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Career Advice for Job Seekers

The Four Basic Questions Always Asked In A Job Interview

William Frierson AvatarWilliam Frierson
October 31, 2013


Ken Heinzel

Ken Heinzel

During the job interview you will be asked a lot of questions and you might think that you will never know what these will be in advance. True for most, but not all.

Here’s where you gain an advantage over your competition.

Each of the Basic Four Questions covered below is ALWAYS asked in some form during every interview other than a screening. You must be prepared to answer each one thoroughly, creatively, and in a way that presents strengths about you as benefits for the interviewer.

 1.  Who are you?                                                                                                                          

2.  Why are you here?                                                                                                                 

3.  What can you do for me?                                                                                                   

4.  Why should I hire you?

The actual wording of the Four Questions may differ according to the interviewer’s style, but the substance is always the same.

Who are you? (Your 2-Minute Bio)

Question one is usually simple and straightforward. You may have heard this phrased as “Tell me about yourself.” This is the time to give a 2-minute bio that you have prepared in advance. Keep it concise and cohesive, with facts about yourself that are pertinent to this job. You may want to include:

•  A quick review of your last four years in college

• Why you studied what you did

• What became your passion

• Why you chose the career field you did

• What is important to you right now

• What you value in life (very appropriate to mention family, friends, where you live) • Significant achievements so far (awards, certifications, and the like)

• What you want to achieve in your career and why

• What your view of your future is

While you will want to present a well-rounded picture of yourself, hobbies and personal interests usually aren’t relevant (unless, again, they pertain specifically to this job). Generalities such as “I am a highly motivated, energetic, persistent, ambitious, likeable, persuasive, successful, and otherwise wonderful
person, etc.,” are not appropriate, either … yet. Without context to what the interviewer/company is looking for, they have no real clout and will come across as clichés at this early point in the interview. Wait until you can link these attributes as benefits to the interviewer. The interviewer will decide for themselves over the course of the interview if the general strengths you claim relate to them.
Practice your final bio ahead of time and keep it reasonably close to the two-minute mark. If you go on and on without a clear end in sight, the interviewer will probably cut you off. On the other hand, if they like what they hear, they will ask you questions about specific points. That’s a sign that they have started taking an interest in you. If and when that occurs, you’re off the two-minute clock.

Why are you here?

What this question really means is, Why are you interviewing at this particular time, for this particular job, and specifically, at my company?
This is a good time to describe your “dream job,” at least as you conceive it to be right now, and relate it specifically to this company. If you are right out of school and have little work experience, you must point to some example of leadership or any position of responsibility in school, an internship, or community service that you have performed in the recent past that produced positive, measurable results.
Anything that shows that you held a responsible position and/or produced results is important. Explain that you could produce similar results in the specific job you’re interviewing for — in other words, benefits the company would gain by hiring you.
You might say: Mr. G., the position we’re talking about today requires the leadership skills similar to those that I learned during my internship with ABC Company last summer. I can now bring those skills and results to this position.  Or, As you can see by the artwork in my information packet that I produced during my advanced graphics class, I created the kind of quality work that this position demands. Be ready to back up your claims with a specific example.
If times are tough and you’ve been out of work for a while and are looking for a decent, basic job in your field, tell the interviewer the truth in positive terms and as benefits to them. Say something like, Yes, I have been unemployed in my field for six months, and that’s why I was excited to hear about your opening here. Based upon my past experience of producing results in similar work, I’m sure that I can bring the same results to you. Here are some examples of my work, and I have quality references to back all of this up. Again: be positive; link your prior experience and positive results to what the interviewer is looking for.

Never tell anyone that you are desperate for a job and will do anything. You’ll eliminate yourself immediately. Desperation usually has a negative effect on people and makes you appear less desirable. Everything you do in the interview must be positive in nature.

What can you do for me?

This question is both professional and personal in nature, and by personal I mean personal to the interviewer.

On the professional side the interviewer will probe to see what your standing is in your chosen field as it pertains to this job. Have you demonstrated in the past that you are good at your work? What successes have you had in any position? Did you stand out at something; did you produce results that they can verify? What can you do to help make the company succeed?
If you’re experienced, give specific examples of past work that produced results or made you stand out. Show any leadership positions you held in organizations related to your profession, any presentations you made to these groups. Frankly, just being a member of such a professional group can be important. Give examples of any extra things you did for previous employers or supervisors that went above and beyond what was expected. For example, maybe you initiated a plan to help your department and another part of the organization coordinate efforts that improved efficiency.
If you’re just out of school, describe what leadership or responsible positions you held in campus organizations. Just to get you thinking…

•  Were you a member of the Accounting Forum, the Associated Students, the Marketing Club, a social or community service organization?

• Were you a leader in such an organization?

•  Did you join the ROTC?

•  Did you work your way through school? (This will really impress them.)

•  Did you study abroad during the summer?

•  What kind of internships did you have? What were your responsibilities there? Did you produce any results?

•  Were you a teaching assistant to a professor in your major?

•  Did you volunteer for the food drive or something similar, on campus or in the community?

Any of these experiences, described with specific results achieved, can impress an interviewer. They will help answer the professional side of the question, “What can you do for me?”

If you are in your second or third year on campus, get involved in organizations or clubs around your major to expand your knowledge of the field. Also start thinking about getting involved in something above and beyond your studies to broaden your experience, skills and maturity in preparation for the job interviews to come.

Now, on the personal side, the interviewer will probe to see how you will have an effect on them personally if you got the job. They wouldn’t be very smart if they didn’t. The interviewer is looking for information that points to what you can do to make them succeed. They engage in what I call the hidden interview.

Based upon how you look, how you behave in the interview, how you respond to their questions, and how strong your experience is, the interviewer will ask themselves some very personal questions: Will hiring you make my job easier to do? Can you hit the ground running?  Can I trust you? Are you a reliable person who won’t get me into trouble with my boss or my boss’s boss? Will hiring you make me look good to my boss? Will you help me succeed, meaning, will I get promoted and make more money? Can I go to my boss with enthusiasm and say, “I found a great candidate for that job opening I have, and s/he looks like a real winner?”

These are questions that the interviewer would never ask outright of you, but you should be aware that their evaluation of your value to them personally is going on beneath the surface of all standard interviews. Knowing this in advance, you can formulate some of your answers based upon your knowledge of what is going on in the interviewer’s mind.

Yes, there is always something personal in it for the interviewer/hiring manager. When you consider that approximately 20% of all new hires don’t make it past the first year for whatever reason, you can see why things can get real personal for the hiring manager — your success or failure will reflect directly on them.

Why should I hire you?

This is where you must concentrate on translating your strengths into benefits to the company that specifically relate to helping them make, raise, and/or save money. There are probably at least two or three other candidates that are as qualified as you. Tell them why it should be you.

If your interview has lasted at least forty minutes (and hopefully fifty minutes to an hour), it’s a good sign that the interviewer is interested in you. They wouldn’t have spent that much time and energy on you if you hadn’t shown them something that impresses them. Now is the time to summarize all the benefits that were agreed to in the interview so far, and close ‘em.

Remember, bottom line, the interviewer is looking for the following:

1. Have you shown a history of successfully moving something from point A to point B, i.e., Have you gotten measurable or at least recognizable results in whatever it is that you have been doing?

2. Are you passionate about at least some aspect of your work?

3. Have you demonstrated that you have significant knowledge or expertise, or both, in doing the things related to this job?

If the interviewer feels that you have at least two out of these three attributes, you will probably move on to the next stage of the interviewing process, or even get an offer at this point.

Now that you have explained to them why you would be an asset to their company, you must close for the job again. Use the following language or something very close: Mr./Ms. Smith, have I answered all your questions to your satisfaction? Yes. After hearing what you have said about your company and the specifics of the job, I am convinced that I want to come to work for you. I want this job!
The first few times you state this during your many years-to-come of interviewing, it will take a little courage to do it. Fine. Just do it. Interviewers expect all serious candidates to do it, and if you don’t, you definitely hurt your chances.

This step is so important that I’m going to give you a personal example of what happens when you don’t do it:
After I had a few years of successful sales experience, I went to an interview in downtown San Francisco. The company was a small but very successful software company headquartered in Atlanta and the interviewer was a very friendly fellow with a strong Southern accent that put me at ease immediately. I listened carefully and cited examples from my background that he agreed would be beneficial to his company. We established a very good chemistry and actually joked and laughed during the 50 minutes or so I was there.
I answered all of his questions truthfully and to his satisfaction. The interview was moving along about as well as I could have hoped for, and we were on a first name basis by now, so at the appropriate time I asked, “Roy, are there any other questions that you have for me?” He said No, and asked if I had any more for him. No. Silence ensued. After just a few seconds, he shook his head and said, “Ken, I just wish that you had asked for the job.”
I felt my stomach drop, and the smile on my face vanished. Why I didn’t ask for the job is still somewhat of a mystery to me, because I did want the job. I knew better, and I blew it. Perhaps I let my guard down because it was a very friendly interview. I’ll never know the full story … except that I didn’t get the job and I still remember the humiliation I felt in the presence of this good man.

If you decide during the interview that you want the job, close ‘emAlways ask for the job in a declarative way, in clear, specific terms. I highly recommend: “Ms./Mr. Smith, I want this job.”

Copyright 2013, Kenneth A Heinzel

Ken Heinzel taught marketing and business management at Sonoma State University in Northern California from 2000 to 2009.  He counseled, coached, and guided college students in their job search and interview preparation.

Prior to teaching at SSU, professor Heinzel was an Executive Recruiter, a.k.a. Headhunter, in the high-tech industry.  He placed scores of candidates over a ten-year period in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.  In addition, he was an executive and sales manager in corporate America for twenty years at large corporations, such as Xerox and Ameritech, as well as at entrepreneurial high-tech companies in San Francisco.  He and his editor/wife Inese live in Santa Rosa, California.

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