The worst situation in which to answer job interview questions is when you really do not want the job. In my younger days when getting a job was a case of needing cash quickly, I went for all manner of different positions. When this is your situation, you always seem to want you to answer job interview questions like "Why did you choose this particular company?" You need to quickly come up with an answer. Out of all those companies manufacturing ball bearings in the world, why did I choose them? Quite a tough one.
Answering job interview questions is an art. In the end, the only person you can be is yourself. Trying to be who they want you to be is hard to sustain, especially if it is a panel of interviewers peering at you. Each job interview gets easier by so. Well, it is marginally preferable to going to the dentist then answering those questions.
There is nothing I dislike more than attending a job interview. They are unavoidable, no doubt, but I have always dreaded them. It seems to me that all you do is to show that you are good or bad at job interviews, and not whether you are good at the job as a candidate for. Some job interviewers approach the interview very scientifically, reading up on techniques, psychological profiling, and so on. For the interviewee, you must know how to answer job interview questions as prompted.
A job interview is the art of telling people what you think they want to hear in their mind. However, there must be a degree of honesty there. We all exaggerate our experience and skills a bit from time to time, but remember that if you claim to have a four-year record of accomplishment of flying passenger airplanes, you will need to back it up later on. So do not over exaggerate.
To answer job interview questions is to walk through a thin tightrope. The questions tend to be designed to find out lots of contrary information. For example, are you a good team player and do you also enjoy working alone? Do you like to lead others and are you good at following instructions?
Sometimes, I have been so nervous at job interviews that I do not tend to listen properly to the questions, which make it difficult to answer job interview questions at all. In fact, the key is to swallow your nerves and listen intently. Otherwise, you will have to wing it. The questions are not there to trip you up, but to find out more about you, and what's more fascinating than talking about yourself!
When I answer job interview questions, I try to be calm and collected. I have had some success with meditation exercises before going into the interview. Some people do the much-recommended technique of imagining the interviewer in his or her underwear. I tried this once and got a fit of the giggles. Unsurprisingly, I did not get the job. Try to think of it as a conversation between equals, rather than a job interview. More about communication at The Answering Machine website.
