Boost your interview IQ

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DOI: 10.1036/007145859X
To Maurie, who believed in my ability and encouraged
me to do what “I wanted to do.”
To my daughter, Laura, who envisioned the future for
my business.
To my son, Stan, who created the vision for me in a
great website.
To my daughter, Julie, who was always there for me
listening and encouraging me.
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Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
Part 1 The Interview IQ Test 9
The Test—Fifty Most Frequently Asked Interview
Questions 11
General Interview Questions 11
Behavioral Interview Questions 63
What’s Your Interview IQ? Score Card 115
Part 2 The Surefire Way to Boost Your Score 119
Step 1: Understanding Today’s Interviewing
Techniques 121
Step 2: Identifying the Key Factors of the Job 133
Step 3: Writing Your Success Stories Using Key
Factors 141
Step 4: Understanding the Keys to Success 155
Index 161
vii
For more information about this title, click here
Acknowledgments
Thank you, thank you—
To Donya Dickerson, the best editor I could have asked for. Thanks for
pulling and pushing and making this into the great book it is.
To Mariana French for the commas.
To Kim Isaacs, my guardian angel.
To Susan Harrow for her coaching and encouragement.
To Jennifer Robin for creating a great image and helping me improve my
self-esteem.
To all the people I have interviewed, taught, and coached. You have
taught me to be a better interviewer, coach, and person.
viii
Copyright © 2004 by Carole Martin. Click here for terms of use.
Foreword
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” —Author Unknown
The sweaty palms and racing pulse. The sickly feeling in your stomach
that won’t go away. The impending doom. No, it’s not a walk to the elec-
tric chair—it’s a job interview!
As the director of a resume-writing firm, I can attest to the number of
hours that are poured into preparing an effective resume—the key docu-
ment needed to land an interview. So when a coveted interview is granted,
I’m surprised that many job seekers are content to “wing” the meeting and
hope for the best.
In a perfect world, the most qualified candidate is offered the position.
But that’s not always the case, says Carole Martin—the job often goes to
the applicant who has made the most favorable impression during the
interview process. Carole will show you how to effectively prepare for
job interviews so that you have the most likely chance of making a posi-
tive impression.
This book does not serve up stock answers to common interview
questions, as this approach would make you seem stale and rehearsed.
Rather, Carole teaches you how to write your personal success stories so
that you’re ready for just about any difficult question. Through an inno-
vative “Interview IQ Test,” you will learn why some answers to inter-
view questions work while others do not. Then get ready to research
your ideal job, understand the job’s requirements, identify your key cre-
dentials, and write examples of your past accomplishments so that you
may effectively sell your qualifications in an interview. You will learn to
recognize different interview techniques so that you can better structure
your responses. You will also learn what goes on behind the other side
ix
Copyright © 2004 by Carole Martin. Click here for terms of use.
of the hiring desk, giving you a better understanding of what employ-
ers are looking for when interviewing candidates.
Carole’s expertise in the field is unsurpassed. As Monster’s Interview
Coach and through her private coaching practice, Carole’s dynamic
approach has helped thousands ease the interview jitters, improve their
interview finesse, and outperform their peers. I had the pleasure of
attending one of Carole’s workshops, where she taught her winning inter-
view techniques to college students. I realized how lucky these students
were to learn Carole’s proven interview strategies toward the beginning
of their careers.
As you embark on your job search, embrace Carole’s interview strate-
gies. Read and re-read the sample questions and answers, paying close
attention to the reasoning behind why one answer is strongest and the
others are somewhat lacking. Study this book and you’ll find Carole sit-
ting on your shoulder, guiding you throughout the interview and ensur-
ing that you are making a positive impression.
Boost Your Interview IQ is an insightful guide that will help anyone
trying to improve his or her interview performance. Whether you’re new
to interviewing or a seasoned pro, you’ll find great advice and adaptable
techniques that will improve your confidence, enable you to “sell” your-
self during interviews, and produce more job offers.
—Kim Isaacs
Director of ResumePower.com, Monster’s Resume Expert,
and coauthor of The Career Change Resume
Doylestown, PA
x Foreword
1
Introduction
A Breakthrough System for
Showing That You Are the
Best Person for the Job
This book is your passport to acing any interview. You’ll learn to tell any
interviewer not only that you can do the job but that you are the best per-
son for the job. After working with the techniques presented throughout
this book, you will be able to tell any interviewer confidently how you
will bring your experiences from the past with you to the job and how you
are the candidate that company wants to hire. It’s a tough job market out
there, and being able to show the interviewer that you are the best person
for the job is essential. Otherwise, you will lose out to the competition and
another person will get the job.
By learning these interviewing techniques, you will obtain the tools that
will prepare you to answer interview questions that have stumped you in
the past. Some of the most difficult questions to answer are those which
ask for specific examples. Whenever interviewers ask for examples or ask
questions that begin with “Tell me about a time when,” they are seeking a
specific example to see how you work—in other words, your method of
operation. The formal name for this method of questioning is “behavioral
interviewing.” What this means is that the person interviewing you is try-
ing to learn how you performed in the past. Your examples in your
answers will be used to ascertain whether you have what it takes to do the
job for the company. As the interviewers listen to your examples and sto-
ries, they begin to notice patterns in your behavior that help them deter-
mine whether you have the experience you claim to have on your résumé.
Myth: The best candidate always gets the job!
Reality: The candidate who sells himself or herself most effectively
always gets the job!
Copyright © 2004 by Carole Martin. Click here for terms of use.
One of the goals of this book is to teach you, through the use of models,
how to write examples and stories that will help you demonstrate that
you have the experience needed to do the job. In subsequent parts of this
book you will learn to use the models to prepare your own stories in a
way that will demonstrate clearly the skills and accomplishments you
have, specifically those pertaining to the job you are interviewing for, and
persuade the employer that you have “been there and done that”—and
can do it again!
Selling Yourself
as a Product
Interviewing is about selling. In a job interview you sell yourself as a solu-
tion to the hiring manager’s problem.
It’s a straightforward process:
An employer has a problem: work to be done. The first step the
employer takes is to define what qualifications are necessary: a “wish
list” for the type of person who best fits the position. A posting is
entered on the Internet or an ad is placed in the newspaper with the
hope of finding the “best” person for the job. In a normal job market an
employer will settle for a match of 80 percent of the requirements; when
the job market is tight, the employer has such a vast selection of candi-
dates to choose from that the percentage rises to 100 percent and then
some. In these kinds of market conditions people giving interviews fre-
quently ask, “What else do you have to offer in addition to the basics
required?”
You, as the job seeker, see the ad or posting and know that you are the
perfect person for the job. You have most or all of the qualifications and
know that you can do the job. You submit your résumé and wait for the
phone call to be invited for an interview so that you can convince the
employer that you are the solution to the problem and the best person for
the job.
When you receive the call inviting you to an interview, you are delighted.
It would be nice if the excitement lasted and you sailed through the
interview process and got a job offer every time. However, life is not that
simple, and neither is the interviewing process.
Often your initial excitement turns to fear and then to panic. “What
if I don’t have all the answers to the questions?” you ask yourself.
“They probably will choose another candidate because things never
work out for me,” you tell yourself. “If only I didn’t have to go
through the interview process; I know I can do that job,” you say to
yourself.
2 Boost Your Interview IQ
All these feelings of questioning and self-doubt are normal. In fact, they
are extremely normal. Most people hate interviewing. It’s a judgment
process, and who wants to go through that and face the possibility of a
rejection?
By using the tools in this book and learning the specific interview story-
telling techniques, you will begin to feel more in control and confident
about going to your next interview. Instead of feeling that you are brag-
ging about yourself, you will be focusing on what you have to offer and
letting the interviewer know that you are not only qualified but are the
best person for the job! In Part I, the Interview IQ Test and the sections that
follow will guide you in preparing your own stories and examples. Being
prepared with your success stories will make a tremendous difference in
the way you feel about interviewing.
By taking the Interview IQ Test and rating your ability to judge the
strongest answers, you will see how good you are at judging what the
interviewer will be interested in hearing. You then can write your own
stories as a way to tell interviewers about your own experiences and back
up your claims and statements.
Once you understand how to give an example of past behavior with an
interesting story, you will be able to prove to the interviewer that you
have the relevant experience that company wants in the person it will
hire. When you have written stories that are specific and focused, you will
feel more prepared and confident. That means more successful inter-
views—and more job offers.
Although the emphasis of this book is on the candidate, the information
is appropriate for anyone desiring an in-depth, experiential approach to
the interviewing process.
FEELING PREPARED = IMPROVED CONFIDENCE =
SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW = JOB OFFER
How to Improve Your
Interviewing Skills,
Particularly with Behavioral
Questions
More and more interviewers are using a technique called behavioral inter-
viewing. In fact, according to the website for the Career Services center at the
SUNY College at Brockport, more than 30 percent of companies now use
behavioral interviewing as their preferred way to choose top candidates.
Introduction 3