Office Boy

You need to acknowledge a weakness! The key is knowing your weakness and demonstrating how you are improving on it. For example, if you say I am a perfectionist and have difficulty delegating, you need to give an example of how you're working on the issue: I have been working on this issue and have begun to delegate to my staff as …. (e.g., leader of a club, editor of a paper), making sure they have clear directions from me. I've found that this approach provides the advantage of giving my staff more responsibility and freeing me up to work on other projects.

Students should "select something that gives the interviewer a better understanding of who you are and how you will fit into the position and company at hand." Your goal should be to highlight your best qualities and help the interviewer understand how you're right for this job or internship.

Employers ask this question when they aren't sure about someone's sales potential. We used this question as an interviewer; she would hold up a pen and say "Sell me this pen." Successful interviewees should pick up the pen and start, "So I understand that you are interested in buying a pen. What are you looking for?" Then get creative and talk about aspects of the pen like the strong, smooth line of the pen and the range of colors.

Demonstrate how this position relates to your goals. Sharit says employers want to see you're committed to their organization so your response should include a higher-level position within the organization. "Make sure your goals are realistic - you cannot be director within a year. Don't say that you plan to apply to grad school this year and go full-time next year,"

"Keep it to a simple example, about lying for someone else, about someone else being dishonest on the job and how you handled the situation,", a student employer counselor at previous company. The employer is checking how you handle yourself when asked an unanticipated question, not trying to see if you share the same values.

Tell a story about your leadership experience that follows the STAR format: situation, task, action, result. Before your interview, prepare at least five "short stories" that are around 60 to 90 seconds in length. These stories should use the STAR format to expound on your past experience.

Make your answer honest but flexible. We suggests saying something such as, "I've really enjoyed learning about Department X and Department Y and feel I could be a strong contributor in either. But, I'm very excited about the organization as a whole and would love to talk about the opportunities you have in other areas, as well."

First, demonstrate personality traits that would be beneficial on a job, such as reliability, and loyalty. "Also, a key trait would be being a good listener - which is crucial for success in friendship and in work,". Second, highlight an interest that shows your non-professional side. This gives the interviewer an opportunity to see another dimension of you, such as being an athlete, artist or movie lover.

This is an opportunity for you to show your enthusiasm and motivation, as well as a time to demonstrate industry knowledge and the research you've done. We suggests referencing specific areas of the field that interest you and connecting them to your strengths.

Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for. If you do not have specific experience, get as close as you can.

Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. A wide variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement. Have some good ones handy to mention.