Page 66 - 101 Dynamite Answers to Interview Questions

45 Key Interview Principles 59

The employer is usually not interested in your career and personal
goals except as they relate to your performance within the organiza-
tion and the company’s bottom line.

10. Anticipate and prepare for questions.

You can anticipate before you ever walk into the interview 90%-
95% of the questions you will be asked. You can expect to be asked
about your education and work experience as they relate to the job
under consideration. You may be asked questions about your
personality, work habits, ability to work with others, or your career
goals. In addition to the standard areas of inquiry, a look at your
resume should tell you if there are areas likely to get the attention
of the interviewer. Do you have unexplained time gaps in your
education or work life? Have you jumped around from employer to
employer in a short time period? Are you applying for a position
that is significantly below your apparent abilities and previous work
experience?
In other words, if there is anything that is likely to have come to
the attention of the interviewer as questionable - either positive or
negative - expect that you will be asked about it during the inter-
view and prepare accordingly. It is far easier to think how you
would respond in an honest, yet positive, manner to a question
when you are in the relatively comfortable surroundings of home
than in the midst of a stressful interview.
Gather the information necessary to respond intelligently to the
questions you are likely to be asked, collect your thoughts, and plan
strategies for responding to various likely lines of questioning.

11. Consider your response if asked an illegal question.

We are happy to report that the incidence of employers asking
illegal questions of an interviewee has declined significantly since
the early days of affirmative action. However, it can still happen.
Consider prior to the interview how you would respond if you were
asked an illegal question or one inappropriate for the work setting
or unrelated to the job requirements.
Your options are to inform the interviewer it is an illegal ques-
tion and you will not answer it; tactfully indicate that, since the