Job interviews are meant to be tricky and with the economy in the state it is in a lot of people are looking for new work. Giving the right answers to questions during that short interview can make the difference between employment and hardship.
The decision to hire or not usually comes down to how you perform with the general interview questions that are sure to be asked. Some of these standard interview questions for the job are:
Why did you leave your last job?
Why have you had so many jobs in the past few years?
Can you explain this gap in your working history?
What are your long term career goals?
What do when dealing with people you dislike?
Once a collection of these type of questions start, you are really past the friendly chit chat stage that failed to put you at your ease. You can feel the temperature of the room increase to boiling point and your palms start to sweat.
Even though you thought up good answers when you were at home, under the pressure of the interviewer you mind most likely will go blank. You open your dry mouth and start to mumble answers that fail to make much sense to you and even less to your inquisitor.
In panic you begin to talk even faster, churning out half baked answers and you can feel the sweat start to trickle down you back. Your heart pounds in your chest and you long for it to be over. It's a vain hope, like wishing the dentist would finally put away that drill but they enjoy the torture too much and more questions follow. Your answers fail to impress.
After what seems like hours they finally jot down some notes, peer over their glasses and thank you for your time. Drained and exhausted you un-stick your dehydrated body from the soaked chair, forget to wipe your sweating palm and press it into their outstretched hand.
You can almost feel the steam rising from your collar as you unhurriedly rush for the door and freedom. You glimpse the interviewer holding his head in is hands as you leave without the prospect of a new job.