How To Answer the Hardest Interview Questions and Get The Job You Want

You have already researched the company, along with the position for which you are applying. Now's the time to put that to good use. Your research has shown you what the company is looking for in the job you want.

Some companies post potential interview on their website as part of their candidate search techniques, or give such a detailed job descriptions that you can see how your former job duties fit what they are looking for in the job you want. You have already tailored your resume to show these qualities to your prospective employer - now you need to practice explaining how these qualities fit the job.

The second "loaded" question is, "What is your greatest strength (or weakness)?"

I lump these two qualities together, because they both have the same pitfalls. The tendency of most job-seekers is to try and gloss over both answers, or to provide a novel-length list of sterling qualities for the first and blurt out the worst possible (though possibly true) answer for the second.

You can answer both with ease if you apply some research. The interviewer is not looking for a list of generic qualities. Their attitude tends to be that if you are not punctual, hard-working, and honest, why are you applying for their job?

Anyone can claim these virtues, though. What will set you apart from those dozens of other candidates?

Perhaps in your last job, you were able to take a course on time management that has enabled you to focus and prioritize your tasks more effectively.

Is the weakness that comes to mind one that will affect your ability to carry out your major job duties? If you are not able to positively re-frame that particular weakness, avoid using it as an example. Choose a weakness that you can at least say you are aware of and working to change

One of the strongest trends in interview techniques is called B.D.I., or Behavior Descriptive Interviewing.

This type of interview technique was invented to improve employee retention. Too much time and resources were being expended in interviewing and training new employees, only to have to replace them because they were found to be unsuitable for the job.

Human Resources specialists called in to tackle the issue of employee retention and hiring suitability found that often the person who gave the best interview might be the most personable, but was frequently not best fit for either the job for which they were applying, or for the culture of the company.

Research soon showed them several interesting things. The most important of these was that past job behavior was the best indicator of future job behavior.

This led them to the second - the development of the technique of describing past job duties to show how they fit current job requirements, which is the key to behavior descriptive interviewing.

Large companies will often hire HR specialists to facilitate up-coming hiring. The specialists will exhaustively interview current key employees who already hold positions for which interviews will be held, about the activities they undertake in the completion of their job duties.

These specialists then compile and prioritize those activities into key job duties, and use them to produce interview questions.

The questions will then be used to interview potential employees. As this process can be lengthy and expensive, companies will often have interview questions compiled for most of the key positions in the company.

The behavior descriptive questions produced by this method allow the prospective employers to dig deeper than the simple comparison of past duties to prospective duties.

They allow for the employer to have a far more accurate gauge of what to expect from their potential new hire.

What are some Behavior Description Interview questions you might expect to be asked? Here are some examples of B.D.I. questions:

1. Can you tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a fellow employee? What steps did you take, and what was the outcome? 
2. Was there a time when you strongly disagreed with a company policy or an instruction from your manager. What action did you take, and what was the result?
3. Tell me about a time when you were successful at work. 
4. Tell me about the worst thing that ever happened to you at work. What happened, how did you respond, and what was the result? 

Important Tip: Sometimes, the interviewer will leave off the second part of the question - in this case it is up to you to anticipate that and answer fully, even if they don't ask what for the steps you took and the results of your action.

The best way to answer B.D.I. questions is to follow the steps outlined below. You can use an acronym to help you remember the steps. Many refer to this as the S.T.A.R., or C.A.R.L. method. I prefer the second acronym as it encompasses an important item in the steps that is missing from the first method - that of learning.

S.T.A.R. Method:

1. Situation - describe the challenge or obstacle you faced. Keep the description civil and professional.
2. Tasks - describe the tasks involved in or affected by situation
3. Action - describe what steps you took. Describe the reaction of whoever else was involved, again remaining professional in your demeanor and description.
4. Result - describe what happened as a result of the steps you took - was the outcome positive or negative?

Many believe that the situation you use to answer the question should always have had a positive resolution. I do not agree with this. So many situations in life do not have positive resolutions. What is important is that we learn something to carry into the next situation. That is why I prefer the second method - C.A.R.L.

C.A.R.L. Method:

1. Challenge - describe the circumstances you faced, in a professional manner, and how they impacted your ability to carry out your job duties.
2. Action - describe in a positive way, whatever steps you took to resolve the situation?
3. Result - what was the outcome of the actions you took, either positive or negative?
4. Learning - what did you learn from the outcome? Was there something you would repeat or change if the circumstance ever arose again?

Most employers or interviewers will be impressed that you took something positive away from a potentially negative outcome.

These steps can be applied to almost any situation in the workplace that you care to imagine, and most potential employers or interviewers will be impressed that you took something positive away from a potentially negative outcome.

Now that you have the basic technique, you can see how it can be applied to the typical questions above, and to almost any interview question. There are a few pitfalls you should know about first though.

When you are asked to talk about a negative situation from a former job or regarding a former employer, I guarantee that the first one that will pop into your mind will be the worst possible situation. Human nature being what it is, you will remember the worst boss you ever had, the most awful thing that ever happened, and the one horribly embarrassing event that will show you in the worst possible light.

Everyone has some of those, but you want to put your best foot forward, not discourage yourself and possibly blow the interview by blurting out your most negative job experiences to a potential new boss. That is why it is so important to prepare for such an interview.

Select some less negative events from past jobs or even from volunteer positions that will fit those general circumstances. Write yourself a few notes and go over them. Then, ask a friend to ask you the questions.

Your answers should sound natural, not slick or polished, but you should sound like you have given the question some thought. Practicing will also help you banish those first awful stories - the ones that could be real interview stoppers - and replace them with some equally interesting, but slightly more positive situations.

(c) 2012 Text and photos by Elle Fredine, All rights reserved