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February 11, 2019 Leave a Comment

Answering Unexpected Interview Questions: Lessons from a CEO

Diverse people with creative inspiration speech bubbles

We sometimes forget that even the highest-ranking executives have gone through job interviews. Recently, CNBC posted an interesting article with the provocative title, 15 years ago, Google’s CEO had a brilliant response to a tricky interview question – and it helped him get hired, which offered insights into the questions that leading companies such as Google sometimes ask and what they hope to hear from candidates.

At an interview for a Vice President position at Google, Sundar Pichai was asked an unexpected question which he could not answer; his response provides a useful strategy for job seekers: early on in the interview process, Pichai was asked about his thoughts on a Google product that was launched earlier that day. A little confused, he answered honestly that he hadn’t yet seen it yet. Undeterred, he proceeded through multiple interviews where he was repeatedly asked that question, and continued to explain that he had not seen it yet. Eventually, at the fourth interview, the interviewer took the opportunity to demonstrate the product, which allowed Pichai — at the fifth interview — to finally share his viewpoint of the product.

Not only was Pichai hired for that position, but he went on to become Google’s CEO.

So, what did he do that was so effective?

The article goes on to highlight the impact of Pichai’s decision to be honest and direct when faced with a question about a product about which he had no knowledge. This approach kept him as a contender throughout the lengthy interview process.

Pichai’s honesty and directness in answering this seemingly impossible question was the key to his success. He remained focused and continued calmly during the interview. The article describes this as “intellectual humility” — the value of honesty and curiosity in an interview, rather than pretending to be knowledgeable and perfectly skilled. Job seekers sometimes underestimate employers’ interest in character and soft skills, such as the ability to handle an unexpected question with grace.

Employers know that employees can learn a new skill or gain new knowledge, such as the recently launched Google product in Pichai’s case, whereas honesty, willingness to learn and humility cannot be learned. 

Laszlo Bock, former Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google is quoted in the article saying that,

“Successful, bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure. They instead commit the fundamental attribution error, which is if something good happens, it’s because I’m a genius. If something bad happens, it’s because someone’s an idiot or I didn’t get the resources or the market moved.” 

Job seekers need to remember that during an interview, there’s no need to rush into answering every question quickly. When presented with a difficult question, take a moment to consider your reply. Ask a clarifying question that may show a willingness to learn or thoughtful analysis. Keep in mind that getting to the interview stage means the employer has read your resume and decided that you have a lot to offer. In addition to demonstrating your skills and knowledge, an interview also provides the opportunity to show personal integrity, honesty and confidence. Respectful, curious and genuine employees make much better colleagues and contribute to a positive company culture.

To impress interviewers, not only should you prepare your knowledge of the job, the company, and of yourself, make sure to rehearse honest and clear responses to questions. This will allow employers to get know you as a thoughtful, critically self-aware candidate, who is open to new learning — which are highly valued characteristics.

By Karin Lewis Filed Under: Career Voice: Blog Tagged With: difficult interview questions, interview questions, interview tips, interviewing, job interviews

September 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

Impress Employers with Well Prepared Interview Answers

Smiling colleagues discussing working ideas in officeFacing an employer in a job interview is often described as the most stressful and intense moment in the process of finding work. When asked what they fear most about interviews, job searchers often say that they worry that they may get overwhelmed by anxiety and forget what they wanted to say, or that they may not be able to answer a question properly.

Of course, the only way to deal with this anxiety is by preparing; work on some of the commonly asked questions. In addition to preparing answers to questions, you should be ready to talk about yourself by sharing examples of your achievements from your past jobs. These will serve to demonstrate your skills and prove your competency. It will help the employer to picture you in the workplace. When an interview has concluded, it is likely that candidates will most be remembered by the interesting stories or anecdotes they shared.

To identify your best stories, think back to your past jobs. Think of accomplishments or events which challenged you or which gave you an opportunity to demonstrate your abilities. Consider including the feedback you received for these achievements. Keep in mind that stories do not have portray you as perfect – situations are more likely to be believable and credible if they include times when you made mistakes and learned from them.

Your stories might include a time when you:

  • lead a project from beginning to completion
  • identified a problem/gap in service and took initiative to solve it
  • were given responsibility to represent your company in a public event
  • dealt with an unhappy or difficult customer
  • assisted a colleague with a problem
  • developed and applied expertise in a particular area
  • went above and beyond the usual demands of your job to contribute to the company
  • did something really well

Keep in mind that to sustain the listener’s attention and be memorable, you need to plan your stories carefully. Make sure that examples are clearly structured with a beginning, middle and end:

  1. Begin with a brief context or setup – where and when did the incident/event happen?
  2. Describe what happened and why was it important — what was YOUR role/action?
  3. End off with a description of how the issue was resolved (what was the outcome?)

These stories have to be short, but should include enough detail to allow the employer to visualize the situation. Most importantly, make sure they are directly relevant to the position for which you are interviewing.

Write up and practice saying your stories out loud. Ask an employment professional or even a friend for feedback; let their impressions and questions guide you to improve the length, clarity, details and relevance of the story.

Once they are complete, try figure out which skills each story demonstrates. Each example may demonstrate a number of skills such as your ability to make decisions, work in a team, solve problems, take initiative, be responsible or flexible, and many other skills. Identify those which you would like to “show off” to employers. A good anecdote can often demonstrate multiple skills or strengths, and can be told differently depending on what you are trying to demonstrate. If you are able to talk in a relaxed and comfortable way, storytelling can become a very effective tool to market yourself. You will be demonstrating your communication skills, as well as having an opportunity to show the best of what you have achieved in your work history.

Read this guide for more ways to develop your storytelling abilities. Make sure to watch this excellent video included in the post for more tips on effective story telling in interviews:

By Karin Lewis Filed Under: Career Voice: Blog Tagged With: interview questions, interview tips, interviewing, job interview

April 30, 2018 2 Comments

Video interviews: How to impress Canadian Employers

Group of business partners looking astonishingly at laptop display at meetingWe don’t need to tell you that interviewing for a new job is stressful. The experience of having to sit down in front of an employer and answering unknown questions can raise the anxiety of even the most confident job seeker. Interviewees worry about what they are expected to say, and whether they will mess up and make mistakes. For an already anxious job seeker, online video interviews brings a whole other level of unnerving challenges. CanPrep has assembled a panel of experts who share their advice on how to prepare for video interviews including:

  • Do’s and don’ts during the interview
  • What employers focus on during online interviews
  • The right way to follow-up after an interview
  • Personal success stories of being hired through online interviews

[Read more…]

By Donna Chabot Filed Under: CanPrep, Career Voice: Blog Tagged With: CanPrep, find work, immigrant job search, interview, interview tips, interviewing, interviews, job search

March 19, 2018 Leave a Comment

How to ace your video job interview

 

Remember this interview that went viral?

We don’t need to tell you that interviewing for a new job is stressful. The experience of having to sit down in front of an employer and answering unknown questions can raise the anxiety of even the most confident job seeker. Interviewees worry about what they are expected to say, and whether they will mess up and make mistakes. For an already anxious job seeker, online video interviews brings a whole other level of unnerving challenges.

Video interviews, where employers use commonly used video applications such as Skype, dedicated job interview sites such as HireView or other applications, such VenterView, an automated interviewing technology, are becoming increasingly common. Employers use the technology to prescreen applicants or even conduct full interviews with long distance candidates.

[Read more…]

By Karin Lewis Filed Under: Career Voice: Blog Tagged With: interview tips, job interview, skype, video interview

February 26, 2018 8 Comments

Help! I left a job after being bullied by my boss, and now I don’t know what to tell employers at interviews

Woman sitting at her desk with her head in her hands. A cardboard box of belongs beside her.

Dear Employment Specialist,

I am an experienced bookkeeper who recently left a job that I had held for 7 years, after having a very difficult experience with my boss that lasted years. I have now begun looking for new work, but am unsure how to explain why I left the job without looking bad.

I left because I was feeling bullied by my manager, and was becoming very unhappy at work. For the first 5 years, I was perfectly happy – I enjoyed my work (and am good at it!) and I had a positive and supportive relationship with all my colleagues, including my manager. 2 years ago, the company was taken over by new management, and they replaced many of my colleagues and managers with their own staff. The atmosphere in the office completely changed. My new manager never had a good word to say to me. She wasn’t clear about what she wanted and yelled at me in front of my colleagues. I tried to not take it personally, but I was getting unhappier by the day, going home crying and hating my work. Eventually, I had to leave, for the sake of my own mental health.

I am now looking for a new job. What do I tell interviewers when they ask what happened to the last job? What do I do about a reference? Do I tell the truth?

Signed: Bullied


[Read more…]

By Karin Lewis Filed Under: Career Voice: Blog Tagged With: bullied, dealing with conflict, difficult interview questions, interview, interview questions, interview tips, job interview

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