Page 116 - Oscar Adler - Sell Yourself in Any Interview_ Use Proven Sales Techniques to Land Your Dream Job (2008)

SELL YOURSELF IN ANY INTERVIEW

HOW TO GIVE
FRESH ANSWERS TO STANDARD
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Most people welcome standard questions. They are pre-
dictable and seemingly easy to answer. The problem is that
predictable questions tend to elicit predictable answers—
answers that are easy to forget. When an interviewer sees
multiple candidates for a position, your interview can
become indistinguishable from the rest.
Always be prepared to give specific examples of any
benefits stated. It is likely that you will be asked at least a
few predictable questions, and you should be prepared to
recognize and respond to them with outstanding answers.
Take advantage of the predictability, and develop benefits
that will impress your interviewer. Again, this is not a ques-
tion of memorization. It is an exercise in becoming thor-
oughly familiar with your features and the many different
benefits they offer. Don’t generalize; be prepared with
specifics to back up your claims. Before reading any further,
take a few minutes to answer the three questions listed in
Exhibit 5-2.
As discussed in Chapter 3, the most common interview
question, and the one many interviewers open with, is, “Tell
me about yourself.” You’ve already learned how to turn this
question around by asking the interviewer for specifics.
Now it’s time to draw on his or her responses, using all the
information you have gleaned from your conversation to
help you furnish your answers to standard questions with
meaningful benefits. Take a look at the following sample
answers and compare them to the responses you wrote
in Exhibit 5-2.

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