My mom interviewed someone to work on the Ares Rocket program (the thing that was supposed to replace the Space Shuttle). During the interview he asked if he would have to go into space. No sarcasm. Kid was applying for a job at a NASA contractor and among his list of priorities was not going into space. "Great news, I got you the fifth lead in the new Scarlett Johansson movie!" "...I won't be required to have sex with her, will I?"
My worst interview had to be with a high up Construction Management Company. I was interviewed by two people during college, one being with the company and the other was a student intern. The company made great money, but took themselves way too seriously. The problem was that the company guy only had a thumb and 1.5 fingers on his right hand. And I COULDN'T stop staring at it. Now I've been in construction for a long time. I know that people occasionally get debilitating injuries. But this was just so unexpected that it threw me off. I became a stuttering fool. Sure as hell I didn't even get a call back saying I had been turned down. The best interview was for another construction company. The boss called me up on the phone, asked me, "Do you want a job?" I firmly and quickly said yes, and that was it. I was a new hire. It was a great company too, but suffered from the downturn in the economy. As for your greatest weakness question... My answer is simple and true. My answer is "The Reply All" button. I do have to work hard to make sure I check every name on the list, check to see if they need to know the information or if they don't need to know, and set up a custom list. I give permission for 4 of you guys to use that answer. Too many use it and it becomes meaningless for me.
No matter how insistent she is, I would recommend you do not do the interview sitting on your mom's lap.
I've finally figured out a pretty good and suitably lame stock answer for the "best/worst" qualities questions (which I also hate). I'll say that one of my best qualities is prioritizing and being organized to get things done quickly and efficiently (along with a couple other things more specifically related to whatever job I'm interviewing for) and that my weakness is taking on too much, but then quickly throwing in that because of that strength it doesn't get to a point where I'm overwhelmed. They'll usually move on after that, but during a recent interview the girl just kept staring at me like "Go on, rattle off a couple more weaknesses, please." And I didn't want to, obviously, so I just kept staring back at her like "Nope, that's it. That is my one and only weakness." But she wouldn't move the fuck on and it was getting so uncomfortable and I knew that I had already fucked up the interview a while back, so I just said that I was "also not the greatest at job interviews." If I was interviewing someone, I would like that answer, but I think that'll be a one-time thing. I also really hate that, no matter how many questions you had for them at the end of the interview, they always seem really disappointed in you when they ask for the sixth time "Any more questions?" and you say "No, I think we've covered everything I was curious about." The most stressful interview I've ever had was at Alloy, where I was interviewing to be the person to style the products to be photographed for the catalogue. It was actually a really interesting interview, but they were throwing things at me I wasn't expecting for just a first interview, like quizzing me on my fashion vocabulary, asking me to critique their latest catalogue, finding a mistake the previous stylist did, and then styling this scarf that they told me afterwards had given the people already working there a lot of trouble. It went well, and they said they were impressed, but I didn't get a call back. Not really sure why.
That answer pisses me off almost as much as that question. Every time, I've had to resist responding with "Punching assholes who ask stupid questions like that right in the face." I actually had an interview on Friday for a corporate job where I was asked that. I've only had two corporate interviews in my life while I've had many other interviews (I graduated college in May) and corporate seems to be the only people to ask that question. Has that just been my experience or is that the norm? I got both of the jobs with an answer of "Sometimes I get so into my work I forget to eat." Which I'm fairly certain is a terrible answer only made slightly better by the fact that I leave out the fact that the reason this happens is because I'm normally on so much Adderall that I'm just not hungry. Is there even a good answer to that question besides the sleazy "I'm too much of a perfectionist" bullshit?
In my opinion, saying you're too much of a perfectionist is basically not answering the question at all. Because it's such a well-worn question, it can be a nice canvas to paint yourself differently than most people. Honesty is usually the way to go, but in a way that suggests you're intelligent and self-aware. Somebody else in this thread alluded to it, but be forthright about an excusable issue (i.e., not "I molest children), and suggest ways that you've been improving on it. This shows that you're actually thinking about the question, and that while you don't *think* you're perfect, you're always willing to learn and improve. Example off the top of my head:
This is a timely thread since I have a job interview on Wednesday with a big health insurance corporation. I'm interviewing with three people for a legal assistant/paralegal job. The thing that gets me every time is, "So, do you have any questions for us?" I usually ask about work environment, but do I ask three people the same question? I never know what good questions to ask. Anyone else run into this problem? Also, when asked the "greatest weakness" question, I will sometimes say that I'm a multi-tasker and other times I'll say that I have to finish one task before starting another. It depends what the position is. As for the one I'm interviewing for, if they ask me, I'll probably say I'm a multi-tasker since the job consists of many different responsibilities. I don't think I've ever been this nervous for an interview. I'm not sure how much I even want the job based on its location-the commute might be a bitch and I'll have to start paying city wage tax. But I haven't had an interview in four years, so if anything, I'll take away the experience.
That's the go to answer for me. My biggest weakness is answering the biggest weakness question in interviews. Pantomiming a rimshot drives the joke home.
To me, this is usually a good time to do one of a couple things. If they're more strait-laced, you can use it as an opportunity to prove that you read the website/materials/etc. and ask them more about the particular position using specific language (I see you're using BLORK coding language, are you looking for somebody with QLOR blahblah). If they seem relaxed and engaged, it's a great time to ask about specific projects in an open, excited way. Genuine curiosity can go a long way, especially if it's buoyed by actual knowledge. There's also the old standby of asking what kind of person they're looking for in the position, which is INVALUABLE when you decide if you want it. If they want somebody really staid and professional, and you're not that, you're likely going to miserable. Ditto if they want a flexible, creative person and you're the plodding type.
What's your biggest weakness? - Public speaking. Almost nobody likes public speaking so they can relate, and if your job doesn't require it, then it shouldn't be detrimental. You can also add how you're trying to improve by taking opportunities to do public speaking whenever possible.
Whenever I get asked what my biggest weakness is, I put on my best Drew Rosenhaus impression and say "Next question"
This is a good opportunity to ask a question that asks for insight rather than information. This way you can play each others' questions off each other. It is usually a more insightful question and gives you an opportunity to have a conversation a bit better than a question asking for a specific piece of information would. e.g. "Tom was just telling me that foreign language skills are highly valued when dealing with clients. Do you think my Spanish skills would come in handy for this position?"
I always asked the same questions to pretty much everyone, just address the entire group because they will all most likely answer each question a different way or just state they agree with the other person. - What do the first weeks to months look like on the job (is there a structured training program or is it learned on the job?) - Once acclimated to the position what does a typical day (or week) look like? - How would you describe the culture of the department and the company as a whole. - How long have they (interviewer) been at the company? Why did they decide to come here? How they got into the business? - Are there performance reviews and are you compared to goals set for you? - Teamwork vs individual work (if teamwork I like to ask about the size and makeup(# of manager vs analysts vs etc.) of the teams) - Opportunities for growth in the company - I always like to do a bit of research and ask about any new contracts or work they have picked up. - You can ask if there are any different software / instruments / machines they use that weren't listed in the job description ("Besides Excel do you use any . . . ") - Ask why the position is open or what happened to the previous person (sometimes they get promoted and you are being interviewed by the person who vacated the open spot) Those are some of the questions I asked when getting interviewed, and often if you pay close attention you will come up with a lot of others ones based on what they have said to you.
"What, in your opinion, is the best thing about working for XYZ?" "What's the worst thing?" "How often do you drug-test?"
I almost always ask both of those, regardless of the position. A little tweak on wording to the second one is asking if it's a newly created position or if you're replacing somebody who left. Then, and this is almost only applicable to entry-level research jobs, asking what the people who have that position typically go on to do after leaving the institute. Another good one that I like to ask is about where funding comes from if it's a research or non-profit job.
A pretty good response to the "What is your greatest weakness?" question is to describe what your greatest weakness used to be and then describe how you fixed it. Use this to emphasize your problem-solving skills. "I used to have a big problem with punctuality but then I used my strong people skills to convince a group of homeless guys to wake me up and carry me to work every morning." "I didn't like public speaking so I used my exceptional organizational and engineering skills to create a vast army of automated wind-up chattering teeth to kill off the majority of the population. Now there's no public to speak to." It seems like the interviews that result in job offers are always the ones where I don't care if I get the job and mostly go to keep my interviewing skills sharp, so I guess not giving a shit is a good tip.
I work in ICU's with, you know, sick patients. During a brief stint in Alabama I was applying to part time ICU jobs to supplement my income and scored a few interviews. I scored an interview at one hospital with a pretty good reputation in their Cardiovascular ICU. It was an unconventional interview at best. I met with the unit manager for about 20 minutes, walked around the unit and chatted casually. Then she sent me in the break room with 6 staff nurses and they just went around the table asking me increasingly retarded questions. The worst was this: "Tell us about a time at work when something unplanned happened and how you dealt with it." I think I stared blankly at them for a good 30 seconds trying to figure out if they were really asking me such a stupid question. Then I answered it honestly. "Every night ever in an ICU." I'm pretty sure my answer killed any chances I had but if they're that stupid to ask such a question, then I don't want to work for them.
Best interviews I've ever done from the interviewer side was a while back. Basically all the team leaders and interviewers for this gig were 20 something tech guys who'd been given more responsibility than we had experience or maturity to justify. One of the guys had watched 'Super Troopers' before an interview and started slipping 'Meow' into the interview questions - all while keeping a straight face and asking on topic questions. The other guys in the interview both had to excuse themselves to cry laughing in the hallway at different points. His starting count was 12 meow's in one interview. We all picked up on the game and because the business had very high turn over - we got to do it a lot. My best was 22. The agreed winner was 46. The disqualified for cheating winner was a guy who interviewed a friend who was in on the joke - he got into the 90's. Best interview on the interviewee side - I was interviewing with a buddy and his boss, but I didn't know it. I had sent a resume in a while back and forgotten about it. I went for drinks with my friend one afternoon and over beers with his offsider - talked about the gig, and in a completely casual and relaxed way - joked about the whole thing, told them how to fix their fuck ups, busted my buddies balls, laughed about the poor management, ripped on his boss in absentia, gave his off sider shit, etc. It was all incredibly inappropriate for an interview - but it was brutally honest and pretty funny. And I clearly had a pretty good handle on what they were doing, and what they were doing wrong. After about 5 jugs of beer between the 3 of us, it came out that his 'offsider' was his boss, and he was sick of bullshit interview question canned responses. They made me an offer on the spot.