Smart Answers To Stupid Interview Questions

Liz Ryan
CEO and Founder, Human Workplace

Smart Answers to Stupid Interview
Questions
Sep 13 2014 27,050 450 193
A job interview is a weird experience. Sometimes you to go a job interview and meet
wonderful, sparky people you could talk with for hours. Other times you show up and
your first thought is "I wouldn't work in this toxic waste dump for ten million dollars."
The traditional interview format is a big part of the problem. Somebody came up with
the standard, lame interview script sixty or seventy years ago and it's still going
strong.
The standard interview script is brainless and insulting and it doesn't even do a good
job of separating the best candidates from the worst ones. Still, people who are
afraid to try new things don't dare deviate from it.
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What's your greatest weakness?
With all the talented candidates, why should we hire
you?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
It isn't the interviewer's fault that they ask such
thoughtless and uncreative questions. Somebody told them to. I wouldn't count out
an entire organization just because somebody uses some of these dog interview
questions, but if everybody in the joint is stuck in the same sixty-year-old interview-
script time warp, you may want to keep looking.
As a manager, you don't have to ask the standard, stupid job interview questions
when you interview candidates. Here are ten smarter questions you can use
instead.
As a job-seeker, you get to decide how to answer stupid job interview questions
when they come up. You can go the good-little-sheepie route and give the standard
answer, like this:
THEM: With all the talented candidates, why should we hire you?
YOU: Well, I'm hard-working and I've got a lot of experience, I'm loyal and thrifty and
never come late to work, and besides that I walk old ladies across the street.
People tell us all the time "I went to the interview and the words that came out of my
own mouth horrified me. I felt like a brown-noser and a suckup. I don't talk that way
in real life. I fell into the script and I couldn't climb out!"
We've all been there. You're likely to fall into the
good-little-sheepie job seeker script by accident
if you don't prepare yourself in advance. You can
get off the script and stay human in a job
interview, and you'll be happy if you do.
For starters, if you shake up the script and give
your interviewer an answer s/he wasn't
expecting, you'll force him or her to think. That's
good. You'll be more memorable that way, and if the interviewer is horrified that
you'd step out of the box, what does that tell you?
It tells you that you don't want that job anyway.
Here are our three stupid interview questions and a choice of two answers for each
one. The first answer is the standard sheepie answer, and the second one is for use
when your mojo is high and you feel like busting a frame and growing your muscles
a little.
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SHEEPIE ANSWER: "I'm a hard worker, and I can be too hard on
myself and other people when I think that either me or somebody
else could give a little more to a project."
HIGH-MOJO ANSWER: "I used to obsess about my weaknesses.
I used to think I had a million defects that needed correcting, and I read books and
took classes to try to improve on them.
Gradually I learned that it makes no sense for me to work on things
that I'm not great at, and it makes no sense for me to think of myself
as having weaknesses. These days I focus on getting better at
things I'm already good at -- graphic design, especially."
Stupid Interview Question: " With all the talented candidates,
why should we hire you?"
SHEEPIE ANSWER: "I've been working in this arena for sixteen
years and I've got a great track record."
HIGH-MOJO ANSWER: "That's what we're here to figure out, I
guess! I can't say that you should hire me.
There might be somebody else who's perfect for the job - you've met the other
candidates or will meet them, and of course you know more about the needs here
than I do.
I can say this - if this match is meant to be, both of us will know it."
Stupid Interview Question: " Where do you see
yourself in five years?"
SHEEPIE ANSWER: "Working hard here or in another Financial
Analyst role, with luck moving up to Senior Financial Analyst and
being more involved in strategic investments than I've been so far."
HIGH-MOJO ANSWER: "Exploring one of my passions,
undoubtedly -- maybe in Finance, or my interest in ecommerce or in an international
role. I have a lot of passions!"
You get to decide how far to turn the mojo dial in every interview. You
already know how it feels to sit in the chair and play the Good Little
J ob Seeker. What would happen if you stepped out of the box on your
next job interview, and played yourself?
Read Liz Ryan's column " The Truth About Business (A Secret
Message For Millennials)" on Forbes.com!
Our company is called Human Workplace. Our
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Our new 12-week virtual courses, including our
new course Extreme Career Makeover, begin on
Saturday, September 27th!
Learn about Extreme Career Makeover here. Read
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Vincent Costanzi Vincent Costanzi
Party Chief/Supervisor at DC Water Party Chief/Supervisor at DC Water
I was fortunate that I not only got to write the questions, I was actually lead for hiring I was fortunate that I not only got to write the questions, I was actually lead for hiring
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Alex Banayan
Author (Penguin Random House) and Venture
Associate (Alsop Louie Partners)
13 Quotes Every Entrepreneur
Needs To "Get" To Succeed
Sep 12 2014 104,776 935 162
It was J uly 2006.
Yahoo! had just offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion.
Peter Thiel, Facebooks first outside investor, thought the social networks board of
directors should at least consider the offer. But Mark Zuckerberg walked into the
board meeting and announced, Okay, guys, this is just a formality, it shouldnt take
more than 10 minutes. Were obviously not going to sell here.
Waitwhat?
Why was a 22-year-old CEO so quick to disregard a billion dollar offer? To me,
Zuckerbergs brash action makes no sense.
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sense.
Thiel explains why in #9 below. That, and 26 other need-to-know concepts, are all
direct quotes from Thiels new book coming out next week. But if you want to stay
ahead of the gameand see how well your entrepreneur instincts stack up against
Thielsread the quotes here first.
======================================================================
13 Quotes Every Entrepreneur Needs To" Get" To Succeed
1. Shallow men believe in luckStrong men believe in cause and effect. [via Ralph
Waldow Emerson]. [To Tweet this quote, cli ck here.]
2. Of the six people who started PayPal, four had built bombs in high school. [To
Tweet this quote, cl ick here.]
3. A startup is a team of people on a mission, and a good culture is just what that
looks like on the inside.
4. If your product requires advertising or salespeople to sell it, its not good
enough. [To Tweet this quote, cli ck here.]
5. Its always a red flag when entrepreneurs talk about getting 1% of a $100 billion
market. In practice, a large market will either lack a good starting point or it will be
open to competition so its hard to ever reach that %1. And even if you do succeed
at gaining a small foothold, youll have to be satisfied with keeping the lights on:
cut-throat competition means your profits will be zero.
6. The most contentious question in business is whether success comes from luck
or skillSteve J obs, J ack Dorsey, and Elon Musk, have created several multibillion-
dollar companies. If success was mostly a matter of luck, these types of serial
entrepreneurs probably wouldnt exist.
7. Forget minimal viable productsever since he started Apple in 1976, J obs saw
that you can change the world through careful planning, not by listening to focus
group feedback or copying others success. [To Tweet this quote, cli ck here.]
8. Long-term planning is often undervalued by our indefinite short-term world.
9. Founders only sell [their company] when they have no more concrete visions for
the company, in which case the acquirer probably overpaid; definite founders with
robust plans dont sell, which means the offer wasnt high enough. When Yahoo!
offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion in J uly 2006, I thought we should at least
consider it. But Mark Zuckerberg walked into the board meeting and announced:
Okay, guys, this is just a formality, it shouldnt take more than 10 minutes. Were
obviously not going to sell here.
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6 of 31 9/14/2014 2:22 PM
ticket.
11. Once you think that youre playing the lottery, youve already psychologically
prepared yourself to lose. [To Tweet this quote, click here.]
12. Every startup is small at the start. Every monopoly dominates a large share of
its market. Therefore, every startup should start with a very small market. Always err
on the side of starting too small.
13. Everybody has a product to sellno matter whether youre an employee, a
founder, or an investor. Its true even if your company consists of just you and your
computer. Look around. If you dont see any salespeople, youre the salesperson.
[To Tweet thi s quote, click here.]
======================================================================
What Did You Think?
How many of those concepts did you get?
Which ones did you already know?
And which ones do you disagree with?
If you learned something valuable from these
quotes, reading Peter Thiel's book as a whole is
a hundred times better experience.
Theres an idea I once read from Mark Cuban,
the billionaire entrepreneur. He said that when
he was starting his career, he read every book
about successful people he could. Even though
he was broke and living on his friends couch, he
spent more money than anyone thought logical
on those books. He figured that, if he got just
one million-dollar idea from reading those
books, years from now, it would all be worth it.
To me, Peter Thiels new book Zero to One is easily worth it. (For more on the book,
click here.)
======================================================================
Alex Banayan is the author of a highly anticipated business book
being released by Crown Publishers (Random House, Inc.) The
book chronicles his five-year quest to track down Bill Gates, Lady
Gaga, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, and a dozen more of the
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To get exclusive content from the book and the latest from Alex's adventures, click
here to join his Inner Circle email community.
--
(Photo Credit: International Business Times.)
Vladimir Ninov
Sales & Marketing Consultant, Social Media Expert,
Entrepreneur
CREATING IRRESISTIBLE
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Susan Banks Susan Banks
PhD candidate in human services PhD candidate in human services
How is quote #4 correct or right? Through advertising people become informed of the How is quote #4 correct or right? Through advertising people become informed of the
products that are available to them. Nothing could be sold with out advertising it. products that are available to them. Nothing could be sold with out advertising it.
Like Like Reply Reply(1) (1) 25 minutes ago 25 minutes ago
Dorian R Kominek Dorian R Kominek
CEO at Dorian Inc. CEO at Dorian Inc.
Especially in light of number 13... Especially in light of number 13...
Like Like 22 minutes ago 22 minutes ago
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IF THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST, THEN THE MAGIC IS IN
INCENTIVE OFFER THE SQUEEZE PAGE.
When people land on your squeeze page, there are a few important components
that work together to either pull in visitors, or turn them away.
The first of which is your headline, bullet points and overall design.
But theres another incredibly important component that works towards engaging
your visitors and enticing them into becoming confirmed subscribers, and for many
new email marketers its ultimately one of the things they tend to overlook.
Of course, were talking about your incenti ve offer!
Otherwise referred to as a opt in bribe, this offer needs to instantly appeal to those
visiting your page.
In order to create an incentive that will truly
connect with your target audience, you need
to survey your market and understand what
they are interested in, and what they really
need.
Evaluating your market is very easy to do, in
fact, you can analyze your target audience in
a matter of a few minutes, and be able to
come up with an incenti ve that theyll find
absolutely irresistible. Depending on your
niche, you could begin to survey open discussions and conversations by joining
related community boards and forums.
NOT ONLY ARE FORUMS INCREDIBLE TOOLS AT HELPING
YOU DEFINE WHATS IMPORTANT TO YOUR MARKET, BUT
OFTEN TIMES YOULL BE ABLE TO GENERATE FRESH IDEAS
FOR FOLLOW UP PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BASED
AROUND EXISTING DEMAND.
And thats important. You really want your incentive offer to represent your
marketing goals. The first offer draws in subscribers, and then follow up offers
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9 of 31 9/14/2014 2:22 PM
This means that your incentive offer
MUST be very relevant, and targeted
towards what the majority of your
market would be interested in.
Another great way to survey your
market is to become an active
member of popular social media
sites, including Twitter and Facebook.
Not only will you be privy to industry
changes, but youll be able to keep a pulse on your market and determine what
types of products and services are a good fit.
Never assume that your market consists of one specific segment, but instead, take a
closer look to evaluate the many different groups within your audience.
For example, when I created a newsletter around the work at home industry, I knew
that there were people from many different backgrounds,and while they were all
interested in finding legitimate work from home, they weren't all interested in the
same type of work at home job.
You want your incentive offer to be targeted towards the majority of your market,
but also be flexible enough so that it appeals to everyone.
I hope you enjoyed reading my article.
I will appreciate i f you l ike it, share it and comment i t.
Check out some of my other articles here.
Follow me at: bg.linkedin.com/in/vladimirninov/
Check my other trending articles on Pulse:
Success: Dreaming i s not enough
How to Expand your Social Media Presence Quickly
The Power of Twi tter
3 tips to get your Crowdfunding proj ect funded
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Katy Bruce
Executive Technical Recruiter at CyberCoders
I J ust Got Hired. Here's How I Did It!
Sep 12 2014 67,595 1,027 587
Hi Everyone!
I felt like I owed you all a follow-up to the thousands of comments and emails and
personal messages I received in regards to my first article "I J ust Got Fired."
Publishing my first article has been a learning experience in and of itself. But most
J orge Torres J orge Torres 22
New Hires Human Resources Coordinator at Schneider Electric New Hires Human Resources Coordinator at Schneider Electric
Email in Profile - Lets Connect!! Email in Profile - Lets Connect!!
23 million network =) 23 million network =)
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RAKESH CHANANA*INDIA DIRECTOR PARMARTH PROPERTY J UNCTION RAKESH CHANANA*INDIA DIRECTOR PARMARTH PROPERTY J UNCTION
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forget that we are all human beings. As simple as that. We have feelings, we have
hearts, we have passion, we want to be successful. Generally speaking, we all want
the same things in life. So why do we make it so hard on ourselves?
Most of the questions I received were in regards to my new position:
"How did you find a new job so quickly?" was a popular one. Well, I'm going to
tell you. And hopefully this will resonate with a few folks out there and give them the
confidence they need in themselves to get back in the game.
First step- apply, apply, appl y! Make sure you are qualified for the position of
course, but the more jobs you apply to, the better chances you have of getting an
interview. It sounds simple and you may be thinking "duh." But you'd be surprised at
how many people don't do this. Also, make sure your most updated resume is up on
all the major job boards. In today's world, there are a ton of great tools for applicants
and 99% of them are free. Use your resources!
Second step- I love to interview. I LOVE it. Being in staffing for over 3 years has
given me the ability to talk for hours and hours about how wonderful people are and
why they should hire them. When I flip it for myself, I do the exact same thing. You
have to be confident. That is an absolute must. Confident and proud of your
accomplishments. Who doesn't love talking about themselves? It's the one thing we
should all be great at. But be honest as well.The first thing I told my new manager
was that I was fired from my last job. The job market is picking back up and there is
a lot of competition out there. If you don't believe that you can get the job, neither
will the person hiring you.
During the interview - be prepared and ask questions! Don't be afraid to interview
the manager that is sitting across from you. I've learned that you need to make
expectations crystal clear on both ends. I wish I had done that...so now I will always
ask. This is your open forum with the person who may be your potential boss. Take
it all in and be as detailed as possible. And be yourself! Let your personal ity
shi ne.
Third Step- ASK FOR THE JOB! It's amazing to me how simple yet effective this is.
At the end of the interview, always ask what the next step is. Be bold. Respectful of
course, but bold. This is your time "to close." Because really, you're selling yourself
:) Tell them how excited you are. Tell them you want the job.They may not have an
exact answer for you, but they should have a good idea of whether or not they want
to move forward. It might sound scary, but you'll feel so much better knowing you
covered every detail.
Fourth Step- Follow-up. Always, always, always send a thank you! In today's
world, that is usually an email. Follow-up with everyone you interviewed with that
same day. It shows you are taking the position seriously and that you want to work
there.
Fifth Step- Lather, Rinse, and Repeat. Finding a job is hard. We all know that. It
can be mind-numbing. It can make you think life is unfair and there is no hope. It can
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Above al l - Don't gi ve up! Practice makes perfect. The more you apply, the
more you interview, the more offers you get - the better you'l l be! Embrace it.
Enj oy it. Learn from it.
Thi s is Job Hunting 101! Nothing I'm saying here is new. It is a tried and true
method and in my experience it works. This was a refresher course - a reminder that
good old fashion job hunting methods and hard work can increase your chances of
getting a new job. I suggest doing these things while also constantly networking. Put
yourself out there and be accessible.
I know everyone out there who is unemployed has the power to get a new job. I
know you can do it. I believe in you. But you must first believe in yourself.These are
my opinions and views. Again, it's not perfect. I am taking all of this from personal
experience in the hopes that it may be useful to you. If it's not, oh well. Move on. No
need to write anything negative. I seriously only read the positive comments :)
Waste your energy elsewhere please.
And if you need help: I'm a Recrui ter! This is what I do. And I want to help. My
new job is going well and I am happy. I have a lot to prove, but I'm up for the
challenge. I specialize i n Direct Hire IT jobs across the US. Anything al ong the
lines of tech, I am your gal. This is my only focus right now. Unfortunately, I do not
have current knowledge of the relocation process to the US for work. I am unable to
assist with that. I do help clients with hard to fill orders, so don't hesitate to reach
out! The resources and technology I have are phenomenal and I am really excited
about the future.I hope you are too.
**I love all of the emails I've gotten! Thank you. Please remember I am one person
with a brand new job. My time to reply is slightly limited. I am honored that you like
what I write and want my advice. I am far from a professional writer. This has been a
whirlwind experience! I will hopefully reply in due time. I wish you all the best!**
Written by
Katy Bruce
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Liz Ryan

CEO and Founder, Human Workplace

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