One fun aspect of my job is hearing clients’ interview stories. They are often entertaining, especially when the interview questions have no relevance to anything and can be of no help in determining job performance. That being said, it’s highly likely you will be asked some annoying interview questions. There are no “right” answers to these questions. The best strategy is to remain confident and highlight your most positive traits that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. You may try and use humor in the hope that the interviewer is as bored as you are and has a sense of humor. A client who just “survived” an all-day marathon interview emailed me some interview questions among which were the following: “Given a choice, which super power would you choose?” She responded she’d choose to be able to be in two places at once to eliminate the problem of double booking and to get more work done. But at the time she was really thinking she’d like to make the interviewer disappear if she could. Then it got worse in the next one being asked “If you were an animal, what animal would you be?” Apparently there is such a thing as a dumb question. To be honest, this one is just asking for a BS answer. You need to highlight the positive qualities of the animal and how they relate to you and make you an exceptional employee. My client said she’d be a dog because she is very loyal and supportive of people around her but always fun to have around. All the while thinking she’d like to be a gorilla and punch the man in the face. On the very last interview she was asked: “how do you personally define success?” All she wanted to say was that success to her was just getting through the day. But this one certainly calls for some post-interview serious consideration. I left the conversation with my client reflecting on that question wanting to re-visit what success means to me. I went back to reading the Entrepreneur’s 10 quotes from women business leaders: https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/247554#10 These are my favorite top three: #1: “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.” ~ Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx This one resonated with me as it relates to my recent post "Perspective: Weaknesses are Strengths in Disguise" and a core belief that there are no “good” or “bad” traits. We need to use everything we have, every opportunity, to positively manage challenges in pursuing our goals. #2: “The Difference between successful people and others is how long they spend time feeling sorry for themselves.” ~ Barbara Corcoran, “Shark Tank” investor Change is an inevitable part of life. We all have our personal mountain to climb, and bad things do happen. We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves when we hit a roadblock, or we can turn challenges into opportunities to weather any storm and move forward. Perseverance is a great element of success. #3: “If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.” ~ Melinda Gates, Co-Founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Success is a journey into uncharted territory. On our journey “up the mountain,” we can find abundant opportunities to help others and be of service. Success is about offering something unique to the world bringing value to others. Career success is ultimately a series of phases and achieving goals on each step of the journey. In other words, success is a moving target, constantly evolving in an ever changing landscape.
