Smart Interview Answers or Smarty Pants Answers?

This article has some good approaches to answering those old-fashioned and usually useless questions you may get asked in a job interview.

If you’re interested in the job, don’t let a few ridiculous questions tempt you to cop an attitude or try to turn the tables on the interviewer.

Not everyone is trained to interview well. They are doing what they thought or were told was the way to interview a job candidate. Don’t think to yourself “Well, that’s a stupid question. Let me show them how stupid it really is.”

The answers considered in the “high-mojo” category have a question or comment suggested that you throw back at the interviewer. Those comments could easily sound snarky. Interviewing success is a lot about how they feel about you. If your answer puts them on the defensive or makes it clear you think their question is stupid, they aren’t going to be eager to hire you.

What Would Your Last Manager Say About You?

This is a stupid question because with this question the interviewer elevates any past boss of yours to the status of an adviser — someone whose opinion they value.

Your last boss is a complete stranger to your interviewer, but for some reason their opinion really counts!

That’s an insult to you, if you think about it. Is there an International Society of Bosses now, such that your ex-boss’s opinion carries lots of weight? What if your last boss were a creep who got fired from the job two weeks after the creep fired you? This is a very rude and presumptuous question.

Low-mojo answer: He would say I’m a hard worker and a great teammate.

Medium-mojo answer: My old boss would probably say that I was a good collaborator and that we challenged one another in a good way.

High-mojo answer: She’d say that we kept one another on our toes. What do the employees in your department say about you?

Read the rest of the article here.