JCOnline - Don't Sweat These Questions

Don't Sweat These Questions

Click Here to Return The sweaty palms and quivering voices of students are nothing new to to Main Article most interviewers. They understand you're nervous, but they still look for good answers to their questions and solid communications skills. With some consideration beforehand of the types of questions you will have to answer, you can enter an interview situation with confidence. Interviewing is an inexact science for both you and the interviewer. The interviewer's primary goal is to get information from you that indicates how well you would fit in his or her organization and more specifically, how well you would perform in the job for which you are being considered. Because it costs money-typically thousands of dollars-every time a company hires a new person, an interviewer can't afford to make mere guesses about how you will put your skills to use for his or her company. Instead, the interviewer will probably ask you for information about your life and/or work experiences with the belief that how you handled a situation in the past tells an awful lot about how you will behave in the future, as an employee of the interviewer's organization. Of course, the interviewer's questions about your past behavior should be related to the skills required for the position you are being considered for. This approach to interviewing is called "behavioral interviewing," and it is increasingly popular among employers who believe it enables them to more accurately choose the right person for the job.

Probe Your Past...Figure Out Your Future

Here are examples of questions you may be asked that probe your past behavior in a job, in the classroom, in a group project, in extracurricular activities, or even with a roommate. Can you
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JCOnline - Don't Sweat These Questions

guess what qualities or skills the questions attempt to assess? 1. Give me a specific example of something you did that helped build enthusiasm in others. 2. Tell me about a difficult situation when it was desirable for you to keep a positive attitude. What did you do? 3. Give me an example of a time you had to make an important decision. How did you make the decision? How does it affect you today? 4. Give me an example of a time you had to persuade other people to take action. Were you successful? 5. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult person. How did you handle the situation? 6. Tell me about a time you had to handle multiple responsibilities. How did you organize the work you needed to do?

Answers:
1. Leadership skills. 2. Stress management skills. 3. Decision-making skills. 4. Leadership skills. 5. "People" skills. 6. Time management skills.

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