Today, in the 21st century, there exists an urgent need for prospective employees to be duly prepared when attending job interviews as employers are only interested in selecting the best as reflected by responses given during job interviews (Palazzo & Kleiner 2002). In this paper, I respond to frequently asked job interview questions in preparation for future job interviews.
“Tell me about yourself”
I am a committed and resourceful person, who fits well in team-related environments geared towards developing creative and innovative solutions and applications. During my last year at high school, I was part of a team that developed an innovative mobile phone application that has tremendously evolved mobile money transfers in my own country. I fit into the position as I bring fresh insights and perspectives on using available resources to drive the agenda of the company forward, not mentioning that I am flexible under complexity, and have the thrust and motivation to ensure I deliver on time.
“What is your one weakness?”
One foremost weakness has being to identify and interact with people from other cultural backgrounds. Whilst it is true that racial and cultural differences challenge our own beliefs and may even give us enough justification to examine the world from a different point of view (Fish 2004), I have often found myself in a situation where I have attempted to interact with people from diverse backgrounds, but with little success due to my conservative cultural background. However, I have increasingly learned to take care of the situation by accepting differences, believing in new ideas, giving respect to everyone, embracing change, helping others to understand my cultural orientation, and keeping an open mind (Hagemann, Kluge & Ritzmann 2012). The outcomes are intensely promising, as I am now able to identify and interact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, not mentioning that I have even developed mutually collaborative networks, partnerships, and friendships with culturally diverse people. It has been a humbling experience to learn that I can be able to achieve more by keeping an open mind and working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
“Tell me about your greatest achievement”
I have been able to make several achievements, but the greatest of all was when I was able to get a visa which crystallized my dreams to travel to London for my further studies. I call this my greatest achievement as it opened up doors for me to be able to secure my future by ensuring that I benefit immensely from the quality education offered here. It was quite a challenge to get the visa due to the strict regulations for applying, financial costs involved, as well as other regulatory and legal procedures (Vine 2010). However, my academic achievements and sheer urge to get good quality education triggered my desire to apply for a visa. Although it has not been easy, I can now say with pride that the future looks promising for me as I am now in London and studying, thanks to the visa.
“How would your peers/colleagues describe you”
My peers and colleagues know me as a humble, caring and compassionate person, with a lot of integrity and character both in private and public life. They also describe me as an individual with excellent visioning and goal-setting capabilities, and as someone who can be quite effective in contexts where team building and shared decision-making are needed to drive the agenda forward. These attributes and capabilities are essential in ensuring the improvement of the organization’s productivity and competitiveness. The capacity to be an excellent team builder and ability to participate well in shared decision-making processes, in my view, are critical ingredients in contemporary organizations that utilize teams to realize set goals and objectives (Hagemann et al 2012). My caring and compassionate attributes, as described by peers and colleagues, will be useful in the organization in terms of enhancing trusting relationships, fostering a team environment where fellow members will feel safe to take risks, and enhancing goal clarity. Consequently, it is my considered view that I’ll be of much value to the organization as it sets its sights clear on becoming the best provider of mobile phone solutions.
“What makes you better than any of the other candidates interviewing for this job”
My educational achievements, skills and competencies, key attributes as already illuminated, and my innovation prowess make me stand out from the crowd. Additionally, I believe I stand at a vantage point to be recruited for this job due to my technical capacities and the ability I have developed to work in multicultural contexts. I also can work well with other employees in team contexts, with the view to assisting the organization to achieve its set goals and aspirations. As already mentioned in this interview, I was part of a team that developed an innovative money transfer application that is being used by over 20 million customers in my country and abroad. Overall, I am hopeful that I have the qualities you’re looking for in an applicant who is applying for a career with your esteemed organization, not just a job.
Reference List
Fish, A 2004, ‘Cultural diversity: Challenges facing the management of cross-border business careers’, Career Development International, vol. 4 no. 4, pp. 196-205.
Hagemann, V, Kluge, A & Ritzmann, S 2012, ‘Flexibility under complexity: Work contexts, task profiles and team processes of high responsibility-teams’, Employee Relations, vol. 34 no. 3, pp. 322-338.
Palazzo, E & Kleiner, BH 2002, ‘How to hire employees effectively’, Management Research News, vol. 25 no. 3, pp. 51-58.
Vine, J 2010, An inspection of the UK visa section: Pakistan settlement applications, Web.