Most Job Seekers Answer This Interview Question Wrong - Will You?

Let’s face it. Interviews are tough, and interviewers are tricky. These folks have hundreds of ways to get you to talk about things you didn’t plan to discuss. It’s their job, and they do it well. What may seem like a simple conversation about a past employer can be a disaster to your interview if you don’t consider what you are saying. To the unprepared job candidate, questions about your most recent position tend to be one the quickest ways to knock them out of the job race. However, with a little preparation, these questions can be used to catapult you into the lead!

Consider this:
- If you take too long to answer questions about your employer, they might assume you have something to hide and you are trying to make up a story.
- If you happen to dislike your current employer and speak freely about it, they will likely assume you probably hate all supervisors or employers, and scratch you off the candidate list.

“What Do You Dislike About Your Job?”
When an interview is going well, it’s very easy to feel you have rapport with your interviewer. You tend to feel like they are on your side, and it becomes very easy to speak openly about all the things your current employer does wrong, all the reasons you hate your boss, or the fact that you really don’t like what they have you doing.
You need to be honest, but you can’t risk sounding negative in any way. Try to think of a positive answer for each of the above points that apply to you.

For example, when asked about your supervisor, you could say:
a) “I hate my micro-manager boss,”

or

b) “I appreciate my supervisors situation, and I understand why he’s forced to manage the way he does, but I feel an can perform even better in an environment that enables me to develop and implement my own strategies.”

Both responses answer the question. However one will end the interview, while the other may get you to the next round.

Do Your Research
The best way to avoid a bad impression is to do your research ahead of time. Know the company you are interviewing with, and understand the position you are interviewing for. Make sure the things you dislike about your current job are not present in the one you are seeking.

- make sure this position has minimal desk time if you dislike sitting at a desk all day
- enjoy customer service, but dislike cold calling? Make sure this sales territory has a high level of market share that needs to be maintained.

Commenting negatively about aspects of your current job, that also happen to be components of the position you happen to be interviewing for, will reflect very poorly on you. It becomes very obvious that you don’t understand the position, and are therefore not a good candidate. The last thing they want to do is to offer you a position that continues to make you miserable!

Remember. It’s easy to get tricked into speaking negative about an employer. However, the candidate that gets the job offer is likely the one who recognized the opportunity to turn negative into positive, and turn whiner into winner.