Maintain eye contact with the interview as you answer his questions.
Companies ask certain interview questions to determine an applicant's intelligence, ambition and experience. Consequently, some interview questions are more common than others. Therefore, you should be well prepared to answer these common interview questions. Additionally, look the interviewer in the eye when answering questions as it makes your responses more credible. Keep your answers short and direct, but make sure you fully answer all questions. You should also sit up straight and relax.
How Would You Describe Yourself?
The interviewer does not want to hear your life's story with this question. Instead, keep your response related to your experience and the job for which you are interviewing. For example, tell the interviewer that you have five years of experience analyzing consumer research data if the job requires it. When the interviewer asks you to describe yourself, he is giving you an opportunity to match your skills and experience to the open position. Take advantage of the opportunity and make sure you provide examples of when you used certain required skills listed in the company's job description.
What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
This question can be a trap for many inexperienced job seekers. For example, a marketing research manager who mentions organizational skills as a weakness may cost himself the job. Marketing research managers need to be organized to complete various projects. Instead, if an interviewer asks you about your weaknesses, turn the weakness into a strength, as "USA Today" suggests. For example, tell the interviewer that your greatest weakness is expecting too much of others. Subsequently, tell the interviewer that you often work late and have high expectations for your employees. If you do answer the weakness question directly, mention something that is trivial. For example, say, "Filing tends to be tedious at times. However, I usually spend an hour each week updating all my files."
Do You Like Working With Others?
You need to know the nature of the position before answering this question. For example, if the job requires many hours of isolation, you do not want to say that you work best around others. However, most companies ask this question because their employees often work in team environments. Therefore, you should indicate that you work well with others and provide specific examples from past jobs.
What Are Your Salary Expectations?
The salary question can be another trick question. "USA Today" recommends that you deflect any salary questions back to the interviewer. For example, say, "I have a certain salary in mind. Do you have a salary in mind for this position?" The problem with answering a salary question directly is that you may undersell your experience. If you tell the interviewer you want $50,000 and the job pays $70,000, you may only get $50,000 if he offers you the job. Also, the interviewer may not even divulge the salary range for the job if you volunteer salary information.
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