There are a lot of things to know about a job interview. Some of the trick questions you may be asked can make or break the shot at the job.
Trick questions at a job interview are common, however identifying them can be difficult. Many are designed to find out about your personality, how you interact with others and a few other things they want to know.
One such question is ‘What is your favorite hobby or sport?’ The question is innocent enough and it seems like an icebreaker question. The true reason for the question is to see how long you will talk about it. If you ramble on for 5 minutes you just lost the job. If you bring it back to the main topic about the job in about 20 seconds, you passed the test. They are looking to see if you will be a social center and not a worker. For you to talk about non work related topics, you are stopping at least one other employee from doing their job and wasting company time. This can come in the first or second interview.
Another trick question may be about the job to see if you know what you are talking about. Something along the lines of asking how many innings in a football game or how long do you fry baked potatoes. If you are quick and catch it you can make a jovial answer like it depends what part of the tree they are picked from. That may or may not win you points for humor, but it certainly lets them know you are knowledgeable in a non confrontational way. It also reminds everyone you are human and not just a cog in a machine. Just remember not to venture too far off the reason for the meeting or for too long. The only response should be a smile or a chuckle.
The next type of trick question may be about problem solving and what steps you would take. They may present a hypothetical situation that may have no answer. The key here is not to give a knee jerk answer. Study it a while before opening your mouth. If you answer too fast it suggests you may be reckless and start down a path of wasted time and money.
If your interviewer is racing along not giving you a moment to think, that is also a method of seeing what you are about. There is no rule that says your answers need to be flying out of your mouth a few nano seconds after the question. Take you time and give a 5 second pause before answering. It will give you time to formulate your answer and not sound like an idiot. Slowing things down shows you can control a situation and not let it control you. Remember this is a tactic. The most common place you may see this tactic used is in a cross examination in a court of law.
The key here is to remain in control and think out your answers. That will win a lot of points depending on how you package your answers.
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