Friday, October 30, 2015

What The World's Greatest Leaders Can Teach Us

 
Each year, Fortune ranks the world’s top 50 most influential leaders. And while the list is inspiring, I think the greater message lies in looking deeper to what each of these leaders stands for, and what each can teach us about leadership.
I chose a few from the list for their accomplishments but more importantly for the leadership qualities they embody.

Be willing and able to change.

Anglea Merkel, No. 2 on the list and the highest ranked woman, has proven herself a strong voice of leadership as the de facto leader of the European Union through many crises. Her ability to see the need for change and move quickly on it has cemented her as a strong, powerful leadership role model.

Surround yourself with great people.

General Joe Dunford, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan is both a soldier and a statesman, a fine line to walk. But he clearly attributes much of his success to his ability to surround himself with extraordinary people. He told Fortune that someone once gave him three rules for success; the first was to surround yourself with good people. “Over the years,” he said, “I’ve forgotten the other two.” As a leader of any group, the skill for finding and nurturing talented people is key to success.

Be willing to experiment.

Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, has been quoted as saying, “Education is the only billion-dollar industry that tolerates abject failure.” He decided to change that with a bold experiment, turning a 24-block area of Harlem into a place that nurtured and supported children from birth. His experiment has been wildly successful, expanding to more than 100 blocks and seeing a 95% matriculation rate of high school seniors going to college. He had the vision to turn traditional education ideas on their head, and was rewarded for that bold risk-taking experimentation with real results.

Real leadership is when everyone else feels in charge.

Bono, lead singer of U2, has proven himself a global leader in AIDS relief efforts, but as he tells Fortune, the real power lies in empowering others. Leaders who can make every person in the organization from the ground up believe powerfully in the mission and cause of the company, are truly inspirational leaders.

Reach people where they are.

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, is maybe the most social media savvy leader on this list. He has 8.6 million followers on Twitter, and you can find him on just about every other social media platform as well, from Facebook to Google+ and back. The upshot of all this? Millions of people worldwide who are not Tibetan or Buddhist look to the Dalai Lama for guidance and follow his charismatic words because he is everywhere they are.

Don’t compromise your vision.

The no. 1 slot on this year’s list went to Pope Francis. No matter where you fall on the spectrum of religious beliefs, I believe Pope Francis must be admired as a leader for being absolutely unwilling to compromise his beliefs. He has taken a stand against centuries of papal tradition by forgoing some of the opulent trappings of his office, voiced controversial opinions about the church’s role in the world and on topics like homosexuality and abortion. Yet his firm stance has done nothing but make him more popular, both with his own flock and others around the world. Knowing your own mind and not letting yourself be swayed by what’s popular is a key characteristic of a strong leader.
Many believe that great leaders are born, not made. I believe that anyone can become a better leader by emulating those we admire.

How to Get the Job You Really Want - 5 Quick Tips

 
One of the most important parts of my role as an experienced Consultant, is setting my candidates up for success when applying for a new role. There are many of you out there who don't know how to approach an interview process, and I believe people when they say to me just how daunting getting a new role can be. For this reason I thought it a good idea to write some basic guidelines down to take with you. No matter whether you are a mid level management candidate, or a C-Suite Executive, these simple steps will help prepare you for an interview process.
1. Research the business you are applying for
This may sound unbelievable to some of you out there, but I continue to be amazed at the amount of people (again at all levels) who do not put the ground work inbefore meeting the hiring manager. As a Consultant, we should have already met you and talked to you about 
the business and role you are applying for. After this meeting, it is key that you go online and research the business you may one day work for. Visit stores and talk to staff, mystery shop to assess their service levels and ask staff questions. It is amazing how much they may share with you about the business they work for. This not only will show the hiring manager that there is genuine interest in knowing more about their business, but it may also become a conversation point in the interview process.
2. Read the Job Description
Most likely the Consultant will have been given a Job Description as part of their brief from the client. They will share this with you and it is vital that you take the time to read through this thoroughly. Most of the key criteria on that Job Spec will be what your interview will be based upon. Go through the Job Description systematically and think of live examples where you were able to put each of these points to good use.

3. Write down important information and questions
I am certain we can all think of times where we have left an interview and thought to ourselves, "I wish I had said that", "I forgot to ask that really important question". One of the recommendations I share with candidates is to prepare a list, in bullet form to take with you to your meeting. If anything, again, this will show the hiring manager your interest in the business and the role, so I would not be concerned about taking notes in with you. Write in bullet form your key strengths, and some key leadership points that for you are important to share. Also, write down a couple of questions that you would like to know about the company/role. Sometimes nerves can take over your brain when in an interview, so having the ability to refer to these notes will really help.
4. Dress code
I am writing this down as an important point, as all retail businesses are different, and again, no matter at what level you are applying for, your first impression to the hiring manager is important, and if you look the part, it is easier to see you already in the business. Ask your Consultant about how you should dress for your meeting. They should know their client and be able to assist.
5. Cross Check
We should now be well prepared for the interview and setting you up as best we can for a successful first meeting. My last recommendation to candidates is always, at the end of the interview, ask these questions to the Hiring Manager - "Is there anything else you would like to know about myself or my career history?", and finally "Based on our meeting just now, and the role you are recruiting for, do you feel that my skill set is aligned to what you are searching for?"
Take these points with you and ensure you tick these off. You will find that you will be on your way to securing that job you really want!

Using A Recruiter To Find Your Dream Job

 Finding your perfect job can be a very time consuming and frustrating activity, especially when you’re doing it alone. I have shared some of my tips for finding and securing your perfect job in previous blogs, from ensuring your knowledge of the company is good, to asking the right questions in an interview. I always encourage jobseekers to actively explore opportunities and be self-starters, but sometimes you need a helping hand, which is where recruitment agencies can come in.
By taking advice and guidance from someone with industry knowledge, you have a much better chance of covering all bases. Here are a few ways to make the most of your recruitment consultant;
Know what you want
You need to have a strong idea of your capabilities and what job you feel is the best fit. This isn’t just about the type of role you want – you should explain all the aspects that make up your working life. Do you prefer to work for a large corporate or a smaller enterprise? Do you want to work in a team or do you prefer something more individual? I would suggest creating a detailed description and taking it to your first meeting with a consultant, so after that meeting they can be specific and tailored with their search for you.
Take initiative
Recruiters are experts, but also remember this is your livelihood. Don’t allow yourself to be spoon-fed or led down a path you don’t want to take. You should be giving them strong direction. Also be thorough whenever a job opportunity is put in front of you – go away and do a solid amount of research rather than just accepting the first thing that is put in front of you.
Find specialists
You always want to speak to people who know exactly what they are talking about in your sector. In other words, you don’t want someone who's a jack of all trades but master of none. Find an agency that is a specialist in your area and find out about things like their clients and the types of placements they have made before. Don’t be too concerned with whether they are an established agency or a startup – as somebody who has invested in 7 startups this year alone, I can tell you that recruitment businesses are often started by people who have already worked in one, so they will have an excellent contact book anyway. The key is for them to be specialists – find one that works for you.
Understand the relationship
It is always best to build a good rapport with a recruitment consultant and maintain that relationship. Keep in close contact with them throughout your job search and let them know how things are at your current company. Even after you get placed, you should meet up with them now and then – they will be keen to know how you are finding your new job. If at some point in the future you are looking to move on again – that relationship you have built will give you a head start.
Encourage feedback
Whenever you go for an interview, the recruiter will get feedback on your performance. They will tell you what you did well, and what you didn’t do so well – but you should then ask them to help you improve. Perhaps your body language was wrong, or there was a certain type of question you didn’t answer well. Go in and see your recruiter, and get them to almost coach you so you can improve. Every step of the job seeking process is an opportunity for you to learn and develop.

This Is How You Know You’ve Found the Right Career


Warren Buffett claims that he tap-dances to work every day. And why not? In 2013 alone, he made $12.7 billion. That’s $1.5 million per hour – even while sleeping. Clearly, Buffett picked the right career – not just for himself, but also for those lucky enough to have picked up a few shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
My father bred new strains of onions, carrots and cucumbers as a professor and research scientist. Having grown up as a farm boy, he was in heaven, developing high-beta-carotene carrots in a quest to keep 500,000 kids per year in developing countries from nutritional blindness. He believed he had the greatest job in the world and would never have traded careers with Warren Buffett.
Cecile Pelous was an executive in the fashion industry nearly 30 years ago, working with the grand couturiers in Paris, when she sent a letter to Mother Theresa. “Can you use me?” she asked. Mother Theresa wrote a one-word response, “Come!”Cecile sold her house to start an orphanage in Nepal. Before long, she had legally adopted 79 kids and was raising and educating a hundred more from the streets to help them lead productive lives. Cecile wouldn’t trade places with Buffett either.
Whatever you’ve picked as a career, I hope it makes you want to tap dance – at least a few times in your work life. When you look back and survey where you’ve been, look ahead to the distant shore, or consider the people who have rowed alongside you, take an occasional pause to click your heels.
Few of us know what career is in store for us when we take our first job. But here are some signs that you've increased the odds for a spontaneous outbreak of tap dancing:
1. You've found something you can be really good at. I recall taking up piano lessons at the same time as another young hopeful would-be musician. It wasn’t long, though, before she was in “John Thompson Book Three,” while I remained stuck in “Book Two.” Had I stayed with piano, I’d have been as miserable as those on the receiving end of my performances. My fellow student, however, went on to delight others with her gift as she became a professional musician. Thankfully, I merged into her audience – to the benefit of all. There’s no sense in fighting Mother Nature on the career front if you ever hope to tap dance.
2. You like the nuts and bolts of the job. Pick something where you don’t have to fake it to make it. When I watch natural extroverts gather energy from social situations, I recognize they have something I don’t. Whereas Bill Clinton comes alive and is energized by others, being on stage for too long drains my energy. I can finally host events without anxiety, even enjoying the occasional party – but I’m always happiest to retreat into a book or a private conversation with a friend. This means that as much as I love policy issues, governance and leadership, a career in elected politics would have undone me.
3. The job lifts you. For those doing what they were meant to do, the normal irritants of the job become a kind of “atmospheric dust” that creates the foundation for beautiful sunsets. Every career has its dust, but you might be in the wrong one if that’s all you see. If you find yourself grousing, fussing and fomenting, give yourself – and the rest of us – a break. In your torrent of objections and cautions, you’ll never build a great career – and you might just keep others from achieving their dreams. No career is perfect, but the right one for you will be filled with many uplifting sunsets.
4. You're in the thick of things. Life in the backseat or on the periphery of the action rarely makes for a great career. Naturally, there are lots of great support roles on the edge of every industry, but if you’re determined to leave a mark, it generally pays off to operate at the center. If you love accounting, work for an accounting firm. If you're fascinated by the law, get into the judicial system. If you’re an engineer, build cool new stuff. If you love finance, work for a bank or an investment house. Build the motor, buy the brake pads.
5. You're in an industry that fits your personality type. Engineers are not like real estate developers, who in turn don’t think like fashion mavens, who are wired differently from lawyers and accountants. We all have psychometric preferences – ones that tend to make us more or less like those in various industries. While this alone shouldn’t determine what you choose (as there are many roles on every winning team), make sure you understand your dominant traits and those of industry leaders. Then get on a field with those playing the same sport as you.
6. You like the other people in your field. My best-ever career (and investment) decisions have come from genuinely liking and admiring people I’m working with. Grappling with the discomfort of interpersonal contretemps is never productive. It saps everyone and it ensures suboptimal performance. Also, it can take down a career faster than anything else. If you can handle snakes, you’ll be OK getting into the viper pit; but if not, pick another industry.
7. You've found an inspiring mentor. Having someone to look up to is a key to finding a meaningful career. Your mentor doesn’t need to be your file leader – or even in your industry. But if you would have a great career, find a mentor… then become one yourself.
8. You look forward to Mondays. Don’t let your week become what Thoreau called a life of “quiet desperation,” awaiting the weekends for rejuvenation. But this also doesn’t mean you should be a workaholic. There is an emotional chasm between being a workaholic and loving work. Workaholics are driven by fear; joyful workers are motivated by passion. They both work hard, but it’s not the same. So find passion. Eschew fear. I can still hear Trammell Crow say, “Work is more fun than fun” – and mean it. And Confucius said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” This is the essence of having found a great career – one that grows out of passion, that merges work, life, family and friends into a whole with few bright-line boundaries. This sort of “career” is a Friday-less and Monday-less one.
9. You learn, grow, become, test, try. As Oliver Wendall Holmes wrote, “Alas for those that never sing, but die with all their music in them.” Great careers test us, try us, stretch us. We find out if we can hit the high notes and we learn to recover from the low ones. But those who have figured out how to have a great career – and not just a great job – don’t die with their music in them.
10. You're proud of what you do. Once when climbing a mountain with a successful entertainment industry executive, I apologized for what I was doing in my life at that point – particularly as I compared it with his fame and fortune. He carefully chose a moment to pull me out of the earshot of others to say: “Don’t ever be ashamed of what you’re doing with your life. Life is not a competition. Unless you self limit, you can make a greater difference in the lives of the young people you work with than I’ll make in a hundred lifetimes working with the world’s celebrities.” Finding the gold amid the dross of my present situation became the key to an important renewal. And it started by feeling proud of what I was doing.
If you're planning out your future, you're not likely to be satisfied with a series of jobs that merely keeps food on the table. Instead, turn your progression of jobs and assignments into a career that creates relationships, promotes learning, and makes a difference – all of which will send you tap-dancing to the office.

Here’s Why Good Employees Quit

 

Anne Fisher, contributor to CNNMoney wrote a great article, “To keep employees loyal, try asking what they want” wherein she references an interview of Aflac CEO Dan Amos quoted saying: “If you want to know what would keep someone from quitting, ask.” It sounds like common sense, but not many companies really do it”I couldn’t agree more. Not only is it a good business decision to find out what it will take for your employees to remain loyal, it is essentially the most important factor in business sustainability.
Sure, there are many reasons why people quit, such as: employee mis-match, work/life balance, co-worker conflicts, relocation, family matters, lack of good communication, micro-managers, etc. I could go on and on but here are my top four reasons why good employees leave the workplace:
1. Poor reward system. It’s not always about having a big paycheck (although it doesn’t hurt either!). Rewarding an employee can be shown in many ways, such as corporate recognition both internally and externally (company website or press release), an additional paid mini-vacation, an opportunity to take the lead on a new project, a promotion, a donation in their name to a charity they support or the most popular form of reward, a bump in pay or an unexpected bonus. While these represent some of the ways an employer can reward workers, they don’t work without one key element; communication. What money represents to one employee may be of no concern to another. The key here is to find out what your employee’s value most and work from there.
2. Management. You know the saying: “People don’t leave companies, they leave their managers”. There is truth to this! Here’s my reasoning. When there is work to be done, its management’s duty to enforce, engage, and often times implement reward systems to keep employees satisfied and loyal. Sure, the supervisor, middle manager or team leader may implement recognition on a small scale for workers who have reached goals or helped the team in some way, but that doesn’t replace the recognition and reward employees need from upper management to stay committed.
Not everyone is skilled enough to manage processes or lead people. Just because someone is good at what they do does not mean they will be a great manager, and that’s perfectly OK! When people who are not fit to lead are put into positions of leadership it can create a catastrophic circumstance in the workplace leading to high turnover and low employee morale. So please, stop slapping “Manager” on every good worker’s name and put people in those positions only if they have the characteristics necessary to influence workers to execute the company vision and those willing to work together to get the job done.
3. Hiring/Promotions. When good workers see people who do not contribute as much as they do or they see schmoozers who do little but socialize a lot land positions they don’t deserve, it’s much like a slap in the face. Especially when those workers are busting their butts, not taking vacation, rallying the team and exceeding expectations the last thing they want to see is some Joe Schmo just waltz in and take a senior position, one they are clearly not qualified to do. You have to expect good employees will leave if you decide to hire your best friends’ cousin who has no idea what the heck they are doing, and then you have the audacity to put them in a leadership position over experienced workers. Come on! Hiring and promoting for favoritism is a major way to alienate good workers.
4. Too much work! The moment employers see employees who have good work ethic or are great in performing or rallying a team of people they begin to slap on more projects, more responsibility to those who they believe can handle it. And maybe good workers can handle more work but it becomes a problem when they begin to feel that they can’t escape from work because of the amount of responsibility and attention they receive from management. Being an excellent worker can be a blessing and a curse. It’s great for a boss to recognize employees are good, but the reward for that shouldn’t always be to pour on the workload. Since good employees tend to have a higher workload, it’s important to ensure they don’t feel overwhelmed causing them to burn out.
Ultimately the culture of an organization determines the scope of employee retention efforts which requires strategic decision making and planning. But to get good employees to stay, it’s simple; ask them what it will take. If you see someone doing great work, recognize it and reward it but don’t’ forget to find out how you can empower them to continuously deliver.

Leadership Assessment: Do You Have These 5 Attributes?


I’ve worked closely with enough business leaders to get a feel for what makes them tick. There are good ones and . . . less-good ones, of course, but after a while you begin to see patterns and similarities and you can’t help but put together a picture of those attributes the good ones have in common.
There are the traits that every good employee has--like being talented, focused, smart, and knowledgeable--but being a leader requires something different.There is something about people who can lead talented, focused, smart people and get them to dig deep, to do their best work, and emotionally invest in reaching a common goal. What is that? What are those attributes?
The assessment
Each of the following five traits is important. Every leader is different, but for the purposes of this assessment, we’re going to give each attribute the same point value. After reading the description, honestly evaluate yourself and think about where and how you can improve.
1. Ego
We’ve turned this word into a pejorative for some reason. But let’s start by separating “ego” from “egotistical.” Having self-esteem and even a sense of your importance is vital for a healthy life--personally and professionally.
Beyond that, and far more important here, is that faith in yourself is the armor you need to deflect the arrows of naysayers and the weight that negativity places upon you. Being able to honestly assess your self-worth gives you the confidence to inspire, to lead, and to move forward in the face of doubt and criticism. Leaders get this.
Ask yourself: Do I have enough conviction in myself, my vision, and my abilities to ask others to follow me?

2. Understanding your limitations
The flipside of knowing what you’re great at is knowing your weaknesses. It’s a really good idea to surround yourself with talented people, but it’s a far better idea to surround yourself with a complementary team of people who are great at the things you’re not great at. The ability to honestly assess your weaknesses allows you to fix things not with a tool, but a box of tools.

3. DriveHave you heard the one about the great leader who worked eight hours a day and left his work at work? Yeah, me either. 
For good or bad, leaders are always on, always thinking about how to accomplish their goals, how to solve problems, and they find inspiration everywhere. Their work consumes a large proportion of their lives and it is the lens through which they view nearly all of their experiences. They are driven to succeed by unknown forces, and see accomplishing their professional goals as indistinguishable from their personal ones.

4. Vision
I’ve had several conversations about this word recently, and it seems to mean something different to everyone. That’s understandable for a word so nebulously defined, so let’s start with a common meaning.
Vision is the ability to see things that aren’t, but could be. It is the ability to see the picture in the puzzle while most of the pieces are still in the box. It is an offshoot of strategic thinking that allows you to see what is possible with the resources available and those not yet available.
But there's more than one kind of visionary. Or maybe there are different levels.Leaders with vision have the ability to think differently--bigger, bolder, and in unexpected ways. These are the people who can look off in the unexplored distance and describe a destination where no one else has been. As far as I can tell, this is a rare gift that can be honed, but not taught.

5. Motivation and inspiration
A single strand can lift a pound. A thousand strands, aligned and braided, can lift most anything.
Motivating others to do their best, to work their hardest to accomplish a goal, may be the single most important gift any leader can have. You can gather together the greatest group of talent the world has ever seen, but only someone with the ability to inspire can get them working as a team.
There’s more than one way to get people to work for you, of course, but the ability to inspire--to make people WANT to do their best for you--is a rare gift. Bribery shifts the focus from the goal to the reward, and muddies the waters. Fear will make people overtly supportive and inwardly subversive. Only that intangible bond of devotion that a great leader can create can make people adopt your vision, your mission, your joy in success, and your pain in failure.
The people I’ve seen do this the best had a parental demeanor that made you want to please them. And when you failed, you felt the sting of disappointment deeply. Freud would probably have a field day with the forces at work here, but I’ve seen it time and time again.

The 50 Most Common Interview Questions

 
 
Glassdoor has compiled a list of the 50 most common interview questions. If you are not familiar with Glassdoor, it's a website where employees and former employees anonymously review companies and their management. They also provide insight into the interview process of organizations. They found that the following questions are among the most common that organizations ask in interviews.
We won’t debate the relevancy of these questions and how it ties into making the best hiring decisions.That’s for another article.This is simply a quick reference guide to help you prepare for many of the questions that you will face.
I can’t guarantee that you are not going to have a few oddball questions thrown at you but I can almost guarantee with certainty that you will more than likely have to answer many of these questions at some point. Why not be prepared?
The best way to get ready is to practice, practice, practice and be ready to answer these questions with confidence and enthusiasm.

Most Common Interview Questions

  1. What are your strengths?
  2. What are your weaknesses?
  3. Why are you interested in working for [insert company name here]?
  4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
  5. Why do you want to leave your current company?
  6. Why was there a gap in your employment between [insert date] and [insert date]?
  7. What can you offer us that someone else can not?
  8. What are three things your former manager would like you to improve on?
  9. Are you willing to relocate?
  10. Are you willing to travel?
  11. Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
  12. Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
  13. What is your dream job?
  14. How did you hear about this position?
  15. What would you look to accomplish in the first 30 days/60 days/90 days on the job?
  16. Discuss your resume.
  17. Discuss your educational background.
  18. Describe yourself.
  19. Tell me how you handled a difficult situation.
  20. Why should we hire you?
  21. Why are you looking for a new job?
  22. Would you work holidays/weekends?
  23. How would you deal with an angry or irate customer?
  24. What are your salary requirements?
  25. Give a time when you went above and beyond the requirements for a project.
  26. Who are our competitors?
  27. What was your biggest failure?
  28. What motivates you?
  29. What’s your availability?
  30. Who’s your mentor?
  31. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss.
  32. How do you handle pressure?
  33. What is the name of our CEO?
  34. What are your career goals?
  35. What gets you up in the morning?
  36. What would your direct reports say about you?
  37. What were your bosses’ strengths/weaknesses?
  38. If I called your boss right now and asked him what an area that you could improve on is, what would he say?
  39. Are you a leader or a follower?
  40. What was the last book you’ve read for fun?
  41. What are your co-worker pet peeves?
  42. What are your hobbies?
  43. What is your favorite website?
  44. What makes you uncomfortable?
  45. What are some of your leadership experiences?
  46. How would you fire someone?
  47. What do you like the most and least about working in this industry?
  48. Would you work 40+ hours a week?
  49. What questions haven’t I asked you?
  50. What questions do you have for me?

Preparation Tips

Study the Company and Know the Position Description
Review the company’s website and other social media platforms before your interview. You should be able to speak confidently about the company services, customers, their industry, and know how you can fit into the organization to help them meet their future goals.
You’ll also want to review the job description. It’s a good idea to save a copy of the description in your own files as you apply just in case the description is no longer available online. Be able to speak in specifics about your experiences and how they match the company’s needs.
Mock Interview Practice
The best way to be prepared for the typical interview is by role playing and thinking about your response. Don’t worry if you mess up in the mock interview, you will be much better prepared for the real thing if you practice.
Practice using the S.T.A.R. method to answer questions that require more detail. You’ll likely be asked to expand upon your experience. The S.T.A.R. method is: Situation, Task, Action and Result.
First, present a specific situation you faced. Secondly, explain the task you had to accomplish and what action you took to address the issue. Finally, describe the results of your efforts. This last step is wrapping it up by explaining what you learned from the experience and how you will bring those lessons to the work that you will be doing for the organization.
Think about prior work experiences and craft a story to describe your accomplishments or to show how you dealt with a tough situation. Having a repository of career experience stories written down before an interview will make it easier to recall during the interview.
Keep a Record of Your Previous Interviews
After each interview, write down what happened, your impressions, the questions you were asked, and your general feelings.Try to do this as soon as you can after the interview. Reflect carefully on these because it will be a “lessons learned” so that you can use this to improve the next go round.

How to Answer Six of the Most Common Questions:

“Tell me about yourself.”
This may very well be the first question (although not really a question) that you will get. Be ready because this will set the stage for the rest of the interview.This is your chance to take control and showcase who you are and what you’d bring to the role.You want to paint a picture or tell the story to help the hiring manager see how you would be a good fit.
Don’t give your life history. Be brief. You want to be ready with about a one- to- two minute answer that summarizes your career with a focus on how your background matches the company’s needs.
Use a present, past, and future formula. Start with what you do now, then segue into the past, and top it off with the future and why you are excited about this opportunity.
List three to four key strengths you have that are pertinent to this job (experiences, traits, skills, etc.).
Talk about your strengths and abilities and remember to focus on the experiences and skills that are going to be most relevant for the hiring manager. It’s okay to tell a story or anecdote if it helps to relay the story to help them know a little more about you.

“Why are you leaving your current job?”
The reason why you are asked this question is because recruiters or hiring managers want to know your motivation for wanting to leave your current job. Is your boss a jerk? Do you want more money? Is your company culture a joke? One or all of those things may be the reason why you are looking but when you answer the question, be positive.You’ll want to discuss the positives that came out of your most recent job with a focus on why you think this new position is a great new career for you.
Never disparage your prior boss, co-workers, or the company. Are you looking to be challenged? That’s great. If the time has come to seek out a new opportunity, to expand your skills and knowledge, or to find a company in which you can grow, there’s nothing wrong with that. Those are positive reasons to seek out a new career. You rarely go wrong when talking about self-improvement. Interviewers love it when candidates are interested in bettering themselves. It’s a trait that indicates you could be someone who wants to grow with the organization.
Negativity never goes over well in an interview.You can always turn a negative into a positive and that’s the best rule of thumb for an interview.

“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

Taking about strengths is an easy one. So, let’s focus on the weakness. The reason why a manager asks this question is to see if they are missing anything if they were to hire you. It’s also designed to test your character and mental awareness. Who’s perfect? Nobody. They want to see how you have identified what you need to work on.
Be sincere. Don’t just select a weakness just because it sounds good. Pick a weakness that is acceptable for the job in which you are interviewing. Don’t mention a weakness related to any of the required skills or desired qualities. For example, if you are a sales person, don’t mention that you have hard time meeting new people or by saying that you are too reserved.
Pick a weakness that is relatively minor and correctable. By correctable, that meanssomething you can improve through work, motivation, or training. If you say “It’s hard to speak in front of large groups of people.” That can be overcome and if it’s not germane to the role, it won’t matter to the hiring manager.

“What are your salary requirements?”

All companies have a budget and recruiters ask this question to make sure that everyone is on the same page. You will want to do your homework on this one.Know what you are worth and know what the same type of positions pay. There is enough information online that you can get a pretty good idea.
Know your “walk away” point. Know what you want and what you expect. Speak in ranges when giving figures. After you answer be comfortable with the silence that may come follow. Consider a statement like this: “I’m currently making $X, and I’m looking to make 10% to 15% more.

“Why should I hire you?”

Often times, this comes at the end of an interview. This is another great opportunity to seal the deal. By this time, you’ve heard about the position and should have a good idea of how you can contribute to the bottom line.
Stay focused on why your background makes you an ideal candidate. Tell them how you are going to contribute to the department and the company. Hiring managers love it when they think their job will be easier.
Tell them or explain how you will:
  • Do the work and deliver extraordinary results
  • Fit in well with the corporate culture
  • Bring a combination of skills and experience that make you stand out from the crowd
  • Make their life easier
This is an opportunity to reiterate your most impressive strengths and to describe your most memorable selling points.
"Do you have any questions for us?"
Of course you do. What is important to you? What do you want to know? This question works two ways: It also helps you to know if the company is right for you.So don’t be afraid to ask questions that give you some feel about what it would be like to work there.
Here are Some Questions to Consider
  • How does this position fit in with the rest of the company/organization?
  • Is this a new position?
    • If so, what made you decide to create it?
    • If not, are you changing it in any way now?
  • Where do you see this department / company going over the next year?
  • What would a successful employee make happen for you?
  • What kinds of things would you expect of me to enable me to advance within the company?
  • What kinds of advancement opportunities are there for someone in this position?
  • Is there anything else at all that I can tell you about myself to help you in your decision?
  • If I may ask, how long have you worked here? What do you like most about it?
  • What would a typical work day/week be like for me?
  • After I start, what would the first few weeks look like for me?
  • Are there any special projects coming up you’d like me to work on?
  • How would you describe the company’s management style?
  • How would you describe the company culture?
  • What would you say employees like most about working here?
  • Is there anything employees would say they like least?
  • If I do get the job, how soon would you like me to start?
  • What can I expect as far as next steps
Happy interviewing! Knock ‘em dead.