Blog Post: The Best Way to Answer the Toughest Interview Questions

No matter what level you have reached on your career path the interview process always elicits a bit of anxiety, but with these tips to help you through the interview you are sure to at least feel like you did your best - whether you get the job or not.

First of all - you must research your potential employer. All the information you need is now online. So start with an online search of the company website and then dig deeper with blogs and social networking sites and relevant articles to find additional information.

Once you feel confident about all the information you have gathered, sit down and compose a list of questions and practice answering them. Here are some of the most common questions and the correct way to answer. Hiring managers are busy - so stay on point and keep it brief and simple. The last thing you want to do is bore the person by regurgitating everything you've learned about the company - that they already work for and most likely know all about... So keep it focused.

I. Often times hiring managers will use behavioral style interview questions to get more information from you in a conversational way. For example, if asked if you consider yourself a good leader, instead of just answering yes, I'm a great leader, answer by showing them how you demonstrated your leadership skills in your previous employment. If you were responsible for a project and your manager noticed what a good job you did and then asked you to help train other employees on your technique and strategy - this a is a great example of excellent leadership skills. Again, keep it short, but detailed. Explain what you did and what was the result.

II. Showing results is the key to acing the interview. Explain how your past results are an indicator of your future value. If you are in a sales position it's pretty easy to figure out and explain the revenue you brought to the company and then state that you plan to bring the same drive and relationship based clients to this new position. However if you are in an admin position or customer service type of position - it can be a little bit more of challenge to explain how you directly or indirectly drove revenue. Again, explain how you were responsible for interacting with clients and making sure their needs were being taken care of and this resulted in up-selling more products or services or generated recurring sales because the clients liked working with you and reported a satisfactory experience during company surveys. Understanding how what you did in a previous position will benefit your new company is key and they will appreciate that you recognize the importance of the value you bring to the new position.

III. Show the benefit you bring. You don't want to just tell the hiring manager your background information and assume they will be impressed or make a connection to your future success. You must go a step further and explain how your past experience and achievements will directly benefit their organization. For example, I have 10 years experience doing XYZ, during that time I was responsible for increasing revenue by X%, and the creation of Y new division. I demonstrated the same results at my next employer by creating X strategy which resulted in XYZ and so on. On that project I received the prestigious X award for excellence which garnered industry praise and recognition for XYZ company.

Remember it's all about results and clearly showing your potential new employer how you will be a star and bring value to their organization.