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I'd be midnight blue because it's my favorite color, but they'd probably read too much into it. That would force me to hesitate, and give a color I'd think they prefer. Moments later after blurting out fuchsia, not wanting to appear it wasn't my first answer, I'd find myself struggling with why, also pondering the possible assumptions based on the answer given. Finally, I'd change to mocha, as it reminds me of both coffee and chocolate, two of my biggest passions.
Moral of the story:
Stay calm, be yourself, and speak confidently/passionately during the interview process. Don't second guess your responses, and when the right job comes along, pray they'll recognize you fit it well.
Good luck PP, I'm sure you'll do great!
06-01-12 11:01 PM - Manifest sounds fun, but I don't make the 5 hour drive to Chicago much. However, I have been to San Francisco, CA, Phoenix, AZ, and Jacksonville, FA in the last two weeks.
I look at the interview process and the actual job as two different types of situations. The interview is a sprint race where as the job is a marathon. You may know how to do the job down to a T, but the interview process isn't always about what you know, but how you verbalize your knowledge, skills, and present yourself. It can be very fast paced and different places are looking for different types of things in an interview for the same job you might preform.06-03-12 07:39 AM - A good interviewer will be looking for a number of things with situational questions. First and most obvious is how you were able to handle or react to a certain situation. How you respond will say something about your experience and how you leverage that experience in day-to-day function. They will also look not only at what you did, but how in the interview itself you're able to articulate how you perceived the situation evolving and your thought processes in resolving it.
They will also look at your perspective on a situation. I.e., are you looking at a problem at face-value when considering possible solutions, or are you looking at it from a management perspective where there may be other ramifications besides the immediate outcome to take into consideration. You want to try to demonstrate that you were thinking of all the angles, approaches and outcomes before deciding on a course of action.
The challenges with these types of interviews are tying your past experiences to the prospective job requirements and responsibilities while answering clearly, directly and concisely, all the while demonstrating that you can calmly think out solutions to problems with a personality and style that fit well with the organization's culture.
These things are very difficult to prepare for, because you just never know what kind of 'situations' they're going to throw at you. I was in a similar situation a few years back, interviewing at the company I was already with for 3+ years for a manager position. I was already a project manager, so I figured I had a decent shot at it. One of the interviewers was the hiring manager, a VP, and he pulled something out of who knows where that caught me completely off guard, to the point that I knew as soon as he asked the question I was going to blow it. I gave it my best shot, but I didn't get the position, and I strongly suspect my answer to that situational question burned me. And at this moment I cannot for the life of me remember what it was.
So what I do before an interview is jot down past experiences that I think will be relatable to the position I am applying for. I won't use those notes in the interview itself (although I will bring them along anyway), but I use that process to re-familiarize myself with relevant experiences that might likely be brought up. I will also turn it around and go in with a number of questions I've prepared before hand that I think are relevant the position, and I'll make sure that they can be answered with my specific experiences. The trick to that is to do it without making the reference too obvious. But that shows that you 1, already know something about the job, and 2, are willing to take the initiative to find out more before you even get it.
One of the most helpful tips I've gotten is to make sure you match your demeanor with that of the interviewer. Of course you always want to maintain an air of professionalism; but that can be tweaked to be more serious or more casual in your answers and questions, depending on the style and presence of the interviewer. No matter what, though, unless you know you're a complete a-hole, always be yourself and not somebody you think they want you to be. Like Han Solo said, fly casual, but don't look like your trying to fly casual.
I've done a lot of interviewing the last couple of years; if I can think of anything else, I'll be back with more cures for your insomnia.
Meanwhile, best of luck to you.
06-04-12 03:03 PM
