7 scary job interview questions and how you should answer them

Here are 7 scary job interview questions and how to face them

You will agree with me that job interviews are stressful, difficult, and most importantly, unpredictable. Even if you have a good resume and good recommendation from industry reputed personalities, it is tough to find a job these days. And if that’s not enough, you need to go through the dreadful interviews.

Job interviews can be pressure situations not only for fresh graduates but also for experienced campaigners. This because of the fact that your future job may decide completely on how you answer the job interview questions and the unpredictable nature of the interview.

It is worthwhile to remember that HR departments and hiring manager  often ask candidates things that they had never even thought or heard about in their lives. The general purpose of these type of questions is to find out your true grit if a similar situation occurs in real life. The idea is to make you come up with a witty reply as the interview waits patiently for you to answer.

As much as you have to brand your self for an job interview, it is important to use your wit, your knowledge, and your poise to answer the questions that the hiring guys will throw at you.

Here are some of the questions that are designed to throw prospective job seekers off balance and really show their tact in handling pressure situations :

What makes you happy about work on a Saturday evening?

The objective of this question is pretty straightforward: understanding how you react to the prospect of working extra hours. Though this question is basically designed for social media and digital marketing jobs, it can also apply to production or supply chain jobs. As a candidate, you have to think of an honest reply using both wit and diplomatese.

What career advice would you give to a room full of people, aged between 15 and 45?

Here is another trick question for candidates for mid-level management positions. It is often asked to trick the candidate into a corner. In this situation, you can use a quote from any well-known management guru and wrap it up with your logic to make it more credible.  Be sure to add a postscript that you are giving your opinion because you have found it to be highly relevant to the question.

Tell me a secret, something that you wouldn’t even tell your best friend

This question may trip even an experienced campaigner. As you can see how ironic the question is. Imagine you sharing something precious with the people you hardly know.  You just met these people and they are not even your friends leave alone your best friend. But the question is to judge your character. Will you give up a secret to unknown strangers for sake of a job?  How do you tell them your deepest secrets? In such situations, it is best to make up a random story and tell that to the eager recruiters. Make sure you don’t make up any story about some illegal activity you carried out; that would cost you the job.

Tell me a joke

Like the above one, this question too is to make you as uncomfortable as possible. Normally a joke shared between 20-30 years old may not be a good one and in all probability a dirty joke. You have to make the guys sitting in front of you laugh and telling a joke in the middle of an interview is hardest. The best way to deal with the situation is to go prepared for the interview by reading one or two funny one-liners beforehand. Avoid sex, politics and current affair jokes.

What do you hate most about your former boss?

This is another of the trick question the hiring guy fires at you. The underlying objective of this question is to know how you talk about your former employer, and if you have respect for them. This is based on the assumption that your past is a good predictor of your future attitude. Think a whole lot about the answer you will give before you actually say it. You have to build up your reply in such a way that you are honest at the same time you are not disrespecting your former employer.

How would you explain your career trajectory to an eight-year-old?

Explaining anything to an eight-year-old is a challenging task, let alone your career plans. But you still have to try and do it when asked in the interview. This is actually a test of how you can communicate with a person who has far less knowledge than you do. Simplify the information and tell them the gist of what you have done so far, and what you plan to do in the future. Try to include some examples, because young people are good at capturing things more easily when given vivid details.

Teach me something new

This question offers you a chance to be witty and sarcastic. Choose a common trick to teach. Choose something that is easy to teach or easy to learn. It can be about new marketing skills, or a useful programming formula that is rarely used. You put your general knowledge to a great use here. Base your reply on the field you are applying for.