Page 88 - How To Answer Interview Questions (II)

Job Interview Question 42

If you get the job, how could you lose or make money for me?

This question really gets at, “Do you understand the job and what it takes to

be successful?”

You might be tempted to say, “There’s no way I could lose money for you!” But the truth is that
everyone can make mistakes, and it’s good to show that you recognize where those pitfalls are and
that you know how to avoid them.

You could say, “In this position, someone could lose money by making a mistake in X, Y, or Z.”

Follow this up with, “I could make money for you first by avoiding those mistakes, and then by
being successful at A, B, and C.”

“A, B, and C” should be those tasks or actions that are central to your success in this job.

Every position in every company has an impact on the company’s financial success—even the
janitor, because that’s the person who keeps the facility clean and attractive. The facility’s
attractiveness helps to make it a pleasant place to work, so that top performers in the field enjoy
working there. Cleanliness helps keep accidents down, so the company isn’t paying out in worker’s
comp. And, it sets the company in the customer’s or client’s mind as not only a nice place to do
business, but reassures them that this company takes care of details as well as the big picture.

Give an example (quantified, if you can) to illustrate how you can make money: “I did this at my
last job, where I created XYZ that was responsible for pushing us over the top on our performance
goals for the year by 30%.”

Once you answer the question,this is an excellent place to bring up your 30-60-90-Day Plan:

“I’ve thought a lot about how I could make money for you and be successful at this job. I worked up
an outline of what I would do in the first 90 days to really hit the ground running. Would you like to
see my ideas?”

Any good interviewer or hiring manager is going to be intensely curious about you and your plan
you’ve put together. This will give them much more information about you and how you think so they
can make a good decision about whether or not to offer you the job. As you go through the plan, you’ll
be discussing ways you can make money for the company and getting this hiring manager’s input on
how you can be super-successful in this role.