Many of the same common questions are frequently asked in interviews. In this post, I’ll discuss some of the more unusual, oddball questions that you might see come your way. Some interview questions are designed to rattle you to see how you deal with stress. The intent is to see how well you think on …
Know Yourself You would be surprised by how many applicants I’ve interviewed who didn’t seem to remember what was on their resume. I’m guessing this was because they didn’t bother to re-read and memorize it before their interview. By memorize, I mean committing your resume, and I mean your entire resume, to memory. Particular emphasis …
When candidates first walk into the room for their interview, one of the first things I look for is the items they bring with them. By items, I’m not talking about things such as purses or wallets. What I want to see are the business-related items they bring with them. I know it sounds odd, …
My job as a hiring manager would be much easier if I could simply ask each candidate at the start of the interview one question: “Are you a jerk?” And get an honest answer! This would have saved me a lot of grief over the years because in the couple of thousand interviews I’ve conducted, …
First impressions are certainly important in your job interview, but many candidates make no effort to end an interview in a way that will be remembered. They will simply say thank you, shake hands and leave. Many times this is because ending an interview, or any conversation for that matter, can be awkward for all …
Here it is – the big day! The day of your actual interview. This is a nerve-wracking day for most people, but it won’t be for you. Yes, you’re a little apprehensive, that’s natural. For this post, I’m assuming you’ve done proper research and practice in your advance preparation. This time I’m going to review …
You’ve had your interview and you feel it went very well. But it’s been over a week and you haven’t heard a thing. Is that bad news? Good news? No news? You’re tired of looking every 30 minutes at your email inbox and phone messages and wondering what to do now. Should you just keep …
One of my neighbors, we’ll call him Bob, recently told me that he just went through a job interview and asked for some advice. He said he felt it was going smoothly and he was able to field the questions with no problem. That is until was asked this question: “What would you say is …
A while back I went through several weeks when I was asked to be on several interview panels in a row. After interviewing so many candidates, I began to find myself paying just as much attention to the applicant’s non-verbal mannerisms as I was to their answers. The reason for this was that some of …
I had an applicant once that used a very interesting technique in her interview. It worked so well that I wanted to pass her approach on to you. If you’ve read my site, you know that I strongly recommend that you create several relevant questions that you can ask during your interview. This particular candidate …
I often get asked by friends who are job searching (they know I’m a Hiring Manager) why they aren’t having any luck with getting interviews. They’re sending out lots of resumes for lots of positions but keep striking out. There can be many reasons for this and without knowing details it’s difficult to give them …
I can certainly sympathize with all of you out there who have been looking for a job and are now facing an interview. It’s a situation I found myself in more than once over the years. Here’s one of my stories. Some time ago, I decided to look for a new job. I wasn’t unhappy …
“It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret” Jackie Joyner-Kersee Introduction When do you think your interview begins? As soon as walk into the interview room, of course – right? Nope! Your interview starts as soon as you’re given the day and time. This is when you need to …
One of the best business quotes I ever read was attributed to Walt Disney and it goes like this: “You hire the attitude. You can train the skill.” This is something I strongly believe in and you can see this throughout my blog articles. Attitude IS everything, not only when interviewing for a job but …
Although we all make blunders as we stumble through life, making one during your job interview is probably one of the scenarios you’d most like to avoid. Although I cover all of these areas in detail in other posts, I wanted to provide a quick and easy-to-read recap of six of the worst blunders I’ve …