You can’t clam up. And you don’t want to stutter and stammer. So what’s a job seeker to do?
 

The ‘Future’ Question
 
Otherwise known as the “big picture” question, the future question goes something like this: “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
 
The best tactic: Talk about your values.
 
Don’t get too detailed about your specific career plan. Instead, discuss things that are important to you professionally and how you plan to achieve them. If growth is a goal, mention that. You can also talk about challenge, another value that employers prize in their employees.
 
The ‘Salary’ Question
 
Most people will tell you that whoever answers this question first loses. But that’s not necessarily true.
 
When an interviewer asks your salary requirement, try first to gently deflect the question by inquiring about the salary for the position.
 
If the interviewer presses you for a number, give a range. To decide on a range, think about the salary you want, your salary at your most recent position and the industry-standard salary for the job.
 
The bottom line: The salary question is one of the most important, so you should prepare for it in advance and plan what to say.
 

 
The ‘Why’ Question
 
There’s a fine line between boastful and confident. And you need to learn it.
 
When an interviewer asks you why they should hire you, you’re going to have speak confidently and honestly about your abilities. But you should avoid sounding overly boastful.
 
Aim for earnest and prepare by practicing. That’s right: Stand in front of the mirror and acknowledge your abilities and accomplishments to your reflection. Tell yourself: I have a very strong work ethic. I have integrity. I have excellent industry contacts. I aggressively pursue my goals.
 

 
It’s sometimes hard to praise yourself, but after a few sessions you’ll sound sincere.
 

The Seemingly Silly Question
 
If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? What if you were a car? Or an animal?
 
These type of questions can bring your interview to a screeching halt.
 
First, don’t panic. Pause and take a deep breath. Then remind yourself that there’s no “right” answer to these questions. The job isn’t hinging on whether you choose to be a spruce versus an oak.
 
Interviewers usually ask these questions to see how you react under pressure and how well you handle the unexpected. It’s not so important what type of tree (or car, or animal) you choose as that you explain your choice in a way that makes you look favorable.
 
So, be a spruce — because you want to reach new heights in your career. Or be an oak — because you plan to put down roots at the company. Either way, you’ll get it right.
 
By Caroline Levchuck

Job seekers stress over landing an interview. Then they stress over preparing for it. And then they stress over what to wear, what to say, if the interviewer will like them and more.

But the worst stress of all often occurs during the interview. This is the stress that can cause you to blow it. It can make you freeze, panic, chatter aimlessly, lose your train of thought or perspire profusely.
So how can job seekers keep cool when it counts? Relax. A few simple techniques can help calm frayed nerves and sooth interview jitters.

Timing is everything: Don’t cause yourself undue stress before a big interview.

Arrive about 10 minutes before the interview is scheduled to begin.

If you arrive too early, you’ll sit and wait and worry. And if you arrive too late, you may find yourself racing in the door, your heart already pounding from a last-minute dash.

A ten-minute, pre-interview break will give you an opportunity to catch your breath and acclimate to your surroundings. It’s enough time, but not too much time.

Picture This

You can make your dream a reality. Use your imagination to stay calm during a job interview.

Visualization is a relaxation technique in which you create a mental image of a stressful or challenging situation. Then you imagine yourself succeeding in the situation. By doing so, you’re mentally preparing to handle the event in real life.

You can practice visualization in the days, hours or even minutes before an interview. Simply close your eyes and breathe deeply. Picture yourself greeting the interviewer confidently and answering tough questions with ease.

Practice succeeding in your imagination, and soon you’ll be doing it in reality.

Relax

A relaxed job candidate is a confident job candidate.

Show the interviewer that you’re calm, composed and in command during an interview. He’s likely to assume that you’ll be rock-solid on the job too.

Use these tips to stay relaxed during an interview:

* Breathing deeply and slowly (and quietly, of course).
* Sit up straight and don’t cross your legs or arms.
* Speak slowly and pause for breath often.
* Keeps your hands and jaw relaxed; no clenching.
* Smile — it really is contagious!

Pause, Don’t Panic

In every interview, there comes a moment that doesn’t go according to plan. There’s an awkward silence. You stumble over your words. You flub a tough question.

Don’t panic. Now’s the time to put your relaxation skills into overdrive.

It’s much easier to control fear and panic as it starts to build than to calm yourself down once they’ve begun to spiral out of control.

When you feel yourself starting to panic and lose focus, pause. Tell yourself silently that you can do this. Take a deep breath. Refocus. And then resume interviewing.
A quick ten-second pause can be all you need to regain your composure and get back in control. And the interviewer likely won’t even notice.

By Caroline Levchuck

Your manager can matter more than money, title or benefits. People don’t always quit jobs, they sometimes quit bosses. Many workers leave a position because they’re unhappy with their bosses.

On the other hand, if you genuinely like and respect your boss, your job can be rewarding, fulfilling and even fun. But how can you ensure that you and your potential boss will get along?

While there are no guarantees, you can often recognize a boss who’s right for you — if you ask the right questions.

Your Ideal Employee

Do you want to know what your potential manager will expect from you?

Ask her, “What’s your ideal employee like?”

If her ideal employee works long hours on a regular basis, expect to do the same.

If her ideal employee is someone who never questions procedure, don’t plan to arrive and immediately implement new ideas.

If her ideal employee works independently, rest assured that you won’t be micro-managed.

You’re likely to be happier on the job if you and your potential manager have similar working styles. After all, everyone deserves a manager who thinks that they’re the ideal employee.

The Skinny on the Staff

You can tell a lot about your potential manager from his staff.

Ask him, “Can you tell me about the people I’d be working with? How long have you worked with them?”

Pay attention to how well your potential boss seems to know his staff. Can he list their individual accomplishments? Is he proud of them?

Note his tone and energy when he talks about his team. Does he sound upbeat and positive? Or is there a hint of frustration or disappointment in his voice?

Also note how long his staff has worked with him. High turnover can be a red flag, and happy employees are more likely to stay put.

Results and Rewards

Do you want to excel on the job? If so, then you need to know how a potential manager defines excellence.

Ask her, “How do you measure success on the job?”

You may be accountable to complete projects to deadline and under budget. Or perhaps you’ll need to reach a certain benchmark in your performance, for example a dollar value in revenue or a percentage of satisfied customers.

You should also ask about the typical career path for an employee who successfully meets his goals. After all, you want to work for a manager who recognizes and rewards excellence.

A Problem Solved

Sooner or later, a problem will arise. And you need to know how a potential manager will handle it.

Ask him, “What’s your approach to solving problems?”

Knowing how a potential manager solves problems can give you insight into his management style. Does he prefer to take charge and make a decision independently? Does he delegate the decision to a staff member? Or does he favor a more collaborative style of problem solving?

Finally, keep in mind that a potential boss’ overall attitude toward answering questions can be very telling about his management style. If he’s open to questions and answers thoughtfully, he’s likely also open to exploring and improving his working relationships. And that’s one quality that makes for a great manager.

By Caroline Levchuck

So allow me to present four of the most common — yet most perplexing — interview questions and how you can best answer them.

1. “Tell Me a Little About Yourself”

Sometimes the most general question can be the hardest. How can you sum up your entire life story in just a couple of minutes?

You don’t.

This oldest of questions is not an invitation to talk about your difficult childhood, your favorite grandmother or how you won the state swim competition in high school. Instead, it’s a request for you to describe what you can offer the company.

In his excellent book 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions, author Ron Fry suggests focusing on:

* Your key accomplishments at previous jobs.
* The strengths demonstrated by those accomplishments.
* How these relate to the job for which you’re applying.

The goal is not to summarize your resume — the interviewer already has a copy of that. Rather, tell how you came to be interested in this particular company and job, and weave examples of past accomplishments throughout to demonstrate why you are the perfect candidate.

2. “Why Did You Leave Your Last Job?”

Did you resign? Get laid off? Get fired? Storm out of the office in a huff, never to return? Chances are, you’ll have to explain it in an interview.

The most important point to remember when answering this question: STAY POSITIVE.

The biggest sign of a troublemaker is when someone trashes his or her former boss or company during an interview. It doesn’t matter if your boss was a jerk or if you hated your coworkers — an interview is not the place to vent past frustrations.

Rather, the best way to answer this question is to stay positive and talk about your desire for growth opportunities. This will paint you as a proactive employee who enjoys responsibility and challenges.

Here are some quick pointers for answering this question, depending on your circumstances:

* IF YOU WERE FIRED: Be honest, but quick about explaining it. Don’t get into the political details; rather, explain what you learned from the experience and how it makes you an even stronger employee today. It’s not a good idea to lie about your termination. When the interviewer calls your references, he or she will most likely find out you were fired anyway. So be honest, and explain what you learned.

* IF YOU WERE LAID OFF: This is not nearly as taboo as it was even five years ago, so don’t apologize or act defeated. If a company goes bankrupt or had massive layoffs, simply explain, “Because of the economy, the company decided to eliminate six departments, including mine.”

* IF YOU QUIT: Again, be honest and stay positive. State that the work being offered wasn’t challenging enough, that you are seeking higher levels of responsibility or simply that you are ready to make the next step on your career ladder — and that the job for which you are interviewing is the ideal next step.

The secret is to stay positive and discuss your desire for growth. Hiring managers love applicants who actively seek responsibility.

3. “What’s Your Biggest Weakness?”

What are you supposed to do — tell them why they SHOULDN’T hire you?

The “weakness” question is popular with interviewers not because they want to torture you, but because they’re interested in hearing how you tackle challenges.

The most important thing to remember is that after you name your weakness, you MUST discuss what you have done to overcome it.

Pick a weakness that is real but understandable or relatively harmless. Whatever weakness you pick, be sure that it is work-related (“I have a tendency to overfeed my dog” is NOT an appropriate weakness) and that you present the strategies for how you overcame it.

Here are a few examples:

* “I used to have a tendency to procrastinate. So now I am always sure to set a strict schedule for all of my projects well in advance and I set personal deadlines. This organization has really helped.”

* “Once in a while, I focus too much on the details of a project. So now, when I’m working on a project, I always make sure at the end of the day to sit back and take a few minutes to think about the general scope of my work. It forces me to keep priorities straight and helps me keep the right mindset.”

* “I used to have some problems with organization. So now I carry a schedule book around throughout the day and I also use this Palm Pilot to keep me on track. It’s worked out great!”

You don’t want to pick a weakness that will torpedo your chances — even your weakness should speak strongly toward your skills. The examples above all address honest weaknesses; here are a few other “safe” weaknesses that are easy to discuss:

* I tend to be a perfectionist.
* I sometimes work too hard, leading to unnecessary stress.

4. “Do You Have Any Questions for Me?”
Yes, you do.

You should always try to ask a thoughtful question or two at the end of an interview. It shows that you’ve been listening and that you’ve done your research on the company.

What should you ask? In his book 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions, Ron Frey suggests some of the following queries:

* Does this job usually lead to other positions at the company? What kind of positions?
* What do you like best about this company? Why?

DO NOT ask about salary, vacation days, benefits or anything else that would make it look like you’re more interested in the compensation package than the company. Also, don’t ask too many questions; just a couple will be fine.

And the most important question of all: Don’t forget to ask for the job!

* I’m very interested in this job. It’s exactly the kind of job that I’m looking for. What is the next step in the interview process?

By Todd Anten