‘Why Should I Hire You?’ and Other Favorite Interview Questions
ComputerWorld did an article on interview questions. You should check it out.
The article basically gives you tips on how to answer certain tough questions. I’ll list them and gve my thoughts/answers to some of these questions.
Describe your toughest assignment so far.
Another variation to this is, “Describe the most challenging problem you had and how did you solve it?” This was my most difficult question that was asked to me at a job interview. It was one of those questions that actually made me stumble. But I realized that this is another variation of a very common job-interview question, “What was your weakness?” It’s a little different than “What IS your current weakness,” because it’s a weakness you fixed or is in the process of being fixed. But it’s pretty much the same. Figure out what your weakness was/is and tell them how you overcame it. Not so bad.
What will you do if you don’t get this job?
This is a weird question, and I never was asked this. I’ll just say, “find another position.” If I had really good rapport with the interviewer I’ll joke and say, “go home and cry like a little girl.”
Why should I hire you?
I HATE this question. It sounds like you have to do their job for them. It also makes you have to qualify yourself to them. It’s a very arrogant question for an interviewer to ask to an interviewee in my opinion. Anyway, I said something like, “Well you need a person that has XYZ skill set. And as you know from talking to me, I demonstrated those X and Y skillsets. I’ll be honest, my skills in Z is not master level, but it’s not like I can’t improve.”
What are your long-term goals?
You DO know what your long term career/personal goals are right? If you do, then this question is a piece of cake to answer.
What book is currently on your nightstand?
You DO read right? Even if it’s not a book, is there a blog you read often? Magazines are good too. Luckily, I do read industry books/blogs for fun. So I do have the “impress the interviewer” bookshelf. But I would mention hobby-based magazine/books to show them I’m not a total geek.
Stumble it!
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