Best Answers to the 201 Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions Other books by Matthew J. DeLuca How to Find a Job in 90 Days or Less: A Realistic Action Plan for Finding the Right Job Fast, 1995 Best Answers to the 201 Most Frequently Asked Interview Questions Matthew J. DeLuca McGraw-Hill New York San Francisco Washington, D.C. Auckland Bogota Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto McGraw-Hill V A Division of TheMcGraw*HillCompanies Copyright ( 1997 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 18 19 20 QWF/QWF 0 7 6 5 4 3 ISBN 0-07-016357-X The sponsoring editor for this book was Betsy N. Brown, the editing supervisor was Penny Linskey, and the production supervisor was Suzanne W. B. Rapcavage. It was set in Palatino by Inkwell Publishing Services. McGraw-Hill books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more information, please write to the Director of Special Sales, McGraw-Hill, 11 West 19th Street, New York, NY 10011. Or contact your local bookstore. Alt This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper containing W a minimum of 50% recycled, de-inked fiber. Contents Preface vii List of Questions ix 1. Introduction: What This Books Does for You 1 2. Tips on Communication: Talking Is Not Communicating 11 3. Are You an Open Book? How Much Do I Need to Disclose? 21 4. Knowing the Job, the Organization, and Your Interviewer: What Are You Getting Yourself into? 36 5. Small Talk Questions: Breaking the Ice 51 6. Personal Questions: Who Are You? 60 7. Educational Questions: What Do You Know? 78 8. Experience Questions: What Have You Done? 90 v Vi Contents 9. Behavior Questions: How Are Your People Skills? 113 10. Stress Questions: Can You Take the Heat? 129 11. Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions: How Can You Control the Interview? 145 12. Illegal Questions: What You Shouldn't Have to Answer (But May Have To) 151 13. Your Turn: Questions You Should Raise. What Should You Know Before the Interview Is Over? 170 14. Summing Up: Now What? 175 Index 181 Preface This book is intended to be used to enhance your job search efforts either as a stand-alone product or in combination with How to Find a Job in 90 Days or Less, also by Matt DeLuca. The emphasis of this book is on the dynamics of the interview-an essential component of any job search effort. How to Find a Job in 90 Days or Less takes a broader approach and emphasizes the steps required to launch a successful job hunting campaign and to take it to its successful conclusion. The approach of both books is practical and hands-on. You should do more than just read the book. Use it by practicing its suggestions-do what it asks you to do with a friend, family member, or colleague. Practice answering the questions peppered throughout the book, not so that you memorize the answers and recite them by rote, but rather so that you can listen to yourself and, in the process, determine what works and what doesn't. The result is that, when you go to the interview and are asked these questions or others like them, you will be totally prepared and effective. But perhaps the interview is in the morning, and this is the first time you have had to look for a job in years. The author has made an attempt to help someone like you who needs to fly through the book and get help fast. Look for questions with a star (igr) next to them. These questions, I feel, are the most likely to be asked and will help you to be the most prepared in the shortest time-regardless of what questions are actually asked during the interview. vii viii Preface Acknowledgments Any book requires the support and assistance of a variety of individuals that, in combination, lead to the completion of the project. At the top of my list is my extremely talented colleague, friend, and wife, Nanette, who is becoming a more essential element of these projects with each project undertaken. Although not always in agreement, she certainly provides invaluable assistance in taking my ideas and making them a coherent and complete manuscript. Also to be mentioned are Lisa Wolf, a terrific professional and a great fan, as well as Palma Mitchell, a solid human resource expert and a lot more. Also to be mentioned are the executives and employees at a unique organization-Titan Sports, Inc.-in particular Vince and Linda McMahon, as well as Dawn Lyon, all of whom have been great to work with and have helped me to gain additional insight on many job searches from a recruiter's perspective in a most challenging environment. Last let me mention my friends and colleagues at New York University, among whom I want to mention Lynn Johnson and Ken Coleman (and the deceased LeVaun Eustice, before them), who have provided me with a great educational setting in which to grow professionally and an ongoing forum to develop new approaches to a variety of human resource issues, including recruiting, and test them in the marketplace. Last, let me thank the people at McGraw-Hill for all their interest and attention. At the top of the list is Philip Ruppel for guiding me through this aspect of my career and for what has become my sixth book. Thanks to Betsy Brown for, one more time, taking me through the steps from book concept and proposal to its successful conclusion. And to Fred Dahl for a painstaking editing of the manuscript. MATTHEW J. DELUCA List of Questions Ž3.1 What were your positions, rates of pay, dates of employment, name, title of supervisors for the past year(s)? (data) 25 3.2 How did you get your last job? 25 Ž3.3 What is the reason you left/are planning to leave organization? 26 3.4 How did you hear about this position? 26 3.5 Have you received any other job offers? What other organizations or positions are you considering? 26 3.6 What do you do with your spare time? 26 3.7 What are you doing now to attain a goal you have set for yourself? 27 Ž3.8 What is your current salary? 27 3.9 Have you ever been denied a salary increase? 28 3.10 Were you ever asked to take a pay cut? Describe the circumstances. 28 *3.11 Have you ever been asked to resign? 28 *3.12 Were you ever fired? Describe the circumstances. 29 3.13 Describe a few situations where your work was criticized. 30 ix