By Dr. Travis Bradberry
Most peopleâs biggest job-hunting fear is being put on the spot by oddball interview questions such as these (which are real):
âDescribe the color yellow to someone whoâs blind.â â Spirit Airlines
âIf you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?â â Bose
âWho would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?â â Stanford University
Offbeat questions are nearly impossible to prepare for, and they donât achieve the interviewerâs objectiveâto test out-of-the-box thinking and the ability to perform under pressure. Thatâs the bad news.
The good news is that companies are moving away from them. Recent research shows these questions do little more than boost the interviewerâs confidence. Even companies famous for oddball questions are abandoning them. In the words of Laszlo Bock, Googleâs HR chief:
âIf youâve heard that Google likes to pose brain-teaser questions to candidatesâlike why manhole covers are roundâyour information is out of date. Thereâs no evidence that they suggest how people perform on the job.â
A Glassdoor study of tens of thousands of interviews found the 50 questions you’re most likely to be asked in your next interview:
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- Why are you interested in working for us?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
- Why do you want to leave your current company?
- What can you offer us that someone else can’t?
- Why was there a gap in your employment between these two dates?
- What are three things your former manager would like you to improve on?
- Are you willing to relocate?
- Are you willing to travel?
- Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
- What is your dream job?
- How did you hear about this position?
- What would you accomplish in the first 30/60/90 days on the job?
- Discuss your resume.
- Discuss your educational background.
- Describe yourself.
- Tell me how you handled a difficult situation.
- Why should we hire you?
- Why are you looking for a new job?
- Would you work holidays/weekends?
- How would you deal with an angry or irate customer?
- What are your salary requirements?
- Give a time when you went above and beyond the requirements for a project.
- Who are our competitors?
- What was your biggest failure?
- What motivates you?
- Whatâs your availability?
- Whoâs your mentor?
- Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss.
- How do you handle pressure?
- What is the name of our CEO?
- What are your career goals?
- What gets you up in the morning?
- What would your direct reports say about you?
- What were your bossesâ strengths/weaknesses?
- If I called your boss right now and asked him what is an area that you could improve on, what would he say?
- Are you a leader or a follower?
- What was the last book you read for fun?
- What are your co-worker pet peeves?
- What are your hobbies?
- What is your favorite website?
- What makes you uncomfortable?
- What are some of your leadership experiences?
- How would you fire someone?
- What do you like the most and least about working in this industry?
- Would you work 40+ hours a week?
- What questions havenât I asked you?
- What questions do you have for me?
Though these questions may be less exciting to prepare for than âSpiderman vs. Batman,â they are what you need to be ready for.
Most interviewees are only prepared for about 10 questions, so this list alone can give you a leg up. Study the list carefully and have answers readyâbut not robotically rehearsedâso that you can speak comfortably, flexibly, and confidently about each of these topics.
If you want to make a great impression and stand out from the crowd, preparing for these 50 questions is not enough. Follow the 9 strategies below and weave the knowledge they impart into your responses. Then you’ll truly ace your interview.
1. Identify Your âHookâ
Most hiring managers interview a lot of people. So many that they generally have to go back to their notes to remember candidatesâthe exception being candidates with a strong hook. Sometimes these hooks are how people dress or their personality, but the best hook is a strong story thatâs work-related. When you can wow an interviewer with a memorable story that shows what a strong candidate you are, youâll rise to the top of the list.
2. Know the Essence of the Job Youâre Applying For
Get to know the job intimately that youâre applying for. Donât just read the job descriptionâstudy it and picture yourself performing every task required of you. When you interview, framing your responses so that you reveal your significant knowledge about the job gives you a massive advantage.
3. …And Know What Makes You A Great Fit For It
Know exactly what makes you fit into the position perfectly and speak to it during the interview. What you makes you special? It could be that youâre an idea machine, or a statistical fanatic. Whatever it is, know it and prepare to fit it into your responses.
For example, when an interviewer asks, âWhat are your strengths?â skip the clichĂ©s and go right into qualities about you that are unique to the job. Youâll make it clear that youâre the perfect fit.
4. Know the Company
No matter how prepared you are to talk about yourself, not knowing the essentials of the company youâre interviewing for conveys a lack of preparation and interest. You canât show an interviewer how youâll fit in the company until you know the company.
Before your interview, delve deeply into the company website to build a strong mental foundation. Make sure you know the basics; how the company makes money, the top executives, and what the company aims to accomplish in the near future (strategic objectives). Go online and read recent news articles about the company. Also check out their Twitter and Facebook pages.
5. Prepare a List of Follow-On Questions
Prepare a list of follow-on interview questions and outline key points you will touch on if asked these questions. For example, if you say your biggest strength is time-management, you need to be ready for the interviewer to ask something like, “What does this strength look like in action?” This preparation will make your responses more pointed, avoid awkward silences and uncertainty, and it will build your confidence prior to the interview.
6. Practice, Practice, Practice
You, and everyone else interviewing for the job, already know many of the questions youâll be asked. The difference lies in preparation. Preparing unique and position-specific responses will give you the competitive edge over everyone else. You donât need to memorize answers, but instead know certain points of reference about yourself that you can apply to different questions.
Make sure to âmock interviewâ yourself. Video your responses until youâre able to speak comfortably and flexiblyâas opposed to rotely regurgitating answersâabout your prepared topics. Videoing yourself may feel awkward when you do it, but it will pay off during your interview.
7. Relax
If you canât relax during your interview, then nothing you do to prepare will matter. Being yourself is essential to the selection process, and interviewers will feel it if youâre too nervous. Showing fear or anxiety appears weak compared to a relaxed smile and genuine confidence. Numerous studies show that smiling not only increases your happiness and confidence, but it also puts the people youâre interacting with at ease. This is mostly due to mirror neurons in the brain that naturally mimic other peopleâs expressions and emotions.
Pulling this off requires emotional intelligence (EQ), a skill that employers are increasingly looking for in candidates. And itâs no surprise, as 90% of top performers on the job are high in EQ. Working on your EQ can also help you to make more money, as people with high EQs earn $29,000 more annually on average.
8. Stay Positive
It may seem obvious that maintaining positivity is essential in an interview, but it can be very difficult to do when discussing some topics. Itâs tough to be positive when describing difficult bosses or coworkers from your past, or explaining why you were fired from your previous job, but thatâs exactly what employers want to see in you. Show them that you can maintain a positive attitude about a challenging environment, and theyâll see the resilient and flexible individual theyâre looking for.
9. Be Honest
Good interviewers have a way of getting to the crux of who you are. They may have an innate sense for reading people, or they might just be really good at asking the right questions. Regardless, itâs essential to approach your interview with honesty.
If you interview dishonestly, youâll either not get the job when the interviewer sees right through you, or youâll end up in a job thatâs a poor fit. Donât focus on what you think the interviewer wants to hear. Instead focus on giving an honest and passionate breakdown of what you have to offer.
Bringing It All Together
Letâs face it, interviewing is still tough. Itâs hard to show who you really are and what youâre capable of during a quick sit-down chat. These strategies will help you to eliminate nervousness and anything unexpected that might derail an otherwise great interview.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Travis Bradberry, Ph.D.
Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning coauthor of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the cofounder of TalentSmartEQÂź the worldâs leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries.
Dr. Bradberry is a LinkedIn Influencer and a regular contributor to Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, The World Economic Forum, and The Huffington Post. He has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Fast Company, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.