Sunday, January 25, 2009

How To Deliver Brilliant Interview Answers To Common Questions

By Edward Baker

Do you need to know the hidden method for securing top dog status in your interview? Deliver great content brilliantly to the common questions. If you can't handle the expected questions well - you are not in the game. Get a plan and execute it. Here follows 5 standard interview questions and strategies for answering them.

What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Telling them your strengths is pretty straight forward, just keep them in line with what the job you're applying for requires. Most people get tripped up on their weaknesses. What you want do is be honest about your weaknesses, but put a positive spin on them. Example: "Spending too much time polishing my presentations has always been a weakness, that's why I set definite deadlines and stick to them."

Tell me about your background can appear to be a testing interview question. It is difficult to know what angle to take or how to keep the answer confined. Your task is to sell your best features. This question is a gimme - you have complete control over your response and you should take advantage of that. Prepare a list of your most compelling features and practice talking about htem to yourself.

"Why do you want to leave your current post?" The skill in answering this interview question is to remain upbeat and truthful. Never say anything derogatory about your current employer. Never lie. Tell them your story in a way that allows you to sell your candidacy in the most attractive light.

Describe a time when you handled ...[this problem]. This competency based interview style question is becoming increasingly common and you must be prepared for them. Select 2 or 3 examples of your work that you could use to sell a number of the required essential and desirable criteria through.

How would your coworkers describe you? This common interview question is best handled with examples. They can be exact quotes or paraphrased. Having a couple ready like "Ron, who I worked with at Fun inc. always said I was the most trustworthy person he had ever worked with." Statements like that are just as good as if Ron were there and made them himself.

Remember to stay positive, be honest and prepare examples in advance, and your answers to these common interview questions will set you apart from the crowd. - 15465

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