The following are some of the most commonly-asked interview questions, along with suggested approaches for answers. It is important that job candidates practice these responses until they are able to handle all the questions effectively.

Why do you want to work here? How can you help our company? Why should we be interested in you?
Answer is always based on information you’ve researched in advance about the company and their needs.

If you were choosing someone for this job, what kind of person would you select?
Answer is to generally state your own general qualifications, without being too “obvious.” Leave out the details.

If you could have any job which one would you want at this company?
Answer has to do with the most general description of the job – NOT A SPECIFIC TITLE.

What weaknesses do you have for this job?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Answer is to ponder for a while and then state that you can’t think of any weaknesses that would compromise your performance at this job; or negatively impact your performance of the job’s responsibilities.

What do you expect to get in this job that you haven’t gotten in you current/previous job?
TRAP QUESTION. Do not say anything negative. State that your current/previous jobs have met or exceeded your expectations. With the new position you would hope to have broader responsibilities and make greater contributions.

What do you see as your future here?
I would expect to be contributing at higher levels and have increased responsibility over time.

Are you considering other positions at this time?
TRAP QUESTION. Simply say “yes.”

How does this opportunity compare?
From what I’ve heard so far, very favorably … and I would like to learn more.

What other companies/opportunities are you looking at now?
As I’m sure you can appreciate, I’m not at liberty to say as I am still in discussions with these companies. I need to protect their privacy, as I would for your company under similar circumstances.

What are your short and long term goals?
Short range: To secure an appropriate new position where I can apply my skills and experience to increase the company’s productivity and profitability.
Long range: Assume more responsibility and make greater contributions over time for my employer.

What motivates you?
Focus the answer on your core values, and also on the values and priorities of the company you are interviewing with (which you should have identified through your preliminary research).

What have you done to improve yourself during the last year?
Talk about professional development, training programs, educational curricula, study in your field, on-the-job training, skill-building, relevant books you’ve read, etc.

How do you spend your spare time?
Say something inoffensive, apolitical and innocuous. (reading, exercise, travel, home projects, gardening, family activities, home projects, etc.)

Tell me about your health.
My health is excellent.

If you could re-live your last 15 years, what changes would you make?
Nothing is perfect, but overall I would say that I’m quite satisfied with the way my life and career have developed – so I wouldn’t make any significant changes.

Tell me about your greatest achievement/disappointment in your life.
Give one personal example (like meeting your spouse and getting married; putting yourself through college and graduate school; or saving-up to buy your first house, etc.). Then give your best professional accomplishment story. As for the disappointment, give an answer similar to the one above, implying that “overall, I would say that I’m quite satisfied with the way my life and career have been developing, so I really can’t think of any major disappointments.”

What did you like best/least about your last job?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Explain what you liked best. Then say that while every job has its challenges, you have been fortunate enough to learn and grow professionally in each of the positions you have held.

In your last position, how much of the work did you do on your own, and how much as part of a team? Which did you enjoy more?
Talk in terms of your flexibility and adaptability – your ability to work in whatever mode seems appropriate to the situation. Make it clear that you have been equally effective in teams or working independently, as each case demanded. You enjoy both; it’s more about what will work best for the project and the company at that time.

What are some of the more difficult problems you have encountered in your past jobs? How did you solve them?
Tell two or more pre-prepared accomplishment stories. Keep it POSITIVE!

Did you ever make suggestions to senior management? What happened?
Say “yes.” Tell some accomplishment stories and results, in which you positively influenced senior management.

At your previous job(s), what did you think management could have done to make you function more effectively as an employee?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Say that the employer was very good in providing resources and support to your position, and that you have no complaints about this.

What has kept you from progressing faster and farther in your career?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! State: “I don’t know what could have given you the impression that I am dissatisfied with the progress and pace of my career. I am quite satisfied with where my career is at this point in my life. However, I am ready to take on greater challenges.”

What else should we know about you?
Tell one or two more of your best accomplishment stories. You can also repeat how well-suited you think you are for the opportunity, and how interested you are in the job.

Tell me about the best/worst boss you’ve ever had.
TRAP QUESTION: Never state anything negative! Say that while every boss has been different, you have worked productively with, and learned something from, each one. (Be prepared to give some examples of what you have learned.)

Everybody likes to criticize. What do people criticize about you?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Say that you can’t think of any criticisms you have received from colleagues on the job. Of course, there have been areas for development – such as when your supervisors would have given you your “employee review,” and they might have made a suggestion for improvement. State that you have always taken these kinds of suggestions seriously and have taken steps to make the improvements that were requested, and that this has made you stronger as a professional. (State at least one example).

Everyone has pet peeves. What are yours?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Turn this question around, by talking about your high professional standards. Your only “pet peeves” are with yourself – pushing yourself hard and not accepting mediocrity, for example – or how you are always striving to reach your full potential on the job, etc.

What is your leadership style?
Talk in terms of your flexibility and adaptability – your ability to lead in whatever mode seems appropriate to the situation. Explain that it’s more about what approach will work best for the project and the company at that time. Give an example or two, demonstrating different leadership styles, using your accomplishment stories.

Are you geographically mobile? (or) Are you willing to put in a lot of extra time?
Ask for clarification – what exactly does the interviewer mean? Then, according to their answer, either say, “that would be no problem at all,” or tell them “you’d like to give it some thought and get back to them within 24 hours.”

You don’t have the experience/background for this position. How could you handle it?
Say you’re confused by their comment, that you’re quite confident that you DO have the experience and background for this position, and that you’re a very strong match for the responsibilities. Ask what specifically concerns them about your background; what’s missing in your experience? (Sometimes the interviewer is just testing you.) Re-state your qualifications as needed, tying your accomplishment stories to the employer’s requirements.

You’re overqualified for this position, aren’t you? (even if you are slightly overqualified)
State: No – I see a lot of challenges in this opportunity, and I’m sure that I would find the work extremely interesting. Give some examples of what you mean, and talk about the new dimensions of experience and skill that you would bring to the position, almost as though you would expand the level of contribution in this job, thus making it more than it is at present.

We have all the information we need. We’ll be in touch.
Take the initiative. Ask such questions as: “Where do I stand? Am I being considered as a strong candidate? When should I expect to hear from you, or would you prefer that I contact you in a day or two? What is your time-frame for making a final decision? Is there anything else I can provide to facilitate the process?” etc. Then re-state your strong interest in the position and your confidence that your background is an ideal match to the job.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend that you prepare for your interviews by studying and practicing these answers. Get someone to help you, by doing a “role play,” in which your friend can be the interviewer and you can play the part of the job candidate. You will reduce your anxiety, boost your confidence and perform much better if you “know your lines” in advance! And remember – never say anything negative in a job interview!

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Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2006, Ford R. Myers and Career Potential, LLC.

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Acing The Interview: The Positive Approach To Tough Questions is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

One of the factors that can assist in the difficulties of establishing a new, small business is the belief that important money to sustain the business cannot be spent on advertising. The allocation of money to advertising usually has a very low priority in a small businesses budget. This is a mistake, advertising is necessary, but there are a number of ways that it can be done in a cost effective manner.

First on a businesses list should be the largest yellow pages ad they are able to afford. Although the phone book is an old form of advertising with the importance that the internet is taking on, this is still one of the first things potential clients do when looking for a business or product.

Other print advertising ideas can be done with newspaper advertising. Local papers can get your geographic region narrowed in on. This is especially important given that the majority of small business clients come from a 3 to 5 mile radius. Also, papers can be good because they frequently have specialized advertising sections, which will be read by just the people you want. Local business groups also create special advertising sections that can be a great advertising idea and cost effective too.

Other ideas might look into specialized magazine advertising, using vehicle graphics and using the billing and other mailing necessities you have to further promote upcoming events and specials. There are a lot of ways out there that offer advertising idea possibilities, but the one thing that must be adhered to is that you must do something.

Advertising Ideas To Get Your Mind Bubbling is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

My company’s business phone system has what I would call, the absolute most annoying hold message ever produced. My boss, the owner of the company, is a really nice guy. Unfortunately, he is a really nice guy with a very pronounced speech impediment. One day he decided that instead of the traditional hold music, he would play a repeating digital loop of him announcing our weekly specials. We are a very busy company. In fact, most days find our sales reps on the phone from the time we get in until the time we leave. As you might guess, with such a high volume of calls, many people are left on hold.

When our customers finally reach a sales rep, I would estimate that about thirty to forty percent of them do an impersonation of my boss… no kidding. The other sixty or seventy percent usually compliment us on the “funny voice” doing our ads. I’ve had a few who were offended by it, thinking we were trying to make fun of those with speech impediments. The thing is, almost everybody has something to say about the hold ads. I even had one customer complete an extensive order while doing his version of “the voice”. Since our boss is a really great guy, my coworkers and I are less than amused on one hand, yet highly entertained on the other. My only problem is that while most of my colleagues are spread out over a huge office, my cubical is right next to the boss’. I have to keep a straight face during some fairly good impressions.

I miss the hold music.

Business Phone Blues is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

When you think about building a base of business contacts you should be on the look out for those people who have a high likelihood of needing your services. Networking for referrals is great but you should focus on business contacts who present a direct line to potential work.

Business Contacts Most Likely To Hire You

The following types of companies have a definite need for IT services. Try to develop as many business contacts within these types of organizations as possible.

Advertising and marketing consultants
Architects
Catering Companies
Commercial Printers
Distributors
Healthcare
Doctors
Dentists
Engineers
Graphic Designers
Insurance Adjusters, Agents
ManufacturerS
Movers
Publishers
Residential and Commercial Property Managers
Recruiters
Restaurants with POS systems
Transportation companies

When you seek to develop business contacts, make sure you find out who the buyers or decision makers are. It is a good idea to have business contacts with people in administrative or financial occupations. These people are often at the center of IT hiring decisions. Seek to make business contacts with accountants, administrators, bookkeepers, controllers, office managers, and operations managers and sales staff.

The Bottom Line on Business Contacts

Business contacts are critical to your business development. While all business contacts have inherent potential, it is important that you hone in on those people who are in a position to hire you. Look to make business contacts with people in the administrative hub of an organization. Making in-roads with these people has a high potential payoff in terms of business generation.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Small Biz Tech Talk. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Business Contacts – Which Ones Will Hire You? is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

According to Kosciewicz, the Web today has grown into an “architecture of participation” that facilitates social networking through devices such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, and more. Forrester Research has published studies that show that traditional marketing is continuing to lose credibility. For example, in 2002, 78% of respondents in a survey said that ads are a good way to learn about a new product. In 2004, that number had dropped to 46%. In 2002, 14% of respondents agrees that companies generally tell the trust. As pathetic as 14% is, in 2004, it had declined even further – down to 7%. Social networking as a means of marketing overcomes this lack of consumer trust because it relies on the word of the consumer rather than the word of the producer. Research from Datamonitor reported that 85% of repondents in a survey indicated that word-of-mouth from friends, family, or colleagues is more trustworthy than corporate-generated content.

So how do you take advantage of social networking to sell more product? Simple – you open yourself up. You plant the seeds of a community to grow up around your site by using devices such as blogs, customer reviews, and forums to give a voice to your customers or prospective customers. The caveat is that you must be high quality. You must have high quality service and a high quality product. If not, avoid this marketing method.

Kosciewicz outlined four important rules for using social networking on your web site:

1. Guide but don’t control.
2. Never censor.
3. Don’t be afraid of the negative.
4. Don’t be paranoid.

If you open up a forum on your site but then restrict what people are allowed to say, such as removing posts that are negative toward your company or that mention your competitors, then you will do more damage than good to your reputation. Use negativity as a way to improve your business. If people are negative, look at that as feedback and act on it. Make changes, and then let your community know about it. Don’t worry about your community talking about your competition. Your attitude has to be that you are the best, so why worry about it?

As a community develops around your web site, certain members will establish themselves as more influential than others. They will be more outspoken, and will be the ones who often respond to others. Cultivate these members, because they can be powerful allies. Once you have identified the more influential members of your community, contact them regularly, give them free product, become their friend. Feed your influencers information, and they will distribute it for you. But do not make it appear that you are only interested in them because they can help you sell stuff. You need to be genuine.

Measuring the impact of social networking is difficult. Unlike other forms of marketing, there is no direct connect between social networking activity and sells. What you will want to do is track traffic to pages such as customer reviews, referral links, etc.

Social networking can be a powerful marketing tool, if you have a high quality product and are not afraid of an open dialogue with your customers.

If you would like help implementing a social networking strategy for your web site, call Work Media at 1-888-299-4837 or email info@workmedia.net.

Profiting From Online Social Networking is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Well, this one question is one of the major questions I get from many of my subscribers who are interested in building a responsive email list. The majority of my subscribers say that they built a marketable email list by using various tactics like ad swaps, articles, and solo ads. But their major problem comes in the area of sustaining their email list growth.

A lot of my subscribers shared with me that they are actually losing more subscribers than they are actually gaining. So how do we avoid this?

Well, that is the focus of this article.

Now let me start off by saying that you will be deceiving yourself if you just think that you can overcome this problem of constantly losing subscribers without any work.

Sitting on your butt and doing nothing is the hogwash approach to online marketing!

It really frustrates me to even think that there are actual individuals who believe that success can come with no work at all!

So before I move forward, make sure you get the lazy approach to online marketing out of your system as soon as possible. If you do not extract laziness from your life and your business, you won’t see any improvement in your life and online business.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me begin describing a legitimate way to passively funnel fresh responsive subscribers into your database.

I will list a series of steps that you can follow below:

1. Generate a content site for your niche

The goal in this step is to generate a website full of useful content that is related to the niche you are trying to build an email list for. A good content site, when organized well, can actually send repeat visitors to your website.

2. Place a Tell a Friend form at the bottom of the pages on your content site

A tell a friend form is a form that allows a visitor to recommend their friends to your website if they find the information on your website useful. A good content site with very valuable information will be virally recommended to a visitor’s friends and family if they find the content enjoyable and full of high quality information.

Therefore, make every effort to select or add the best quality content you can.

3. Add a popup note to every page of your content site

Adding a popup note to your website is an easy way to instantly grab the eyeballs of your visitors and force them to sign up to your newsletter or ezine. The type of popup notes I am referring to have been known to increase the responsiveness of website visitors to a certain offer just by describing the offer in the note.

To see an example of this type of popup in action, visit the link below:

http://www.free-traffic-generation.com

Now do you get the idea!

Just make sure you put a popup note on every page of your content website and you should see some consistent list growth. Also, make sure the popup is advertising your newsletter or ezine.

4. Write an article or press release about your new content website

Writing an article or press release is just a way to jump start the traffic to your website. Just one press release can send you hundreds of links to your site as well as some media publicity.

5. Generate another content website by repeating steps 1 thru 4…or just continue adding original content to your website.

Now this is all it takes to produce a passive list building machine that consistently sends streams of subscribers to your newsletter or ezine. The more content sites you have, the more subscribers you will be able to passively generate.

5 Steps To Generating Your Own Passive List Building Machine! is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

Regardless of the quantity of on-line lenders, not each can offer you faxless instant loan, that is why find out which creditor can provide you with the servicing exactly in your state. At times you may be required to present additional papers to the lending company because of the fact that each state has its basic laws of issuing UK payday loans.

The kernel of faxless online payday loan has no equivocal issues. Firstly, search for instant payday loan offers in the Internet. It might take time to find the lender which proposes moderate fees and suitable conditions of pay-off as there are piles of proposals available. Filling out of application form is the only but mandatory action that you must perform. The questions in request are typical: name, telephone, electronic contacts, social security number and address. The lender will require your savings account id and bank requisites, as well as your working place info and usually 2 personal references. Recommendations (evidence of operability) and place of location (United States) are demonstrations of the lender’s legitimacy.

All the wonders begin when your application is ratified; you receive the necessary sum exactly to your banking account within one working day. What is more, your creditor may require acknowledging the funding to make sure you’re contented. To cut a long story short, remember that each fiscal problem can simply be solved thanks to the faxless payday loan servicing.

Straightforwardness and Rapidity: the Gist of Instant Payday Loan is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

One of the main forces driving the increasing need for team building exercises is the changing nature of the workforce itself. At an ever increasing rate, company resources are being allocated with scarce margin for error. Companies simply are not hiring or they are doing so only after the need is so acute that it can no longer be ignored. Even then, it can take weeks, even months, before the Human Resources department can add additional personnel and get them through the process.

The need for team building has become so severe because resources are so very scarce. Businesses had the luxury in years past to completely dedicate personnel to projects which arose throughout the year. In these razor thin times, the only option to contend with projects such as accounting changes, new product line launch, software upgrades and training—any issue that is out of the norm but significantly demands time and resources—is to create teams out of existing resources.

Team building is now a critical factor in Corporate America. Specialists from an assortment of departments from within the company are asked to dedicate a portion of their time to complete various projects throughout the year. The people chosen to form these teams depends upon the nature of the project itself. Different projects will demand different skills and personnel. People must constantly immerse themselves in these teams and bring their particular skill set and experience to the table and help solve the “big picture” issue.

Team building training is a crucial aspect in having the quality personnel in place when special projects arise throughout the year. It is impossible to just throw together various people with different skills and expect them to cooperate and come up with a solution to a problem. People have always required addition training to acquire additional skills. Team building training gives employees the tools they need to better work together in high stress, demanding projects and complete them in the time frames allotted.

Team building training needs to be continuous and updated and practiced regularly in order to keep people effective during projects. A training specialist or human resources professional should conduct all team building training as they have the skills and experience necessary to improve group productivity.

Anything But Team Building is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

I’ve heard tales, and for a short while lived them, about how a spouse will eagerly start a home based business of one sort or another and before they can even get their feet wet in the business – - BAM the other spouse starts belittling and generally putting a damper on the once enthusiastic entrepreneur’s ambitions.

Luckily for me, my husband saw that I don’t just talk about something that I intend to do, I do it – - so he’s since changed his tune; especially now that I make as much from my home businesses as I did from my prior job, and we don’t pay child care. Ha!

Anyway, it’s been over 2 years since all that mess transpired, and I’ve seen and heard just about every story imaginable on the subject of home business start-ups/failures. I’ve also learned that most spouses, family members and ‘friends’ react in such damaging ways out of either fear or ignorance. I suppose some are just plain mean, but well, that’s another issue we’ll leave for Dr. Phil or Oprah.

For lucky business builders who have encouraging families, the work at home life is good, very good. My 14 year old daughter is my part-time Assistant, and her small salary is tax deductible too, so there’s another plus in starting a business.

Creating a better future for the family is probably the most recurring ‘Why’ that I hear from new business owners. With such a strong reason driving the decision to work from home, then why shouldn’t the entire family be involved? It’s for them after all.

Find a way that even the littlest member can take part in the family business. Remember too that helping with chores, running errands, baby-sitting for younger sibs, taking turns with dinner etc. are all just as important as being able to do home office work, if not ‘more’ important in the long run.

If you’re currently suffering with a spouse or partner who just doesn’t ‘get’ what you’re doing – please don’t give up. Keep on building and trying and help them ‘get’ it through concrete results. Usually, with some home businesses, positive results that a ‘non-biz’ type can wrap their minds around, does take time. Unfortunately cash talks, however, and they may not take you seriously until you can show them your first check; and with persistence and consistency – - You will.

To Our Mutual Prosperity ~

A Home Business Should Be A Family Affair… is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com

You Can Pick Your Work

As computer consultants, you have so much flexibility that you’re not likely to get bored. You choose what you want to do. It’s a lot of fun. You get to select exactly which technologies and the platforms and the products that you’re able to sell, service and support. You don’t have to get boxed into working with products that you don’t want to deal with anymore.

You Can Find Plenty of Clients in Your Area

It doesn’t matter where you are located. If there are small businesses, no matter what the industry, you can build a very nice business servicing and supporting their IT needs. But let’s face it, it really isn’t just about the financial rewards. You can make a very good living as a computer consultant for small businesses right in your local area. And if that two-hour commute is really getting on your nerves you can set up your computer consulting business right in your own home.

You Have Freedom to Choose

With your own business as a computer consultants you can choose your own bosses, your clients, your colleagues, partners, vendors, and contractors.

You Can Pick Your Own Schedule.

You also get much greater control of your working hours and when you’re on call. You can hand-pick the “perfect” clients that will allow you to work more realistic hours and you won’t feel like you’re going nuts around the clock.

You Will Increase Your Self-Worth

You’ll be servicing small businesses that usually don’t have an outside IT department and they desperately need your help. You’re the main person – their part-time, virtual IT person.

The Bottom Line about Computer Consultants

As computer consultants, you get the freedom to hand-pick a portfolio of clients and projects that provide a gratifying experience for you and you won’t get bored. You’ll love getting up and going to work every day.

Copyright MMI-MMVI, Computer Consulting 101. All Worldwide Rights Reserved. {Attention Publishers: Live hyperlink in author resource box required for copyright compliance}

Computer Consultants: The Benefits of Self-Employment is a post from: Business Blog | Lilamitre-arte.com