20.

Prepare for the Right Questions

Practice interviewing over and over again to become comfortable fielding answers to questions you can expect to hear in a formal interview. Following are some of these questions, and guidelines on how to answer them.

• Tell me about yourself. What adjectives would you or your friends use to describe you? Before you answer this question, get clarification. Ask, “What specifically in my résumé stood out that you would like me to talk about?” This will help you direct the interview. When the employer responds to this question, you will be able to focus your answer on what the interviewer is looking for.
• What are your greatest strengths? Given that an interview is essentially a business meeting, you can reasonably assume that the interviewer is interested in strengths that apply to his bottom line. In other words, “I'm an excellent windsurfer” is probably not the best response. Instead, mention things like your ability to generate new business, your strong work ethic, and your creativity in finding solutions that aren't apparent at first glance.
• What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Provide an answer that applies to your career. If you don't have a lot of work experience, talk about your accomplishments in school. If you've raised children—your own or your siblings — you can use that. Some of the best office managers are parents who have returned to the workforce after raising their families; a hiring manager will appreciate that you can easily deal with the “children” in the office. (I have friend who is a therapist. A great many of his patients are C-level executives. He says they behave just like children on a playground. The only difference is that they're wearing suits.)
• What is your biggest weakness? Name two things you'd like to improve about yourself. People are invariably perplexed about how to answer this question. They want to be honest, but they don't want to expose any weakness. Just know that in interviews, there is the question you're being asked, and then there's the real question, known as the “metaquestion.” The interviewer seems to be asking you to make yourself vulnerable by confessing a shortcoming. But what she actually wants to know is whether you have learned to identify and manage your lesser qualities. Thus, the way to answer this question is to state the “weakness” (“I'm a workaholic.”), and then how you've learned to manage it (“What I've learned is that after 12 or 14 hours, I run out of steam. So I quit for the day, get a good night's sleep, and am ready to go full steam ahead the next morning.”). This tells the interviewer three things: (1) You're self-reflective and honest about your limitations. (2) You're a workaholic. (This is a good thing in the business world.) (3) You're a managed workaholic. You've learned to successfully deal with problems. The assumption is that if you can manage yourself, you may be able to manage others.
• How do your co-workers and friends describe you? What would they say you need to improve? This is another version of the preceding question, only this time you also get to say some positive things about yourself.
• Are you a team player? Give some examples. Your answer should include how you put the team's needs above your own.
• Describe a time when you worked with someone “difficult.” What happened, and how did you resolve the problem? To answer this question, first outline what happened. Then describe how you took action. Finally, explain the result, which should involve some improvement in the situation.
• Why did you leave your last job (or why are you leaving your current job)? I'll answer this by telling you what not to do: Don't trash your last employer. In fact, never say anything bad about anyone. It may well come back to bite you. At the very least, it makes you look like a whiner or a victim. No one wants to be around that kind of person.
• What would you like to be doing one/five/10 years from now? If you're young, you may not have any idea. That's okay. You're not under oath, so you don't have to commit to what you say. What the interviewer really wants to know is if you're ambitious (but not too ambitious) and forward-thinking. So your answer could be something like, “I see myself becoming the CEO of this company or one like it.” Or, “Someday I'd like to run my own business in this industry.”
• If you were an animal, what animal would you be? Yes, they really ask this question. Why? To throw you off balance. In class, a male student of mine once answered honestly, “A soft pussycat.” This might not be the best answer. My advice? Try to match the animal to the kind of job for which you're applying. For a sales job, they want someone who's quick and aggressive, like a cheetah or a shark. For a senior management position, perhaps you'd be an elephant or a lion.
• If you were part of a salad, what part would you be? (Variations to this question include, “If you could be any superhero, who would you be, and why?” and “What color best represents your personality?”) Here, you would offer the same type of answer as with the previous question. If the job for which you're applying requires something bold, you might go with a zesty dressing. If sharpness is what's needed, you might answer, “Parmesan cheese.”

(Are you beginning to understand why it's so much easier to develop relationships with people beforehand, so you can avoid the formal interview and these sorts of silly questions?)