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#BestofFSCBlog : Over 12K REads! Common Job Interview Questions and How to Answer Them. A MUst REad!

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In the process of preparing for your interview, you have researched the company, figured out how your skills align with the job requirements and come up with some thoughtful questions to ask. But you are not done yet. 

Question: How do you stand out?

“You only have so much control over the success of an interview,” says career coach Lauren Berger, the founder of CareerQueen.com and InternQueen.com. “You don’t know what the other person is wanting, you don’t know what the other person is thinking, you don’t know what other candidates might be in their minds, so all you can do is control you and the way that you attempt to do your best to answer these questions.”

Study some of the common interview questions employers ask below so that you can avoid any surprises when in the hot seat.

Respond to general questions with your best elevator pitch.

One of the most common interview questions is “Tell us about yourself,” says Ms. Berger. For the interviewer, it is an easy way to start the conversation. For you, it is a chance to set the foundation for your relationship with the employer during the interview and hopefully over the years you will be working together. While you can take it in any direction, don’t fall into the trap of going on and on about your work and life experience, getting lost in irrelevant asides.

“I always say this is a little bit of a trick question because people take it literally and they give their life stories,” says Ms. Berger. “When you’re asked the ‘tell me about yourself’ question, it’s really important to keep your answers short, sweet and to the point and always bring everything back to the employer.”

A rough structure to guide your answer could be: “‘I’m so and so, I’m from here, I do this, I have experience with this, and this is why I’m the best fit for your company,’” says Ms. Berger. “So you’re basically tying every answer back to the company to keep your interviewer’s ears perked up.”

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

Common general questions:

  • Tell us about your background. Tell a concise story with a beginning, middle and end that explains your current career status, why you are qualified and clearly defines why you are the best candidate for the job.
  • Why do you want to work for us? Focus on what makes you passionate about the job and company. Demonstrate how you fit into the company’s culture.
  • Tell us about something from your résumé. Pick out the accomplishment that most clearly relates to the job.
  • Why should we hire you? Use your concise elevator pitch, which should touch on the skills and experience you have that qualify you for the role.
Highlight your achievements and credit those who helped you along the way.

“It’s really important to make sure that you tailor your experience for the position that you’re applying for.”

                                                                                                                                                                        — Lauren Berger, founder of CareerQueen.com and InternQueen.com

When discussing your achievements, Ms. Berger stresses the importance of tailoring your response to the job you are interviewing for. “People tend to talk about why they’re the best candidate in the world instead of the best candidate for that specific role,” she says. “It’s really important to make sure that you tailor your experience for the position that you’re applying for.”

If you find it difficult to talk yourself up during an interview, it may be helpful to mention some of your colleagues who helped you hit or surpass targets as part of a team effort. On the other hand, if you can speak confidently about your achievements, a bit of humility also goes a long way and shows the employer that you are a team player. Employers typically want to hire high achievers who can work well with others.

Common questions that focus on your achievements:

  • Tell us about a challenge you faced at work and how you dealt with it. Highlight your problem-solving, teamwork and leadership skills.
  • Why are you the best person for the job? Focus on past successes that are most relevant to the job.
  • What is your greatest achievement? Tell a short story about an achievement, how you overcame challenges to accomplish it, the impact it made and what you learned in the process.
When asked about flaws and failures, make your responses honest, positive and constructive.

Employers ask some questions to identify any potential red flags. Keep in mind that, while everyone has failures in their careers, the way you frame them is important. “Is the candidate pointing fingers and not taking ownership? That’s a key indicator of their ability to work as part of a team and of taking ownership of the product and decisions that are being made,” says Paul McDonald, senior executive director at Robert Half.

Never criticize your previous employer or company. It reflects badly on you. “You don’t want to be negative about the organization. You don’t want to talk down about supervisors that you’ve had,” says Mr. McDonald. “A good interviewer is going to pick that up, and it doesn’t bode well for your candidacy.”

Common questions to assess your flaws:

  • What did you like least about your last job and why? Focus on some of the day-to-day drudgery that didn’t inspire passion but had to be done. You can also mention anything about the position you are interviewing for that would be an improvement on your last job.
  • What is your biggest weakness? Identify something job-related that you have struggled with but which you have worked to improve. Avoid tired responses like “I am a perfectionist.”
  • Tell us about a time you made a mistake. Acknowledge your part in the mistake and avoid blaming others. Explain how you learned from the experience.
Use your responses to creative-thinking questions to demonstrate how you solve problems.

Some employers, especially large corporations, ask creative-logic questions, such as “Why are manhole covers round?” or “How many ping-pong balls fit into an elevator?” to see how you respond under pressure and solve problems.

“At work sometimes you do face challenges and what you don’t want is a team member who throws their hands up in the air and gets frustrated, gets mad, gets overwhelmed, shuts down, like so many do,” says Ms. Berger. “You want to hire that team member that has the FIO mentality—the ‘figure it out mentality’—and is going to do whatever they need to do to get the job done.” Have fun with your answer and don’t worry too much about being right, because typically, there is no right answer, Ms. Berger says.

Common creative-thinking and problem-solving questions:

  • What animal describes you? Use the answer to highlight a feature about yourself that is pertinent to the job. If you say you are a lion because you are brave, for example, talk about the bravery it took to apply for a role at a company where you have no connections.
  • How many tennis balls fit into a Boeing 747? Walk your interviewer through the steps you are taking to solve the problem. Ask for clarity if you need to, and share your assumptions, the calculations you are making and any necessary caveats.
What to read next: How to Write a Thank-You Email After an Interview

 

 

WSJ.com | November 27, 2020 | Deborah Acosta

 

#JobSearch : Three(3) Tips To Help You Ask Great Follow-Up Questions In A #JobInterview . If You Want to Stand Out, Ask Quality Follow-Up Questions.

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Great job interviews rely on asking great questions. You have the opportunity to make your conversations worthwhile by adding value, and you can do that with your questions.

Here are three things that will improve your follow-up questions and help you to stand out:

1.     Listen, and think about nothing other than what the other person is saying.

People like it when people listen to them. The person feels like the other person cares about them and what they have to say.

If you are thinking about starting a conversation but there is something bothering you from earlier in the day, stop and take the time to think about what is bothering you. You don’t want to go into a job interview or any discussion not being fully present. If you are in the middle of an important conversation and your mind starts to drift elsewhere, try to refocus your thoughts on the current conversation. Remind yourself that you can come back to other thoughts later; it is more important to focus on the present conversation.

If you have control over where the conversation can be held, consider a place that is quiet and with little distractions. If distractions arise mid-conversation, ask the person if they would be willing to continue the discussion elsewhere. If you know you have a habit of drifting to other thoughts during conversations, consider practicing the art of listening with a friend or family member.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

2.     Reflect beforehand.

In addition to acting and reacting in real time by listening, you can also ask pre-planned questions. Before important conversations, dedicate some time to think about what information you want to know from that interview or discussion. Take 20 minutes to focus. By reflecting beforehand, you can develop more insightful questions. Better questions demonstrate your desire to know more and that you care.

3.     Ask questions that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer.

A great way to bring an otherwise productive conversation to an abrupt end is by asking a question in which the respondent only needs to answer “yes” or “no.” Instead, focus on asking open-ended questions that further the discussion. Don’t ask, “Do you have a collegial work culture?” Instead, ask “Would you describe the work environment?” Asking questions that beg descriptive answers demonstrates interest. You want to know more than a “yes” or “no.” Showing interest sets you apart.

If you want to stand out, ask quality follow-up questions. Great interviews and conversations involve a speaker and a listener and questions and answers. Take advantage of asking great questions to stand out. Listen, reflect beforehand and focus on questions that share more information than just a “yes” or a “no” response.

 

Forbes.com | November 10, 2020 | Avery Blank

#JobSearch : How To Answer New, Hard Interview Questions Employers Now Ask. Companies are Asking about a New Line of Interview Questioning that is Stumping Them.

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Career Counseling clients started asking about a new line of interview questioning that is stumping them. They wanted guidance on how to develop an effective answer to diversity questions. Larger employers, especially Fortune 500 employers, have begun to add one or two diversity questions into their interviewing process. These are very difficult when you are not prepared for them.

One Fortune 100 Recruiter said, “our company has implemented a few new policies in response to the need to diversify the workforce. The key problem is that hiring managers often introduce their personal biases into the hiring process. So, the first change has been to send our hiring managers resumes to review where the recruiter has replaced the job candidate’s name with a number.

This way, everyone is equal, and no one brings personal biases into the interviewing process. Having had twenty years of hiring experience, I’ll tell you EVERYONE is raised with some innate biases against other cultures, races, genders, or sexual orientation. If you don’t think so, ask Baby Boomers what they think of tattoos? You will hear an opinion, for sure. Our company wants to level the playing field when hiring new employees and develop a culture where they feel they belong. We now have all our hiring managers ask a couple of diversity questions during the job interview.”

“Diversity initiatives are now at the forefront of every HR leader’s to-do list,” said a Chief of Human Resources who asked to remain nameless. “SHRM (the Society of Human Resources Management) has provided plenty of valuable resources to help companies big and small deal with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion issues which start with hiring new talent. I’ve been sitting through numerous webinars in the last few months covering this topic. Our company is smaller, and we are just beginning to develop a diversity plan. I am currently asking job candidates at least one diversity question in their interview with me.”

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

Diversity questions often catch people off guard. It is a sign of the times that more employers are asking these, though. The job hunter, if unprepared, typically answers diversity questions poorly. That can mean elimination from that job.

Right approach

We live in a global workplace with many companies doing business with other nations. How do you define diversity? It’s not just race, but it can also include gender, sexual orientation, ethnic background, and generational gap.

To answer appropriately, you must stress these three things:

·        tolerance

·        acceptance

·        inclusion

Older, more mature workers may have more biases because of the times which they were raised. Maybe you support vets. Perhaps you dislike a nationality because of war experiences. You must bring a more neutral attitude to your job in these sensitive times. All ages can have biases, so you are likely not immune from this issue, whether you are 30 or 60.

Answering Diversity questions

Here are a few questions and sample answers to help you understand how you can answer these questions.

Describe a time you were in a group of diverse people?

One client was from the Middle East, and she had experienced a great deal of discrimination. This question threw her in the interview. She confessed she had a complete block on how to handle this question. I worked with her in our interview coaching session to make her position and experiences better known. She said:

“I’m usually the person with the most diversity in any workgroup because of my Middle East birth. I have found others are usually afraid to ask me questions for fear of offending me. I am rather introverted, and in my culture, men’s opinions mattered more. I have realized that I must speak out more frequently and offer my ideas. I now actively participate in brainstorming sessions to solve problems. I even talk a bit about some of my life growing up in the Middle East. People are more comfortable around me because I made a significant effort to be more open and share.”

Here is how a male engineer in a global company answered.

“In my company, we have people from all over the world, so our workgroup is very diverse. I noticed some people are very quiet in the group. They offer more if we two are talking, but they remain silent in a group. I have realized the reluctance to speak in a larger group was because of age or generational differences or cultural differences. I then took on a more active role in group settings, even though I am not the leader. I’ll ask each person by name if they have any ideas or anything to add. This approach has given us new and better ideas to solve problems because everyone comes from a different perspective. It has also helped build more acceptance and make these people feel included and not like outsiders.”

As a manager, what strategies have you used to address diversity challenges?

“Many of our customers are from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds, so being savvy on how to act and what to say shows insight and good business acumen. As a result, I have taken several classes on diversity and became more sensitive to this issue. I do my best to promote tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion. I work with some resistant people who need additional training classes and coaching to be more sensitive. I coach them privately or call in HR and have HR offer a training course for my teams and indirect reports. I sell it as a terrific way to get more input from every person on the team, which allows us to come up with new ideas, productivity, and process/system or design improvements. That approach has been successful for me.”

Another answered with a clear-cut example:

“I had a female tech employee come to me and stated she overheard some men talking about their salaries. She did the same job and was shocked to hear that these men made more than $10,000 more than her. She requested an immediate raise to be equal to her male peers. I investigated the issue, and I found that all seven women I had in my division were underpaid. I took the issue to senior leadership and asked them to rectify the situation. This was not an easy sell because the company was in a so-called ‘no promotion, no raises’ timeframe. I talked to all the women involved and kept them informed. I was able to get equity raises through and retroactive to the beginning of the year. I pushed hard for this because it was the right thing to do. I feel strongly we need to offer fair, equitable pay to both men and women.”

Think about a few diversity questions you might be asked. (This Forbes article has more). Many interviewers want you to offer a specific work example. Think about the best illustration you can present, showing you to be accepting and tolerant. Write out your answer. Roleplay and say the words out loud. Perfect the answer, so you are ready to handle these challenging questions when asked.

 

Forbes.com | November 3, 2020 | Robin Ryan

#JobSearch : How To Talk About A Layoff Or Furlough In A Job Interview. You will Be Asked About your Career Moves and Layoff(s).

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Mass layoffs and furloughs have been announced across a variety of industries — travel and leisure, media, energy, financial services, etc. (Business Insider keeps a running tally here). While losing your job may be more commonplace now, it can still be difficult to talk about, especially in a job interview, where you might feel less confident admitting any negative news.

You will likely be asked about your various career moves and transitions, especially your most recent ones. You may also be asked about any gaps in your resume. Finally, with layoffs prominently featured in the news and top of mind for many, the interviewer may ask you outright if you were downsized.

The good news is that, with so many people affected, there is less stigma attached to being laid off or furloughed. The better news is that you have control on how you talk about a layoff or furlough. You can minimize the negative impact of being laid off or furloughed and still ace your job interview by taking these five steps:

1 – Address what the interviewer really wants to know

Remember that the purpose of the job interview is to determine if you’re the best candidate for the job. The prospective employer wants their problem solved. They really aren’t focused on you, except for what you can do for them. In the same way, they don’t really care about your layoff, except what it might reveal about how good an employee you will be.

A layoff or furlough can impact you negatively if the prospective employer thinks you were let go for performance reasons. You can counter that by confirming that you were one among many and not singled out for cause. The prospective employer might worry that your time away from work has eroded your skills. You can counter that by keeping your skills and expertise updated. The prospective employer might assume your recent bad experience has soured your attitude or work ethic. You can counter that by showing high energy and enthusiasm during the interview.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

2 — Keep your answer concise

Concise means just enough information. You don’t want to say too little, such as avoiding talking about the layoff or furlough at all. This makes it appears as if you’re hiding something. At the same time, you don’t want to say too much and keep referencing it throughout the job interview. This is like going on a date where the other person spends the whole time talking about their ex! The incident is in the past, and the job interview is for the future. You want to assure the prospective employer that you only have eyes for them.

3 — Keep your tone neutral and non-judgmental

The prospective employer wants to hire someone who will be committed and a positive addition to the team. If you bad mouth your previous employer, your next employer will worry you will say the same about them. Even if the layoff or furlough was handled terribly or you felt you were treated unfairly or you have whatever good reason for having a negative opinion about your past employer, keep your tone neutral and non-judgmental when you explain what happened. (it helps when you keep your answers concise!)

Getting to a neutral tone when you are talking about a difficult issue is something you may need to practice. As a longtime recruiter, I have sat in too many interviews where the candidate clearly still harbors negative feelings toward a past employer. Outline in advance what you will say about the layoff or furlough. Practice saying it until you can do it without getting emotional – e.g., sad, angry, defensive. Role play with someone else who will probe on this issue to make sure you’re comfortable talking about it. (Read more tips here on how to handle a hostile interview.)

4 — Refocus the interview back to the job opening

The likelihood is that the interviewer will move on quickly after hearing a satisfactory explanation for your layoff or furlough. But you can help move the interview along by initiating the transition back to the job opening at hand. For example, as you talk about your recent job, you mention that you left because you were laid off, and then you immediately highlight the skills, expertise and experience you gained at the job that is relevant to this particular opening. No need to wait for the interviewer to sign off on your layoff explanation and give you permission to move on. The job interview is a conversation, a two-way street, and you can control the agenda as much as the interviewer by refocusing the interview on the job opening.

5 — Line up references to support your story

Too many job seekers wait till they have an impending job offer before lining up their list of professional references. It takes time to reach your references and confirm that: 1) they agree to give you a reference; 2) you have their most updated contact information; and 3) they know what to say to give you the strongest and most relevant reference possible.

Number 3 surprises some people, but you need to coach your references. You don’t need to tell them what to say word-for-word (and legitimate references won’t want you to do that anyway). However, you need to tell them what jobs you’re going for so they can highlight the relevant aspects of your previous work together. This includes talking about the circumstances surrounding your layoff or furlough – even if only to confirm that it wasn’t performance-related. Having your references lined up in advance, including someone who will corroborate your account of the layoff or furlough, will make you more confident and comfortable in your job interview.

You determine how strong a candidate you are, not your layoff or furlough

Being laid off or furloughed is the end of that job, but certainly not your career. You can still come across as a strong candidate during the job interview by highlighting the skills, expertise and experience you do have. Remember that the prospective employer is focused on hiring a solution to their problem, not your layoff or furlough at all.

 

Forbes.com | October 28, 2020 | Caroline Ceniza-Levine

#JobSearch : How To Answer This Awkward Interview Question. Where Do you See Yourself in Five Years?

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Where do you see yourself in five years? Anyone who thought they knew where their lives would be five years ago is probably re-evaluating their plans right now. Five years ago, we had no idea our world would change as much as it has due to a global pandemic.

Yet, unfortunately, “where do you see yourself in five years?” is a question job interviewers still tend to ask in job interviews. Often, interviewers ask this question because they want to know if you actually do want the specific job you’re interviewing for and they want to know if you see yourself at their particular company for the long haul. This question allows them to get insight into your personal career goals to see if it aligns with the role and company. As a job candidate, it can be tricky to know if you should be brutally honest or fake and flattering when posed with this question.

To make answering this question easier, here are the only three things you need to focus on the next time you’re asked this awkward question:

Focus on what work you want to do

It may sound compelling to let the interviewer know that you plan to have a much higher senior title in five years or that you plan to start your own company or something similar, but these options aren’t the best way to approach this question. If you mention to the interviewer that you plan to have a specific job title at the company in five years, you might be shooting yourself in the foot before you even get the job. It’s uncertain if the particular role you might mention would even be available five years from now. If you mention that you plan to do your own thing five years from now, the interviewer might assume that they’re merely a stepping stone for you and that you’re not truly invested in the opportunity.

Instead, you want to focus on the responsibilities you hope to partake in over the next five years. Next time try something like, “In the next five years, I see myself growing and becoming an expert in [job function/industry]. I see myself still working on challenging projects like [specific projects mentioned in the job description or interview] and probably taking on even more challenging work as I learn and develop even more skills.”

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

Focus on how you want to feel 

While you can’t predict where exactly you’ll be five years from now, or the role you’ll have, or that you’ll even be at the company you’re interviewing for now, you can visualize how you’d like to feel about yourself and your career five years from now. Focusing on how you want to feel when answering this question also gives you the chance to subtly infuse the elements that are important to you in your next career move. Plus, if the company’s culture and values align with your career goals (as they should), this will give you the chance to further prove to the interviewer that you’d be a great addition to the team.

Here’s an example of what you could say: “I see myself feeling excited about the work I do. I see myself working with colleagues and a manager who still inspires and empowers me to keep growing and stretching myself to achieve and exceed expectations.”

Focus on how you want to contribute

Companies want to hire problem solvers and team players and this question is a great opportunity to show that you have a strong desire to make an impact over the next five years. Focusing on how you plan to contribute is a creative way to do that without predicting the future and mentioning specific details that may or not happen five years from now.

To show how much you intend to be an asset, you can say something along the lines of, “I see myself continuing to be an asset to my clients, team and all the other people I’ll have the honor of working with over the next five years. That’s why I’m so excited about the opportunity to join your team as a [job title you’re interviewing for now] because I know I can jump right in and add tremendous value now.”

Yes, this question may seem awkward and intrusive. But, when answered the right way, it’s a great opportunity for you to share a little more about you and to drive home the key factors that make you a great candidate for the position. By only focusing on these three things, you’ll be able to answer this question with more confidence and authenticity, and you’ll likely increase your chances of getting hired.

Author:  Adunola Adeshola coaches high-achievers on how to take their careers to the next level and secure the positions they’ve been chasing. Grab her free guide.

Forbes.com | October 15, 2020