{"id":291,"date":"2008-07-24T06:28:47","date_gmt":"2008-07-23T22:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vickneswaran.com\/?p=291"},"modified":"2008-07-24T06:28:47","modified_gmt":"2008-07-23T22:28:47","slug":"job-interview-common-questions-and-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/job-interview-common-questions-and-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"Job interview common questions and answers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since I&#8217;ve got an interview invitation this evening, I had to go through some revision whichever is related to the job description\/task and  technical skill in order not to make myself look like a dumb ass in front of the  interviewer.<\/p>\n<p>SQL? damn, me and programming is like enemies since the 7 birth ago where I cant even remember how to compile and run a simple &#8220;hello world&#8221; in any programming languages. And the job task for the new job opportunity requires me to have intermediate skill level in SQL and database programming languages. Wonder how am I gonna embarrass myself there. Only god can save me. Check out the requirement and those highlighted in red are those I&#8217;m <em>screwed <\/em> !!<!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">System Support  Engineer<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">&#8211; at least 4 years of  working experience (preferably in MNC)<br \/>\n&#8211; good in english  speaking\/writing<br \/>\n&#8211; pro-active (&#8216;European&#8217;) attitude<br \/>\n&#8211; independent, willing  to take initiative<br \/>\n&#8211; experience in Microsoft Networks \/ Systems, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">preferrably  MCSE status<\/span><br \/>\n&#8211; <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">medium to advanced experience with Microsoft SQL database  systems<\/span><br \/>\n&#8211; medium experience with Cisco routers &amp;  switches<\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\">I guess the chances there is like 50-50, looks like I&#8217;ve got to find alternative way to make it a win-win situation.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\">So, I started to do some research on how to answer some simple and common question that normally people failed to capture the interviewer&#8217;s attention. I found a piece of information which is really helpful from my old email archives and I am sure there are many of you out there struggles to pass through the interviews.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\">Maybe what I am gonna blog here might be helpful to you. It had help me to answer my &#8220;favorite&#8221; weak question : what is your weak point? And I will find myself freaking blur at the moment and start to sweat off my undies because of anxiety. So to avoid such situation, I shall prepare better shield (answers) to defend the ammos. I had sweaty undies, it itches there, and the feeling where you cant scratch your groins are really like hell. Opps, its kinda out of topic, sorry \ud83d\ude1b lolz.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\">The common questions will be in <strong>bold<\/strong> and the answers are the one in <em>italic. <\/em> And ignore those which has been <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">strike through<\/span> <em>.<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><em> <\/em> You may share the info if you think its useful and don&#8217;t forget to give a back link to www.vickneswaran.com yea. cheers!!<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do I handle the question, &#8220;Tell me about yourself&#8221;?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">I am salpit salaudin age 26, single and looking for a understanding partner whom are good at cooking, washing, screwing and also some oral&#8230;err..oh no&#8230;im at interview nahh<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">When an interviewer asks that question &#8220;Tell me about yourself &#8220;, it can be so intimidating, and a lot of people don&#8217;t know what the interviewer is really looking for. Specifically, the interviewer is looking to see how well you answer that question, how well you can formulate a response, and how well you can keep to task. First and foremost you want to answer that question by giving them a brief overview of your professional background. Keep the answers focused on the task at hand, which is getting the job. They don&#8217;t need to hear your entire life story. What they are looking for are the most salient points of your experience; your expertise, your knowledge, and the skills you can bring to the job<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span> <\/span> &#8220;What are your greatest strengths&#8221;?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong> <\/strong> <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">Ask my girlfriend!<\/span> <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Your greatest strengths are things that you need to know about yourself before you even embark on the job search process. If you don&#8217;t know what your greatest strengths are, it might be premature to really start marketing yourself as a viable candidate for a position. And you might want to get with a career counselor who can help you indentify what those strengths are. But typically, employers are looking for people skills, technical skills; skills that are directly applicable to the type of position you are applying for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8220;What are your greatest weaknesses&#8221;?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">I am strong enough and i don&#8217;t have weakness except when it comes to chics<\/span> <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I love the question &#8220;What are your greatest weaknesses?&#8221; because it&#8217;s a trick question which traps a lot of people. A lot of people feel that they have to answer the question of where their weaknesses lie by stating things that they truly are not good at, and that&#8217;s not true. We want to spin this question around into a positive. So perhaps try saying things like, &#8220;One of my greatest weaknesses is that I don&#8217;t have a lot of patience for work that isn&#8217;t done in a timely manner, or work that isn&#8217;t done to very high levels of excellence, which I&#8217;m committed to in my own work.&#8221; So things like that will help to put a positive spin on what could be potentially a very dangerous question. So rehearse those questions and your answers very carefully ahead of time, before you even get into that interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do I handle the question, &#8220;Why did you leave your last job&#8221;?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">reason:my boss was an asshole<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Why did you leave your last job? is another semi-tricky question that most interviewers ask and it&#8217;s a valid question for them to ask. They have a right to know why you did leave your last employer, or your last job. If you left your last employer on terms that weren&#8217;t the most positive, then downplay those issues and tell the interviewer that you left your last position because you were seeking a better opportunity. You&#8217;re not lying, that&#8217;s the absolute truth and hopefully the position for which you are now interviewing is that better opportunity. If you left your last employer on good terms, then there&#8217;s absolutely nothing that can get you into trouble with that answer. Once again, you can just put a positive spin on it and say I was looking for an opportunity that would allow me to stretch and grow even more than my last job provided for me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span> <\/span> &#8220;Why should I hire you&#8221;?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">Because you need me<\/span> <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">I love the question &#8220;Why should I hire you&#8221;? That&#8217;s the best question that any interviewer can ask. And, it&#8217;s your opportunity to really nail that interview. You have the opportunity to now bullet point your greatest strengths and all the things that you can best do for this company in that position, give them real reason to hire you. Make sure you know your key messages that will make them want to hire you before you start the interview process. What are the three strongest things that you can bring to a company? What are your three greatest skills? What are your three greatest accomplishments? If you can memorize those things and be able to constantly refer back to them during an interview, that&#8217;s perfect. Be sure and tell the employer why you&#8217;re different, so they should hire you. Why are you different from everybody else? Everything about you on your resume and in your interview has said, &#8220;I&#8217;m different, I&#8217;m unique, I&#8217;m better than everybody else&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8220;Why do you want to work here&#8221;?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\"> i see your secretary has nice tits<\/span> <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Answer the question &#8220;Why do you want to work here?&#8221; with a very simple response, and that is: &#8220;I want to work here because I feel that this is the environment where I can best make the most contributions utilizing my skills, my unique areas of expertise, everything that I have been developing in terms of my career up until this point will be best served in this company.&#8221; Also be sure that you have researched the company, that you know what they do, that you know what their mission statement is, you know what their short and long-term goals are. If you are armed with that information, you can really answer any question that they ask you from that vantage point, and that&#8217;s absolutely critical. So, tie your experience and skills into what this company is looking to do and how you can help them achieve their objectives. That&#8217;s really what the interviewer is looking for when they ask why you want to work there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Ok guys and girls, I consider you guys are matured enough should understand and knows how to differentiate between joke and serious talk. Please only mention those in <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">strike through<\/span> if you don&#8217;t want the job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">And best of luck to me and to everybody in advance!!! cheers. Time to sleep&#8230;.ZZzzZZZzzZZzzzZZzzzzzzzz<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since I&#8217;ve got an interview invitation this evening, I had to go through some revision whichever is related to the job description\/task and technical skill in order not to make myself look like a dumb ass in front of the interviewer. SQL? damn, me and programming is like enemies since the 7 birth ago where &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/job-interview-common-questions-and-answers\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Job interview common questions and answers&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vickneswaran.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}