time, and you are able to do this almost all of the time.
Q8 – Are you afraid of being fired from your present job?
This question is probably designed to put you off balance or get you flustered. Don’t let it worry you. The best answer is that you have no reason to be afraid because..and then you can start telling about some of the contributions you have made, and that you consider your self an asset to your employer.
Q9 – If you had it to do all over again, what field would you go into?
This question is probably designed to find out if you really like what you are doing presently. If you give a negative answer, or say you wish you had gone into another field, you are asking for trouble. Best answer here is the simplest – I can’t think of any field I would rather be in.
Q10 – What do you dislike about your present employer?
The safest answer here is that you have nothing against your present employer, but what you are seeking is more responsibility, a more challenging job, etc.
To see all 100 questions you need to be ready to answer at a job interview go to my website and click on the link for the book “How to Get a Job Anywhere, Anytime” part of which was the basis for this article. The rest is filled with lots of tips and how-to’s for hunting a first or a new job.
F. Claude Ernhart
http://www.articlesbase.com/interviews-articles/ace-the-interview-get-the-job-offer-10-questions-you-may-be-asked-in-a-job-interview-the-best-ways-to-handle-them-part-1-of-10-709973.html
Interview mistake due to being nervous, said was laid off instead of terminated, how to handle4 2nd interview?
I am in a situation that researching on the internet and ask associates of mine which I have not been able to find an answer and was hoping to possibly request your opinion or suggestion on how to best handle it. Without going into a thesis here is my situation:
My company was set up to where the owner would sell the company to the employees so he could have an exit strategy and retire, and as such left control of the firm to the employees. This was before I was hired a year ago. Recently I was terminated from my position with this company. I was not given any reason, it just happened, The head supervisor called the previous day to tell me he was coming to visit me to deliver a letter from the owner and would not explain what it was. I assumed via rumors from the grape vine that it was due to the loss of a VERY large client and as such the owner was seeing that the company was suffering a large financial loss and decided to come back in and take control and employ cost cutting strategies via eliminating some of the staff.
My head boss would not tell me as to the reason for it, my letter just said I was being terminated. Anycase I had been interviewing for a position, and have been very fortunate to get an interview with a company I had coveted for quite a long time. My only problem is that I was caught off guard by a question on whether I was still with my current employer to which I went ahead and stated the above story of the owner coming in and as such the company laid me off, instead of saying I was terminated. It was a huge stupid error on my part and now I have a second interview next week and I want to correct myself and tell them the truth, but I have been getting mixed answers as to what to do.
Some say don’t say anything and others say do. I think I am in trouble either way but I was wondering if you happen to have had any suggestions as to how to approach this? I have copies of my past two evaluations which rated me above average (the most recent one was a month before I was terminated) as well as two letters of refererences from my immediate supervisors who are under my head boss. If you can I would appreciate any suggestions or advice you may offer, I could really use the help, because this is my dream job that that has the perfect local, opportunity and everything, and I am scared that I dug myself in a hole that I can’t get out of.
I have nevered lied about my other time I was terminated during undergrad, and always told the truth, kept it short and sweet and then said what I learned from the experience. I just hope that there might be some way to salvage the situation.
Thank you for your time in this matter and I appreciate any advice you may have to offer.
ouphikap2000
17 Feb 10 at 5:33 pm
I would own up to the mistake. If you say nothing they may have called them and found out you were terminated before the second interview. Don’t ask them if they called, as they are likely to bite their tongue to keep their leverage. If they don’t hire you after owning up to a mistake they may not anyways.
Laid off this day and age pretty much means the same thing as being fired in my view. Just a more legalized way of ditching an employee without having to compensate, at least this has been my experience with the jobs I have been laid off from. They didn’t return calls while obviously still in business.
References :
DBW
17 Feb 10 at 10:35 pm
The question is how you define "termination" and "laid-off".
In my experience they are synonymous or the same thing.
i.e. Laid-off: Having lost your job – discharged, dismissed, fired, pink-slipped, terminated.
I think you are over anxious and need to calm down and forget that answer and focus on the next interview.
Try to anticipate the kinds of questions that are common for your type of business and think about answers you might give to future questions.
Forget the past it is done and no harm was done.
If someone asks about lay-off and terminate (and they won’t) tell them you thought the terms are synonimous; the same thing: you are no longer employed by that company.
References :
Wrenched
17 Feb 10 at 10:37 pm
if you admit you lied you will probably not get this job. if you don’t say anything they will probably find out when they check references, which they probably will, and then you won’t get this job.
as someone who has made hiring decisions, i think you screwed up. if you had been honest and explained the circumstances you might have been okay. maybe. dishonesty means your application will be rejected.
the only thing you can do is explain to them this and hope they do not see you as completely deceptive. why should they hire someone who is deceptive when they can hire someone with a "clean record"?
i would just come clean…
References :
Zoe Dot
17 Feb 10 at 10:39 pm