What was the toughest challenge you’ve ever faced?

TRAPS: Being unprepared or citing an example from so early in your life that it doesn’t score many points for you at this stage of your career. BEST ANSWER: This is an easy question if you’re prepared. Have a recent example ready that demonstrates either: 1. A quality most important to the job at hand; or 2. A [...]

Have you consider starting your own business?

TRAPS: If you say “yes” and elaborate enthusiastically, you could be perceived as a loose cannon in a larger company, too entrepreneurial to make a good team player…or someone who had to settle for the corporate life because you couldn’t make a go of your own business. Also too much enthusiasm in answering “yes” could rouse [...]

What are your goals?

TRAPS: Not having any…or having only vague generalities, not highly specific goals. BEST ANSWER: Many executives in a position to hire you are strong believers in goal-setting. (It’s one of the reason they’ve achieved so much). They like to hire in kind. If you’re vague about your career and personal goals, it could be a big turnoff to [...]

What do you for when you hire people?

TRAPS: Being unprepared for the question. BEST ANSWER: Speak your own thoughts here, but for the best answer weave them around the three most important qualifications for any position. 1. Can the person do the work (qualifications)? 2. Will the person do the work (motivation)? 3. Will the person fit in (“our kind of team player”)?

Sell me this stapler…(this pencil…this clock…or some other object on interviewer’s desk).

TRAPS: Some interviewers, especially business owners and hard-changing executives in marketing-driven companies, feel that good salesmanship is essential for any key position and ask for an instant demonstration of your skill. Be ready. BEST ANSWER: Of course, you already know the most important secret of all great salesmanship – “find out what people want, then show them [...]

“The Salary Question” – How much money do you want?

TRAPS: May also be phrases as, “What salary are you worth?”…or, “How much are you making now?” This is your most important negotiation. Handle it wrong and you can blow the job offer or go to work at far less than you might have gotten. BEST ANSWER: For maximum salary negotiating power, remember these five guidelines: 1. Never bring [...]

The Illegal Question

TRAPS: Illegal questions include any regarding your age…number and ages of your children or other dependents… marital status…maiden name…religion…political affiliation…ancestry…national origin…birthplace…naturalization of your parents, spouse or children…diseases…disabilities…clubs…or spouse’s occupation…unless any of the above are directly related to your performance of the job. You can’t even be asked about arrests, though you can be asked about convictions. BEST ANSWER: [...]

The “Secret” Illegal Question

TRAPS: Much more frequent than the Illegal question (see Question 55) is the secret illegal question. It’s secret because it’s asked only in the interviewer’s mind. Since it’s not even expressed to you, you have no way to respond to it, and it can there be most damaging. Example: You’re physically challenged, or a single mother returning to [...]

What was the toughest part of your last job?

TRAPS: This is slightly different from the question raised earlier, “What’s the most difficult part of being a (job title…)” because this asks what you personally have found most difficult in your last position. This question is more difficult to redefine into something positive. Your interviewer will assume that whatever you found toughest may give you a [...]

How do you define success…and how do you measure up to your own definition?

TRAPS: Seems like an obvious enough questions. Yet many executives, unprepared for it, fumble the ball. BEST ANSWER: Give a well-accepted definition of success that leads right into your own stellar collection of achievements. Example: “The best definition I’ve come across is that success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal.” “As to how I would measure [...]