Before
The Interview Part 4 |
| What's
in an Interview Question? Analyzing various questions and types
of questions to determine what the employer is really asking
and how to respond effectively. Chapter provides practice interview
questions and sample responses.
While
it may seem easy to get your hands on an interviewing book
(including this one) and rehearse canned answers out of the
book, it’s a mistake to do so. Interviewers have heard
them all. We provide sample answers in this book strictly
as a guideline to effective responses. Your responses will
always be better if they are your own. The key to responding
to interview questions is to understand what the interviewer
is really trying to get at with each question, what kind of
response is expected, and in some cases, what traps the interviewee
must avoid. Following are some questions and categories of
questions with suggestions for how to approach them.
The "Tell Me about Yourself" Question. Of course,
this question is not a question at all but a request for a
command performance. It's the most commonly 101
Interview Q & Aasked
interview question, yet it frequently still rattles interviewees.
The trick is to make your response a succinct summary of information
that is specifically targeted to the job you're interviewing
for. (Sell yourself!) For example:
"My background to date has been centered around preparing
myself to become the very best financial consultant I can
become. Let me tell you specifically how I've prepared myself.
I am an undergraduate student in finance and accounting at
___________ University. My past experience has been in retail
and higher education. Both aspects have prepared me well for
this career." The interviewer is not looking for your
autobiography and probably is not interested in your personal
life unless aspects of it are relevant to the job you're interviewing
for. Elevator speech.
The "Weakness" Question. The conventional wisdom
about responding to “What are your weaknesses?”
used to be that the candidate should spin a weakness into
strength. For example: “I'm a perfectionist and don't
believe anyone can do the job as well as I can, so I sometimes
have a hard time delegating.” That type of response
has, however, worn out its welcome with interviewers. Other
approaches include offering a weakness that is inconsequential
to the job (such as being a poor speller and relying on spell-check)
or denying that you have any weaknesses that would stand in
the way of your performing the job effectively. The former
approach may work but be seen as shallow, while the latter
sometimes lacks credibility. After all, everyone has a weakness.
An approach that seems to work well is to talk about an area
that was once a weakness but that you have worked to improve.
Here's how you could frame the perfectionist example above
in terms of professional growth: "I tend to be a perfectionist
who has had trouble delegating tasks to others, but I've come
to see that teamwork and capitalizing on everyone's strengths
is a much more effective way to get the job done than trying
to do it all myself."
Rehearsing and Practicing. Best ways to ensure you are truly
prepared
Perhaps you’re a new entrant into the job market who
is lacking experience in job interviewing. Or perhaps you’re
a job-market veteran whose resumes and cover letters yield
loads of interviews -- but you never seem to get the job offer.
While these two groups may have the greatest need to polish
interview skills, anyone actively interviewing for jobs can
benefit from practicing interview skills. A study by the Society
of Human Resources Management proved this point when it revealed
that a candidate’s background and qualifications were
far less influential in their hiring decisions than interview
performance and professionalism.
Practice will help you reduce interview anxiety,
improve your interview skills, and in many cases,
gain important feedback about how you interview.
It will also help you sharpen your communication
skills -- and poor communication skills were the
number one turn-off for hiring managers, according
to another Society of Human Resource Management
survey. This article describes several ways to practice
before a job interview:
Mock interviews
Videotaped mock interviews
Interview simulations
Rehearsal
Informational interviews
Mock Interviews
Mock interviews simulate real job interviews and are conducted
with a prospective job interviewee and an interviewer, often
a career professional who can provide valuable input on your
interview performance. The career pro will not only point
out your shortcomings, but will acknowledge the areas in which
you excelled, thus boosting your confidence. “Just one
mock interview will result in a marked improvement in your
interviewing skills,” says College Grad Job Hunter author
Brian Krueger, who recommends going through two such interviews
(and, of course, the more you do, the more skilled you will
become). For the inexperienced interviewee, mock interviews
provide an excellent picture of what to expect.
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| Before
The Interview Part 5 |
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