The best answers to job interview questions are the
answers that not only address the specific issue that
the question asks, but also the secondary, secret
question that is not openly asked. For example, the
common interview question of “where do you see
yourself professionally in five years?” is a
superficial question about a candidate’s career plans.
But beneath the surface, this question is really
asking a lot of other questions as well, like “Are you
stable? Do you really want to be in this business? Are
you ambitious enough to work hard for us? Are you in
this job for the long haul? Are you the kind of person
who sets long term goals?” Knowing what the question
is really asking really helps you answer it in the
most effective and productive way.
You can do a better job giving these answers to job
interview questions when you know as much as possible
about the job that you are being interviewed for. That
gives you a much clearer sense of what is being asked,
why, and what the desired response should be. To get
this information you need, the secret is research. You
can do some of this research, by looking at published
and online pieces about the target company. But this
research should be supplemented by research done in
person, by asking people who have worked in that
company or industry before. These people can give a
more accurate and informal sense of how things really
work, and what characteristics, attributes and results
the company really wants in is employees.
More Answers to Job Interview Questions
When you know what the job requires, and what the
company wants you can give your answers to job
interview questions more strategically. Essentially,
you will answer the spoken question that you are
asked, and also answer the unspoken question, which is
“do you have the experience, characteristics and
attributes that we are looking for?” The key to
convincingly answering this question is having plenty
of examples and stories of times when you have
exhibited the desired characteristics, shown the
desired attributes or performed the required actions.
If the interviewer prompts you to provide these
experiences, then eagerly do so, as you have prepared
and practiced to do. If you are not specifically asked
to provide these experiences, do so anyway.
Answers to job interview questions which go above and
beyond the specifically asked question are welcomed by
the interviewer if they address and satisfactorily
answer the kinds of secondary, hidden, real questions
in that interviewer’s mind. As a general rule, prove
the situation that you exhibited the valued behavior,
the actions that you took to exhibit the valued
behavior and the positive results that that valued
behavior obtained. The more you can make those
elements match the same elements in the target job the
better your answers to job interview questions.
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