Get prepared for your next interview with the Interview Question of the Week.
It's that time again. Time for the Interview Question of the Week!
When you are looking for a new job, getting prepared for your interview is key for making yourself stand out from the crowd. So, to help you get ready, each week we take a typical interview question and break it down to make it easier to come up with an answer.
So, here it is, the Interview Question of the Week.
Question:
Who has inspired your life and why?
Why it's a trap:
There are two key traps with this question. One is not being prepared and fumbling over it; the other is mentioning something that is irrelevant. This isn't the time to talk about your favorite teacher or the neighbor who is overcoming adversity. Your goal is to present yourself as someone who cares deeply about your profession and your industry and you want to show the qualities you have that are valued by the company.
Best Answer:
Before you start going on interviews, it's a good idea to think of a few people in your industry, or through history, that have inspired or impressed you. Questions like this are asked at all most every interview, and the worst thing you can do is have to think for awhile or get nervous and end up talking about how amazing your High School Band Director was. If you are having a really hard time thinking of someone to mention, here are two inspiring people from history:
- Theodore Roosevelt – Teddy Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. He overcame asthma and other illnesses as a child and went on to become an avid outdoorsman. He is famous for his determination and physical stamina. He was a great leader and statesman. An interesting thing about him is that while running for election, he was shot in the chest. The bullet lodged in his chest after going through his eyeglass case and a folded copy of the speech he was going to deliver. He decided that since he wasn't coughing blood, the bullet hadn't moved through his lung. He ignored suggestions to go to a hospital. Instead, he delivered his speech as planned. He talked for 90 minutes with blood soaking through his shirt. Later, doctors determined that the bullet was too dangerous to move, so he kept the bullet in his chest for the rest of his life.
- Elizabeth Cochrane – She was a turn-of-the-century journalist who wrote under the pen name Nellie Bly. After becoming frustrated with only being allowed to write about fashion and society, she took off to New York City with only a small amount of money to her name. After sneaking into a meeting with Joseph Pulitzer, she managed to get an undercover assignment. She spent ten day in a sanitarium in order to write an expose on the shockingly poor treatment of patients. She also took on the challenge of traveling around the world in eighty days. She refused to take no for an answer and succeeded in her career despite everyone telling her it couldn't be done.
What do you think about the question? Are there other question you would like to see me tackle here? Let me know in the comments.
If you are looking for a job in the Manhattan area, visit Manhattanjobs for the best Manhattan area job listings.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for ManhattanJobsBlog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
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