Tricky interview questions? How to give smart answers

The job interview. It’s the necessary, angst-ridden big step in the process of landing a job.

It’s no wonder we get jittery: we all know that we’ll be asked some outlandish, abstract or just plain ridiculous questions. What’s more, there’s a hidden code — a language of interviewing that the hiring manager knows, but doesn’t tell candidates. If only we could be in on the secret.

Maybe we can, with a little insight from several LinkedIn Influencers who weighed in on these topics this week. Here’s what two of them had to say.

Liz Ryan, chief executive officer and founder at Human Workplace

“A job interview is a weird experience,” wrote Ryan in one her posts. “The standard interview script is brainless and insulting and it doesn't even do a good job of separating the best candidates from the worst ones. Still, people who are afraid to try new things don't dare deviate from it.”

That script inevitably includes “these three stupid questions,” Ryan wrote. “What's your greatest weakness? With all the talented candidates, why should we hire you? Where do you see yourself in five years?”

You probably have a canned answer to these questions. But, wrote Ryan, “You can get off the script and stay human in a job interview… For starters… give your interviewer an answer s/he wasn’t expecting.” Why? That forces the interviewer to think more and “you’ll be more memorable that way.”

Ryan offered alternative answers to these three dreaded questions. Among them:

In response to the question, what’s your greatest weakness: “I used to obsess about my weaknesses. I used to think I had a million defects that needed correcting, and I read books and took classes to try to improve on them. Gradually I learned that it makes no sense for me to work on things that I'm not great at, and it makes no sense for me to think of myself as having weaknesses. These days I focus on getting better at things I'm already good at — graphic design, especially."

That’s a far cry from the usual answer that entails talking about how hard you work and how you can be too hard on yourself.

“You already know how it feels to sit in the chair and play the Good Little Job Seeker,” wrote Ryan. “What would happen if you stepped out of the box on your next job interview, and played yourself?”

Jeff Haden, speaker and owner at BlackBird Media

“In the best job interviews, the candidate says a lot and the interviewer very little,” wrote Haden in his post Nine Things Interviewers Never Tell Job Candidates, But Should. “But there are some things interviewers would love to tell job candidates before the interview starts.”

Among them:

“I really want you to be likeable. Obvious? Sure, but also critical. Skills and qualifications are important, but we all want to work with people we like... and who in turn like us,” he wrote. “So we want you to smile. We want you to make eye contact, sit forward in your chair, and be enthusiastic. A candidate who makes a great first impression and sparks a real connection instantly becomes a big fish in a very small short-list pond. You may have solid qualifications, but if we don't think we'll enjoy working with you, we’re probably not going to hire you.”

“I love when you show you can hit the ground running. We expect you to do a little research about the company. That’s a given. To really impress us, use the research you’ve done to describe how you will hit the ground running and contribute right away — the bigger the impact the better,” Haden wrote. “If you bring a specific skill, show how we can immediately leverage that skill. Think about it from our side of the table. We have to start paying your salary the first day, so we love to see an immediate return on that investment starting the first day.”

“Please don’t start by telling me how much you want the job. We may need you to work 60-hour weeks, or travel more than half the time, or report to someone with less experience than you. So sit tight,” he wrote. “No matter how much research you've done, you can't truly know you want the job until you know everything possible about the job.”

 www.bbc.com

Vimal Shah, entrepreneur and co-founder and former CEO of Bidco

 What employers really look for;

Many people look for jobs in prestigious companies so that they can work for one or two years and have that name on their CV. They try to build their CVs with three or four multinationals. Newsflash, employers aren’t looking at that any more. They’re looking at your value.

Will you be an asset or a liability? An asset means that you increase the company’s value .

When someone is doing something passionately, you notice straight away. They do not just work; they go out of their way to make things better and perfect. It’s attitude. They take on more responsibility because they love it. Those are the people who rise much faster. If you are in a job in which you are miserable, I would advise that you help yourself and get out of it. People really love titles, but what does a title do? Titles have no meaning – it is about the job that you do and the satisfaction that it gives you.

Fred Nyawade, senior HR manager and vice president of human resources at a leading bank in Kenya

Be personable

The kind of personality you need to have usually depends on the role and level that the head-hunter is looking for, but generally speaking, an employer would want to see evidence of some energy and drive in a person.

They are drawn to people who come across as energetic in the way they relate, in the way they speak, in how organised they are, which shows in their CVs and if they get along with people. It is a good idea to get a professional to rework your CV for you so that it brings out what needs to be brought out. Some people just list their job descriptions in their CVs. Employers are not really interested in that. They just want to see the title of the job and the achievements that you had while in that position.

 Don't reek of desperation

Don't cheapen yourself. You could be thinking that setting yourself up to be headhunted, when you are actually setting yourself up for disaster. If you spread your CV out there so that everyone has it that may come off as odd. Any time a product is too readily available, people start lowering the value of that product.

If you have headhunters and they see that CV everywhere in the market, people start wondering if there is something amiss. Do not overdo it, otherwise you will lose both value with others and credibility with your current employer. Also, do not be too bothersome by constantly asking if something has come up. The idea is for them to look for you.