How to Answer the Top 5 Most Stupid Interview Questions

How to Answer the Top 5 Most Stupid Interview Questions This is  the 9th most popular blog post of 2014. See the rest of the top 15 here. I do love going to job interviews! I dont consider them an exam, but rather improvisation or creative impromptu. You never know for sure what they will ask you. Some questions are so dazzling, that they become a subject of jokes and memories for a long time after the interview itself. Just check these most ridiculous questions you may hear at a job interview, and think how to answer them: 1) Do you know all machine languages? Sure! And I speak all languages of the world, sing opera, and save mankind at nights”. Every programmer understands that its impossible to know all languages. But a recruiter doesnt know it. Often it happens, that your first interview is conducted by HR-managers, not your potential future employee. Certainly, big chances are that recruiters dont know all nuances of your profession. How to answer: If you are still sure you want to work for this company, then your task is to pass the first filter in order to meet with a manager who will understand your specialty better. So, do not tell HR-managers how wrong they are, and dont accuse them of incompetence. It is better to list the languages (skills, abilities) you know, because the recruiter will give all this info to a person who will understand what you can. 2) Tell us about your drawbacks: “I dont drink, I dont smoke. I am always responsible and  initiative. I am Iron Man, and I dont have any drawbacks at all. Oh, wait.. I have one. I lie a  lot.” Certainly, this tricky question doesnt presume an answer about how bad you are. But it would be also inappropriate to answer something like this: “I would tell you about them with pleasure, but I dont have any drawbacks actually”. This is a question to check your self-irony, adequacy and quick response. After all, both you and a recruiter understand that there are no ideal people among us. How to answer:  You can play the same game with a recruiter, answering something like this: “When I dive into work, I forget about everything” or “I am so passionate about my work, that I spend a little time  with my family”. Or you can tell about some harmless flaws that will be  completely unrelated to your future work. Just try to deal with your emotions, and do not let this interview get awkward. 3) Where do you see yourself in 5 years? The owner of multi-million dollar business, living in his own  villa somewhere on islands. No, this joke wouldnt be a perfect answer to such a question.  It is usually given in order to find out how ambitious you are in your job search, and how adequate your requirements are as well. So, if you apply for a position of a courier in a large company, there is no need to say that you plan to become its director in 5 years. How to answer:  Be modest with your ambitions, telling how you would like to develop yourself in this company. It is not necessary to admit: I plan to gain experience here, and leave you in 2 years for a work at a normal company. You better let them know that you want to be trained to improve your skills and become a true professional in your field to reach some position in their company. But if you talk to your future manager, you should not name his position as your desired one. Maybe he would prefer not to hire a potential competitor. 4) Why do you want to work at our company? Because you are the first one who responded to my  resume! This question solves two problems at once. The first one is to find out whether a candidate knows something about the company, or he just goes to all interviews in a row. The second one is to check if he is interested in working for this company, or he sees it just like a starting point. So, it is necessary to learn more about the company before the interview, and demonstrate your interest during it. How to answer:  It is not necessary to put money on the top: usually, managers do not like employees whose main motivation is money. Praise the company, tell them you want to work with them because they are the leader in the market, or they are known for their revolutionary approach to business. In addition, tell about your creative ambitions that you can realize at this job in particular. READ MORE: What to Answer When the Interviewers Ask “Why Should We Hire You?” 5) How much do you want to earn? Believe me, you do not want to know the answer to that  question! Such a response constantly spins in my head when I hear this question. Because “how much I want to earn” and “how much Im ready to work for” are two completely different things. Moreover, most companies have a certain rate for each position, and your answer will not affect your future salary. So, why do they ask this question then? There can be several reasons. First, an employer can really doubt whether he can afford to keep such a specialist. Second, this question will help them determine the adequacy of your queries. How to answer:  First of all, identify several sums for yourself: a minimum you are ready to work for, a maximum you can expect, the average wage in this specialty, and the level of salaries in this company. The amount you call should be between minimum and maximum value, and it must be close to the average salaries in the market. But if you really want to work there, verify that the important thing for you is not money but creative growth, and therefore you are ready to discuss other possible options. READ MORE: How to Answer Salary Questions in Your Interview Author: Lesley J. Vos is a blog writer of www.Bid4papers.com. She also works as an essay proofreader and a private  educator of French language from time to time.

3 Ways To Get Smarter For Extroverts

3 Ways To Get Smarter For Extroverts We all know the common tips on how to stimulate your brain and become smarter: read books, take courses, learn from key opinion leaders and successful people, do crosswords or play other “smart games”. But these activities can get a bit lonely, especially if you are more of an extrovert. Thinking about this, I selected my three favorite tips on how to get smarter while interacting and â€" why not? â€" having fun with other people. 1. Talk to someone you find interesting Think about that person you ´ve also been fascinated about â€" not because of their looks, but because of their attitude, confidence or achievements in life. If you just approach them and ask about their interests, chances that they will engage in conversation are actually pretty high. Smart and successful people tend to be more open to opportunities, so make sure you take advantage of that and don ´t waste another chance to get to know a fascinating person better. Even if this person is a complete stranger, don’t be afraid to approach them. The important thing to keep in mind is that you can learn the most from people you barely know and who are not part of your social circle. 2. Hang out with people who are smarter than you Spend as much time as you can with smart people. Every day, you should strive to at least have a coffee or a walk with someone who you believe is smarter than you. While doing this, ask as many questions as possible and be humble and willing to learn. If you are always around people who are more knowledgeable than you, you’ll have no choice but to learn more. 3. Share what you learn with other people It ´s a simple concept: if you find someone to debate your ideas with, you can add to each other’s knowledge and gain new perspectives. This technique works also because teaching is the best way to check if you really understand what you are talking about. Only when you can explain your ideas to someone else in an easy way, then you can be sure that you really understood a topic. A little bit of each I believe nothing fully replaces the learning you get from a well written book from a top expert, but I am confident that these techniques can add a lot to your learnings and definitely make you feel less lonely while doing it! Image credits. Main.  Walking.  

Personal Branding Interview Scott Kirsner - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Scott Kirsner - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke with Scott Kirsner, who is a Boston Globe journalist and has just released his third book called Friend, Fans Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age.   In this interview, Scott examines the difference between achieving creative success in the 20th and 21st century.   He also talks about how social media can help you get a record or a book deal, how we can establish a following online, what his experience has been as both a blogger and journalist and an example of someone who has used social media as a success platform. How has the path to creative success changed from the 20th to the 21st century? For much of the 20th century, I think that there was really just one path: do what you do best, and hope to get discovered by a publisher, record label, movie studio, art dealer, etc. But in the 21st century you can take control of your own destiny. If you have an entrepreneurial streak, and some interest in learning about marketing, you can produce the stuff you want to produce, build an audience, and support yourself financially. Thats a huge shift, and it creates some challenges, which I try to explore in Fans, Friends Followers. What emphasis do you put on social media (blogs/podcasting) on getting a record or a book deal now? Having a presence online is really important, whether its a blog, a podcast, a Twitter account, or something else. First, its a way to communicate with your fans, and second, its a way for you to listen to them and their ideas. But it can also lead to getting noticed by someone from big media who is out trolling for talent. What are your top 3 strategies for building a following online and offline? Invite people to participate in what youre doing contributing ideas or helping you in some authentic way. Give them a stake in your endeavors. Identify the places (blogs, sites, forums) where people who might be interested in your work are already congregating, and establish relationships with those sites, by guest-blogging, offering exclusive content, or doing e-mail interviews like this one. You dont need to build your own audience from scratch. Pay attention to behavioral shifts taking place online. You can find opportunities if you watch what people are doing noticing, for instance, that theyre suddenly spending lots of time with Facebook or YouTube or something new. You want to be there, explore those new places, understand what can be done with them. How does your blog and the work you do for the Boston Globe support and possibly conflict with one another? Blogging and longer-form writing are two very different things. I love the immediacy of blogging, and the way you can continually update a post based on peoples comments (or corrections.) It feels like a living thing. But I do still like the idea of writing for print, and being able to spend days or weeks developing a story, and imagining that someone will read it in an offline publication. Attention is just so scattered when youre surfing the Web and its much more focused when youre reading a magazine or book or newspaper. How do they conflict? I still earn more money from writing for print outlets, but clearly print is no longer a growth industry. Can you give an example of someone who has used social media tools in order to get a special opportunity in traditional media (TV, Radio, etc)? I think one really good example is Michael Buckley, best known for a show he created on YouTube called What the Buck. Its sort of a celebrity/pop culture commentary show, with a really sharp humorous perspective. He accumulated one of the biggest subscriberships on YouTube, in part by being available, asking people to rate his videos, and really interacting with his audience and their comments. Through YouTubes partner program (which shares ad revenue with creators), he was able to earn enough money that he could quit his day job, and he also landed deals with HBO Labs and Sony Pictures Minisode Network. Scott Kirsner is a journalist who writes about innovation, with a special focus on the ways that new technologies are changing the entertainment industry. He writes regularly for Variety and The Boston Globe, and has been a contributing writer for Fast Company, BusinessWeek, and Wired. He edits the blog CinemaTech (est. 2005). He is the author of Inventing the Movies, a technological history of Hollywood, and The Future of Web Video, one of the first books about the business and creative possibilities of online video, originally published in November 2006 and updated in March 2007. Scott’s writing has also appeared in the New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Salon, the San Jose Mercury News, and Newsweek, among other publications.

Looking for Love Let Blogging Open the Door to Romance

Looking for Love Let Blogging Open the Door to Romance A note from Nicole: To be quite frank with you, I almost didnt accept the following guest post.   I read the title and the first few paragraphs and thought the concept was hokey. I rarely reject guest posts. But then I reminded myself of how many great people and friends Ive met through this very blog.   A blog inevitably leads to great Twitter conversations, LinkedIn connections, emails and then usually an offline coffee meeting.   If it works for your career, why cant it beef up your dating life too? Although I havent been single since starting this blog, I think Leons points are very solid.   Blogging is a very cool way to screen and have an excuse to meet your suitors in a no-pressure environment. In addition, it is my belief that anytime you are doing something you are really passionate about, your passion and positive attitude are contagious.   If youre happy and passionate, you will undoubtedly attract other happy and passionate individuals into your life. After reading this post, Id love to hear what YOU think about blogging as a dating tool! Take it away Leon! If you’re one of the many women trying to balance a career and a love life, you have no doubt found that your devotion to promotion has managed to overshadow your search for a soul mate.   Regardless of the fact that you’ve been on a blind date with literally every guy your friends can hook you up with, you can’t seem to find one that is willing to gracefully allow you to interrupt his fond childhood memories to take an important work call in the middle of dinner. You’ve tried the bar scene, the club scene, and internet dating sites galore with little luck and you’re beginning to wonder if romance will ever come your way!   But don’t despair.   There’s another way to meet the man of your dreams, and it occurs in the blogosphere. Now, you may be wondering to yourself just exactly how you can meet your perfect mate by blogging.   Indeed, it doesn’t necessarily seem like the forum to post a personals ad.   And yet, people don’t seem to realize that blogging is an ideal format for introduction. Think about what occurs when you start a blog.   If you’re going to do it right, you have to begin with a subject you’re passionate about.   This is an important first step because if you’re only wishy-washy about your topic it will definitely show in your posts.   Even a good writer can come across as droll when they haven’t an ounce of enthusiasm for the subject matter.   Plus, you’re going to have to invest at least a modicum of your time in fueling a blog, including coming up with topics for posts, so a lack of interest can quickly lead to procrastination and ultimate failure.   So choose something that interests you and get writing. But so far, you are no closer to finding love.   You’ve started your blog and you’re beginning to see some traffic, comments, a devoted readership, and so on.   You’re having fun and feel like you’re flexing your creative muscles for the first time in years.   As a result, you’re producing some really great content that is 100% you. Now pay attention, here’s where love rounds the corner and sprints to the finish line.   Someone somewhere is reading your blog.   He’s obviously interested in the topic you have chosen because there he is, posting comments on your articles every day.   You begin responding to him and soon you have started chatting by email.   He’s funny and articulate and he totally gets you!   Over time you start to feel like you know this person pretty well and you discover that you live in the same city.   Are you beginning to see where this is going? Eventually you meet for coffee, and after making googly eyes over steaming cappuccinos (during which time your phone is actually turned off), you realize that you have met your one true love.   You elope to Vegas, get married by an Elvis impersonator, and go on to have lots of little blogging babies!   Well, perhaps that last stage was a bit accelerated. The point is, blogging is a great way to put yourself out there, your honest and true self, full of unique ideas and opinions, and really get to know other people.   While posting a blurb on a dating site about how you love min-pins and long walks on the beach is sure to bring a generic fishnet full of guys to your boat, blogging is a great way to introduce the old-fashioned into a world of modern technology.   You can actually get to know people rather than making a snap decision about their love potential from a photo that’s probably fake and a canned list of attributes that tell you nothing about the person inside the packaging.

The Differences Between A Tight Loose Company Culture

The Differences Between A Tight Loose Company Culture No matter what you think about it, or how you define it, company culture matters a lot, and makes a huge difference in both companies’ performance and value. According to a Duke’s Fuqua School of Business survey of 1,400 American CEOs, more than 90% of them agree that company culture is important to their firms and that improving culture would definitely improve the value of their company. But the survey revealed another fact â€" only 15% of CEOs think that their company culture is where it needs to be. So where does your company culture need to be? Should you “run a tight ship” and oversee every little detail of your operation, or should you let your workers relax and give them the freedom to be creative? evalWay back in the 1970s, in an effort to describe the organizational structure, researcher Karl Weick developed the concept of loose and tight coupling. And while he used it to describe the structure in educational establishments, the same concept can be applied to busine sses. Let’s take a look at both concepts, some of their more noticeable characteristics and see their advantages and disadvantages.Loose Company CultureIn these companies, managers allow more independence and even encourage whole teams and even single employees to explore various options, without having to prove how they fit in organization’s goals. Unsurprisingly, workers have more freedom, and different teams, and even departments have a chance to operate without much coordination between each other.Advantages When management encourages individuals to experiment, it frees up resources to explore new markets, introduce new service and create new products. However, this isn’t a totally unsupervised office environment, but the management gives employees more room to breathe and allows more decision making at lower levels. Naturally, this leads to higher employee satisfaction levels, and this is more important than you probably think. According to studies by Gallup and the Queen s School of Business, disengaged employees have almost 50% more accidents, 60% more errors and are absent 37% more.Low engagement affects your entire organization â€" the studies have also found that these companies experience 18% lower productivity, 37% lower job growth and around 65% lower share price.Disadvantages Of course, there are pitfalls of being too laid-back in the office. For starters, experiments don’t work most of the time, and some notions get so far from the organization’s vision, they are basically useless. It can also break the communication thread, so that the managers may not be aware of what the teams are working on. evalWhat’s more, most people in an office environment waste their time every now and then, but unsupervised workers have a tendency to become even more careless than their peers. According to a Salary.com survey, almost 65% of workers visit non-work related sites each day. 40% of them waste around an hour per day, and most of them are under co nstant supervision.Tight Company CultureTight organizations usually have a set of rules, enforced by a manager and feedback system. The supervisors know exactly what their employees are doing at any given moment, and the management can coordinate all the activities according to central strategy. evalMost of these organizations work on a strict timetable, and utilize a team schedule maker and various other tools to plan ahead and keep everything tight.Advantages Your entire organization may gain additional efficiency from strict company culture. And even though this working conditions may seem unsatisfactory at a first glance, if everybody understands their place in the company structure, they can boost productivity. For instance, Germany may be known for its strict working environments, but their workers enjoy shorter working hours

Whats the Deal with LinkedIn Reference Checking - CareerEnlightenment.com

Agrees with me:Someone must be kidding!! I think the ability for an employer to check recommendations on a profile are one of the most positive aspects of LinkedIn and finding employment. Thats why having 20 or so good ones just give an employer more good reason to qualify and call a candidate. There wont be any negative recommendations on LinkedIn. That doesnt happen on a resume.WWDIf Im trying to find a job and I have references who will say good things about me, wouldnt I want a potential employer to contact them? I know there is a risk someone with ulterior motives will contact them, but I think that risk is small. I dont see the problem.MMNothing is private these days. Companies always could check references anyway. All LinkedIn does is make this more transparent and easier for companies to check on references.I also encourage my clients to check what people are saying about them. There are services out there to do so.RSHi Joshua, I thought Id weigh in on your topic.The best ana logy for those people who think they can stem the tide on employer reference is its like trying to herd cats. Case in point:In the days before the internet, people probably thought that there was very little access to previous employers and background information but that is absolutely not the case. Recruiters and staffing groups had their ways of getting about any kind of information about a candidate they wanted. I know I was a recruiter and also managed a few different staffing groups. The only difference with the internet and sites like Linked In is that getting background information is cheaper and faster that it used to be. No one should assume that a motivated hiring manager or recruiter only has Linked In at their disposal to find out anything they want about you. Even if there is enough pressure to make Linked In change a few things that will limit access, that might slow them (hiring people) down but it wont stop them.I agree with you. I think you have to assume that what will be reflected will be positive and to also give some credit to the people seeking to know more about you. I know I would hear a few negative things about candidates but I never took it on face value. I weighted it against all sorts of factors because when it came right down to it, I trusted my own opinion the most about another person. I believe others out there are the same way.I would urge people who are using their time and energy on trying to get Linked In to modify the functionality of their site on this issue, to spend that it on self-improvement. The best reference in the world are results. Good topic. dDTMI like the ease and efficiency LI recommendations afford to those who are checking me out as a career management professional. In my practice, I am routinely asked for references by employers who hire me to help with outplacement/career transition projects, or by individuals interested in hiring someone to help them with career transition, resume writing, job search, in terviewing, etc.I simply direct them to my LI url or copy / paste recommendations from LI into an email IF by chance they are not familiar with LinkedIn. I am always surprised by how many people (professionals / executives) have heard of LinkedIn though do not have their own profile established on that site.From my perspective, LI simply made my private practice more efficient in serving others. In a sea of competition, providing a LI url on ones resume (website/branded materials/business cards) is smart thinking ~~ anything a job seeker / private practitioner can do to make the hiring managers life easier, less complicated, more efficient is worthy of consideration IMO. My 2cents! ??Look forward to your program today.BSThis is the world we are living in. It is only one way that employers have to check references without our knowledge. LinkedIn just makes it easier to present the information you want an employer to see quickly and easily letting them know that you have nothing to hi de. There are connections that you both may have that would potentially overpower any negative, poor, recommendation that one previous employer may have.I do not think it is worth the petition.TAWhats the purpose of a reference? Isnt it so an employer can check/verify/inquire about your skills, experiences and/or character?Im unsure what the person is upset about as it pertains to that. I do sense a growing unrest with LinkedIn because so much personal information is online counter to privacy concerns and anti-identity theft practices.ATIf someone is saying that LinkedIn makes it easier for an employer to check your references they definitely are having problem with themselves, and/or, are afraid of what an employer might say.I have had nothing but more calls and emails from employers who have checked me out on linkedin when I was not enough looking for new job.This person is definitely taking this to far and only has problem issues with him or herself.FBIf you dont want to be look ed at, dont get on LinkedIn.BRThe easier we make it for employers to make hiring decisions the better. We should not post references who wont vouch for us. I dont understand the reason for concern.DCInteresting question! I dont think it has anything to do with LinkedIn; it has more to do with the job seeker. Employers are busy and if they can find a fast, efficient way to check references via LinkedIn, great! Its the Job seekers responsibility to forewarn any references.My guess is the person who sent you the tweet didnt like what a reference had to say?LinkedIn is all about connections. No, I dont think this Is worthy of an appeal, but may be an opportunity for job seeker education.Looking forward to your webinar in just a little while.LYIt is part of being on LinkedIn. It is a professional networking site. Also, you control what information you put in the profile. You do not have to list your work experience or educational background if you do not want to.I prefer to look at Linke dIn as another way to add credibility to my resumé and my interview with an employer.MHIn small industries, everyone already knows each other and unofficial reference checking is frequent. I dont think LinkedIn has radically changed matters. Job search eventually stops being confidential when you get to the reference checking phase much of the time anyway. A candidate always has the opportunity to firmly and politely tell their prospective employers that they are in a confidential search. Just my 2 cents.HKWhile employers should talk to you first before the reference, many wont. They want to know more about you. Background checks are done often for many reasons good and bad. Unless you are concerned that the employer will contact your current employer, connecting with a previous employer shouldnt be a worry. In Corporate America, employers are limited as to what they can say by law, so unless the individual connects with someone who will risk sharing too much I dont see the concer n.Maybe Im wrong, but from my experience all my previous employers couldnt share anything other than dates of employment and whether Id be rehired or not.Thanks Josh. See you on the webinar very soon.LHThanks for asking, Joshua.I feel that its public domain and thats what its there for. We have to become more savvy in career management strategies, which isnt a bad thing.SCI kind of thought that was (part of) the idea. One stop shopping, as it were.WMSigning up for any public or semi-private website allows others to view. IMHO- people can read all they want about me on LinkedIn or Facebook. If I worry about what I post, I shouldnt post it. If I worry about what others might say, delete your presence. Even the best restaurants get some bad reviews, to use an analogy.GGYour tweet person should delete their account with Linkedin if they are upset. Not an issue.VBI like the fact LINKEDIN makes it easy to get to my references. Saving a potential employer a little hassle can only help me. At least thats my thinking. Hope this helps.JLKThis sorta begs the question, why would you have references on LinkedIn if you didnt want them used.I appreciate that the primary purpose of LI is professional networking but the main play these days is to make potential employers aware of who and what you arejust my thoughtsDMThis is a bit much.TNI have no problem with LinkedIn making it easier to check references. I would not support a petition to have LinkedIn change this feature.That said, some of the people I coach have their lives made more difficult because they have skill sets and/or backgrounds that do not help them in job hunting. I subscribe to the theory that you must create sufficient favorable impressions through contributions online to dominate the first page of search results in someones name. To overcome the possibility that negatives will appear, job seekers may need more coaching on how to create that good impression. You have credibility. Maybe you could address dif ferent techniques once per month.AGAnyone who takes the time to go on Linkedin is usually positive.PM

Resume Writing Services - Finding the Right One For You

Resume Writing Services - Finding the Right One For YouIf you are considering using resume writing services, be prepared to spend a bit of time working with them. After all, there is more to it than just producing a document that you can send out and hope for the best. The bottom line is that they want to help you achieve your career goals, so you may need to spend some time to understand what they are looking for in order to help you achieve success.Well, how about this. You will need to meet with them at least one or two times before you begin to take steps towards completing the project. This helps ensure that you are fully on board with what they are trying to do. This might sound like a lot of time, but in reality you will be able to discuss issues and questions with them ahead of time and prepare yourself for the meeting.There are many online services that are offered to assist people. You will need to meet with a handful of them and choose from them depending on what your need s are. Keep in mind that most of these types of companies don't charge any fees until you get results, but this is an advantage since you can work out your payment arrangements right then and there.One of the most important things to keep in mind is the website itself. Remember that the content on the website must be clean and very easy to navigate. For example, you will not want to have too many links on the page and some pages must be on top of the page so that it's easier to locate a particular section.Resume writing services can also make your resume look professional. Some of the services offer actual text samples so that you can make sure it fits the requirements of the job that you are looking for. There is a much wider variety of material to choose from, so you are free to pick the material that works best for you. This will ensure that your resume will be tailored to your needs.They will also help you make sure that the content is accurate. You will want to verify everythin g before sending it out. To ensure this, you will want to talk to them about it as well.They will then provide you with feedback on how you did a great job and what you should work on next. While there is no guarantee that your work will necessarily be changed, this is a great way to make sure that you improve. You want to focus on the strengths that you have and ensure that they are not overlooked.Once you find a company that you are comfortable with, you will be able to create a resume in no time. It may take a few weeks to a month, but it is worth it because you will then know what you have to put into the document. However, remember that you will still have to include anything that you don't want sent out by the company, such as references and work history.