Hi, just to share my experience at looking for work. One of the key questions that interviewers will always ask to help them understand their answer for part C is "Do you have any questions?" It is essential to have some questions for them, and the types of questions you ask will help them determine whether you were telling the truth to questions A and B earlier, and to determine your tact and initiative for question C. If you have no questions, your tact and initiative score drops to zero immediately. But this is only my two cents' worth.

Cognitivedissonance,

Thanks for filling in a key gap I have missed. I totally agree that asking insightful questions is critical.

I have a few principles in asking questions
1. It should be something I can only know from the interviewer, not something I can easily obtained from the website, annual reports etc
2. I must really want to know the answer. It is quite obvious when you are asking for the sake of asking
3. Ideally, the questions should incorporate part of the discussion during the interviews. For example, if you discuss about the competitive landscape in the interview, a good question should incorporate the competitive component.

Cheers,
Sze-Meng

I think (B) is a good one. I used it today and it seemed to work! (Of course I was being truthful.) :P

Sze Meng

A further query relevant to all your points raised by employers is a) to ask you to describe yourself.

Regards

Wang - You are right. Describing yourself is actually not at easy thing to do. Similar questions are " Walk me through your resume" or "Tell me about yourself".

An effective way to answer the question is not just repeat your resume and rattled off the ACTIVITIES you have done, but to focus on one or two (max) ACCOMPLISHMENTS within each phase of your career (each job) or education and how you managed to achieve them. Provide quantified data if possible.

For example, in company X, one of my two goals was to develop project management skills. I was able to achieve it by obtaining X promotion by delivering Y results in Z number of projects etc. My second goal which I accomplished is ABC...

These accomplishments should be tailored to ensure the interviewer is confident that you have the skill sets and knowledge to do the job now and take on greater responsibilities in the future.

I will also advocate keeping the describing yourself answer to 2-3 minutes. Answering a question in for more than 3 minutes is usually too much for the interviewer to absorb all the details.

Being prepared is the key, but it may not be ideal to sound too rehearsed.

"Tell me about yourself" is a good one, the interviewers are not interested in your fish-rearing hobby... I've never tried telling them about one's children before though, let me know if it works well. ^_^ But I thought it was actually Sze Meng's question B in disguise, not A? Or at least I would use it as a B because the A would be pretty obvious from my resume already.

cognitivedissonance

It is true that A: Can you do the work can be glean from the resume. However, interviewers (based on my experience) seldom read the resume beforehand, and even if they did, they spend like 1-2 minutes on it, and only tend to focus on where and what you did. It is critical to relate what you have done to how you can do the work in the position you are applying for . As the interviewee, you have to do the work and not assume the interviewer will actually go through the resume before the interview (even though obviously some interviewers make the effort to do so).

In the US, it is illegal to ask if you have children or married etc (because the of the Equal Employment Opportunity regulations - http://www.eeoc.gov/). Therefore, the interviewers may not be too comfortable if you talk about your children, unless there is a clear relation it help to answer A, B or C. For Singapore ...well..the application forms for Singapore-based companies even state how many children you have....which I am not entirely sure serve any useful and non-discriminatory purposes

Sze Meng,

It is critical to relate what you have done to how you can do the work in the position you are applying for.

Agreed. Thanks for the reply. :) The rearing children thing was a (clearly failed) attempt at a joke, don't mind it. As for interviewers not reading the resume beforehand, I cannot further comment except by similarly raising personal anecdotes which would result in an impasse. But thank you again for taking the time to write.

cognitivedissonance

I totally agree with you some interviewers go through the resume extensively before the interview. Sadly, my experience has shown most of them do not. Cheers

In my opinion, this article lacks one thing: the perspective of the interviewer.

Resumes can and do lie. That is why there are professional resume-writers and keyword droppers. So (A) isn't straightforward. If it is, the bar is being set too low, or the job is too easy. That is why a 2-minute look-through of the resume is usually sufficient - guys know how to zoom in to something to make sure it is not BS. A bit like sampling.

For (B), I think it is a hygiene factor but not neccessarily a killer. Sometimes, it becomes sucking-up, which is bad. Demonstrate it implictly, not explicitly.

(C) is pretty important, but it helps a lot if you know someone who works in the firm. You should google for "Daniel Loeb letter recruit" for a negative demonstration.

Siu Taur

Respectfully refute your opinion as this interviewer does approach it from the above perspective and also after discussions with other HR practiioners.

Regards

I just had lunch with a senior line manager who interviews for his team, and a key question to determine (B) is "How do you see this job plays a role in your long term career progression?"

Siu Tar - for (A), I think some firms definitely does reference checks, especially for more senior positions. Thanks for contributing to the discussion!

I don't mean to offend, but my point is that Sze Meng is presenting this based on his experience as an applicant. Unless one of the folks here has been interviewing others recently, I don't see how you can claim to be coming from the perspective of the interviewer.

Sze Meng - when I say that a resume can lie, I don't mean outright mistruths (at least the type that a reference check can find out). I mean something more subtle like exaggerating accomplishments. I've seen resumes by college grads that claim that they led projects that saved companies $X. Or that someone quite junior "co-led" or "managed" an important function. The point is that you want to reward strong resumes, not strong resume-writing skills. (though a poorly written resume is also bad for various reasons, HR is more likely to screen those out before they get to the interview)

I find that many people focus too much on selling themselves, both on their resumes and during interviews. A good interviewer will be able to draw out and detect the difference. That's why (A) isn't as straightforward.

I believe that sincerity is important, but I'm afraid it can't be taught. Without sincerity, B and C go out of the window.

Siu Tar,

I actually also wrote this also from the perspective of an interviewer. I conducted at least 20 interviews (Fit and case interviews) for entry-level consultant positions in my previous firm as a more senior consultant, so this article is a combination of my experience as an applicant and interviewer. Of course, I am still n=1. This is why the comments from the thread is useful to increase the sample size. =)

In terms of checking on resume, I think effective interviewers will dig deep into one or two accomplishments and activities by asking very specific question to verify details. If the interviewer is lying, it can be quite obvious. Obviously an interviewee can also be an excellent actor/actoress. Anyways, I think we are saying the same thing here.

I think sincerity plays a big role in C. Who wants to work with a blatantly insincere person?

Actually, who wants to work with a person you feel and think he or she is insincere. No need even be blatant about it.

though, all the things talked above is about the tecniques we need to prepare for the interview, it is also very important to have a positive attitude. 'cause, sometimes when u are eager to get the job, u will probably feel neverous during the interview. as a result, to be confident in the interview is the most important thing during the interview. without it, you may not be able to handle some very unexpected questions

lindsayfm - absolutely. Being well prepared for an interview strongly help in the confidence!

I have been to interviews whereby they ask questions like the following:

1) Who is your favourite actor/actress?

2) Why is it so?

3) What is the latest movie that you have seen?

4) Which is your favourite song?

5) Who is your favourite author?

All the very odd questions.