5 common interview questions and how to answer them

Suzanne (recent graduate)
Procrastinated and turned in sub par work. Excellent example. My weakness I would say was I tend to procrastinate. While in college I left some projects until the dead line and my performance was less than I was satisfied with. I learned the importance of time management and now I use calendars and planner to ensure I do not make that mistake again.

This is good advise, but for me, before I get interviewed, focus on myself and during the interview, I am me in there, no pretenses. What they see is who they are going to work with, if they do decide to hire me. That works for me so well!!!!

These are pretty good ideas for some of the interview questions that stump people. I'm not sure I agree with the answer to "what changes would you make if you came on board?". This question I think it generally intended to see if you've done your homework on the company and the industry and in this format it's more often asked of people who are mid-level and higher. They want to see how well you know the business. This is a great opportunity to show some of the value you can add. They don't expect you to know the business inside and out, but they will be impressed if you can show that you are thinking about where the opportunities are and how you might go after them.

Here's another link from Gotta Mentor on How to Ace the Tricky Interview Questions http://bit.ly/1iBQeV

very informative! this is really good. straight to the point advices, great!

This really cleared things up. I've been stomped at interviews off just one question, never again!

To those with a PhD it begs the questions? Why do you want to work for us and and aren't you overqualified.
I really want to know why someone with a PhD is applying for a short order cook position. You better have a good answer if you want the cooking job. Did you give up in your field, is it a field with very poor employment opportunities AND MOST IMPORTANT you better tell me how your skills are relevant to the job I am offering and what you can do for ME. If you can't link your schooling to employability skills, you aren't ready for an interview.

"...Russia with a Ph D that just wants a simple JOB. Not a "position" but a place to make some basic income. When you have too much education..."
You just want an income, so the minute something comes along with better pay you are out the door. Now tell me why I should hire you, since you won't be staying anyway!

Too much education...overqualified
Impossible.

While I do have a PhD in astronomy, I took that route out of personal interest and never wanted a career in this field, I did it to satisfy a personal goal. As a hobby I love cooking and realized this is what I want to do for a living. However, as a student, I developed skills beyond pure academia. It is necessary to be organized, use your time well, deal with scheduling and pressure, work to deadlines and be committed in order to succeed. These are the skills I would be bring to your company in addition to my passion for cooking. While earning my degree I worked every year in the university restaurant where I learned to present food well, put my skills in to practice in a busy work environment with very exacting standards. 12 years of schooling and working to support my education requires a commitment, dedication and the ability to face difficulty, solve problems and maintain focus to achieve a goal and ultimately success. I feel these attributes are important in any job.
So while I have a degree (a personal goal) I love cooking. The skills and attitude needed to succeed in education are also the skills needed in the business world (things like communication, commitment, passion, organizational and time management skills along with interpersonal skills) and these have been demonstrated in my success in achieving a personal goal. I would ultimately use all these skills in my job to ensure success for myself and continued success for you and your company.

These interview ideas are nice but not for someone who came here from Russia with a Ph D that just wants a simple JOB. Not a "position" but a place to make some basic income. When you have too much education, as many Russians do, it is a liability. One has to "lie" to apear simple enough to get a job at Jack in the Box. What do you think about that.
Bob

Personally, I hope the rail company has enough foresight and understanding of rail traffic to have spur rails provided so the trains don't collide, thus making the question moot.

"Re: 5 common interview questions and how to answer them" So... Basically what you are telling everyone is, if they don't know how to answer those types of questions, they should follow those steps you've provided and more or less lie there way into a job. I would never lie in answering any of those questions, nor... would I follow through with such stupid a** questions and I'd never want to work for a company that ask those type of questions. It's just total BS on both sides of the fence if you allow yourself to be ask those types of questions by some ego boasting employer, who would not know anymore about you after you gave them the answers, than before you walked in there office for the interview. Employers need to forget about all the BS they dish out to those looking for a job. If they want you to work for them, then your resume should be able to speak for itself. If not, then those employers need to find themself a new job as Psychologist. And better yet, to hell with the resume, just a simple job application should be good enough. Perhaps God will ask those types of Employers the same types of questions, before allowing them into heaven. And the best part of all this is, I'll bet that most all of those employers that ask those questions, would not know how to answer them either. It's just a bunch of hype to make an employer feel as if they are some sort of GOD!

Sorry Sam, the actual answer is (5/7)X miles.

x = distance of track
t = time required for the 2 trains to collide.
(15mph)t + (20mph)t = x mi
(35mph)t = x mi
t = x/35 hours

25 mph * t = (25mi)x/35 = 5x/7 = (5/7)X miles

If we do it your way, the trains never actually hit each other. The rest is true, though. Cheers.

This was a great article. Interview questions are terrible but you can't just blow them off, no matter how offbase the question is.
I too was wondering what someone with a higher education does to get a job that is beneath them. Do you leave that off of the application?
Rant and rave:
Unlike what the poster from Russia thinks, most Americans actully go through college, and Americas college system for the most part is the best, which is why most countries send their students here to get higher education, at our ivory schools especially. Stupidly we let them go to our schools with tons of initiatives that we Americans don't get. This needs to change as I am tired of top rated schools not letting Americans in because they need to fill a quota of exchange students. I will give though that where American education is poor is within our pubic school system. I blame this fully on the standardized testing system. This wonderful test basically makes it that if a student does terrible in a sublect, the teachers gets blamed, not matter if the student just didn't want to do the work. So teachers actually start passing students that never did the work on fear of losing their jobs, or they bring the grades down of the top students to evenly match those at the bottom to not make anyone feel bad. (We are a way to sensitvie country. You can whine and cry and yell to get your way. You have the right to an education and a right to work, it is not a privelage) There now is a very good chance that many students that graduate highschool have absolutly no skills and will fail miserably in college and any job they get. I would hate to have my performance based on the stupidest, laziest kids in my class, rather than the ones who actually want to learn. This happened mostly because of parents who don't pay attention to their children anyways do not want to be told that it is their or their childs fault for failing, there must be another reason, like the teachers not doing a good enough job. (This is the worst part of America by the way. We are a point the blame at someone else country.)
I just love that America has helped so many countries with their education that now they look at us like we are dumb. I'm thinking that along the lines of our troops leaving Iraq, that America stops helping all other countries and start just concentrating on improving our own lives. No more visas, for schools or work or anything, get a job and education in your own country, since most of you can't stand America anyways i'm sure you won't object.

Good clues, that kind of questions are becoming more and more frequent in the interviews but always I come across them I get embarrassed.

I always look forward to the " what is your weakness" question. I usually make a joke and say something like 'job interviews' it throws them off, makes them laugh, and makes you memorable. Just after they laugh I take over the interview and ask them questions about the job or tell them my qualifications, etc. I never let them get back to that question. weakness is a weakness, not admirable in any case.

I need a job! Send help!

My boss has been giving me bad paychecks for months now, and now I have learned he plans to sell the business without even telling me!

Very nice and informative but dont fall into the trap where you really practice on answering those questions and then you figuere out that your good at answering interview questions but not good enough to do the job

I really appreciated the ideas that you all shared to us. For providing us the knowledge about the interviews to come in our careers. Thank you for the great thoughts to be practiced when the time of opportunity is come for the job seekers... God bless... I hope you all will post the actual words of interviews to observe on how the applicants answer the question in real conversation. thank you so much..

I usually answer the "greatest weakness" question with something to the effect of "I tend to focus too much on my job and leave too little time with my family." Then I tell them that I have made a habit of forcing myself to leave work at a reasonable hour and going home and that I have asked my family to let me know when I am falling down on the job of spending time with them. I may also mention that I have learned to steer people in the right direction when they come to me with questions instead of spending too much time holding their hands. I am still a source of knowledge, but I am letting my prospective employer know that I can delegate and coach instead of trying to handle everything myself.

Education is not a handicap if you know how to present yourself. Not ALL of us Americans (sorry, we arrogant US citizens don't consider the Canadians and Mexicans "Americans") are under-educated, lazy, culturally-deprived morons. In spite of my Southern upbringing, I have obtained a masters degree, lived in four states (currently Alaska, practically a foreign country, lol), and held management positions in more than one aspect of the broad field that I am in. I value friendships and acquaintances from outside the US borders and respect the culture and values of the many native people and foreign-born visitors I encounter in the course of my work here on the Last Frontier.

Generalizations are for the closed-minded, educated or not. Stop wearing your PhD around your neck in job interviews and Jack-In-The-Box may let you use the fry cooker.

Thanks rick 7. Way to stay on topic. You could always tell us how you got your job as Assistant to the Assistant Head Lettuce Technician at Tace Bell.

Now now hotchiquita, you came here and live among us, don't be a hater!!!

Here's a good tutorial on answering those 'tough' interview questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_9xLMdHQBM