Tips for tackling tough interview questions
Interviewers often raise questions that job candidates don’t really want to answer. Especially when it comes to the tough questions, it’s important that candidates plan for their answers and don’t go into too much detail. MedZilla asks the experts to offer these and other tips for handling those tough interview questions without losing a chance at the job.
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Tips for tackling tough
interview questions
Marysville, WA (PRWEB)September 26, 2003-- The
interview process is stressful for job applicants—even if it goes smoothly. The
interview gets challenging when job applicants find themselves having to answer
tough questions.
“Why did you leave your last job?” is an easy question
for someone who was part of a massive layoff. But in the rare instance that a
person was fired for cause, the applicant can find himself in the “hot seat.” A
long gap in employment can also sometimes be a problem. Some have perfectly
logical reasons for the gap; others do not. “There are things that job
candidates can do to smooth over the rough spots,” says Frank Heasley, PhD,
President and CEO of MedZilla.com, a leading Internet recruitment and
professional community that targets jobseekers and HR professionals in
biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and science. “In fact, it’s often not
so much the issue but how the candidate comes across when explaining
it.”
Tip: Be ready for the tough questions
Know the tough
questions are coming, says Heath Shackleford, senior account executive with
Ketchum Public Relations in Chicago.
Shackleford suggests that job
applicants anticipate the tough questions--the five or six things “that you’re
scared to death that they’re going to ask you when you walk in the door.” Think
of a worst-case scenario; then plan your response. Seek input from references
and colleagues you trust about what to address and how to address
it.
Tip: Create a resume that helps avoid tough questions
Carla
Rosen, PHR, manager, at Vandover, a career management and relocation transition
company, in St. Louis, says that the resume should be designed to minimize the
visibility of potential negative issues that could surface. For example, gaps in
work history can be visually minimized by using years and not months and years,
she says.
Tip: Address tough issues head on or wait to be
asked?
Experts disagree about whether to address potential trouble spots
even if the interviewer doesn’t bring up the issues.
“I think the best
piece of advice that I have for someone is that if you have a situation that
ended badly--if you have a big gap on your resume (anything like that)--come
clean the first chance you get and be the one to address it,” Shackleford says.
“If you wait and the interviewer brings it up, you’re in a defensive position
and in a state where you look like you’re trying to avoid the topic
altogether.”
Joseph Terach, cofounder, Resume Deli, an online resume and
cover letter revamp service at www.resumedeli.com, disagrees. He says candidates who have
been terminated for cause remain tight-lipped, never saying, unless pressed,
that they were fired.
It’s very uncommon that an interviewer will ask
directly if you were fired from your last job, he says.
Don’t make
excuses; get to the point and move on
Should a job candidate be pressed
to answer questions that might not put the candidate in the best light, James L.
Wright, president, Radican Staffing, a technical staffing company in Providence,
RI, says the candidate should answer them directly and not avoid the questions.
“If you sound like you’re making an excuse, they’ll pick up on it,” he
says.
Experts agree that shorter answers are better than longer ones,
when it comes to negative topics.
Tip: Turn potential negatives into
positives
For example, suppose you don’t have any experience as a
pharmaceutical representative. Terach says to consider leaving completely
unrelated jobs off your resume when targeting your resume to an employer.
Rather, focus on those areas that have some connection. Maybe the person going
for the job as a pharmaceutical rep has experience in retail sales.
Alternatively, if the position requires management skills, a management post in
any capacity might look good to the interviewer.
It’s getting more common
to see gaps in employment, experts say, especially given the topsy-turvy
economy. The key, Terach says, is to focus on how what you did during that gap
that would benefit your career. Training, skill development, going back to
school, authoring a book, volunteer work in the industry—all might impress the
interviewer. The problem arises when you’ve wasted time.
Tip: Don’t lie
(but don’t overdo the truth)
Wright has worked with people who have been
fired for what they consider miscommunications or misunderstandings. Wright
counsels many of them to be upfront because most corporations and governmental
agencies will find out. What a person in the situation can do to soften the blow
is to briefly say what happened and then give examples of people in the
corporate culture that understood the person’s side and would be happy to
provide a reference. (Make sure you know they’ll give you references,
first.)
Even a sales rep that didn’t meet his quota and was fired might
have a reasonable explanation. Some companies, Wright says, misrepresent their
products and lead sales people on to think they’ll make big money when in fact
the product is not what they say it is. Explain this to a sales manager and
he’ll probably understand. “That’s part of the culture,” Wright says. “It’s
understanding your audience [interviewer].”
Telling the truth is
important, Wright says, because the interview process generally involves talking
with several people. Your story has to stay consistent.
Tip: Never, ever
bad mouth your previous employer
Wright says avoid “telling stories”
about your former employer. Interviewers don’t want to hear stories. If they
want to hear more, they can always ask another question.
Mary Flynn, who
is an executive coach and holds HR workshops, does a live, call-in radio show in
Orlando, Fla., called “Mary Flynn: Your Personal Career Coach.” She says she
often hears from people who begin badmouthing their employers without realizing
it. “We think we’re defending our position. We’re over apologizing or defending.
Before we know it we’re making critical remarks,” she says.
A caller
recently expressed his concern about being able to explain why he was fired
without criticizing his boss. After exploring the issue, Flynn found the man was
fired because he wouldn’t “fix” the financial numbers a certain way. She
suggested that he simply say it was an integrity issue and that it took the
employer and job applicant a while to recognize that they have very different
styles. “The important thing is not to go on about it and not berate the
company,” she says. “[If the interviewer presses on, say:] “I’m not at liberty
to talk about it but found it difficult to stay in that situation.”
Tip:
Don’t get flustered – nobody has a perfect resume
Wright says that it’s
getting more common to see things such as frequent job changes and employment
gaps. Reasons might include the past lure of startups, competition for shortages
of professionals in key industries and a faltering economy. Therefore, employers
are less likely to perceive these as negatives if candidates give logical
reasons for the job changes or gaps. Wright recommends that candidates have
their answer planned—whether it was to pursue a career goal, try a startup or
look for a better work environment—and then communicate it
succinctly.
“Especially in biotech, Pharma and healthcare, job candidates
are often in the driver’s seat—they are in demand. In an interview, the keys are
to realize that honesty pays off, as long as you know the rules: An interview is
a two-sided conversation. Minimize the negatives by planning your answers and
make them brief and professional. Don't be afraid to answer a question with a
question of your own. Don’t let the answers you give turn into bigger issues,
and remember that how you answer a question is sometimes more important than
what you actually say.” says Dr. Heasley.
About
MedZilla.com
Established in mid 1994, MedZilla is the original web site to
serve career and hiring needs for professionals and employers in biotechnology,
pharmaceuticals, medicine, science and healthcare. MedZilla databases contain
about 9,000 open positions and 13,000 resumes from candidates actively seeking
new positions. These resources have been characterized as the largest, most
comprehensive databases of their kind on the web in the industries
served.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/9/prweb81668.htm