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Has this ever happened to you? I hope it’s not just me! You reach out to someone you know and respect by text, phone, email, smoke-signal or carrier pigeon for some input, doesn’t matter about what, and you either don’t hear back at all, or, they say, “why don’t you just look it up on the web?” with a slight air of displeasure for having been asked. For a while now, I’ve encountered this negative trend in interpersonal communication, both professional and personal. Sure, I could look “whatever” up on the ‘net, but I was seeking their opinion, input, perspective, judgement, not condescension.
So, I’m curious: Have people lost interest in helping those they know with simple queries? Do folks honestly believe the internet has the same perspectives as the individuals in your personal sphere? Yes, the internet is a great source for pretty much everything you might want to know, and there is certainly no shortage of opinions to go along with the wealth of both useful and worthless information. But something has been lost. It seems people … (read more: https://hanklondon.com/your-opinion-matters/)
Tough Interview Questions and Answers
Every few weeks or so we pose a question you might get asked during an interview and a suggestion on how you might formulate your answer.
This week’s question:
How have your past positions prepared you for this one?
Your response to this question could provide your interviewer with two perspectives: One, about your abilities, and the other, about your personality. The answer you provide should be balanced, providing an honest assessment of the skills you used on your previous job(s) and their perceived use with this potential employer, and – equally important – the attitude and confidence you convey while talking about yourself.
Certainly, most employers expect a little embellishment from applicants when it comes to touting their skills and abilities. In answering this question, the goal is to provide a clear picture of the relevance of your past experience to the job being applied for without sounding like an egomaniac.
Use PAR (Problem, Action, Result) statements to describe past situations that relate to the new job and the functions you are expected to perform. What is it about your experience, training, management style, leadership skills, industry knowledge and trend foresight that have prepared you for this new position? The examples you provide don’t have to be exact matches, but must still be close enough to convey the relevance between what you’ve done before and what you hope to be doing next.
Hyperbole by itself – telling your interviewer how great you are, how strong your skills are, how much experience you have – won’t convince an employer that your past makes you a good fit. But clearly explaining the applicability of your skills and experience in relationship to what that the employer needs done now could be the best way to convince them that your past has indeed prepared you for this job.
Good luck!
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To see previous installments of
Tough Interview Questions and Answers,
click here
(Most recent are at the bottom of the list.)
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