Somewhere between 10% and 50% of a typical job interview will involve listening to and answering standard interview questions. If you are lucky, your interviewer will be a confident enough person to make your interview a friendly, human conversation rather than an oral exam, but there's no guarantee.
Friendly, human-conversation interviews are the best for both parties, not least because they don't assume that the interviewer sits on a high perch and the lowly job seeker must grovel on the floor.
The more traditional a job interview is -- the more the interviewer sticks to the standard, crusty interview script -- the more you will need to flex and stay human yourself, in order to feel calm and in order to make an impression on the interviewer.
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If you interviewed ten or twelve job applicants in a day and your company required you to ask them all the same, lame questions developed in the nineteen-forties, how could you possibly tell those people apart? You would forget them hours after you met them.
That's why when the traditional interview questions start flying, you have to turn up the jazz meter! You have to make your answers to dumb interview questions stand out, without sending the message "You are an idiot for asking me that idiotic question." We have to assume that the interviewer doesn't like asking you tired interview questions any more than you like answering them.
Here are non-traditional, human (and thus memorable) answers to standard interview questions along with standard, awful, scripted answers. Be yourself on a job interview, not a sheep! You are not just anybody.
You are a strong, capable and vibrant person who will rock this job if you end up in it, so why not show that side of yourself on the job interview?
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Why Do You Want This Job?
You don't even know if you want the job when you're just arriving to your first job interview, but you still have to answer the question.
Strong Answer: "I hadn't heard much about your company when I first saw your job ad, but I've learned a lot about you since then. The job itself sounds really fun and interesting, especially because you work with schools and I just finished a project for middle school teachers.
"I was also very impressed that your company is such a strong supporter of Habitat for Humanity. I want to hear all about the firm -- whatever you'd like to tell me!"
Weak Answer: "In the job ad it looked like you have a great company and this sounds like a great opportunity."
Generic answers are the first ones interviewers forget. Your interviewer wouldn't even have made a mark on her applicant-rating sheet when she heard this standard answer to her question.
Why Should We Hire You?
Strong Answer: "That's a great question. I'm sure you are going to meet a number of talented people. Can I tell you what I understand about the job, and see how close I am to what you're looking for?"
(Interviewer: Sure.) "Well, it seems as though your highest priority for this person is to build website traffic and conversions on your site. I heard that supporting your resellers is another very high priority. I've been working with resellers since 2014, helping them..."
You will communicate that your background is a good fit for the role, but even more importantly that you have already looked at the hiring manager's needs and are thinking about solutions.
The most important way to build your credibility at a job interview is to let your interviewer know that you understand where you are and what the company is all about.
Weak Answer: "I am a hard-working employee, I'm punctual and reliable and have great communication skills."
Anybody and their brother could say this. It's not convincing for you to trumpet your own best attributes. Tell us a story, instead!
What's Your Greatest Weakness?
This is the worst question ever -- it's intrusive and presumptuous and has zip-all to do with your qualifications for the job -- but you still have to say something if somebody asks you this question.
Strong Answer: "I used to obsess about my weaknesses. I took classes in coding at night even though I'm not especially interested in it, but I learned a lot in the classes so that was good. I read a lot of self-help books when I was younger.
"As I've grown into my mature self I realize more and more strongly that my job is to figure out what I'm good at and focus on getting better so I can make a bigger contribution. There are so many things I'm not good at - golf and Power Point and other things -- but rather than focus on those things, I spend most of my energy getting better at writing, editing and teaching, the three things I love."
Many job-seekers mistakenly believe that their best bet is to tiptoe through a job interview, disrupting the interviewer's sleepy mental state as little as possible. That's a mistake! Your job is to wake the interviewer up, not allow them to sleep through the interview with you.
You need to get them thinking in order for them to remember you. Bring your human form to every interview and don't be afraid to laugh or tell a joke. Anybody who can't handle a tiny slice of human feeling in a job interview doesn't deserve your talents anyway!
