Job Interview Questions and Answers

Tag: Best answers to the job interview question

  • Would you rather be liked or feared?

    If ever there was a trick interview question, this is it.

    “Liked” may be a positive sounding answer, but in a business setting it can sound weak without the right spin. Managers, for example, may have to push people to work, or even fire people who aren’t doing the job. If this is your answer, it’s a good idea to qualify it.

    “Of the two I’d rather be liked, but at work being liked isn’t the only concern. The job has to get done, and if getting the job done means someone may not like me, I’ll do my best to resolve the situation but not worry about it too much.”

    “Feared” is nothing but a negative. Usually this pertains to bosses or managers, but it can pertain to co-workers too – the lady nobody wants to talk to because she always criticizes, or the guy people don’t question because he carries a grudge and reports the smallest thing to the boss. No matter the spin, feared carries negative connotations and should not be the answer.

    Task Master:
    “People in my department know better than to fool around. Some people don’t understand work isn’t supposed to be fun, that’s why it’s called work. I’m always watching, ready to pounce if they aren’t keeping their nose to the grindstone. If I don’t yell at someone at least once a day, I’m not doing my job.”

    The Scrooge management method went out of style a long time ago, Employers don’t want this type of manager, because it makes it hard to keep employees. Constant turnover costs money.

    Snitch:
    “Do your job and you’re fine around me. But people know I carry a notebook, ready to jot down whatever infraction they commit.”

    This type of employee creates conflict in the work force, and overall a negative working environment. Companies and managers don’t want conflict and strife, they want goals met and people happy at work.

    The best answer combines shades of “liked” and “feared” with other positive, desirable qualities. Memorize this question and answer – it’s the most set in stone answer of all the interview question answers.

    “I don’t want to be liked or feared, I want to be respected.”

    One young man gave perhaps the worst answer ever given for this question. “Why, do you have a problem with me?”

  • Tell me more about yourself?

    Interviewers often begin with this question in order to break the ice, and also to get an initial understanding of you as a candidate and potential employee. Make this answer short and honest, touching on details you want to highlight such as skills or attributes that would help with the particular job. Some research helps here – know the company and the job.

    “I always loved drawing, the land around New England where I grew up was beautiful, so I drew that. When it was time for college I decided on art instruction. The New England Art Institute had a great reputation, so that was my choice. My goal from that time was to become a professional artist, and that’s why I’ve chosen advertising art – pay the bills and do what I love. I love skiing, my wife and I try to ski at least twice a year, so when this opportunity near Denver arose, here I am.”

    Don’t worry about too many details. They can ask for more information if needed, and throughout the interview they’ll ask a lot of questions that delve into your background and career. A good answer includes:

    • Where you were raised
    • Where you attended school
    • A hobby
    • One detail about your life, or recent event
    • Recent prominent career choice or move

    This answer sets the tone for the remainder of the interview, so be prepared for it. When mentioning details, avoid negatives. Even if you’re talking about a bad employer or co-worker, mentioning it reflects badly on you, not them.

    Another good answer:

    “There wasn’t much to do in Wisconsin in winters, so I spent a lot of time at the computer, that’s where I learned programming. I was in the computer club in HS, so an IT degree was a natural. I served an internship at IBM when I was in HS, and learned there that experience was more important than a degree from a fancy college – so I took night classes at the local community college while I kept working. I was more of an at home person, but my husband likes adventure, so when I saw this job with travel I thought once in awhile we could spend some extra personal time in other places.”

    This man gave what he thought was a clever answer, but he didn’t get the job. “I’m Batman!”

  • Tell me about a time where you had to deal with conflict on the job?

    A worker’s success, no matter the job, is measured in two scales – behavior and results. The results are the amount of work done and the quality of that work. Behavior is how the results are accomplished. Keep in mind that interviewers want to measure a candidate on both scales, and you want to score highly on both. A good candidate has the skills to accomplish the job, but must also go about obtaining results in a positive manner.

    Here’s an example:

    As a manager you can push people who work for you hard, keep on top of them, look over their shoulders, yell and punish bad behavior. On a single project basis that works well to get results, but over a long period of time people won’t be happy, and the quality of their work will diminish.

    So interviewers spend a lot of time on behavioral questions that reveal how you’ve handled or will handle common work situations. These questions don’t require expression of a great deal of experience, but they do require expressing positive behaviors from either work or private life.

    One way to answer this question, and other behavioral questions, well is to use the STAR (SAR) method. This method describes, and helps you remember, the elements of an excellent answer.

    • Situation – Recall and describe, in accurate detail, the situation, including the task that had to be accomplished.
    • Action – Don’t talk about what could have been done, describe the actions you took in the specific situation. If it was a group effort, describe exactly what you contributed to the group.
    • Result – Describe how the situation ended, either by describing the success or what you, personally, learned from the situation.

    “Our new boss didn’t understand the work we did, and as a result demanded procedures that were outdated. Everyone in the department complained about the problem, so one day I suggested we explain things to the new boss. We did it as a group, but I drew up flow charts of the outdated procedures as well as the new ones, showing how those saved time and gave better results. Our boss thanked us for the explanation but still insisted we do things his way – he said the new procedures missed some important reporting that could come in handy in the future. I still think we were right, but I understood his point of view – those reports could come in handy.”

    Some answers can be too honest. “A co-worker kept butting in front of me in line in the cafeteria, so I threw the dessert in her face.”