Interview

[chacubee]

I have been preparing for a job interview for a few months now. (long hiring process). I am very confident that I have a good shot at getting the position. The only thing that is worrying me is that my ADD will get in the way. I never had any problems in interviews in the past, because I have no trouble talking about my strenghts and skills when they ask me questions like “Why should we hire you for this position?” However, I’ve already been advised that at this interview they will be asking me behavioral questions, which are in the format “explain a situation where this happened, and what you did… ). Ive been thinking of good scenarios, but I am scared my LACK OF SHORT TERM MEMORY will kill the interview!

I can just see myself.

Them : Tell me about a conflict you had with an employee and what you did to resolve it.

Me: …………………………give me a minute, I have plenty of situations like that that I know of, I just need to look in my brain… .. hello brain??? Talk to me!

Anyone have suggestions to help me or help others in similar situations?

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[nellie]

I can relate to that on the spot freezing thing – it’s awful.

However, are you able to somewhat anticipate the general nature of the questions ( seems you already have by the example you gave) ?If so, try to come up with 2 or three variations of answers ahead of time. I’m blanking on examples here

I have a book somewhere that has all sorts of questions and interview techniques but can’t find it for a while now otherwise I’d give you better examples. But if you’re not sure of the sorts of questions it might be a good idea to get a hold of a book like that.This might also be a good way to give you ideas as to how to turn around the conversation to something you can control the answer to and re-direct them talking about your strength. Hope this makes sense, basically the technique the politicians use all the time However, the worst thing is to BS because that always becomes very obvious.

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[chacubee]

I like the politician trick hehe its better then looking dumb without an answer. Thanks!

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[Anonymous]

i always rehearse rehearse rehearse beforehand. i practice explaining my scenario with a problem/conflict, and my experience i’m proud of, and my example of excellent work, until i’m blue in the face- knowing i can tweak it as needs be (i can be proud of my problemsolving scenario, and it can result in excellent work, if it comes to it!).

and if all else fails, i have no issue with saying “you know, i’ve got interveiw brain, and i’ve totally blanked on this one- to be honest i don’t tend to find myself in many conflict type situations, cos i’m quite good at making sure everyone knows where they stand, whats expected of them, and at adapting, negotiating and being flexible- working out bumps with people and situations before they become a problem- and i tend not to dwell on them too much after the fact. can i think about it while we talk, and we could come back to this question- or i could give numerous examples of customer-service type problemsolving and troubleshooting experiences right now?” and then get rolling right along without missing a beat- thats a skill thats good to have in employees- unflappability. so is a willingness to admit to the existance of a problem and the whole negotiation thingame!

tell the interveiwer that, if you think it’ll work in your favour!

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[Curlymoe115]

When you are doing the behavioral interview they like it when you take a moment to think about the answer and they get a little nervous if you have 30 examples at the tip of your tongue. There are a number of websites that give you a list of questions and the type of answers that they are looking for based on the way they ask the question. Look again at the job description for the job and this helps you to think of some examples based on their hiring criteria.

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[Anonymous]

Practice… and the book, “make people like you in 90 seconds or less”. Also, at some point take a little bit of control by being the one asking the questions

Rapport and Body Language are key (it is ill advised to blurt out, “if I told you that you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me”, however).

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[Author]

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