Being Prepared is the Best Way to Deal with Hard Interview Questions

It appears that now than ever before college students are filling out online job applications following graduation with anticipation of getting a job interview. Before students graduate college they need to have an extraordinary resume. Most colleges offer some type of resume writing seminar and students should be able to write a good resume most of the time. With that being said, the first step of getting a job interview includes having a great cover letter and an extraordinary resume.

Preparation is the key for answering hard interview questions once a job interview has been scheduled. A good amount of people do keep this in mind and prepare for answering hard interview questions. A lot of people prepare by practicing responding to interview questions so that they can sound confidence while answering them. Because the job market is very competitive with the current economic climate, employers have developed a way to separate applicants to find the brightest stars. Companies will ask interview questions that are tricky, which will make job applicants nervous and be hard to answer.

Hard Interview Questions You Can Expect

We will take a closer look at some hard interview questions you could be asked and what your response should be:

What is your biggest weakness? – Of course nobody wants to answer this question. Why answer a question that reflects negatively on you? Be clear and confident in communicating to the potential employer what you feel your biggest weakness is. Use this simple strategy: Turn a negative into a positive. Explain how you made your biggest weakness into a goal to overcome and how you did it.

Have you ever had time that you didn’t agree with a supervisor or college professor? – How did you resolve the conflict? When you answer this question, make sure you don’t reveal to the interviewer that you hold a grudge against your former supervisor or professor. You want to keep everything positive as can be with an interview. Never say anything bad about your former employer or teachers. To answer this question accurately, you need to display that you are able to see the other person’s view in the disagreement, consider all options and then act logically. That is what the potential employer is looking for. The potential employer really wants to know how you handled yourself and the situation.

How would friends, employers, and professors describe you? – This is a good time to incorporate some of your key strengths and skills into your answer. i.e. Passionate, Driven. Inform the job interviewer that you have references for their review to support your comments. By the way, LinkedIn.com is a great tool for references.

What motivates you to be successful? – This question is normally asked to see how driven you are to be successful for the position that you are interviewing for. There no correct or incorrect answers. Obviously, in order to answer this question, you need to first write down what motivates you professionally and think of some examples that display these attributes.

You have no experience. Why should I hire you? – You need to be persuasive. Mention your ability to overcome various challenges. Also, mention how you increased your knowledge through education, internships and your past employers. Explain how your core competencies would have a positive impact on the organization’s bottom line.