Question #1 – Like me – Like me NOT
One of the most common interview questions is, “What did you like most, and what did you dislike most about your last job?”When you give your job interview answer for this question you want to make sure that you do not speak too negatively about your prior company. If you do so, this may lead the person that you are interviewing with to assume that you will do the same with their company. Job interview answers are not always the easiest to spin into something positive. You may need to write, rewrite and rewrite again to get this answer correct.
Try an answer something like this: “I enjoyed the company because they rewarded the employees when all goals were completed. It showed us that they really cared about our hard work and us. I would have enjoyed the it more if they would have had more advancement opportunities.”
Question #2 – weakness VS. STRENGTHS
Employers tend to ask about your strengths and weaknesses. They may form the questions like this, “What is your greatest weakness?” and “What is your greatest strengths?”
Most individuals can come up with a job interview answer for strengths in a heartbeat, but can’t come up with a weakness that they are willing to share with others. So they stumble over the answer and end up sounding a little weak in the interview. Make sure you do not refer to your weakness as such, spin it to a positive.
So look at the better way to have a job interview answer for this question: “I enjoy taking pride in my work so I tend to take a little too much time checking it. Luckily I have learned some new features of Microsoft office 2007 that have helped me to better and more efficiently check my work.
Question #3 – The boss is wrong!
There are times when interview questions that will ask you about your judgment. They may ask you, “What would you do if your boss told you to do something and you knew that was the wrong way to do it?This question may make you start to squirm a little in your seat. How in the world are you going to answer this without getting them upset? Try a job interview answer along these lines: “To be honest with you, I’m not sure what I would do. If it was something minor I may just do as I was told, and go with the flow, but if it was something that I knew was really wrong I would have to talk to him about it.”
You may also want to mention the fact that some people take confrontation differently than others. There are supervisors that you can approach and would have no problem with you letting them know they are wrong. There are also supervisors that do not care to have their authority challenged, even in private conversations.
Question #4 – Have you done your homework?
Sometimes the interviewer will ask you this question, “How did you get ready for this interview?” or “What do you know about our company?”
OK, your first responses is Oh no, not a pop quiz! I can’t do that! There has to be a way to avoid this job interview answer! Alas, this is not so!
Make sure that when you do send in your resume that you look up the company on the Internet and see if they have a website. See what they are about, what their mission statement is, and if this would be a company you would want to work for. Then a great job interview answer would look like this: “When I found the ad in the Anytown Daily Press I did a Google search on your company and went to your website.
I was impressed by your mission statement and the amount of community service that you do every year, that is something that is important to me as well. I looked over your annual report and noticed that the company had a slight increase in the equity this year. I think that with me in the accounting office that I will be able to assist the Accounting Manager in at least doubling that target. As you can see on my resume…”
As you can tell, the interviewee did their homework, and was able to show the employer that he or she had as well. It’s important to keep the employer on your side. The best thing to do is to have knowledge, for knowledge is power.
Points to Keep In Mind:
- Make sure to know something about the company before interviewing
- Do not speak of another company negatively
- When asked for your weakness, turn it into a positive
- Breathe, the interviewer is a person too
- Be as honest as possible without sounding negative
- Don’t use big fancy words, be yourself
- Make sure that you are prepare for your interview by looking up information on the internet
