Be Prepared For These Tough Interview Questions

By Glenn Hughes

Some interviewers are tougher than others. It helps a great deal to know some of the questions that you are likely to be asked. This article details some of the most difficult and some tips that will help you to answer them. Fail to plan and plan to fail- more than just a buzz phrase- really good advice to get you through that tricky interview

Please tell me about yourself. One of the oldest questions in the interviewers armory but still used every day. Answer by finding out if they want to know about your personal or your professional life. If you are quaking inside, answer by starting to talk about your recent achievements and what these meant to you. Be positive, and focus on the job roles from your past most appropriate to this one. Be ready to answer this question, it's almost bound to come up

What interests you about this particular role? Make sure that you focus on what you can deliver for them. Not just a good tip in answering this question alone- show what you have done for people in the past, i.e. achieved and more importantly how much that potentially means for the new company

Tell me about the company that you used to work for. Flashing lights here right now- they are looking to see if you will bad mouth them. No matter what happened at that company, you must come across as positively as possible. Any negativity on your part will be seized upon as they are looking for the real reason why you left them. They are also looking to see if you can be trusted. Watch out for this question, it could trip you up

What sort of salary package are you expecting? Never answer this one directly- ask back what sort of salary that they were looking to pay. They are fishing, trying to see if they can get you at a cheap price. It isn't a good idea to discuss salary at an interview but in this case, they started the debate. Stay positive, ignore the churning in your stomach- they are interested in you or they wouldn't be asking

Is is always right to tell the truth? Great question, simple answer. Of course the answer is that you never lie. This is designed to take you off guard and to probe if you would actually lie. Never a good idea lying, sometimes though you can't tell someone the whole truth though. Be on your guard- an interviewer asking this question is good

What is your worst characteristic? Oh dear, a flashing red light- this is a trap. The answer is to focus on something incriminating- for example, I can be a bit of a perfectionist- I like to get things right and sometimes this can annoy people whose work is less than satisfactory - 31521

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