17 ANSWERING NEGATIVE OR DIFFICULT QUESTIONS Based on information you provide to the employer, some questions may arise during the interview that you might feel uncomfortable answering. Think about questions that may make you uneasy and prepare and practice answers for those questions. For example: • If you have gaps in your employment history, be prepared to discuss them honestly and tell the employer how you were able to build your skills between jobs • If you have a criminal record or have changed jobs frequently, be prepared to answer questions about it To answer a difficult question, demonstrate how you learned from the experience by taking responsibility for any mistakes. It is also unwise to complain about anything – including former bosses or your home life. This may lead the employer to believe that you will be a difficult person to work with. Always be honest about your answers, but you do not have to go into details that specifically emphasize a weakness. For example, you may get an interview question like, “What do you think about traveling?” If traveling may be difficult for you at times, consider saying, “Doing a good job is important to me. If traveling is essential to my doing that, I would do my best to travel as much as I could.” You do not have to share details of why traveling will be difficult for you. Some interviewers may not be good at asking the right questions. In this case convincing them of your skills becomes harder. If the interviewer doesn’t ask the right questions, then try to focus the discussion on the highlights of your successes that you want the interviewer to know. Whether an interviewer is experienced or not, preparing in advance allows you to demonstrate good communication skills and express yourself in a wellorganized, professional manner. Before the day of the interview, practice the responses you plan to give to the interview questions. Practice! Record your practice interviews. Observing yourself can give you insights into how you can improve your answers and body language. Share your video with a friend or family member. Discuss areas they think you need to improve upon. Make note of one or two things you will try to improve before your next interview. Practice improves performance. This is as true for interviewing as it is for any skill. Contact your local New York State Career Center (www.labor.ny.gov/career-center-locator) to attend interview preparation workshops and get individual feedback on your interview skills. GIVE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES WITH DETAILS You should be able to identify specific and concrete examples of actually doing what you say you can do. If you said, “I am a hard worker,” come up with three different instances when you performed that “hard work.” Examples can come from your life, work or educational experiences. You can support your examples with related education experiences or trainings you’ve done. People remember stories and details more than empty statements. Any time you give an example include the following details: who, what, where, when, why and how. This will help you tell a more complete story about your skills. USE PAST TENSE AND “I” STATEMENTS Say that you have done something, not that you will or can do something: “I've done it before and I can do it again!” ADD NUMBERS AND WORKPLACE TERMS Whenever you give an example, you want to try to use numbers (dollars, quantities, years, the number of things/ people, quotas). Employers can use these numbers to compare your performance with that of your competition. Instead of saying, “I loaded a lot of trucks.” Say: “I loaded 12 tons of produce onto six trucks in less than three hours.” Instead of saying, “I worked as a supervisor,” add more details. Say, “I was responsible for setting the schedule and providing daily oversight for six administrative assistants.” Providing this type of detail will also give
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