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Tag: Job Interview

  • The Time I Brought My Lunch to a Job Interview

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    I was a supervisor in a manufacturing plant. When a colleague was promoted to manager in another department, he wanted me to work for him.

    I hesitated. One, it would be a lateral move. Two, I had started at the bottom of my current department, and had the skills and experience to show for it. But I liked him, knew he would give me plenty of latitude as long as I got results, and decided adding a different functional area to my resume might make me a better candidate for promotion. 

    So I thought for a few seconds, and said yes.

    Then he told me I had to interview for the job: not with him, which itself would have been a waste of time since we had worked together for year, but with a team of shop-floor employees.

    That seemed only a little less of a waste of time. While I was a huge supporter of employee empowerment, being interviewed by the people who would report to me seemed odd. For better or worse, especially since in the past I had worked with every person on the panel, I was a known quantity. 

    To me, it was a case of you either want me, or don’t.  

    “What could they possibly ask me?” I said. He shrugged.

    “Honestly, I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s part of the process. So please do it.”

    Since working for a Fortune 500 company meant I was no stranger to doing things for show, I grudgingly agreed. 

    On the morning of the interview, one of my production lines had a major equipment breakdown. Then an employee injured himself. Then another crew had a mechanical problem, which I was able to help fix. But by the time I crawled out from under the equipment, it was nearly one o’clock. I was almost late to my “interview” and hadn’t had a chance to eat.

    So I took my lunch with me.

    When I sat down, I apologized for being a minute late, summarized my morning, and asked if they minded if I ate my lunch during the interview. I figured they would understand and maybe even appreciate that I was the kind of supervisor who put productivity first, and was happy to jump in. I didn’t know it at the time, but a study published in Journal of Business and Psychology backs up that assumption: 84 percent of respondents wanted a boss who helped them get things done, a boss with functional skills and task-oriented behaviors.

    Clearly they weren’t part of the 84 percent, because I didn’t get the job.

    Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten my lunch during the interview. (Or maybe I should have offered them half my sandwich, as Richard Branson once did for me.)

    But that’s probably not the reason they didn’t choose me. I wanted the job, but I didn’t want the job. I was agreeable, but I wasn’t eager, especially because the whole “interview” thing felt pointless. Every question implicitly assessed how I would be to work for and whether their values, which appeared to be a relaxed work environment where results weren’t stressed, aligned with mine. (They didn’t.) 

    Not that interviews conducted by people who will report to you can’t be effective. Soft skills are important, and research shows great bosses tend to score highly on those traits. But without a foundation of hard skills — without the ability to do the job, and the ability to help the people you lead not just do their jobs but steadily improve their capabilities — those soft skills can largely be wasted. 

    As the researchers write, “If your boss could do your job, you’re more likely to be happy at work.”

    This panel of employees? They didn’t assess whether I could do the job. They assessed whether I would “let them be them,” and not in a good way.

    Whether rightly or wrongly, though, the interview felt like a waste of time, and that’s the real point of this story. 

    Plenty of businesses hold multiple rounds of interviews: first with the person in charge of creating a short-list, then with a supervisor, then with other employees, and finally with the business owner.

    While that sounds thorough and comprehensive, a multiple-round process can feel off-putting to the candidate. Similar interview questions — especially the dumber interview questions — tend to get asked. The same behavioral interview prompts get floated.

    Eventually, the candidate starts to feel like a known quantity, one you either want or don’t want. 

    At that point you stop getting their best, and you might end up missing out on what could have been a outstanding employee.

    By all means, be thorough and comprehensive. But don’t create a process that works just for you. Create a process that also works for the candidate. Consider how the interview process can impact them, especially in how it feels.

    Because your interviewing process should help you identify the best candidate, but that can only happen if it ensures the best candidate will be at their best in every stage of the experience.

    The longer and more repetitive the process, the less likely that is to occur.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Jeff Haden

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  • Can algorithms assess job candidates better than humans? Virginia Tech research says yes – WTOP News

    Can algorithms assess job candidates better than humans? Virginia Tech research says yes – WTOP News

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    Zoom has been used to interview for jobs, but what if there’s not a person on the other side of…

    Zoom has been used to interview for jobs, but what if there’s not a person on the other side of the interview? Can algorithms assess job candidates better than humans? Virginia Tech research says yes.

    Using automated video interviews, or AVIs, allows human resource managers to screen more applicants and, at the same time, narrow the list of candidates to those most suited to the job before ever meeting them in person. It can also reduce the time it takes to hire, save companies money and give candidates a chance to present themselves beyond a resume.

    They are becoming more common — and are raising concerns about fairness and bias. But Virginia Tech research concludes AVIs can be effective and objective tools.

    In an automated video interview, a job candidate is presented with a list of predetermined questions, with responses recorded and evaluated by algorithms — a form of artificial intelligence but not entirely AI.

    Louis Hickman, assistant professor in the psychology department at Virginia Tech, and his team looked specifically at AVI personality assessments and the reliability and validity of those assessments. Algorithms look for subtle behaviors that suggest personality traits, such as verbal cues and nonverbal cues, including facial expressions.

    “People were judged as more conscientious for giving longer answers, and also for using longer words and more complex language, maybe to show they were thinking more deeply about their answers. People were rated as more extroverted for talking faster,” Hickman said.

    Automating the process of evaluating personality standardizes interviews and leads to applicants being evaluated equally, the research determined.

    It also takes the human factor out of the interviewer, as computers don’t have moods.

    “If we have humans evaluate an interview, I might judge people differently based on, well maybe I forgot to bring my coffee with me to work this morning and I am grumpy because I don’t have my caffeine. Maybe my dog died, and I’m in a bad mood,” Hickman said.

    “We can score interviews in a way that look a lot like the judgment of multiple humans being aggregated together. So what that tells us is that these AVI scores on interviews can actually be better than having just one single human evaluate an interview,” he said.

    In theory, AVIs also exclude any judgments based on gender, race or even attractiveness.

    The Virginia Tech research did come with caution, suggesting further research is needed to determine whether AVI personality assessments result in adverse impact to certain groups, and to ensure the legality and ethicality of using them.

    Another concern is the job candidate’s understanding of the AVI process. A separate report from Harvard Business Review found candidates were confused, and did not know how AVI would be used to assess them.

    The study led by Hickman was published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, and was recently awarded the Jeanneret Award for Excellence in the Study of Individual or Group Assessment by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jeff Clabaugh

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  • There’s 1 Thing You Might Be Tempted To Do In A Job Interview. Don’t.

    There’s 1 Thing You Might Be Tempted To Do In A Job Interview. Don’t.

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    No matter how perfect you may be for that job you just applied for, there’s one thing you could do during your interview that will almost certainly turn off your potential future employer.

    It all begins with a seemingly innocuous question they will inevitably ask you: “So, why are you leaving your current job?”

    Understandably, you’ll want to tell the truth — maybe your boss is a tyrant, or the culture is toxic, or you feel all the hard work you’re doing just isn’t appreciated.

    We get it. Noah Michelson, my co-host on “Am I Doing It Wrong?,” HuffPost’s new podcast, and I have been tempted to talk trash when we encounter this question. But, as we learned during this week’s episode, speaking negatively about your current employer won’t win you any points in an interview — and it could actually cost you the job.

    We chatted with Dr. Lisa Orbe-Austin, a trusted career coach and psychologist, to find out why, what to say instead, and get her advice on what else we should and shouldn’t do to ace our next interview:

    After you’ve had a listen above (or wherever you get your podcasts), subscribe to “Am I Doing It Wrong?” so you never miss an episode. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic — from apologizing to grocery shopping to online dating and lots more — in hopes of figuring out how we (and you) can do just about everything a little better.

    Need some help with something you’ve been doing wrong? Email us at amidoingitwrong@huffpost.com, and we might choose it as a topic for an upcoming episode.

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  • Bill Gates’ Office Accused of Controversial Applicant Vetting: Report | Entrepreneur

    Bill Gates’ Office Accused of Controversial Applicant Vetting: Report | Entrepreneur

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    In a Wall Street Journal exclusive, some female applicants to Bill Gates‘ private office, Gates Ventures are claiming they were asking inappropriate questions not suited for the workplace.

    The women are claiming that the questions ranged from past drug use to sexual history — supposedly to discern whether anything in the candidate’s past would make them vulnerable to blackmail, the outlet reported. Some candidates are claiming they were questioned on whether they had ever “danced for dollars.” At least one applicant claims they were asked about having ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

    The extensive pre-employment screenings in question were allegedly conducted by a third-party risk management firm, Concentric Advisors, which works with a series of industries (including private family offices) to “mitigate risks posed by individuals and groups with potentially nefarious motives,” the company’s website states.

    Related: Bill Gates Became $2 Billion Richer Today

    Concentric told the WSJ that its pre-employment screening process is identical for both men and women and complies with the laws in each state and nation where it provides its services. The company added that it never initiated questions about sexual or medical history but that candidates could offer up such information when asked about public records.

    A spokesperson for Gates Ventures also told the WSJ that it requires all vendors it works with for pre-employment screenings to comply with state and federal laws.

    “We have never received information from any vendor or interviewee in our 15+ year history that inappropriate questions were asked during the screening process,” the spokesperson told the outlet. “We can confirm, that after a comprehensive review of our records, no employment offer has ever been rescinded based on information of this nature.”

    According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, employers should avoid asking personal questions that are protected by law, such as inquiries on race, religion, gender identity, medical history, and disabilities.

    Related: Here Are 30 Book Recommendations from Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates to Add to Your Summer Reading List if You Want to Get Smarter About Business and Leadership

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    Madeline Garfinkle

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  • How To Ask About A Company’s Parental Leave During A Job Interview

    How To Ask About A Company’s Parental Leave During A Job Interview

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    Because there is so much uncertainty in the family-building process, most of us don’t disclose a pregnancy or a potential adoption right away ― especially to a potential employer. We want privacy to figure out our schedule before making an official announcement. There’s also the unfortunate (and often valid) fear that a company may not be willing to hire you if you’re planning to go on leave. Legally, employers are prevented from practicing pregnancy discrimination in hiring, but practically speaking, it’s very challenging to prove such cases.

    If you’re considering changing jobs or are currently looking for work, you’ll want to consider an organization’s parental leave policy when making your decision. But according to a survey taken by theSkimm, 60% of job seekers, most of them women, held back on asking questions about leave during their interview process.

    HuffPost spoke to a number of employment experts about how to get the information you need without unnecessary risk. Here are some of their recommendations:

    Do some internet sleuthing.

    You may be able to find the answers to your questions without ever having to bring them up during an interview.

    “I recommend no one apply for a job without first researching the company’s family and medical leave policy and practice,” Amy Beacom, founder and CEO of the Center for Parental Leave Leadership and a co-author of “The Parental Leave Playbook,” told HuffPost.

    Every job candidate should look beyond salary ranges when considering a position. “Good companies spend an additional 30-40% on the benefits package,” Beacom explained. “If you give or plan to give care to anyone ― baby, sick relative, yourself, a parent — a strong family and medical leave benefit, combined with flexible work options, is a must.”

    There are a number of places you can look online for this information. “Some companies will share this information publicly on their websites, or it can be found on ‘best places to work’ rankings or sites like The Muse, Fairygodboss, and Glassdoor,” career coach Becca Carnahan told HuffPost.

    TheSkimm’s “Show Us Your Leave” campaign is another potential source of information. There, you can learn about the leave policies of more than 500 companies and organizations.

    If you’ve been contacted by a recruiter, find the job listing on Indeed.com or LinkedIn. “If they are proud of their family-friendly status, they’re going to say so,” Liz Ryan, CEO and founder of Human Workplace, told HuffPost.

    Some job candidates feel uncertain asking about benefits, but Ryan recommends that you push past this hesitation, given the far-reaching consequences of your decision.

    “Taking a job actually has more impact on the person than on the company. Obviously, when someone takes a job, that’s 100% of their income,” she said. “It becomes part of their brand, and the job affects their mental health, their physical health, their relationships, etc. So they want to really vet that employer, check them out.”

    MoMo Productions via Getty Images

    You can ask about benefits without necessarily zeroing in on parental leave.

    Ask a more general question about benefits.

    Asking directly about parental leave does send the message that you’re thinking about having a child. Again, employers aren’t allowed to use this information in their hiring decisions, but it would be extremely difficult to build a case that you were discriminated against. The company could simply say another candidate was better qualified.

    Because asking directly could leave you vulnerable, attorney Daphne Delvaux told HuffPost, “I would suggest asking about parental leave within a larger discussion about benefits and time off.”

    Delvaux offered the following phrasing: “I’m curious to hear more about the time off benefits the company provides. I know more and more companies in this industry are providing PTO, bereavement leave, time off to attend weddings of relatives, sick leave, parental leave, and other types of benefits.”

    Another way of approaching the question could be via comparison. Carnahan suggested: “I saw that XYZ company was noted on People-First Jobs as a company with strong benefits in employee health and well-being and parental leave, which is fantastic. What has your company done differently to stand out in this way?”

    If the company has a values statement on its website that mentions care for employees, you could also lead with that. Carnahan offered: “I see that employee care is an important value of the company, which really resonates with me. Could you share how that value is demonstrated within the organization?”

    Yet another strategy could be to reference the pandemic. Beacom gave the following example: “Given the unpredictability of the last few years, I’d love to hear more about your family leave, sick leave and flexible work policies. What can you tell me about those? And if you’re willing, your own personal experience with them?”

    It’s reasonable for you to expect a potential employer to be forthcoming about benefits and leaves. “If a company does not share information publicly or there is clear discomfort when faced with the question, that’s a red flag,” Carnahan said.

    “You are also interviewing the company, and your time is valuable,” she said. “Ask questions throughout your research stage and interview stage so that you know if a company is aligned with your needs and values. No one wants to spend hours interviewing only to find at the end a company has no supportive structures in place.”

    If someone tells you something like, “We have parental leave, but I was right back to work in a few week after our first child. There was too much to get done,” this too can be a red flag, Carnahan said. If there is a leave policy but most folks aren’t taking the allowed amount of leave, that tells you the company culture may not actually be family-friendly.

    Ask for the employee handbook.

    As you make your way up the ladder of the employment process, likely speaking first with a recruiter or a human resources screener and then your prospective manager, Ryan recommends that you ask for a copy of the employee handbook, or, if parts of it are protected property, at least the information about employee benefits. If they balk, that’s another warning sign.

    “That’s going to lay out the parental leave, all various kinds of leave, all the benefits,” Ryan said. “That handbook is the window to the corporate soul, right? It tells you not just their policies, but how they are, how they think, how they view their relationship with their employees.”

    Remember that job-seeking isn’t just about selling yourself. The company also needs to sell itself to you.

    You're under no legal obligation to disclose any information about family planning.

    Luis Alvarez via Getty Images

    You’re under no legal obligation to disclose any information about family planning.

    Know your rights.

    “An applicant has no legal obligation to volunteer information about having or wanting kids,” Delvaux said.

    If someone asks you during the hiring process if you’re planning on having kids, Ryan suggests you say something vague about not having any specific plan, or leaving things up to the universe.

    “Being a parent is not a protected class at work. However, if an employer asks if a candidate is a mother or has plans to have children, that can be an indicator of gender discrimination,” said Delvaux, noting that such questions are prohibited in some states, such as California, but not at the federal level. You would have to prove that you were denied the job due to gender discrimination, which would likely be a challenge. The frustration is that such questions are rarely asked of male candidates.

    You’re in a better position as a pregnant employee than a pregnant candidate, Delvaux explained. “Whether it is pregnancy or having children or child care issues, the time to disclose that is after the job offer is signed. At that point, if the employer rescinds the job or gives you a hard time, it will be easy to prove a causation,” said Delvaux, who also recommended that you “disclose the information in writing.”

    In terms of federal legislation when it comes to parental leave, the Family Medical Leave Act entitles workers to 12 weeks of unpaid leave “for specified family and medical reasons” including the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. You cannot be fired for taking this leave. Note, however, that FMLA only applies to employers that have more than 50 employees, and you need to have been with your employer for 12 months in order to use this benefit.

    Know your comfort level.

    In some cases, if you are confident in marketing yourself, you might decide to be upfront about something like family or child care plans.

    You’re under no obligation, however, to make this kind of disclosure. It may not even make sense to do so, depending on your hiring process. If the people you are interviewing with are from an outside firm and will not be your direct supervisors, it would probably make more sense to hold off on making such a statement.

    “I would suggest never disclosing any plans to build a family. Not only is this too speculative and uncertain, it would essentially be giving an employer an opportunity to preemptively discriminate against you,” Delvaux said. Unless you need time off to pursue fertility treatments, she recommended waiting until you are pregnant to tell your employer.

    “If you’re pregnant now, or if you’re in the adoption process and this child could arrive before a year, you do not have to say you’re pregnant, of course,” Ryan said. You can wait to see if you get the job offer, and then tell your employer when you’re ready. Keep in mind, however, that you may not be eligible for paid or job-protected leave until after you reach a certain number of months with the company ― as with the FMLA benefits, which kick in after one year.

    Until it is required for companies to describe their leave benefits in job postings, Beacom believes it’s important for candidates of all ages and gender identities to ask about leave.

    “This has the added benefit of helping companies confront their unconscious bias that leave policy is only about women of a certain age,” she said. “A company’s parental leave policy speaks volumes about the work culture, and whether that company is a human-friendly place to work for all employees.”

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  • This Is the Biggest Lie People Put on Their Resume

    This Is the Biggest Lie People Put on Their Resume

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    Do you ever find yourself fudging the truth on your resume?

    You’re not alone.

    ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 1,250 Americans about what they’ve lied about when looking for a job. Seventy-two percent admitted to lying on their resume.

    The biggest lie was about education, with 44% of respondents saying they stretched the truth regarding their academic bona fides.

    Years of experience marked the second biggest falsehood, and skills or abilities rang in third.

    “People lie during the hiring process when they don’t have the all the required skills, education or experience, but feel that they can embellish or lie in order to secure the position,” says Stacie Haller, Chief Career Advisor at CareerBuilder.com.

    “They know that the company will not verify their education or their skills, and they simply hope to make their way through the process without being found out.”

    Haller says that the numbers have increased in recent years “as our culture is seemingly becoming more accepting of lying.”

    Related: How to Tell If Someone Is Lying From a Psychologist Who Trains the FBI

    Lies during the job interview

    The lying game doesn’t end with the resume.

    Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents also came clean about being dishonest during their job interviews, with men playing Pinnochio ( 71%) more than women (65%).

    The number 1 lie told during an interview? Years of experience. People also lied about their skills, abilities, and responsibilities at previous jobs.

    Respondents admitted to being dishonest in their job applications, too, with 30% saying they’ve lied about their race or ethnicity.

    The reason was unclear.

    “More research is needed to understand why candidates are choosing to answer voluntary self-identification questions incorrectly,” Haller said. “These questions are asked on applications in part so that an organization can create a diverse and equitable workforce. If candidates are lying, this may hinder their efforts.”

    Is it ok to lie a little?

    The results of the ResumeBuilder.com survey may make it seem like it’s not only acceptable to lie a little when applying for a job — you’d be a fool not to.

    Lying pays off — literally. Sixty-five percent of respondents say lying in the hiring process helped them land a higher salary.

    But Haller disputes the notion that lying is just par for the course.

    She says that getting caught in a lie can have serious consequences.

    “As a recruiter, when I have found out a candidate was lying on a resume or during the interview process, I would no longer work with them. Recruiters, headhunters, hiring managers, and HR professionals will remember you if you are caught lying, and this can follow a candidate for several years.”

    So next time you use alternative facts on your resume, job application, or interview, consider this: Is it better to be truthful and remembered as an honest employee, or lie and risk the chance of soiling your career and reputation?

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    Jonathan Small

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  • Why Do You Want to Work Here? Here’s How You Can Ace the Question Every Time

    Why Do You Want to Work Here? Here’s How You Can Ace the Question Every Time

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    Job interviews are not exactly everyone’s idea of a good time. They can bring about stress, anxiety and a bit of nerves. However, stress often comes from a sense of being unprepared. So what if you discovered that being as prepared as possible could reduce your stress on the big day?

    Whether you’re a brand new job seeker or a seasoned professional, this article will walk you through the interview process, help you show potential employers why you want to work for their company and how to ace their questions every time.

    One of the toughest questions you’ll get is also probably the most obvious. Why do you want this job? Why are you interested? However straightforward the question seems, it can be surprisingly challenging to come up with a good answer.

    Should you focus on your career path and aspects of the company’s mission and business practices that resonate with your goals, such as eco-friendly products or community service initiatives? Or should you talk about something else entirely?

    There isn’t a cookie-cutter answer here. However, we will review tips to help you navigate the murky waters of the dreaded “why do you want to work for this company?” question.

    Related: Interviews Are a 2-Way Street: How to Make the Most of Them for Mutual Success

    Applying for the right position

    Before learning how to ace common interview questions, you should know how to apply for a job opening that is right for you.

    Work-life balance has been a hot topic lately, and a big part of that has to do with actually feeling fulfilled in your job. Applying for jobs that genuinely interest you is important because it will come through in the interview, and working in a job you enjoy does wonders for your mental health.

    Here are five points to consider when assessing if you’re applying for the proper position.

    1. Motive

    Money is essential. However, it should not be your sole reason for applying for a job.

    When you are solely driven by money, you may quickly feel unfulfilled with your work. When browsing job boards, look for jobs with a healthy balance of salary and something you genuinely find interesting.

    Related: How to Be Authentic in an Interview

    2. Passion

    Passion and motive go hand-in-hand. To determine whether or not you’re passionate about this potential position, ask yourself:

    • Will you look forward to telling your friends and family about this job?
    • Will you look forward to doing this job each day?
    • Do you care about the work you are doing?
    • Will the work stimulate you?

    3. Work-life balance

    The need for work-life balance varies from person to person. When applying for jobs, it is vital that you know yourself and what level of work-life balance you require.

    Most job descriptions will tell you the required hours and whether nights, weekends or untraditional hours are required. Keep those details in mind when making your decision.

    4. Work environment

    The work environment is another aspect that varies from person to person. As you consider what kind of work environment you’d like to experience, ask yourself:

    • Do you want an in-person, hybrid or remote job?
    • Do you prefer solo work or collaborative work with team members?
    • What kind of workload are you prepared to take on?
    • Does company culture matter to you? If so, does this company culture match your core values?

    You should answer these questions for yourself, but you can also ask more specific questions on this topic during your interview process. In addition, complete your due diligence by researching the job and company via sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn, where you can find job postings, salary calculations, company reviews and other relevant information.

    Related: How to Master Virtual Job Interviews

    5. Opportunities for growth

    Whether you are applying for a job at a small or large company, if your career goals involve growing with that business, you need to make sure there are opportunities. Sometimes, this can be difficult to tell simply by the job description, so you’ll have to ask follow-up questions in your interview.

    Some of the best questions to ask to find out if there are growth opportunities include the following:

    • What kind of mentorship opportunities, formal or informal, does the company provide?
    • Are there available opportunities for career development and skill development through this position?
    • What qualifications are required for promotion opportunities, and how can you work toward acquiring said qualifications in this position?
    • Could you provide an example of a senior role, its qualities and required skills?
    • What improvements would you like to see in your industry and at your current company?

    But one easy way to tell is by the job title. For example, if you are applying for a position called “assistant manager,” there is likely a position above it called “manager.” Look for hints during the job search to clue you in on growth opportunities.

    How to prepare for a job interview

    Once you’ve applied to a great job and scored an interview, it’s time to prep.

    Take a look at these tips and tricks to bring your A-game.

    Related: Job Interview Preparation Checklist

    1. Know the job

    At this point, you should know the job you want. “Knowing the job” includes in-depth research about the day-to-day responsibilities of the position, the characteristics of successful employees working that role and how you align with those work habits and personality traits.

    However, once you’ve secured an interview, you should take your knowledge of the job description one step further.

    The job description will likely guide the hiring manager’s questions, so you should be prepared to demonstrate how you can perform the job duties or show your performance history of similar previous job functions.

    Be prepared to answer situational questions about how you would react to a situation or examples of how you have handled similar scenarios.

    Situational questions: Examples and sample answers

    1. Describe a situation where you went above and beyond at a previous job.

    Answer: My boss was on vacation, and my team got an order for 500 additional shipments of XYZ. I regrouped and helped motivate the team, and we fulfilled the order ahead of schedule. The client then signed on to purchase more XYZ in the following year.

    2. Talk about a time you had to collaborate with a difficult coworker.

    Answer: One of my co-editors had a very different work style from my own. She was much laxer, whereas I preferred to follow the procedures to a tee. We collaborated to develop a new editorial protocol, which allowed us to turn around 50% more articles per week.

    In these questions, the best practice is to keep in mind a simple answer formula: problem, solution and benefit. If you can articulate how your work addressed the problem and the impact of your actions, you are more likely to impress interviewers.

    2. Know the company

    This is part of preparing for the big question. You’ll need to study and grow your knowledge of the company, including:

    • You should know the company’s story, background and founders.
    • You should understand the company’s mission statement and purpose.
    • You should have some general knowledge about the company, such as work examples or campaign history.

    This is a considerable part of preparedness. The company will want to know that you chose them on purpose, so be ready to show them you did.

    3. Know yourself

    During your interview, you must show confidence in your answers (even if you’re forcing your confidence through a layer of anxiety at that moment). The following are some aspects of yourself that you should be ready to share:

    • The specific personality traits and attributes that distinguish you from other candidates.
    • Your work history, track record and any gaps in your background.
    • Your particular work style.
    • Any strengths and weaknesses relevant to the position.

    Practice going over sample answers with yourself for job interview questions you might be asked.

    A good practice for discussing your strengths and weaknesses is another simple formula: mention a strength/weakness, then provide a story for context.

    Here are a few examples:

    • I’m a strong public speaker. My last position required me to give presentations at conferences such as X, Y and Z, and at each of these conferences, we closed sales contracts with multiple clients in attendance. I received multiple internal shout-outs while at my previous company and was chosen to serve as our media spokesperson for the XYZ product rollout.
    • One of my greatest weaknesses is that I don’t always express myself, even when I have strong feelings about a subject. However, I’ve recognized this limitation, and I’m working to grow. I’ve joined a local public speaking group to overcome my hesitancy to voice my thoughts, and I’m becoming more confident in expressing myself to others.

    4. Create questions

    Even though most of the interview will be about you, it’s essential to ask your interviewer about themselves and the company. You can certainly ask follow-up questions about anything you have learned during the interview, but you should also go in prepared.

    Consider questions like:

    • What are some expectations of this role, and what projects might I take on?
    • What are some challenges I might face in the role?
    • Can you tell me more about how the team functions and the chain of command?
    • What are some opportunities for growth?
    • What is your favorite part about working at this company?
    • What are you excited about for this company’s future?

    Related: 15 Interview Questions You Should Be Prepared to Answer This Month

    5. Send a thank you note

    Even though this won’t happen until after the interview, you should go in knowing that you’ll need to send a thank you note after. In the email, you should include the following:

    • Include an introduction.
    • Include three things you enjoyed or learned during the interview.
    • Include a call to action.
    • Include a sign-off.

    The big interview question: Why do you want to work here?

    You’ve snagged the job interview and prepared as much as possible, and now the time has come — interview day.

    The interview will likely start with questions like:

    • What can you tell me about yourself?
    • Can you tell us about your skill set?
    • Why should we hire you?
    • Can you tell us about a time when…?

    But the most critical question is one that is more about their company than you.

    Why do you want to work here?

    All of your preparation will pay off at this moment. Companies want to know that you have done your research by:

    • Look at the company’s website.
    • View company social media accounts.
    • Understand their mission and company values.

    Demonstrating your knowledge of their company shows that you care and have a genuine interest in the position. To show you have done your research, you should answer the question as precisely as possible.

    For example, don’t just say, “I love your company’s mission and think I’d be a great fit because I align with it.” Instead, get specific. Tell a relevant short story or give an example or give an exact answer about why their mission matters to you.

    Be specific by answering with something like:

    “I saw the campaign you did about X. That is something very near to my heart, and I would love to be a part of a company that values Y. I want to help continue the mission of X by Z.”

    Relate their mission to your values. Show them the connection between their company and you. If you can tell a story and create a relationship, you will ace the question every time.

    Bottom line? Interviews are tough. The market is full of competitive job candidates, and the process can be stressful. The best way to tackle interviews is to be as prepared as possible.

    When entering into an interview process, remember:

    1. Apply to the proper position for you.
    2. Prepare for the interview by doing your research.
    3. Know why that company matters to you, and show them.

    Now that you’ve got the rundown, it’s time to put yourself out there and snag a job offer.

    Looking for more advice to support your professional growth? Explore all of Entrepreneur’s vast and ever-growing wealth of helpful articles here

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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