Page 36 - 301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview, Second Edition

W H Y YOU H AV E TO QU E ST ION

hopping, I am concerned about your ability to stick with one
employer for more than a year.

Oops. Better to wait for the full question.
Consider how much better it would have been for the above can-

didate if the exchange had gone this way:

HIRING MANAGER: I see by your résumé that you’ve had six sys-
tems analyst jobs in six years. Can you mention one specific skill
you took away from each experience?

CANDIDATE: You’re asking what’s one important skill I added to my
portfolio from each of the jobs I’ve held, is that right?

HIRING MANAGER: Exactly.
CANDIDATE: Fair question. Let’s take my jobs in order. At Netcom,

I learned how to implement an enterprise network management
strategy. Then at 4Com, I worked with client-side Java program-
ming. I believe you mentioned Java as one of the hot buttons for
this job. After that, I finally got my hands on . . .

4. Getting to Yes

James Joyce, the author of Ulysses, went out of his way to end his
epic novel with a big “Yes,” the most affirming word in the English
language. He knew that ending the novel with “Yes” would let read-
ers exit the novel with a positive frame of mind.

Your goal in the job interview is also to end the interview on an
affirmation. In fact, the more yeses and statements of agreement you
can generate, the better off you will be. Why? People, including job
interviewers, really prefer being agreeable. Few people enjoy saying
no. Who needs arguments? The best way to avoid arguments is to say
yes.

If the job interview features wave after wave of yeses, think how
much easier it will be for the interviewer to say yes to that last ques-
tion, whether it’s asked explicitly or implicitly:

I think I’ve demonstrated I’m qualified for this job. I’d very much like
to join the team. Can we come to an agreement?

15