Tough Job Interview Questions
The odds are very high that you could be eliminated from
consideration for jobs based on your answer (or, more
likely, your lack of a good answer) to one or more of the
interview questions or issues we bring up here. None of us
is perfect. We all have things about ourselves and our past
that could be or will be a problem fro some employers. You
may have "too much" or "too little" education or training or
gaps in your work history; you may be "too old" or "too
young" or have other characteristics that concern some
employers. Some of these things you can't change, but it is
your responsibility to make these matters less of an issue
in a decision to hire you over someone else.
We mentioned earlier that about 80 percent of all people
who get interviews do not, according to employer surveys, do
a good job in answering one or more interview questions.
These problem questions vary for each person and depend on
your situation. The job seeker's inability to answer these
problem questions is a very big obstacle in the job search
and has kept many god people from getting jobs they are
perfectly capable of handling. They didn't get those jobs
because they failed to convince employers that they had the
skills and other characteristics to do the job. In many
cases they left employers with a sense that there was an
unresolved problem. That is to say that the job seekers
would have gotten the job offer if they had done better in
the interview.
One of the difficulties with problem questions is that
the employer often does not ask these questions in a clear
way, or doe not ask them at all. For example, if you live a
long distance from the employer's job site, the interviewer
may be wondering why you would be willing to commute daily
to a distant location. His concern may be that you would
leave once you found a job closer to home. The interviewer
may never directly ask you about working so far away from
home, so you would not have the opportunity to address his
concern, and that job is likely to go to someone else. It is
not fair, but that is the way it is.
So the issue here is not your ability to do the job,
rather the issue is your ability to communicate clearly that
you can and will do the job well. The following text helps
you quickly identify problem questions an employer may pose
about your particular situation and gives you some ways to
handle them in a truthful and positive way.
Turn Your Negative into a Positive
So let's assume that you are concerned that you might be
unfairly discriminated against and you are reasonably
well-qualified for the job you seek. First, understand that
highly qualified people with no apparent problems often are
unable to obtain jobs after many interviews. The labor
market can be very competitive, and others may get the jobs
simply because they have better qualifications. In addition,
less-qualified people often get offers simply because they
do well in the interview. Because you can't easily change
your personal situation, you need to improve your interview
skills to give you an edge.
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