Answering Tough Interview Questions for DUMmIES

Contents at a Glance

Introduction .1

Part I: Making Sure You Shine in an Interview .....7

• Chapter 1: Understanding the Interviewing Game ......9
• Chapter 2: Doing Your Job Interview Homework ......17
• Chapter 3: Polishing Your Interview Performance ....27

Part II: Answering Tough Interview Questions ....33

• Chapter 4: Talking about Yourself ....35
• Chapter 5: Talking about Problems, Perceptions, and People ..53
• Chapter 6: Getting to Grips with Questions about Your Work ..73
• Chapter 7: Talking about Why You Want a New Job .89
• Chapter 8 : Thriving Under the Pressure Interview 111
• Chapter 9: Succeeding at Competency-Based Interviewing ....133

Part III: Dealing with Tricky Questions and Other Situations ..155

• Chapter 10: Responding to Questions for Graduates and School Leavers ..157
• Chapter 11: Handling Questions Aimed at Experienced Candidates .......173
• Chapter 12: Handling Hypothetical and Analytical Questions 193
• Chapter 13: Coping with Illegal and Personal Questions 207
• Chapter 14: Taking Control in Unusual Situations ..227

Part IV: Securing the Job of Your Dreams 235

• Chapter 15: Asking Great Questions .......237
• Chapter 16: Dotting ‘I’s and Crossing ‘T’s .......245

Part V: The Part of Tens .......255

• Chapter 17: Ten Cardinal Sins of Interviewing 257
• Chapter 18: Ten Tips to Creating the Perfect Career .......263

Index .......271

Table of Contents

Introduction .1

• About This Book .1
• Conventions Used in This Book ...2
• Foolish Assumptions ...2
• How This Book Is Organised 3
• Part I: Making Sure You Shine in an Interview ....3
• Part II: Answering Tough Interview Questions ....3
• Part III: Dealing with Tricky Questions
• and Other Situations .......4
• Part IV: Securing the Job of Your Dreams ....4
• Part V: The Part of Tens ......4
• Icons Used in This Book .......4
• Where to Go from Here ........5

Part I: Making Sure You Shine in an Interview ......7

• Chapter 1: Understanding the Interviewing Game . . . . . 9
• Recognising What Interviewers Are Looking For ........10
• Finding Out about Key Skills and Qualities 10
• Communicating with people .....11
• Influencing others .....11
• Analysing situations .12
• Solving problems ......12
• Demonstrating drive and determination ...12
• Teamworking with colleagues ...13
• Developing quickly ...13
• Being flexible and adaptable .....14
• Planning and organising ....14
• Being aware of the bigger picture ......14
• Chapter 2: Doing Your Job Interview Homework . . . . . 17
• Researching the Company .17
• Gathering vital information .......17
• Visiting shops and premises .....19
• Preparing Answers to Common Questions .19
• Linking job adverts to key skills ........19
• viii Answering Tough Interview Questions For Dummies
• Dressing for Success ..22
• ‘Getting’ the default for men .....23
• Understanding the guidelines for women .23
• Getting Ready to Go ...24
• Chapter 3: Polishing Your Interview Performance . . . . 27
• Creating the Right Impact ..27
• Making eye contact ...28
• Using your body language 29
• Creating warmth by smiling ......29
• Using intonation and inflection .31
• Building Your Confidence ..32
• Getting Off to a Great Start 32

Part II: Answering Tough Interview Questions .....33

• Chapter 4: Talking about Yourself .35
• Handling General Questions about Yourself .......35
• Tell me about yourself ......36
• What are your strengths? .38
• What are your weaknesses? ......39
• What motivates you? 40
• What are you passionate about? .......41
• What are your biggest achievements? .......41
• What are you most proud of? ....42
• What is your greatest failure? ...43
• Do you have any regrets? .43
• Why should we hire you? .44
• Talking about Basic Job Skills ....45
• Would you say that you’re reliable? ..45
• What’s your absenteeism/sickness record like? 45
• How would you describe your time management skills? ........46
• Are you an organised person? ..47
• Do you work well under pressure? ....47
• Would you say that you’re creative? .48
• Would you say you’re good with detail? ....49
• How do you respond to change? .......50
• How are you with new technology? ..50
• What software packages are you familiar with? 51
• How would you rate yourself as . . .? .52
• Chapter 5: Talking about Problems,Perceptions, and People 53
• Overcoming Interviewers’ Common Worries ......53
• What makes you lose your temper? ..54
• How do you respond to authority? ...54
• How do you deal with disappointment? ....55
• How do you cope with job stress? .....55
• What’s your attitude to taking risks? 56
• Ours is a work hard, play hard culture – how do you feel about that? ..57
• Tell me something interesting about yourself ...57
• What would you say your Unique Selling Point is? ....58
• Seeing Yourself As Others See You ....59
• What would your boss say about you? ......59
• In your last appraisal, what was saidabout your performance? ......60
• How do you think you can improve on your performance? ...61
• What would your colleagues say about you? ....61
• How would your team describe you? 62
• How do you think your friends would describe you? .....62
• Everyone has some kind of fault – what would other people say your faults are? ..63
• Discussing Your People Skills ....64
• Do you prefer to work on your own or in a team?......64
• We all have a team role – what would you say your role tends to be? .......66
• Do you have good presentation skills? ......67
• How would you rate your customer service skills? ........68
• How are you at handling conflict? .....69
• We need someone who is tactful and diplomatic – how does that profile fit you? ........70
• How do you take personal criticism? 70
• Chapter 6: Getting to Grips with Questions about Your Work . 73
• Responding to Questions about Your Work ........73
• What does your day-to-day job involve? ...74
• How did you get your last job? .75
• What do you like about your current job? ........76
• What do you dislike about your work? ......76
• How is your performance measured? ........77
• What have you learned in each of your previous jobs? ...78
• Why did you leave each previous employer? ....79
• Are you a good manager? .81
• Sidestepping Questions about Your Current Company .......82
• How would you describe your current company? .....83
• How would you rate your current boss? ...84
• What’s your boss’s biggest failing? ...84
• Why do you want to leave your current company? ...85
• What is your current notice period? .86
• May we approach your referees? .......86
• Chapter 7: Talking about Why You Want a New Job . . . 89
• Answering Questions about the Employer .89
• What do you know about our company? ...90
• How much do you know about this position? ...91
• How would you rate our products / services /Web site? .......92
• What is it that attracts you to our company? ....93
• How would you rate us against our competitors? .....94
• What do you think our unique selling point is? .94
• Do you have any concerns about our organisation? ..95
• Answering Questions about What You’re Looking For .......96
• Why are you looking to leave your current company? .96
• If your current job isn’t challenging you,what could you do to change it? ....97
• Why do you want to work in this industry? .......98
• Who else are you applying to? ..98
• How does this job compare with others you’re looking at? ..99
• Have you received any job offers so far? .100
• How would you describe your dream job? .......100
• Who would your ideal employer be? .......101
• Evaluating Your Fit With the Organisation ........102
• What do you think you can bring to the team? ........102
• We are a diverse company – how will you cope with that? .....103
• What kind of manager would you
• like to work for? ..103
• How long do you plan to stay in this job? .......104

x Answering Tough Interview Questions For Dummies

Table of Contents xi

• Why should we hire you? ........105
• Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? ........105
• When would you be available to start? ....106
• Deflecting Questions about Money ..106
• How much are you earning at the moment? ....106
• How important is money to you? ....107
• How much do you think you are worth in a job? .....108
• What would you consider adequate remuneration for this role? ..108
• I’m afraid you’re a bit expensive for us ...109
• What would you like to be earning in two years’ time? .......110
• Chapter 8: Thriving Under the Pressure Interview . . . 111
• Maintaining Your Composure ...112
• Responding To Leading Questions ...113
• All of us have personality defects – what is yours? .....113
• Why did you not achieve more in your last job?......114
• How would you respond if I said that you’re not the best candidate we’ve seen today? .115
• How would you rate me as an interviewer? .....116
• What keeps you up at night? ...116
• Why do you think you are better than the other candidates? ..117
• Responding to Closed Questions ......118
• Do you like regular hours and routine working patterns? ........118
• Do you mind paperwork? ........119
• Have you ever broken the rules to get a job done? 120
• Do you take work home with you at weekends? .....121
• Do you have any doubts about your ability to do the job? ......121
• Don’t you think you are overqualified for this job? .122
• Would you have any problems relocating? ......123
• Do you mind travelling? .123
• Fending Off Weird and Wonderful Questions ...124
• See this pencil I’m holding? Sell it to me .124
• Who was your favourite teacher? ...125
• If you were an animal, what would you be? ....126
• If you were a cartoon character,who would you be? .....127
• Tell me a story .......127

xii Answering Tough Interview Questions For Dummies

• Who do you most admire and why? ........128
• If you could meet anyone living or dead,who would it be and why? ..128
• What is your greatest fear? .....129
• Saying Something Is Better Than Saying Nothing ......130
• Playing for time .......130
• Making a last ditch effort 131
• Chapter 9: Succeeding at Competency-Based
• Interviewing . . . 133
• Discovering the Rules of the Game ..134
• Spotting competency-based questions ....134
• Dealing with skilled competency-based interviewers 135
• Dealing with unskilled competency-based interviewers 137
• Identifying Likely Questions .....138
• Questions about Your Thinking and Planning Skills 140
• Tell me about a significant project that you managed ........141
• Now give me an example of a project that went wrong ..141
• Give me an example of a difficult decision that you have made .....142
• Talk to me about a mistake you made and what you did to rectify it .......143
• Questions about Leading and Managing ..144
• Tell me about a time you inspired a team ........144
• Talk me through how you coached or developed a team member .....145
• Tell me about an occasion when you had to deal with a difficult team member ......146
• Questions about Your People and Customer Skills ...146
• Tell me about a time that you persuaded someone to change their mind ....147
• Talk to me about a difficult colleague you’ve worked with .....147
• Have you ever had to give someone negative feedback at work? How did it go? 148
• Tell me about a time you used your personal network to business advantage ...149
• Tell me about a time you sold something to a customer ......149
• Give me an example of a time you exceeded a customer’s expectations ...150

Table of Contents xiii

• Questions about Your Personal Effectiveness ..151
• Tell me about a time that you failed to achieve your goals ..151
• How did you respond to the last piece of criticism you received? ....152
• Give me an example of how you have developed yourself ......153

Part III: Dealing with Tricky Questions and Other Situations ...155

• Chapter 10: Responding to Questions for Graduates and School Leavers . . 157
• Questions for Graduates ..157
• Why did you choose to go to the university you went to? ........158
• Your university results aren’t very good – why is that? .159
• Why did you choose your degree subject? ......160
• What have you learnt from being at university? .....160
• Why did you choose to go to university as a mature student? ...162
• How difficult did you find university as a mature student? ...163
• How do you think your degree is relevant to this job? ..163
• I don’t see why someone with your degree would want to work in our field ...164
• What sorts of part-time jobs have you had? ....165
• What did you learn from your part-time jobs? 165
• What did you most enjoy about your time at university? .......166
• What did you find the most difficult about your course? ......166
• What did you do outside of your studies? ......167
• Why have you left applying for jobs until after finishing your course? .168
• Why did you choose to study part time rather than full time? ...168
• Questions for School Leavers ..168
• What subjects did you enjoy most? 169
• What subjects were you good at? ....169
• What subjects were you not so good at? .169
• Why didn’t you stay on at school? ..170

xiv Answering Tough Interview Questions For Dummies

• Do you regret not staying on at school? ..170
• Why didn’t you go to university? .....171
• In retrospect, do you think you should have gone to university? ......171
• What further education do you think you will need for this job? ..172
• Chapter 11: Handling Questions Aimed at Experienced Candidates . . 173
• Questions for Older Candidates ........173
• How would you rate your progress so far? ......174
• Do you feel that you should have achieved more in your current job? ....174
• I’m concerned because you’ve been with one employer for a very long time – why is that?........175
• This is a challenging role – are you sure you want to take it on at this stage of your career? .....176
• How have you changed in the last ten years? ..177
• When do you plan to retire? ....177
• Talking about Changes of Direction in Your CV 178
• Why have you changed jobs so many times? ..178
• Given your background, why have you decided to change career? ...180
• Do you want to change career because you are disillusioned with your current one? ......181
• To what extent are your personal circumstances impacting upon your desire to change career? ....182
• How do we know that you’ll stick with this change of direction? ....183
• How do you feel about starting at the bottom again? ........184
• How will you cope working with peers who are ten years younger than you? ........185
• How will you cope with the drop in salary that changing career necessitates? ......185
• What would you do if you were unable to secure a job in this profession? .......186
• Returning to Work ....186
• You have a gap in your CV – what did you do in that time? 187
• Are you concerned that your time away from the workforce may put you at a disadvantage? ..187

Table of Contents xv

• Why did your last employer select you for redundancy? ..188
• Have you ever been fired? .......189
• Why have you been out of work for so long? ...189
• If you hadn’t been made redundant, would you have considered work in this field? ......190
• You’ve been working for yourself for some time now. Why do you want to work for someone else again? ....191

Chapter 12: Handling Hypothetical and Analytical Questions . . . . 193

• Responding to Hypothetical Questions ....194
• What would you do if your boss asked you to do something that went against your principles?......194
• What would you do if you disagreed with a decision taken by your manager? ......195
• What would you do if your child were suddenly taken ill? .......196
• Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond? ........197
• If you spotted a colleague doing something unethical, what would you do? ....197
• What would you do if a colleague came to you in tears? .......198
• How would you react if your boss said that you needed to come into the office for theentire weekend? ..199
• What would you say if I were to offer you this job right now? .......199
• Defining Key Concepts .....200
• How would you define team work? .200
• What makes for a good working environment? ........201
• How would you define leadership? .201
• Dealing Effectively with Numerical Challenges .202
• How many bottles of carbonated water are consumed daily in California? ........202
• How many cars does Pakistan have? .......203
• I have a dinosaur on an island – how many sheep would I need on the island to feed it in perpetuity? ...204
• I’d like you to multiply 8 by 9 and then take 13 away from the result ........205
• Chapter 13: Coping with Illegal and Personal Questions . . . 207
• Countering Illegal Questions ....207
• How old are you? ....208
• Are you married? ....210
• Do you have children? ....210
• What are your childcare arrangements? .211
• When do you plan to have children? .......211
• Are you pregnant at the moment? ...212
• Does your partner mind you being away from home? .212
• What is your sexual orientation? .....213
• What are your religious beliefs? ......214
• Is English your mother tongue? .......215
• Where were you born? ....215
• Have you ever been arrested? .216
• Talking about Life Outside of Work ..217
• What do you do with your leisure time? ..218
• Your leisure interests seem very solitary – does this affect your team skills? 218
• What sports do you play? ........219
• Do you read much? .219
• What was the last book you read? ...220
• What was the last film you saw? ......220
• Do you keep up with current affairs? .......221
• What newspaper do you read? ........221
• What news story has grabbed your attention recently? .......222
• Talking About Your Health ........222
• You mention that you took a lot of time off last year – why is that? ...223
• How many days did you take off sick last year? .......223
• Do you have any medical conditions that you should tell us about? ......224
• How do you cope with your disability? ...225
• Chapter 14: Taking Control in Unusual Situations . . . 227
• Dealing with Panel Interviews ..227
• Handling Hi-Tech Interviews ....228
• Hanging on the telephone ........228
• Handling video conferencing and
• Webcams with finesse .229

xvi Answering Tough Interview Questions For Dummies

• Getting Ready for Psychometric Tests ......229
• Passing aptitude tests .....229
• Completing personality questionnaires ...230
• Succeeding at Assessment Centres ..231
• Passing in-trays .......231
• Giving great presentations ......232
• Excelling at group exercises ....233
• Being a star in role play simulations ........234

Part IV: Securing the Job of Your Dreams .235

• Chapter 15: Asking Great Questions . . . 237
• Preparing the Right Questions for the Right Interview......237
• Showing enthusiasm for the job ......240
• Checking out future prospects 241
• Enquiring about the culture ....242
• Turning Your Questions into a Discussion ........243
• Chapter 16: Dotting ‘I’s and Crossing ‘T’s . . . . . 245
• Wrapping Up the Interview .......245
• Checking the next steps ..245
• Making a great final impression .......246
• Taking Notes after the Interview .......247
• Sending Follow-Up Letters ........248
• Ensuring Your References Are Positive .....250
• Evaluating the Experience ........250
• Rating your own performance 250
• Finding out what went wrong ..252

Part V: The Part of Tens ........255

• Chapter 17: Ten Cardinal Sins of Interviewing 257
• Turning Up Late ........257
• Getting the Dress Code Wrong .258
• Being Rude to Receptionists ....258
• Getting Off to a Shaky Start ......259
• Giving a Monologue .260
• Answering in Monosyllables .....260
• Failing the Luton Airport Test ..261
• Usurping the Balance of Power 261
• Discussing Money Too Soon .....261
• Having No Questions to Ask .....262

Table of Contents xvii

• Chapter 18: Ten Tips to Creating
• the Perfect Career . . . . 263
• Knowing What You Want in a Job .....263
• Understanding Yourself ....264
• Working on Your Weaknesses ...264
• Networking Widely ...265
• Asking to See Offers in Writing .266
• Evaluating the Job Thoroughly 266
• Considering Culture Carefully ..267
• Negotiating a Good Deal for Yourself ........268
• Investing in Your Future ...270
• Looking for Opportunities to Grow ..270

Index .......271

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