The ability to “think and speak on your feet” is an important skill that often determines your success in job interviews. And once you land the job, many kinds of careers and occupations require this skill. To practice for your upcoming interviews, try this exercise.
Print out this list of questions before you read through them. Cut them apart and put them in a jar. When you are ready to practice “thinking on your feet”, stand in front of a mirror, pull out a topic at random and talk to the mirror for two minutes about whatever is on the paper.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go first and why?
If you could have only 3 electrical appliances in your house, what would they be and why?
Why does glue not stick to the bottle?
What nocturnal animal would you be if you had to choose and why?
If Abe Lincoln and George Washington got into a fight who’d win?
If you had a snail that could magically grant wishes, what would you name it?
If you had the chance to go back in time for 24 hours, where and when would you go?
What’s your worst/best memory of high school and why?
What was your favorite pet you had as a child and why?
What is the most rewarding experience you have had and what made it so?
Who or what inspires you and why?
These are not your typical questions and there is no correct answer. The hiring manager is wanting to understand your reasoning, how you frame problems and how you solve them. Luckily, very few interviewers use anything like this.
Alison Doyle offers a great list of questions you would expect to be asked in an interview. I would suggest printing these out and filling your jar with these, too. Then do the same exercise, picking a question at random, and answer it in front of the mirror.
Reviewing and practicing all the common questions you may be asked will give you confidence. And if you still have a few butterflies just before the interview, that’s ok. Just make them fly in formation. This will land you in your new hire orientation sooner.
What are your favorite answer to interview questions? Leave us a comment.
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