I quite like job interviews. I know some people find them stressful, but I see them as a nice chance to get out of the house and to visit an office where you get to talk about how good you are. I guess I just like interacting with people – especially when there’s the promise of a new job. The trouble is, that sometimes the questions are a bit tricky and it’s hard to know what to say. Here’s a few of my impromptu interview answers from over the years
What would you say are five of your best features?
Well, I suppose I’m creative, friendly, optimistic, fairly positive and very good at finding different ways to say the word “optimistic.”
What would your current manager say is your biggest flaw?
Well, she’d probably say time keeping, if she had to say anything. But let’s turn that around. What would your current receptionist say is the biggest downside of working here?
What is it that gets you up in the morning?
I don’t hate my life or anything, so I’ve never really struggled to get up in the morning.
What about you makes you a good choice for the role?
Communication. Well, communication skills. Verbal communication skills. Basically, I mean to say that I am good at verbally communicating with others in a clear and easy to understand way… Which is ironic, considering that I stumbled over almost every word there!
What makes you think you can do this job?
Well, at the risk of sounding enormously arrogant, it seems incredibly easy. I’m sure pretty much anybody could do it, really.
Where’s your accent from?
Funnily enough, I don’t think I’ve ever had an interview where I wasn’t asked that.
Can I get you a glass of water?
No, thank you. I always have my own supply here in this Trusty Water Bottle.
I can’t really tell if I’m good at interviews or bad at them. I’ve had quite a lot of jobs over the years, and some of the questions and answers above were taken from interviews where I was successful. In reality, I think you probably need a different approach for every different job. It’s true that there are certain hoops you’re always going to need to jump through to get jobs, but at the same time, “employers” are not one big, connected group – what may come across as good to one, may be unimpressive to another. There’s not ‘a’ way to do well in interviews, there are lots of different ways to approach them and no matter what you do, there might always be a more suitable candidate than you. There will always be a strong element of luck. Don’t let yourself be disheartened by an unsuccessful interview.
