Can You Pass This Job Interview?

You have walked into the room for your dream. I have introduced myself to you. You give me a firm handshake. Your phone is on silent (not vibrate). You are dressed in business professional (not casual) attire, and you are well prepared. Now let’s get down to business. Will you pass this job interview quiz?

How Did You Do?

Can You Tell Me About Yourself?

Your interviewer is not asking about your personal life. They don’t want to know when you were born or about your siblings. You should never give anything away that talks about your age when you are interviewing, and your interviewer is not allowed to ask. They want to know about your professional skills, your background, a little about what you want to do in the future. They want the details about your future, not just that you’re looking for the “next big thing.”

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

Have a plan! The worst thing that you could tell an interviewer is that you don’t have a plan or that you haven’t thought about it. Sit down today and decide on a 3 year a plan. A mentor told me last week that I don’t have to have a specific role in mind because roles are ever changing, but know what type of work and what type of skills I want to have developed at that time. Those are the things you want to discuss in your interview to be successful.

What is Your Greatest Professional Achievement?

Put numbers to the achievement! Did you increase sales? By how much? Did you increase efficiency on your team? By how much and how often? Leaders LOVE numbers, make them love you.

What’s Your Greatest Weakness?

Please avoid the generic “perfectionist” answer. Give a true answer, but also give the solution in regards to what you’re doing to fix it. If public speaking is your weakness, sign up for a public speaking coaching session with me.  In my most recent interview, my weakness was my lack of organization, but I have started using planners to get organized and have found that it works wonders. Make sure if you give a weakness, you ALWAYS give what you’re doing to remedy it.

What’s Your Dream Job?

When it comes to your dream job, don’t mention a specific company. Speak to your skills, speak to what you want to learn later. You want them to know you want to continue to grow.

If We Were to Contact Your Former Manager, How Would They Describe You?

Be honest, because they probably will call but also be detailed. Don’t give a one word answer, but it’s also time to boast on yourself!

Why Are You the Right Person for This Job?

You don’t need second chances? Are you sure? What happens when you mess you, you will mess up. That’s an arrogant response, and you should avoid arrogance at all costs. Be confident in your response, but not arrogant.

Did You Get The Job?

How’d you do? Did I hire you? What will you do better next time? Leave a comment and let’s discuss it!

There are multiple types of career changers. Take this quiz to find out what type you are, and keep reading for more detail. A career changer is someone who has an internal need for something in their workplace. See what type of career seeker you are.

The Meaning Seeker

You’re driven to do work that you care about, whether it’s on a small scale or a large one. Whatever you’re doing, it has to connect with your values and what you want to give back to your company, the community or the world.

You want to feel that you’ve made an impact, and that your work has done good in the world. This doesn’t mean that you have to work for a non-profit, though.

Your work could be anything from marketing and business to teaching and government or anything and everything in between – it just depends on what it means to you!

The Passion Seeker

Nothing is more important to you than being passionate about the work you’re doing. You want to enjoy the process of it, and be immersed in the day-to-day flow of your work.

Your connectedness and sense of well-being as a person comes from doing work that you’re passionate about because you’re an artist at heart.

No matter if your artist’s medium is paint or numbers, or whether you create with a computer or words or something entirely different, you are an artist because you come alive through your connection to the process of doing your work. Look for work that allows you to do what you love.

The Balance Seeker

You’d love to find a job you enjoy, but your job serves you – and supports the rest of your life and the activities that you care about – not the other way around.

Finding a job that fits with your life goals and that you can enjoy at the same time is the challenge for you.

The Goal Seeker

You are driven. When you set your mind to a goal, you do everything you can to reach it. You’re used to success and good at focusing on the steps you need to get there.

But when it comes to career change, you might feel a bit confused as your previous goals have already been accomplished or don’t seem to hold the same appeal anymore.

Now the question becomes: “What can you get fired up about?”

What type of seeker are you? Did you expect that?