“The Salary Question” – How much money do you want? :Best Answer for Job Interview Question

May also be phrases as, “What salary are you worth?”…or, “How much are you making now?”  This is your most important negotiation. Handle it wrong and you can blow the job offer or go to work at far less than you might have gotten.

BEST ANSWER:  For maximum salary negotiating power, remember these five guidelines:

1.    Never bring up salary.  Let the interviewer do it first.  Good salespeople sell their products thoroughly before talking price.  So should you.  Make the interviewer want you first, and your bargaining position will be much stronger.

2.    If your interviewer raises the salary question too early, before you’ve had a chance to create desire for your qualifications, postpone the question, saying something like, “Money is important to me, but is not my main concern.  Opportunity and growth are far more important.  What I’d rather do, if you don’t mind, is explore if I’m right for the position, and then talk about money. Would that be okay?”

3.    The #1 rule of any negotiation is:  the side with more information wins.  After you’ve done a thorough job of selling the interviewer and it’s time to talk salary, the secret is to get the employer talking about what he’s willing to pay before you reveal what you’re willing to accept.  So, when asked about salary, respond by asking, “I’m sure the company has already established a salary range for this position.  Could you tell me what that is?”  Or, “I want an income commensurate with my ability and qualifications.  I trust you’ll be fair with me.  What does the position pay?” Or, more simply, “What does this position pay?”

4.    Know beforehand what you’d accept.  To know what’s reasonable, research the job market and this position for any relevant salary information.  Remember that most executives look for a 20-25%$ pay boost when they switch jobs. If you’re grossly underpaid, you may want more.

5.    Never lie about what you currently make, but feel free to include the estimated cost of all your fringes, which could well tack on 25-50% more to your present “cash-only” salary.

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Where do you see yourself five (5) years from now? :Best Answer for Job Interview Question

One reason interviewers ask this question is to see if you’re settling for this position, using it merely as a stopover until something better comes along.  Or they could be trying to gauge your level of ambition.

If you’re too specific, i.e., naming the promotions you someday hope to win, you’ll sound presumptuous.  If you’re too vague, you’ll seem rudderless.

BEST ANSWER:   Reassure your interviewer that you’re looking to make a long-term commitment…that this position entails exactly what you’re looking to do and what you do extremely well.  As for your future, you believe that if you perform each job at hand with excellence, future opportunities will take care of themselves.

Example:  “I am definitely interested in making a long-term commitment to my next position.  Judging by what you’ve told me about this position, it’s exactly what I’m looking for and what I am very well qualified to do.  In terms of my future career path, I’m confident that if I do my work with excellence, opportunities will inevitable open up for me.  It’s always been that way in my career, and I’m confident I’ll have similar opportunities here.”

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Why should I hire you? :Best Answer for Job Interview Question

This is a killer question because so many candidates are unprepared for it.  If you stammer or adlib you’ve blown it.

BEST ANSWER:  By now you can see how critical it is to apply the overall strategy of uncovering the employer’s needs before you answer questions.  If you know the employer’s greatest needs and desires, this question will give you a big leg up over other candidates because you will give him better reasons for hiring you than anyone else is likely to…reasons tied directly to his needs.

Whether your interviewer asks you this question explicitly or not, this is the most important question of your interview because he must answer this question favorably in is own mind before you will be hired.  So help him out!  Walk through each of the position’s requirements as you understand them, and follow each with a reason why you meet that requirement so well.

Example:  “As I understand your needs, you are first and foremost looking for someone who can manage the sales and marketing of your book publishing division.  As you’ve said you need someone with a strong background in trade book sales.  This is where I’ve spent almost all of my career, so I’ve chalked up 18 years of experience exactly in this area.  I believe that I know the right contacts, methods, principles, and successful management techniques as well as any person can in our industry.”

“You also need someone who can expand your book distribution channels. In my prior post, my innovative promotional ideas doubled, then tripled, the number of outlets selling our books.  I’m confident I can do the same for you.”

“You need someone to give a new shot in the arm to your mail order sales, someone who knows how to sell in space and direct mail media.  Here, too, I believe I have exactly the experience you need.  In the last five years, I’ve increased our mail order book sales from $600,000 to $2,800,000, and now we’re the country’s second leading marketer of scientific and medical books by mail.”  Etc., etc., etc.,

Every one of these selling “couplets” (his need matched by your qualifications) is a touchdown that runs up your score.  IT is your best opportunity to outsell your competition.

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Why are you leaving (or did you leave) your previous Company? ? :Best Answer for Job Interview Question

Never badmouth your previous industry, company, board, boss, staff, employees or customers.  This rule is inviolable:  never be negative.  Any mud you hurl will only soil your suit.

Especially avoid words like “personality clash”, “didn’t get along”, or others which cast a shadow on your competence, integrity, or temperament.

BEST ANSWER:

(If you have a job presently)
If you’re not yet 100% committed to leaving your present post, don’t be afraid to say so.  Since you have a job, you are in a stronger position than someone who does not.  But don’t be coy either.  State honestly what you’d be hoping to find in a new spot.  Of course, as stated often before, you answer will all the stronger if you have already uncovered what this position is all about and you match your desires to it.

(If you do not presently have a job.)
Never lie about having been fired.  It’s unethical – and too easily checked.  But do try to deflect the reason from you personally.  If your firing was the result of a takeover, merger, division wide layoff, etc., so much the better.

But you should also do something totally unnatural that will demonstrate consummate professionalism.  Even if it hurts , describe your own firing – candidly, succinctly and without a trace of bitterness – from the company’s point-of-view, indicating that you could understand why it happened and you might have made the same decision yourself.

Your stature will rise immensely and, most important of all, you will show you are healed from the wounds inflicted by the firing.  You will enhance your image as first-class management material and stand head and shoulders above the legions of firing victims who, at the slightest provocation, zip open their shirts to expose their battle scars and decry the unfairness of it all.

For all prior positions:
Make sure you’ve prepared a brief reason for leaving.  Best reasons:  more money, opportunity, responsibility or growth.

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What are your greatest weaknesses ? :Best Answer for Job Interview Question

This is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for honesty, but an “F” for the interview.

PASSABLE ANSWER:  Disguise a strength as a weakness.

Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard.  I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”

Drawback:  This strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it's so widely used, it is transparent to any experienced interviewer.

BEST ANSWER:  (and another reason it's so important to get a thorough description of your interviewer's needs before you answer questions): Assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this position with excellence. Then, quickly review you strongest qualifications.

Example:  “Nobody's perfect, but based on what you've told me about this position, I believe I' d make an outstanding match. I know that when I hire people, I look for two things most of all. Do they have the qualifications to do the job well, and the motivation to do it well?  Everything in my background shows I have both the qualifications and a strong desire to achieve excellence in whatever I take on. So I can say in all honesty that I see nothing that would cause you even a small concern about my ability or my strong desire to perform this job with excellence.”

Alternate strategy (if you don't yet know enough about the position to talk about such a perfect fit):
Instead of confessing a weakness, describe what you like most and like least, making sure that what you like most matches up with the most important qualification for success in the position, and what you like least is not essential.

Example:  Let's say you're applying for a teaching position. “If given a choice, I like to spend as much time as possible in front of my prospects selling, as opposed to shuffling paperwork back at the office.  Of course, I long ago learned the importance of filing paperwork properly, and I do it conscientiously. But what I really love to do is sell (if your interviewer were a sales manager, this should be music to his ears.)

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What are your greatest strengths? :Best Answer for Job Interview Question

This question seems like a softball lob, but be prepared. You don't want to come across as egotistical or arrogant. Neither is this a time to be humble.

BEST ANSWER:  You know that your key strategy is to first uncover your interviewer's greatest wants and needs before you answer questions. And from Question 1, you know how to do this.

Prior to any interview, you should have a list mentally prepared of your greatest strengths. You should also have, a specific example or two, which illustrates each strength, an example chosen from your most recent and most impressive achievements.

You should, have this list of your greatest strengths and corresponding examples from your achievements so well committed to memory that you can recite them cold after being shaken awake at 2:30AM.

Then, once you uncover your interviewer's greatest wants and needs, you can choose those achievements from your list that best match up.

As a general guideline, the 10 most desirable traits that all employers love to see in their employees are:

1.            A proven track record as an achiever...especially if your achievements match up with the employer's greatest wants and needs.

2.            Intelligence...management "savvy".

3.            Honesty...integrity...a decent human being.

4.            Good fit with corporate culture...someone to feel comfortable with...a team player who meshes well with interviewer's team.

5.            Likeability...positive attitude...sense of humor.

6.            Good communication skills.

7.            Dedication...willingness to walk the extra mile to achieve excellence.

8.            Definiteness of purpose...clear goals.

9.            Enthusiasm...high level of motivation.

10.          Confident...healthy...a leader.

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Best Answer for Job Interview Question : Tell me about yourself ?

About 80% of all interviews begin with this “innocent” question. Many candidates, unprepared for the question, skewer themselves by rambling, recapping their life story, delving into ancient work history or personal matters.

BEST ANSWER:  Start with the present and tell why you are well qualified for the position. Remember that the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking for. In other words you must sell what the buyer is buying. This is the single most important strategy in job hunting.

So, before you answer this or any question it's imperative that you try to uncover your interviewer's greatest need, want, problem or goal.

To do so, make you take these two steps:

1.    Do all the homework you can before the interview to uncover this person's wants and needs (not the generalized needs of the industry or company)

2.    As early as you can in the interview, ask for a more complete description of what the position entails.  You might say: “I have a number of accomplishments I'd like to tell you about, but I want to make the best use of our time together and talk directly to your needs. To help me do, that, could you tell me more about the most important priorities of this position?  All I know is what I (heard from the recruiter, read in the classified ad, etc.)”

 Then, ALWAYS follow-up with a second and possibly, third question, to draw out his needs even more. Surprisingly, it's usually this second or third question that unearths what the interviewer is most looking for.

You might ask simply, "And in addition to that?..." or, "Is there anything else you see as essential to success in this position?:

This process will not feel easy or natural at first, because it is easier simply to answer questions, but only if you uncover the employer's wants and needs will your answers make the most sense. Practice asking these key questions before giving your answers, the process will feel more natural and you will be light years ahead of the other job candidates you're competing with.

After uncovering what the employer is looking for, describe why the needs of this job bear striking parallels to tasks you've succeeded at before. Be sure to illustrate with specific examples of your responsibilities and especially your achievements, all of which are geared to present yourself as a perfect match for the needs he has just described.

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