THE SECRET OF HANDLING THE HARDEST INTERVIEW QUESTIONS During interviews, except for experienced candidates, most interviewees suffer from “abnormal” heartbeat, heavy sweat or even stuttering. Many candidates complain that they have been frozen by tough interview questions! Indeed, hard interview questions are a major obstacle to finding a job. However, if you want to land the dream job, there is no other way out but to overcome those difficult questions. What should you do to climb that rugged mountain? Have you ever heard this question from your interviewer: “Why is a manhole cover round?” This is a typical tough interview question of Microsoft. Generally speaking, candidates need to be quick and smart to overcome hard interview questions. However, the difficulty mentioned here has a relative meaning because a question appearing easy to a candidate may turn to be too difficult for other people. Good news for you: when posing difficult questions, most employers do not intend to make candidates awkward. They just want to confirm whether a candidate has the right skills and experience for the position and whether he or she can put up with the pressure … Therefore, if you are well-prepared, you will stand a good chance of overcoming most difficult questions of employers. Before the interview: You should prepare the answers to all the possible questions you may be asked. To do that, you need to pinpoint your career objectives, skills, experiences, strengths and weaknesses, desired salary … In addition, you should visit the homepage of the employers to find out information about their main business line, products, achievements … All this information will save you from getting stuck in an interview which Dang, a sales executive, met when attending an interview at an IT company. He hadn’t researched the company in advance so when the interviewer asked him: “How do you value product X of our company?”, he described the features of Y– another product of the company! Then, with all information prepared, you can ask your friends to play the role of the interviewer and practice answering their questions until you feel totally confident. At the interview: You should listen attentively to the interviewer. If he or she asks you an unexpected difficult question, you should take a deep breath to stay calm and think of a way to respond. Normally, in terms of difficult questions, the employer will pay more attention to the way you respond than the content of your responses. Therefore, you could give an answer that you feel most appropriate. For example, when being asked: “What should you do to avoid being chopped off by the blades if you were minimized and fell into a blender?”, you may answer: “I would cling to the wall, near the blades because the most dangerous place is also the safest one.” However, in most cases, employers highly value direct and sincere answers. Many candidates respond as if they have learned the questions and answers by heart so when employers go into details, they are perplexed right away. Ms. Linh Lan, HR Manager of AIG Life Vietnam, recalls that she met a candidate who claimed to have many strengths such as the capability to adapt quickly to change, craving for new knowledge and creativity. However, when she required him to give specific examples of those strengths, he became puzzled and replied evasively: “I do not remember clearly!”. Such a response will make the employees lose their good impression in the eyes of the employers. After the interview: You should make note of questions that you find hard to answer for finding ways of improving. In case you do not pass this interview, they will be helpful to you in the future. In addition, you ought to send the employer a thank you letter, showing your gratitude to him or her for the interview invitation and reassert that you desire that job. Obviously, this letter couldn’t make up for a bad interview but it may help you make a good impression on the employer! Maybe they have other job vacancies that fit you in the future! The most dreadful thing to an employer is hiring the wrong person for the job. Therefore, it is normal for employers to ask candidates some hard questions to check their capability to solve problems or stand pressure. As long as you prepare well, keep calm, reply confidently and directly, and show your skills and passion for the job, hiring interview will no longer be a mountain difficult to climb.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 02:03:50 +0000
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