Up Against the Wall (Part 3)

Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.

  Career Development  

Job interviews are not the place to be humble, shy or self-effacing. That’s the opinion of Steven Y. Raz, cofounder and managing partner of Cornerstone Search Group, LLC in Parsippany, NJ. No matter what questions are thrown at you, try your best to deliver tight, cogent and honest answers, he says.

Interviewers, especially in technical companies, purposely ask “stinger” questions to see how candidates handle themselves. The tough questions separate the pros from the rank amateurs. If you cave in, stutter and stumble groping for answers, you’ve blown the interview.

As Raz stressed in the second part of this story, interviewers often don’t expert precise answers. Instead, they’re looking for ones that reveal above-average competence and advanced problem-solving abilities. Recruiters are looking for candidates who demonstrate that they can handle challenges. “They want you to prove that you can manage new situations,” he says. “The way to prove it is by citing accomplishments on prior jobs.”

Interviewers are searching for competent leaders who aren’t fazed by problems and challenging situations. As Raz pointed out, the worst thing you can do is to try and circumvent answering tough questions.

Randy Phares, president of Packaging Recruiters--a Carson City, NV-basedsearch firm specializing in the …

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