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1. Top 5 Tough Interview Questions…And
How To Answer Them!

2. Getting a new job can feel an awful lot
like a mandatory run through a
military-style obstacle course – scale
this wall, dive across the pit, run until
your lungs burst… Here to help you
hold your own during intense
interrogations (a.k.a. job interviews) is
our top-5 list of tough interview
questions complete with answer
suggestions!

3. What are your weaknesses?

4. How to answer: The old school way of
answering this question (also known
as the Michael Scott way, for you
Office fans) is to answer this question
with a weakness that’s not really a
weakness, e.g. “I care too much” –or-

5. “I’m a perfectionist. I can’t rest until
everything is just right.” While this
might seem like a good idea, it’s not. I
repeat, this is not a good idea! Why?
Quite simply, it comes off as phony.
And phony, especially in an interview,
is bad news.

6. A better approach is to pick a
weakness that won’t kill your chances
of getting the job. For example, “I’m
not a detail-oriented person” probably
wouldn’t work during an interview for
a position that depends on you
catching the critical details.

7. Once you’ve got a non-critical
weakness picked out however, spend
time emphasizing the steps you’ve
been taking to overcome it (you have
been taking steps, right?). This
approach shows the interviewer that
you have a realistic sense of your
capabilities, and that you are proactive
in dealing with potential personal
pitfalls. (Try saying that five times
fast!)

8. Tell me about yourself…

9. How to answer: If you started to
mentally answer this question by
saying: “In the beginning…” then
STOP! Immediately. “Tell me about
yourself” is technically more of a
command then a question
(perfectionism kicks in hard over here
sometimes), but there is one thing it’s
not: An invitation to divulge your
entire life story.?

10. So what is an interviewer looking for
when they make this request? The
same thing they’re looking for in every
question they’re going to ask you: Why
should I hire you for this position?

11. The interviewer wants to know how
your past experience and
achievements will be of benefit to
them if they hire you. Before heading
into that all important interview, take
some time out to map out a few key
talking points that you can focus your
conversation on.

12. What are your long-range goals?

13. How to answer: Hopefully by now you
understand that your long-range goals
(at least as far as this potential
position is concerned) should be
realistic to your career.

14. This means I don’t want to hear about
any of you answering with: “I wanna
be a rock star” while interviewing for
an executive managing (insert fancy
title here) position. Do, however,
answer with realistic goals within the
scope of your career, as well as
actionable steps you are taking to
achieve those goals (education,
certifications, etc).

15. Have you ever had a conflict with your
boss? How was it resolved?

16. How to answer: Big hint: Answer
without making reference to the
“competence” of your (former or
current) boss.

17. No matter your personal opinion, the
focus of your answer should be on the
conflict itself and not so much your
feelings surrounding the conflict. In
fact, I’m going to go ahead and take
that a step further – focus your answer
on the resolution of the conflict, the
actionable steps you (or you both)
took to resolve the conflict.

18. This will show that you are a person
who is actively looking for ways to
solve problems and move forward, and
this is a big thumbs up.

19. Are you interviewing anywhere else?

20. How to answer: This isn’t the time to
flex your muscles, crack your knuckles,
and paste a too-confident smile across
your face that says: “I’m wanted
everywhere. You’re lucky to have the
chance to interview me!”

21. But neither is it the time to discretely
cover up your day planner that’s
chock-full of interviewing
appointments, and pretend like you’ve
got nothing else going on except the
couch, ice cream, and TV.

22. Be honest, but somewhat of a brown-
noser at the same time. Meaning, go
with some version of: “Yes, but you are
my first choice.”

23. Interested in Finding Out More about
Job Search Strategies and Job Search
Advice? Please come and visit us at
http://www.GetHiredFast.com