You’ve likely been here before: You have prepared for your job interview by researching the company, rehearsing popular interview questions, and even making sure there are no wrinkles in your outfit. You’re set to go, and ready to get that job! You get to the interview, full of confidence, until the interviewer asks that one dreaded question. It’s the one question for which you didn’t prepare. At best, you start with an “Umm” or an “Uhh,” and finally make up something acceptable. Acceptable, yet not smooth at all.

A week after your interview, you find out that you didn’t get the job. Was it because you weren’t prepared for that one question? In reality, if this has happened to you before, it likely wasn’t only that one question that cost you the job. However, it’s not fun to be caught unprepared in a job interview. To reduce your chances of this scenario playing out at your next interview, review these four ways to help you prepare for almost any job interview question.

Define Who You Are

A better approach to handling job interview questions is to know the information that will fit a variety of questions, rather than rehearsing the answers to specific ones. The best place to start is to define who you are. Know the details of your work history, education, skills, and goals. Many opening job interview questions relate to this information. While it seems like you would know information this obvious, go back and review details from the past that may now be a little less clear. Also, be sure that you have a succinct definition of your goals for the future so that you can clearly communicate them when asked.

Know Why You’re the Best Candidate for the Job

Being able to explain why you’re the best candidate for the job will not only help if you are asked, but you will have a more clear understanding of why you believe you are the best person for the position. Therefore, you will be able to communicate this in other questions throughout the interview.

Know Your Weaknesses

A common place to stumble in an interview is when asked to discuss your weaknesses. You need to have an answer, yet you don’t want to come across as unfit for the job. Take some time to clearly define your weaknesses (relevant to the job), and prepare ways to explain how you overcome those weaknesses.

Prepare Specific Examples That Demonstrate Results

Before your interview, review experiences you’ve had in previous jobs that clearly demonstrate how you have directly achieved positive results. Having a handful of diverse examples ready will prepare you for a wide variety of potential interview questions.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.