subject: Job Interview Prep: Be Ready for the Toughest Interview Questions [print this page] Job Interview Prep: Be Ready for the Toughest Interview Questions
Many job interview questions can be tough to answer. They're designed to beto screen out candidates. They want to know you can think on your feet, that you can think strategically, and that you can rise to the challenge in a difficult situation, among other things. So how do you get ready for those tough interview questionsthe ones that can be real showstoppers?
Here's an out-of-the-box idea for you: try this writing exercise. Sit down and really evaluate what you've done in the past.
For instance, write out your top 25 achievements. Once you get past #3 or #4, they're probably not going to be very exciting maybe they're going to be things like "I put together a dinner seminar," or "I put together a financial presentation that won the bid," or "I did a speech in front of the national sales meeting."
No matter how unexciting you might think they are, write them down in a list on one side of your paper. On the other side, write down what you had to do to achieve themwhat had to happen? Because the tough questions in a job interview will be things like:
"Tell me about your greatest success."
"Tell me about your greatest challenge."
"Tell me about a failure."
"Tell me about a time when you had to organize people to achieve some objective."
If you've completed this list, you'll be able to answer those questions. You'll be able to remember important achievements and speak intelligently about all the parts and pieces that it took to accomplish them.
Why is this important? A lot of people can answer questions about what they've done (and in sales, many reps can brag about a big sale, or landing a huge account), but not many can answer how they did it. Either they can't communicate it because they didn't do it, or they haven't thought about it in detail to analyze what went into that achievement.
So, before you practice your answers to interview questions, do this exercise. Write it down. Taking this one extra step will put you big leaps ahead of the competition the next time you interview.
