interview questions

What Is Your Management Style?

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. explains how to answer this deceptively difficult question “What is your management style?”

[spp-transcript]

I’m back today with another one of those tough interview questions that’s designed to make you sweat bullets–today is question is, “Oooooooooooh! Today’s question is, “What is your management style?”

In the US, this has a very simple answer to it. Sometimes people get nervous, though, because it’s an interview, it’s important, it’s their career and they have to get it right. They can’t mess up. They get serious and thus don’t show their personality.

Here’s the correct answer. Let’s work with the premise that you have an idea of the management style of the organization that you’re interviewing with. If you don’t, this generic answer that I’m going to give you will be very effective because, in the US, this is generally what firms look for. The first thing you say is that you are results-oriented. You’re good at solving problems. You can take on the task and figure out what needs to be done. Results-oriented indicates that you are used to getting bottom-line results. You’re very good at getting results from the team. You’re good at getting results from the organization, giving service to people, so that in this way they are able to get what they expect of you.

Finally, in the US, they like to see that you have a participative style. It’s like, “I have an open door policy in my organization.” Talk about a participative management style but also talk about limitations. Every good manager sets limits to the degree to which they are willing to have an open door style.

Recognize that each of these is going to involve the story. For example, results-oriented requires that you tell a story about how you got bottom-line results. If you say that your task oriented, talk about problems that you solve. For participative style you talk about how having an open door policy at your organization allows you to head off problems, help solve them or teach people to solve their own problems so that, in this way, your group got results.

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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell you as much as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

You can order a copy of “Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems” for Kindle for $.99 and receive free Kindle versions of “No BS Resume Advice” and “Interview Preparation.”

What Superpower Would You Like to Have?

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On today’s show, I explain how to answer the tricky interview questions, “If you had a superpower, what superpower would you like to have?”

[spp-transcript]

I’m back today with another one of those tough interview questions that are designed to make you uncomfortable, squirm, say dumb things… All that sort of stuff.

Today’s tough interview question, to me, is remarkably dumb but firms do ask it.

“What superpower would you like to have?

Isn’t that an important thing with for them to know to hire you?

They’re not expecting a serious answer, although if you came up with something related to your job, great! They’re not expecting you to say, “I would like the superpower of analysis.”

You can be playful and say, “Hmm . .. Well, I yes I would like the superpower to fly so that that way I cared work faster!” They all chuckle at some point. It will take away some of the seriousness of the conversation.

I also want to remind you that there is usually a point where you can ask questions of them. When that happens, I want to encourage you to ask them, “What superpower were you looking for?” Their answer might be very revealing to you about what their expectations are.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com changes that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Why Should We Give You a Job Managing When You Haven’t Managed Before?

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer this difficult interview question.

[spp-transcript]

Today, I am going to address one of those tough interview questions and help you get out of one of those “stumper situations” that people find themselves in when they interview.

The question is for people who haven’t managed before and are interviewing for a managerial job. Invariably, someone is going to ask you (if you’re lucky, they’re going to ask you; sometimes they just leave it on said and you need to be proactive with it), “You’ve never managed before and this is a managers position. What makes you think you can do that?” A lot of people fumble around with an answer and there are a few different ways to answer it.

The first one is to justify it. I’m not a big fan of answering this way because the interviewer can basically nod his/her head in agreement and dismiss your answer. There are a few different ways to answer it.

“Managers have to have these attributes,” and you list a couple of qualities that managers need to have. “They need to be driven, motivated, knowledgeable, empathetic, need to be able to coach and mentor…” You talk about a number of different qualities and attributes a manager needs half. Then from there, you say, “I haven’t done them all together. I’ve been in situations such as…” And then you talk about one situation where you had to coach and mentor. Another one where you didn’t have the authority but, ultimately, you are able to influence people to follow your lead and do the things that the manager would have someone do. That’s one approach to take, but it’s easy to dismiss these arguments as being BS.

It is my favorite way of doing it. Someone asks you a question or they haven’t asked you the question and it’s late in the interview and you want to address this proactively. Let’s say they ask the question.

“I’m sure some point you didn’t manage people and were stepping into your first management job. What made you think you were capable of doing it and how did you get your shot?” When they talk about why they were able to do it, you respond by saying, “I much the same way I’ve done (and mention a few things) and I’m ready. I know I’m ready.” Or, if they just choose to talk about how they got it, you follow up with, “what qualities did you have or experience that you have that prepared you for that moment?”

You follow up by saying, “I’m that way, too.”

If they don’t ask it in the question is hanging out there on asked as the elephant in the room, toward the end of the interview or at the very end if they asked, “if they ask is there anything else,” you say, “I’m sure one point you weren’t in a managerial role. Someone saw in you the experiences and determined that you are ready. What did you’s think of yourself at that point? Did you think you are ready?”

“Yes, I thought I was ready.”

“Great. What qualities and experiences prepared you for that moment?” They will then talk about their life which, I’m sure, is not radically different than yours. You will respond by saying something like I said before. “That’s my situation, too. I know I’m ready at this point. I’ve had these experiences, as well. As such, I’d like to be able to step up in the next organization and help you folks succeed, just as I felt my current firm succeed.”

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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

How Much Are You Looking For? Version 1

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job-interview-intro__1303750811_5965 Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter provides you with two ways to answer the question, “How much are you looking for,” at an interview.

[spp-transcript]

I will talk about how to answer that great question that is often asked at first interviews, that is asked 10, 15, 30, 60 minutes into the conversation, where they look at you so seriously and say, “so, how much are you really looking for?” Or something to that effect.

When all is said and done, you can answer that question… But I don’t think that serves you best. Let me give you two examples of ways to answer that.

Number one. You start by saying, “I’m currently earning such and such.” The reason you start that way is that for most of you, the fact is (to be clear, I’m not talking about a senior executive who is looking at a board level position or senior executive position. You’re probably not listening to this podcast anyway. You have an agent working with you who’s coordinating everything related to the search. They’re handling it for you.”, But for Average Jane and Average Joe, if you choose not to answer that question, firms will press you and will give you two choices: answer it or I will escort you out the door.

Here’s how you do it. Both of them start off by telling them how much you are currently earning. Here is variation number one: “I’m really looking for an opportunity. If you decide on the right person for you, and, Lord knows, this seems like a great opportunity for me, I am just going to ask that you make your strongest offer.” Notice how you are avoiding stating a number?

If you give a number, that becomes the benchmark. If you give a range, I know you mean the highest number and they think about the lowest level in the range. So I’m not a big fan of “the range” even though sometimes you have to get one.

Here’s the second option. Again, you tell them your current salary and continue on by saying, “We are just getting to know one another. You haven’t decided if I’m right for you and I really don’t know enough about the role, so it’s hard for me to set a price point for it so I just want to say that if this is for both of us, I’m sure we can come to a satisfactory agreement. Suffice it to say, it’s not going to be for the same amount of money that I’m making now. I will be looking for an increase but I just want to get a better feel for the job before I start talking numbers with you.”

By doing this (I happen to be a bigger fan of the second answer than the first but I don’t know your capacity for delivering these lines so I’m giving you two choices), by using a line like the second one requires confidence in yourself. It requires a degree of self-assurance. It requires the capacity to present yourself authoritatively.

Again, notice what I did. I started off by telling them how much you’re currently earning and saying, “I really don’t know enough about the job to set a price for myself. Yes, I’m looking for an increase. I’m not going to take the same money as I’m making now to do this job, but I’m looking for, ultimately, is an opportunity and I just don’t know enough about the opportunity but if both of us are interested, I’m sure we can come to an agreement.” That’s ultimately what you’re saying to them.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Why Did You Leave Your Last Job? – No BS Job Search Advice

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter discusses how to answer this tricky interview question.

[spp-transcript]

I want to talk with you today about one of those tough interview questions that are designed to help you hang yourself. The question is, “why did you leave your last job?” And as they asked the question they try to make it seem like you should tell them intimate details of your life that are completely inappropriate to talk about an interview. They act like they want you to confess.

Playing on that, there are two scenarios. The first is, if you got laid off, you you are not obviously going to say, “I was the least productive person in my organization so that was easy for them to choose me.” Obviously that’s not the right answer from your vantage point; from there’s they respond by saying, “okay. Thank you very much.”

In that situation, you talk about an organization was struggling financially and across-the-board cuts and, unfortunately, based upon seniority you are either (A) the least experienced person amongst your peers or (B) one of the more expensive people in the department and they decided, quality of work be damned, they could take out one person and save the money out of that department or three people and they opted for the one. That’s one approach.

Again, if you got laid off to you the most junior, that’s easy. They took a seniority approach. “I was the most junior person in the organization. You is not an issue or my work because all my reviews were terrific. Ultimately they chose me.”

If you are in a situation where you were not laid off, where you had a choice, this is a subtle one.

As you listen to this, remember, I believe in acting over the course of an interview. Thus, you want to act like you are agonizing and going back in time to think about it. You then say something along the lines of, “this was not an easy decision for me. I have gotten frustrated because they saw me as someone who could run this department, be very good as a programmer… Whatever it is… I didn’t want to sit in the same job for the next 20 years of my life. It became real clear to me that that was going to be the case where was. So, after speaking with my manager and he being very clear that this was the plan for me, I decided that, although I like my job, although I like the work I was doing and like the people, I had to think longer term. I start to go out on interviews and organizations saw me very differently. They saw me as someone who had a huge upside. It wasn’t that I was going to come in and do the same thing repetitively, organizations spoke about how they would do career development for me to help with my growth.” That becomes a different approach.

The second scenario is when you were let go, when you had a rough situation he decided to look at other opportunities.

Using myself as an example, I left a firm at one point where I was a top performer. I came to realize I wasn’t getting the support that I wanted or needed to do what I do. Management kept reducing tools and I kept reaching into my own pocket to pay for things. Eventually, I paused and asked myself, “if I’m going to keep doing that, why, if I’m going to be paying for this stuff myself, why am I giving management such a large percentage? If I’m going to do that, why give management such a large percentage of each sale that I do?” So I decide to hang my own shingle up.”

Did you notice what I was doing? I was painting a situation with the story so that it is understandable from the audience’s standpoint.I’m not acting bitter in any way. I’m not speaking harshly; I just decide to explain it in a very forthright way.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Did the Firm You Interned With Offer a Job to You?

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter answers one of those tough interview questions, “I see you interned with a firm. Did they offer you a full-time position at graduation? If not, why not?”

[spp-transcript]

I have another one of those tough interview questions, this one geared toward fairly recent grads.

“I see he interned for (fill in the blank). Did they offer you a full-time position after graduation and, if not, why not?”

The correct way to answer this is to say, “Yes, I interned for them and did a great job for them. On graduation, I’m sure you realize that the economy has cratered and decide to cut back very dramatically on their internship hires. So, no, I wasn’t offered a position but no one else was offered a full-time position with them. I’m sure have great references from them and if you like I can put you in touch with firm you to verify that.”

That’s really is complicated as you need to be. Acknowledge that you did intern there, that you weren’t there for a position, as a matter of fact no one was offered a position there, that you great references and that you be happy put them together with them at the right time.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

The Two Doors Brainteaser

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Jeff Altman, The. Big Game Hunter offers an answer to the classic brainteaser. “You have two doors  and two people that you can ask questions of. One always tells the truth.  One always lies. You can only ask one question of one of the people. What’s the question you ask?

[spp-transcript]

I have one of those hedge fund brainteaser questions for today – – the two doors brainteaser.Here’s how it goes.

There are two doors. Behind one door is a job offer. Behind the other door is all the pain and suffering in the world. There are two people outside them. One is someone who always tells the truth; one is someone who always lies. You can only ask one question of one of them. What is the question you should ask to figure out what door it is that has the job behind it?

So what you do is pick one of the guys and ask, “what with the other guy say is the correct door to go to?”

If the other person is the liar, he would tell you the wrong door. If he is the truth teller he’s going to tell you the correct door.

If the person you asked the question of is the honest one, he will point you to the wrong door (after all, he’s talking about the liar). If that person is the liar, your point you to the wrong door.

When you evaluate the choices, whatever door they pointed to, choose the opposite one.

[/spp-transcript]

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruite

rs—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Describe a Database in 3 Sentences

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer one of those tough interview questions: describe a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old niece or nephew.

 

[spp-transcript]

Is one of those tough interview questions, because I think it has some validity in testing whether you can break down a relatively complex idea into something simple.

So the question is, “Describe a database to your eight-year-old niece or nephew in three sentences.”

Got that? In three sentences you have to describe a database.

The way I would answer that question is by relating it to something they already know and are familiar with.

A database is like a closet. Instead of clothes and toys, it stores information in the database. People store information in a database like you would put toys or clothes in a closet.

What that does is relate the image to something they already know, they describe what is being put there (it’s not close you toys, it’s information) and uses the analogy of the closet.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Add All the Numbers Between 1 and 100

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer this tricky hedge fund brainteaser, add all the numbers between one and 100.

 

[spp-transcript]

I love and hedge fund brainteaser questions…NOT!

We can spend a lot of time discussing whether they are valid or not but they are used.

Today’s question is one of those fun ones– a math problem.

Add all the numbers between one and 100 and what you get?

You can’t just sit there and have a mental column in your head and start going 1+2 is 3+3 is six… On and on and on until you get to the answer. So how do you figure this out?

If you think about it, every number has a reciprocal opposite number that adds up to 100. For example, one and 99, two and 98… You get the idea.

When you realize that there are 50 gatherings that total 100, you have 5000 there (remember, there is 100+0).

There is one number that doesn’t have a pairing – – 50. So the answer becomes 5050.

There’s always a trip to the question of interest, especially with the math ones. In this particular case, this is the trick to answering this question.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you really think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with

no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Describe Yourself in One Word

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Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter prepares you with the best way to answer this question.

 

[spp-transcript]

SUMMARY

Here’s today’s tough interview question. It’s the one that’s designed to make you say, “Huh! That’s tougher than it sounds.”

The question for today is, “pick one word that you can use to describe yourself.”

Boing!

Some people might choose hard-working. Some might choose successful or leader. There’s no one right way to answer that question. The idea very simply as what are the qualities that this firm might look for in hiring someone for this job?

For example, if your mathematician using their computer science as part of your work, you might think of meticulous or thorough as being the right word. If you are going for an executive position address this question, you might use the word leader.

The idea is to think of the attributes in advance that someone might prefer in an individual in the role the true interviewing for.

If you’re an administrative assistant, would leader fit? I don’t know. You know the kind of role the trip going for with that really describe what a firm is looking for? For and administrative assistant to the executive in your organization, it might be the right word. If you’re part of an office pool, it probably isn’t.

Again, think of the qualities that are necessary for the work that you do and for the organization that you are working for in the kind of position that your interviewing for. That’s the key to answering a question like this correctly.

[/spp-transcript]

 

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn