this is Best Way Take Interview From Any One here Are Some tips For Interview Questions
Tell me about yourself.
This is really more of a request than a question. But these
few words can put you on the spot in a way no question can. Many quickly lose
control of the interview during the most critical time- the
first five minutes. This is not the time to go into a lengthy history or wander
off
in different directions. Your response should be focused and
purposeful. Communicate a pattern of interests, skills, and strengths that
relate to the position in question. Consider your response
to this question as a commercial that sells your autobiography. Provide an
answer that includes, what you are getting a degree in, your
major, a few highlights from your resume such as projects or classes that
relate to the position you are interviewing for, any work
experience, leadership experience, and finally include why you are interested
in
this particular employer. One of the most effective ways to
prepare for this question is to develop a 60-second (can extend to 2 minutes)
biographic sketch that emphasizes a pattern of interests,
skills, and accomplishments. Focus your response around a common theme
related to your major interests and skills. Take, for
example, the following response, which emphasizes computers.
Since I was a teenager, I enjoyed
working with computers. It was my hobby, my passion, and my way of learning.
Like most kids I enjoyed
computer games. When my parents gave me a computer as
a reward for making honor roll my sophomore year, I mastered DOS,
Windows, and Word Perfect within six months. I then
went on to teach myself programming basics. By the time I graduated from high
school, I knew I wanted to study programming. From
that point on, everything fell into place. My life revolved around computing.
By my
junior year at Syracuse
Fast Track Software. I have also completed several
great projects including…[list a few here]…I am involved on campus in several
organizations such as Beta Beta Fraternity and
intramural sports teams.
I am interested in working for COMPANY NAME so I can
be at the forefront of breaking trends and new technology. When my college
roommate told me about his start in your department,
I was persistent in asking him for details until he helped me get a referral,
which
brought me here today. I feel like this position is a
great fit between my accomplishments and strengths and what you are looking
for. I
am prepared to answer any questions you may have
about my education and experience."
This response sets a nice tone for starting the interview.
The interviewee is able to say a lot within 60 seconds by staying focused. The
message is clear: the interviewee has both passion and focus
relating to the position. He stays on message and concludes by leaving the
door open for additional questions about his education and
experience. Unfortunately some candidates get off on the wrong foot by
rambling on for several minutes about their childhood,
family, hobbies, travels, and interests.
Repeat Key Accomplishment Statements
Throughout the interview you will be asked numerous
questions about your attitude and ability to do the job. Whenever possible,
talk
about your accomplishments in terms of what you did and the
results of your actions for employers. Give examples of your effectiveness,
which should include specific skills and statistics.
We're considering two other candidates for this
position. Why should we hire you rather than someone else?
Do not be distracted by the mention of two other candidates,
you don't know anything about them and they could be fictitious. Focus on
what strengths you bring to the table. These should be
consistent with the four things most employers are looking for in candidates
during
the job interview: competence, professionalism, enthusiasm,
and likeability. Remember, they are looking for chemistry between you and
them. Be prepared to summarize in 60 seconds why you are the
best candidate for the job. Also, let the employer know you want the job
and you will enjoy working with them. A lack of interest in
the job may indicate a lack of enthusiasm for the job and them.
Why do you want to work in this industry?
Tell a story about how you first became interested in this
type of work. Point out any similarities between the job you're interviewing
for
and your current or most recent job. Provide proof that you
aren't simply shopping in this interview. Make your passions for you work a
theme that you allude to continually throughout the
interview.
"I've always wanted to work in an industry that
makes tools. One of my hobbies is home-improvement projects, so I've collected
a number
of saws manufactured by your company. I could be an
accountant anywhere, but I'd rather work for a company whose products I
trust."
Tell me what you know about this company.
Describe your first encounter or a recent encounter with the
company or its products and services. What would be particularly motivating
to you about working there as opposed to working the same
type of job in a different company? The recruiter will look for evidence of
genuine interest and more than just surface research on the
company. Reciting the annual report isn't likely to impress most recruiters,
but
feedback from customers and employees will.
"I served as an intern to a restaurant analyst
last summer, so I followed all the steak-house chains closely. What you've done
especially
well is focus on a limited menu with great
consistency among locations; the business traveler trusts your product anywhere
in the U.S.
particularly interested in your real-estate finance
group and expansion plans."
Why should I hire you?
Don't repeat your resume or employment history. Offer one or
two examples to explain why you're talking to this particular company.
What's the most compelling example you can give to prove
your interest? This question often remains unasked, but it's always in the back
of the recruiter's mind. Even if this question isn't asked,
you should find an opportunity to use your prepared response sometime during
the interview, perhaps in your closing remarks.
"My uncle had a company that was a small-scale
manufacturer in the industry, and although he later sold the business, I worked
there for
five summers doing all sorts of odd jobs. For that
reason I believe I know this business from the ground up, and you can be
assured that I
know what I'd be getting into as a plant manager
here."
Tell me about a time you didn't perform to your
capabilities.
This question forces the candidate to describe a negative
situation. Do so in the context of an early career mistake based on
inexperience;
then demonstrate the better judgment you now have as a
result of that learning experience.
"The first time I had to give a presentation to
our board, I failed to anticipate some of their questions. I was unprepared for
anything
other than what I wanted to report. Now my director
and I brainstorm all the what-ifs in advance."
What color is your brain?
Be aware that you'll probably be asked zany questions. The
point is not to stump you, but to find out what makes you tick. When the
standard interview questions are asked, people are prepared,
and it's harder for the recruiter to get to know the real person. An
advertising
recruiter, for example, tries to avoid this. There is no
right or wrong answer to this type of question. In fact, the recruiter won't
even really
care what your answer is. He or she just doesn't want to
hear something like, "I don't know, I guess it's blue because that's the
way I
imagine it." The point is to see how creative you are
and how you think. Be sure to explain why you answered the way you did.
"My brain is red because I'm always hot. I'm
always on fire with new plans and ideas."
How will you complement this department?
Describe how your personality and/or skills would help round
out the department. What types of people enjoy working with you for hours
at a time? How would the company's customers or clients
react? Assure the interviewer that there will be no surprises about your work
personality.
"I enjoy an environment in which people bounce
ideas off each other and have the flexibility to ask for help when they need
it. I'm usually
a great troubleshooter for PC problems in my office,
and I'm often going to ask for help proofreading important memos. I believe in
giveand-
take."
Tell me about an effective manager, supervisor, or
other person in a leading role you've known.
Talk about a supervisor's management style and interpersonal
skills. Focus on the positive-how the person worked rather than what type
of work he or she did. How was the person able to accomplish
so much and get your support?
"The best professor I ever had always reviewed
the most important points from our last class before he moved on to new
material. He
also watched our faces carefully and repeated
information whenever he saw a blank stare. Sometimes he would just ask for
feedback by
saying, 'What are you having difficulty with?'"
He never assumed too much or made us feel dumb for not grasping a concept
quickly."
How do you usually go about solving a problem?
The interviewer will want to hear the logic you use to solve
problems as well as the outcomes you're able to achieve. Are you decisive?
How do you narrow the options and make decisions? What do
people say about your reasoning skills? What examples would they cite of
your effective decision-making?
"When I need to solve a problem, I generally
start by writing down as many ideas as I can think of about possible causes.
Next I look for
relationships among causes so I can group together
symptoms of bigger problems. Usually, after I study these groups of problems,
the
real cause becomes readily apparent."
What's your greatest achievement to date?
Be sure that the achievement you describe here is relevant
to the job you're interviewing for. Also, be careful that your answer doesn't
sound as if the best is behind you. Mention something great
that you've achieved, but clearly communicate your belief that the best is yet
to come.
"I'm proud of the fact that I graduated on time
with a solid GPA while I played varsity basketball for four years. A lot of
women on my
team either took a reduced course load or let their
grades suffer. I believe the reason I got through it all was sheer
determination; I never
even let myself visualize anything but finishing on
time and with good grades. So I firmly believe, as a professional counselor, in
the
importance of a positive outlook."
Give an example of a time when you were asked to
accomplish a task but weren't given enough information. How did you resolve
this problem?
Although this example may seem trivial, the candidate
demonstrates maturity and an ability to approach work conceptually. The
interviewer will want to know that you understand that just
getting the job done isn't enough. Your response should show resourcefulness
and initiative.
"At my last internship, my supervisor, an account
executive, asked me to assemble five hundred press kits for a mailing. I wasn't
sure in
what order the pages and press releases should go,
but my supervisor had already left for a client meeting. Afraid of putting the
information together in the wrong order, I managed to
track down her cell phone number and called her in her car. She explained the
order of the materials over the phone, and in the end
I managed to prevent a mistake that would have cost hours of work and a delay
in
the mailing-not to mention a few headaches."
Tell me about your least-favorite manager or professor.
Answering this question will be a bit like walking across a
loaded minefield, so be aware! Keep in mind that the interviewer doesn't want
to learn about your former supervisors; he or she does want
to learn about the way you speak about them. Though the interviewer may
bait you to make a negative statement about your former
employer, doing so can create a host of problems. Even if your claim is
completely true and justified, the recruiter may conclude
either that you don't get along with other people or that you shift blame to
others.
The best way around this dilemma is to choose and example
that's not too negative, touch upon it briefly, then focus the rest of your
answer on what you learned from the experience.
"Well I've been pretty fortunate as far as
managers go, and I didn't have any problems with my professors. In my first job
out of college I
worked with a manager who was pretty inaccessible. If
you walked into his office to ask a question, you got the sense that you were
bothering him, so we just learned to get help from
each other instead. I wouldn't say he was my least-favorite manager, because he
was a
good manager in a lot of ways, but I would have
preferred that he'd made himself more available to us and given us more
direction."
What is your biggest weakness?
This is a great example of what is known as a negative
question. Negative questions are a favorite among interviewers, because they're
effective for uncovering problems or weaknesses. The key to
answering negative questions is to give them a positive spin. For this
particular question your best bet is to admit to a weakness
that isn't catastrophic, inconsistent, or currently disruptive to your chosen
professional field, and to emphasize how you've overcome or
minimized the problem. Whatever you do, don't answer this question with a
copout like "I can't think of any," or even worse,
"I don't really have any major weaknesses." This kind of a response
is likely to eliminate
you from contention.
"I admit to being a bit of a perfectionist. I
take a great deal of pride in my work and am committed to producing the
highest-quality work I
can. Sometimes if I'm not careful, thought, I can go
a bit overboard. I've learned that it's not always possible or even practical
to try and
perfect your work-sometimes you have to decide what's
important and ignore the rest in order to be productive. It's a question of tradeoffs.
I also pay a lot of attention to pacing my work, so
that I don't get too caught up in perfecting every last detail."
Why weren't your grades better?
It's likely that if you've made it to the interview stage,
you fulfill the basic criteria for the position, including the education
requirements.
The recruiter is probably trying to judge here how well the
candidate handles adversity. It's important not to get defensive or to place
blame. Instead, try to put a positive spin on the
question-for example, by concentrating on what you learned and the extra effort
you put
in, rather than on the grades you received.
"School was a wonderful experience for me. I
really enjoyed learning new ideas, I studied consistently, and I was attentive
in class. But I
never believed in cramming before the night of an
exam just to get a higher grade or staying up all night to finish a term paper.
I really
believe I learned just as much as many students who
went for the grades."
Was there a course that you found particularly challenging?
The interviewer will want to see how well you respond to
difficult situations. Demonstrate that you won't fold in the face of
difficulty, and
that you're willing to put in the extra effort to meet a
challenge.
"Initially I was completely overwhelmed by the
introductory chemistry course that I took last year. No matter how hard I
studied, I
seemed to be getting nowhere. I failed the first
three quizzes. So I tried a new approach. Instead of just studying by myself, I
asked a
friend who's a chemistry major to help me with my
studies. I also began to seek help from the professor after class. And I found
that more
time I spent in the lab was critical. I ended up with
a B-plus in the course and thought I achieved a solid understanding of the
material.
More than that, I learned that tackling a new field
of study sometimes requires a new approach, not just hard work, and that the
help of
others can be crucial!
Why didn't you participate more in extracurricular
activities?
The interviewer may be worried that if you don't have many
outside interests, you may eventually suffer from burnout. Employers like
candidates who are well rounded and have interests outside
of work. If you didn't participate in formal extracurricular activities in
college,
you still may want to talk about some of your interests,
such as reading or exercising, that you may have a passion for running even if
you
weren't on the college track team.
"I wanted to give as much effort as possible to
my studies. I came from a high school in a very small town, where I received a
lot of A's,
but this didn't prepare me well for college. So I
studied hard. I have, however, found time to explore the city and make new
friends, and I
do socialize formally on the weekends."
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