How to answer difficult JOB INTERVIEW questions - Business communication lesson

Have you ever been asked a job interview question and simply not had an answer to offer? Maybe a question that started with, "Tell me about a time that..." And you think, "I've never done that before in my life." Or maybe, "How would you solve this problem?" And you realize that you have no idea how to solve this problem.

[laughs] So today we're going to explore three strategies, three ways that we can confidently answer these questions in a way that makes our interviewer want to hire us.

Our first solution today is to turn your answer into a conversation about professional growth and development.

Everyone has opportunities to grow.

This is why interviewers ask questions like, "What is your biggest weakness?" Or, "Tell me about a time that you failed." Being aware of these opportunities is a strength in job interviews, so this is an opportunity to use this as a tool instead of worrying that you don't have the skills for the job.

For instance, imagine that you were asked, "Tell me about a time when you had to manage stakeholder expectations when you were struggling to achieve a deadline." You can say things like, "This is actually an area that I see as a growth opportunity for me.

I'd love to improve my abilities when it comes to stakeholder communication and managing expectations, and I wonder how the company might be able to support me in that going forward." Now, your answer might be a little longer than that.

You might be able to add detail about your experience talking to and dealing with stakeholders, but the message is the same.

Instead of saying, "I don't know what I'd do in that situation," you identify the core area or skill set that the interviewer wants you to discuss and turn it into a conversation about learning and professional development.

So in this answer, the area that we identified was stakeholder communication and managing stakeholder expectations.

Importantly, notice how positive this answer is.

Yes, you're talking about not having a skill or not being able to do something, but the atmosphere in the meeting is still one of positivity, and that's the feeling, you might say the vibe, that we want all of our job interview answers to have.

Indeed, I always tell people that at the end of your interview, your 45 minutes, maybe even your hour-long interview, the best outcome is that your interviewer ends the video call or you walk out of the room and the interviewer says to a colleague, "Yeah, I like that person.

I think I could work with them." And the best way to achieve this, to get this positive feeling, is to answer as many questions with positivity and to bring as much positivity into the room as possible.

And a quick note on this idea, this idea of turning a question into a professional development discussion, it only really works once per job interview.

If you're answering every question in this way, then maybe the job you've applied for isn't quite the right one for you.