{"id":404,"date":"2011-10-31T16:51:53","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T16:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/careerplanning.me.holycross.edu\/?p=404"},"modified":"2011-10-31T16:51:53","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T16:51:53","slug":"turn-interview-tricks-into-treats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/2011\/10\/31\/turn-interview-tricks-into-treats\/","title":{"rendered":"Turn interview “tricks” into “treats”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trick or Treat! Take a break from gorging on candy to check out these tips from InternMatch.com<\/a> on answering tricky interview questions with sweet answers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Don't be afraid of a tricky interview question!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

. . . . . . . . . .<\/p>\n

Some of the trickiest, most difficult questions can be turned into a \u201ctreat\u201d \u2013 another way to market your skills and experience to a potential employer.<\/p>\n

Trick: \u201cDo you have any further questions?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Treat:<\/strong> You might be tempted to say, \u201cno!\u201d Of course, you\u2019re ready to get out of there! You\u2019ve spent the last 20 minutes convincing your interviewer that you know the difference between SEO and SEM. You\u2019ve watched their assistant interrupt them twice for a phone call and you\u2019ve seen them check their Blackberry enough times to know that this interview is the last place they want to be. Your stomach is grumbling. Your parking meter will expire soon. However, don\u2019t give up just yet!<\/p>\n

This age-old question is the perfect opportunity for you to ask one or two more meaningful, insightful questions. Have you asked your interviewer about their experience with the company? How work is assigned? How your performance will be measured?<\/p>\n

Remember:<\/strong> <\/span>This question is often a last-chance opportunity for you to sell yourself to the company and to emphasize your enthusiasm about working there!<\/p>\n

Trick: \u201cWhat\u2019s your biggest weakness?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Treat: <\/strong>Your response to this question could be the difference between a cool summer, doing cool things, in a cool city or, a summer stocking shelves at your local grocery store. While you may be tempted to tell them about your addiction to reality shows and burritos, this is not that kind of confessional.<\/p>\n

This question is code for \u201cwhat\u2019s something you\u2019re not excellent at, but you\u2019re working on?\u201d Are you interviewing for an internship in web design? If so, tell them about the latest web design software that you\u2019re trying to master.<\/p>\n

Remember:<\/span><\/strong> Employers want to know that you\u2019re a self-starter (yes, that word again!). Your response to this question is another opportunity to communicate your sincerity about a chosen profession.<\/p>\n

Trick: \u201cWhy did you choose your major?\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Treat:<\/strong> This one might seem like a no-brainer, but surprisingly a lot of students aren\u2019t prepared for this question. For students with majors like Computer Science, Engineering, or Finance the response may seem more obvious. You enjoy coding, you want to help build software, work in consulting or become an investment banker. If you majored in liberal arts, the answer may not seem so apparent.<\/p>\n

If presented with this question, it is the perfect time to match your academic skills to the skills required of the position. Are you doing research for a thesis? Did you spend a semester analyzing Keats and Plato? Tell the employer how you chose a major that would help you become effective at analyzing, researching, writing, and editing.<\/p>\n

Remember:<\/strong> <\/span>Excellent research and writing skills are an important part of any job \u2013 and so is your ability to communicate effectively.<\/p>\n

Trick: \u201cThe Brain Teaser\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Treat:<\/strong>Let\u2019s face it – employers are developing all types of tricks to weed out potential internship applicants. The \u201cbrain teaser\u201d is not a new interviewing technique and if presented with one \u2013 don\u2019t worry! Employers use this question to evaluate your problem-solving abilities, as well as how you approach difficult, complex situations.<\/p>\n

There is often no right or wrong answer to this question. What you should do is take a deep breath, focus and quickly examine the question or situation. After carefully considering the prompted question or situation, choose the best method to approaching this scenario. For instance, if they ask \u201chow many golf balls could fill a school bus?\u201d You might not know the exact amount, but perhaps you can guess the length of a school bus and the size of a golf ball to determine the possible number that could fit inside the bus.<\/p>\n

What you shouldn\u2019t do is give up or say, \u201cI have no idea how to do this\u201d or \u201cthis is too difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reminder:<\/strong> <\/span>Brain-teaser questions can be frustrating. If an interviewer presents you with one of these questions, it\u2019s usually to test how well you work under pressure and how you approach difficult problems.<\/p>\n

To sum it up, make sure you\u2019re able to turn these common \u201cTricks\u201d into \u201cTreats\u201d and nail your dream internship!<\/p>\n

. . . . . . . . . .<\/p>\n

Original article source<\/a>.
\nImage source<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Did this article resonate with you?
\nCheck out Career Planning’s<\/a> online\u00a0 interview guide<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trick or Treat! Take a break from gorging on candy to check out these tips from InternMatch.com on answering tricky interview questions with sweet answers. . . . . . . . . . . Some of the trickiest, most difficult questions can be turned into a \u201ctreat\u201d \u2013 another way to market your skills … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Turn interview “tricks” into “treats””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.holycross.edu\/careerplanning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}