What Did You Like Most About Your Last Job?
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
This question isn’t tricky but there is a good way to answer this question few give.
Two Questions About Building Consensus
Welcome back for another 1 of my daily tips about looking for work. And today’s relates to 1 of those tough interview questions that is not really tough. What it is is a question where people miss an opportunity to either sell themselves or they step in a ditch and show themselves to be fools.
So, the question is, “What do you like about your job,” or “What did you like about your last position?” You can language it either way, of course.
So, sometimes when I have language this question, you hear the answer, “It was an easy job! I could do this job in my sleep!” Sometimes, you hear, “it was a 9-to-5 job. I could leave at 5.” This is translated into “this was an easy job that you weren’t challenged in and you could work till 5 o’clock a lot of time. No issues with that. You just loved the fact that you walk out the door at 5 o’clock.”
Whether true or not, employers don’t want to hear that. They also don’t want to hear, “Well, I was great. I’ll be working until midnight!” <Buzzer sound> It’s bull. So, here are a couple ways that you can answer it.
#1 is you is to think about the environment you will be stepping into and what their cultures is like, and the kind of things that they do. So, for example, in this 1st 1, “there was a lot of training I was able to get while working there. They paid for a lot of courses because they wanted me to get ahead. They wanted me to learn. Yet, in their environment, what was important was that I get continuing education. That’s a great answer, but if the next firm doesn’t offer that to you, you basically invited them to do is to disqualify you. So, be careful with that one but, as a junior individual, it fits in with the way that you should be answering questions.
If you’re a beginner, if you’re relatively junior, my advice is always sound like a puppy.
(Voice of a big sheepdog) “It was a great going to work! I love working in a place like this! I learned so much. They don’t hit me with the newspaper very hard.) It’s always about their being nice to me. I learned a lot. I have opportunities to get ahead.
So, if you’re a more seasoned individual or you are a junior who can pull this off convincingly, what you say is something along the lines of, “this is a firm where I’ve been challenged regularly. I have been given opportunities to work on projects that other people didn’t get. They saw something in me where they believed in me, gave me resources, at times, offered training at times where it was necessary, but, ultimately, they challenged the heck out of me and I rose to the occasion. I was always asked to and (only say it if it is true) I rose to the occasion. They would always put things a little beyond my initial capabilities, but, ultimately, I met the challenge head on. I worked like a banshee and delivered what they needed.”
So, those are 2 basic ways. There is the one about continuous training. The 2nd one is about challenges. I like the challenges one. You can kind of melt in the idea of training is part of that one so you are not fixated on the training and are able to communicate that you are and individual that was chosen. Being “the chosen one” is always an attractive thing to the next employers.
Again, for very junior people you sometimes try the answer that has you sound like a puppy. “Oh, they give me lots of training. I learn lots of things,” and you keep it simple. Always, think about learning, working hard, getting ahead. And, in the 2nd one, it is a more sophisticated answer. You talk about being given lots of challenges, rising to the occasion, being chosen to receive those challenges . . . that sort of thing.
Tell Me About The Most Boring Job You’ve Ever Had.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those
things can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
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