You’re bound to eventually be asked a question like the infamous “Tell me about yourself,” which some hiring managers think is a good way to start an interview. And why not? Sure, the interviewer has your resumé in front of him or her, but wants to meet the person behind all those facts. Probing questions like this, or “Describe a difficult problem you had to deal with,” stun some job-hunters into silence, but provoke others into reciting their life story. But not you. After discovering the interviewer’s reasoning behind questions like these—as well as the examples of how you should and should not respond—you’ll soon be fielding personal questions like a pro. You may even begin to enjoy the chance to sell your strengths, goals, accomplishments, and why you’re the best person for the job.

Let the games begin.

Job Savvy

Each bolded interview question is followed by a description of what the interviewer is trying to ascertain by asking the question. Then you will be given examples of good answers and bad answers to the question.

Tell me about yourself ....

The interviewer wants a sense of who you are, where you are in your career right now, and any qualifications that are relevant to the job. If interested in hearing more about any aspect, he or she will follow up with additional questions.

Good answer: A concise pitch, no more than a minute or two, that showcases your experience, career progress, major accomplishments, some of your best traits, and casts you in a positive light (items more likely on your cover letter than your resumé). To create a strong statement that sells you and any possibly unique qualifications for the job, check the worksheets in Chapter 2 you filled out on employment, activities, education, and volunteer work data for a few key points you can make.

Perhaps cite your steady promotions in your current or last job, starting with the first one only a year after you were hired, plus your recent responsibilities, and show this means you can handle the job at hand. Or your five years of supervisory experience, including leading a team on a project in a brand-new line of business your employer launched, plus overseas experience that utilized your French language skills. If you were a job-hopper, show how each job you took deepened your knowledge of the industry, and gave you a good overview of how different departments and companies functioned. You can end with a question like “Do you want to hear more about any particular area?” or wait until the interviewer speaks.

Job Jinx

Don’t blurt. Take time to think before you speak, and choose your words carefully. According to a survey by Caliper, a job-testing and -matching firm, job-hunters have uttered bloopers like “Sorry I’m yawning, I usually sleep until my soap operas are on,” “I’m quitting my present job because I hate to work hard,” and “My resumé might make me look like I’m a job-hopper. But I want you to know I never left any of those jobs voluntarily.”

Bad answer: Any rambling life story from birth to the present or any soul-baring disclosure or alarming personal problem that is none of the interviewer’s business, and may bias him or her against you—from “I just got divorced (or widowed) and need a job to pay the rent” or “I had a nervous breakdown a while ago but am much better now,” to “My stock options are now vested in my current job so it’s a good time to job hunt.” This is a chance to sell yourself, not blow yourself out of the running.

What’s your best trait (or greatest strength)?

He or she hopes it’s a trait this job requires and one that is highly regarded in the employer’s culture.

Good answer: A trait that shines out from your worksheets in Chapter 2, and also is an essential attribute this job requires. For example, if sales ability is required, your enthusiasm, persistence, initiative, and good communication skills will be highly valued. If the job is very team-oriented, ability to work well with people, empathy, and good communication are highly valued traits.

Bad answer: Dead silence (which will make the interviewer wonder if you have any desirable traits), or a trait not highly valued in the job. If the job requires close attention to detail and analytical ability, saying you are best at seeing the big picture but tend to be sloppy or fuzzy with details won’t score points.

What’s your worst trait (or biggest weakness)?

He or she prefers a fairly minor weakness that doesn’t interfere with doing the job and is correctable.

Job Savvy

First impressions are hard to shake, and nonverbal cues make up most of a first impression. So smile, give direct eye contact immediately, and shake the interviewer’s hand firmly when you first meet him or her. A study by a Harvard experimental psychologist found teachers rated on a list of 15 personality traits by people who watched silent video clips of them teaching were rated the same no matter if the clip was ten seconds, five seconds, or even two seconds long. Even more shocking: Teacher ratings from students after a full semester of classes were astonishingly similar to ratings from people who merely watched their body language on soundless clips.

Good answer: Perhaps a good trait masquerading as a weakness—you are demanding of yourself and others, perfectionistic, or prefer not to be closely supervised because you have lots of initiative and can expect problems before they appear. (I once said my best and worst traits were the same—“the fact that I’m so driven”—and got the job.) Or a trait not highly valued in the job sought—for example, less-than-stellar public speaking skills if the job doesn’t demand it, or being creative if the job is in accounting. (You can see why creative accounting might be a bad thing.) Or a learnable trait—you lack a certain skill, like using Quark or Excel, but are taking classes to learn. Or a trait overcome—for example, you used to be late with projects but learned to plan your time better and start earlier—which shows you recognized your weakness and were responsible enough to conquer it.

Bad answer: A character flaw, like having a bad temper, being unreliable, or having tendencies to goof off. Or a trait not highly valued in the job sought—like preferring to work alone if the job is very team-oriented, or finding it tough to meet deadlines if “deadline” is the job’s middle name. Or saying you don’t like working with people if the job is in customer service (don’t laugh; it’s been done). Jobs can be lost because of something a job-hunter says, so don’t shoot yourself in the foot and volunteer negative information about yourself.

Describe your ideal job ....

Hearing that your ideal job bears a striking resemblance to the job you are interviewing for—which means you will do it with enthusiasm and zest—will be music to the interviewer’s ears.

Good answer: Figure out what the job you are interviewing for will be like from the research you did in Chapter 1, and make sure your description of your dream job matches up with it.

Bad answer: Describing a job that in no way resembles the job you are interviewing for, which will peg you as unrealistic.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

The interviewer wants evidence that shows you have thought about your career goals, and your goals and the company’s goals are not wildly different, but have some “fit.” Of course, nobody has a crystal ball—your career progress will depend on how well you do in the job in addition to the growth opportunities the company provides, and the company may not even be around in five years (or you, for that matter).

Good answer: Show that you expect more responsibilities that come with advancement, and that of course you realize steady advancement depends on your performance and growth opportunities at the company. But in the past you have done well and been promoted. If you expect to have mastered new skills, such as managerial or technical, in five years, say so. Obviously, job-hunters who want to “park” themselves in a job for years aren’t a good fit for companies who expect fast-moving hard-chargers, and vice versa.

Job Jinx

Don’t lie. If you were fired, lack a college or graduate degree, didn’t work for a while, or your job title was beneath your talents, admit it. Don’t be defensive, exaggerate, or dwell on it; segue quickly to what you can offer. Some people have even been fired after the truth surfaces later.

Bad answer: Saying that you want to wind up in the interviewer’s job, in the chairman’s or president’s job, or to stay in the same job. A fumbling, general response, or dead silence. Or—as a man I knew once blurted out with naked honesty—“not here.” Showing unbridled ambition, unrealistic expectations about how long advancement takes, or a lack of thought about your future, or insulting the interviewer are turnoffs.

What are you looking for in a job?

The interviewer wants reassurance that you (and they) won’t regret it if you are hired, and you won’t be so unhappy you’ll quit right away or make their life miserable.

Good answer: An answer that reflects back what the interviewer has told you about the job, and how you are eager to offer your skills and qualifications to help them achieve their goals. If the interviewer hasn’t told you anything about the job, say you’d be delighted to answer but would like to know a little more about the job you’re being interviewed for first. (This way, you’re not operating in the dark.)

Bad answer: Money, health insurance, self-realization, a convenient commute—anything that shows you care only about what the job can bring you, instead of what you can bring them. A job interview is like what President John F. Kennedy once said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Don’t bring up money, by the way, until you get a job offer. See Chapter 8 for salary questions and answers.

Job Savvy

How you meet and greet makes a big difference. An alarming university study found people who merely watched 15-second videotapes of almost 100 job-hunters greeting and shaking an interviewer’s hand rated them, on 9 of 11 personality traits, very similarly to the trained interviewers who interviewed the job-seekers and had to fill out lengthy questionnaires.

Why should we hire you? (What can you offer to this job? What makes you different from other candidates we’re seeing?)

The interviewer wants a good reason so he or she can make a case for picking you over other job-hunters with the same amount of experience, the same skills, and similar educational backgrounds.

Good answer: “Added value” is an important idea in business, so figure out what special knowledge, extra skills, or personality traits you can bring to the table that give you an edge over other job-seekers and the qualifications expected. Give a positive example of a success in your current or past job to bolster your case.

Bad answer: Dead silence; a fumbling, general response; or an arrogant answer like “I’m better than other candidates” without citing strong reasons why.

Why are you looking for a job?

The interviewer wants reassurance that you are serious about this company and this particular job, and have something to offer—not just that you need a job, any job, due to some desperate life circumstance.

Good answer: If you’ve been contacted by a recruiter or told by someone at the company about an opportunity, say so—interviewers like when employees refer candidates (many companies pay referral bonuses, and find many good employees this way) and often pay recruiters to find qualified employees. If you took the initiative, note how you are looking for an opportunity to use your skills and qualifications (name them) and grow, and explain why this particular job captures your interest.

Bad answer: There was nothing left for you to learn at your current or previous job, which—besides being untrue—sounds like if you don’t get a constant dose of stimulation at this job you’ll be out the door in a flash. Or you quit because your job was unendurable or you couldn’t stand your boss, you want more money, your unemployment insurance is about to expire, you need health insurance, you’ve just been divorced or widowed, or you’ve been fired. All are utterly irrelevant to why they should hire you. They need someone who can help them, not vice versa.

Do you prefer to work alone or with other people?

He or she wants to know you will fit in with the work environment the job demands.

Good answer: If you know for a fact the job requires much more working alone than with people—or vice versa—make sure your answer reflects this. If you aren’t sure, it’s best to balance your answer, and show you can do both work styles if the situation calls for it.

Bad answer: Someone who prefers to work independently in a highly team-oriented environment, or who prefers to work closely with others in an environment where autonomy is prized.

Job Savvy

It’s a good idea to ask the interviewer to describe the job fully early in the interview, so you know whether the job leans toward working alone or as a team. If the interviewer beats you to it, the best answer should cover both bases.

Describe a difficult problem you had to deal with ....

He or she wants to see that you know how to overcome an obstacle and gain insight into your problem-solving style.

Good answer: Give an example of a challenge you faced in your work or personal life (unless the interviewer specifically asks for a work-related problem), the actions you took to overcome it, the successful outcome, and a bit about your thought process. Explain how you analyzed possible causes of the problem, sought more information to understand it better, compared solutions, and why you decided on your course of action. Perhaps you were able to turn several unhappy clients (assigned to you because another employee was fired) into satisfied clients, because you focused on achieving each client’s top priority as quickly as possible. The work world needs problem solvers—people who know how to save money, make money, save time, or turn a failing product or service into a winner.

Bad answer: Dead silence, evading the question by claiming you never had any difficult problems (yeah, right!), or a type of problem or action that casts you in a bad light—like asking a friend or relative to solve your problem, or admitting you went into rehab for a drug or alcohol problem. While it’s not good to volunteer negative information, here you are being asked point-blank to discuss a problem.

Job Savvy

Show, don’t tell. Be ready to give examples to illustrate your good traits, accomplishments, and problems you solved. The interviewer can’t just take your word that you have lots of initiative, produce results, or are an effective supervisor—he or she wants proof. Read the worksheets you filled out in Chapter 2, and start developing stories that demonstrate the points you want to make.

Describe a major goal you recently set for yourself ....

He or she wants to know you set your sights on a worthy goal, and are taking solid steps to achieve it—a good sign.

Good answer: This can be work-related or personal, so long as it shows something commendable about you and proves you can set a positive goal and plan your time and energy to achieve it—for example, finishing your MBA or college degree, paying to learn a new skill, becoming a manager in a few years, or volunteering to build houses for Habitat for Humanity during your vacation. Be prepared to tell why this goal is important to you and how you are achieving it, such as taking classes at night, becoming active in professional associations, or doing research to fulfill a lifelong dream.

Bad answer: No goals of any kind, which will fail to impress the interviewer, or goals that are considered “flaky” or totally unrelated to your career. Relevancy is key here.

How long have you been looking for a job?

The interviewer hopes it hasn’t been long. If it has been, he or she wants reassurance it’s because you are being choosy about the right opportunity, and not because nobody wants you, for reasons they have yet to uncover.

Good answer: If you are currently employed, it doesn’t much matter. If you are unemployed for a short amount of time, no harm in admitting it. If you have been unemployed for several months or even years, focus on how you are looking for the right job to match your qualifications and skills; if you’ve had offers, mention them to show you are in demand but being selective. If you have been working part-time or doing freelance, consulting, or volunteer work, be sure to mention this—so the interviewer doesn’t think you’re spending your time watching daytime TV, or just started job-hunting because your unemployment insurance was about to run out. If you are pressed on how long you have been looking, admit it.

Bad answer: “A long time,” defensiveness, or an admission you just began looking because those unemployment benefits were running out.

Some of the questions in this chapter are pretty nervy. But the reason interviewers want to get up close and personal is because they want to unmask the person behind all those nice statements on your resumé, and how you differ from all the folks that also have, say, five years’ experience and identical educations. He or she has to start somewhere. So choose your words carefully, be candid about your strengths and accomplishments, and be reticent about your weaknesses. You’re not on truth serum, you know, nor in therapy or in the confessional.