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Jump to navigationJump to searchWhy You? 101 Interview Questions You'll Never Fear Again by James Reed (view source)
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No-one likes doing job interviews. This includes most recruiting managers, but for candidates , it is one of life's most stressful situations. No matter whether it's the next step in our carefully planned career or ''just a job'', no matter whether it's our first job or our fifteenth, that 45 minutes to an hour of conversation has the potential to fundamentally affect our happiness for the foreseeable future.
Because no matter what we tell ourselves: it never is 'just a job'. Research project after research project proves that our jobs matter to us. If we are not happy at work, we are not happy. Period! (as our transatlantic cousins would say)
According to James Reed, Chairman of Reed Group recruitment agency and author of this book, our jobs shape what we do all day, where we live and what we see all day, our income, our life partner (most people meet their future spouses through work), when we'll die (and not just if you're in the armed services), your social status and your personal happiness.
In makes sense then that we apply for the jobs that are right for us and that we then gives give ourselves the best possible shot at getting them.
Although the book is subtitled ''101 Interview Questions You'll Never Fear Again'', it's a bit more than that. The first, quite long, chapter is all about mind-setmindset. It's about understanding the relationship between recruiter and candidate. It's about preparing your job search and understanding yourself.
That last point 'understanding yourself' is a key theme that lurks behind the rest of the book and is probably what lifts it beyond its stated intent.
''Curveball and Creativity'' – How many traffic lights are there in London?
Each of the main sections has a short introduction on what it's going cover before launching into the questions themselves. In each case , there is then: the Question (as likely to be put by an interviewer), followed by ''The Real Question'' (an analysis of what they are really trying to find out), a ''top-line tactic'' on how to go about your answer. There is then guidance on the kind of thing you should be looking to say, and not say; good ways of structuring responses; and sample answers.
Obviously very few of the answers are the kind of things that can be learnt parrot-fashion, since they have to be specific to the job-role and to the candidate (and also to the hiring company – not all companies want their sales people salespeople or ICT crew to be of a given mould). In some cases , the sample responses are the least helpful part because they have no bearing that I can directly equate to my own experience and this will be true for many, if not most, people using the book. In other cases though, there are one or two that made me think: can I just nick that?!
Answer no… but you get the drift.
