How to Answer an Interview Question you DIDN'T Prepare For
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
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🤯 No matter how much you prepare for an interview, you are bound to receive a question or two you haven't prepared for. In situations like these, it's best to rely on a tried-and-true 3 step method: Stall for time, Break the question down into bite-sized pieces, and address each segment
In this video I share the hardest interview question I've ever received and how I answered that question. Interestingly, although the interviewer told me after the fact that my answer was NOT what she was looking for, I still passed that round
The reason I passed the interview is very simple: the interviewer knows the question is open to interpretation and therefore has no "correct" answer. More importantly, it's about HOW the interviewee approaches the question that matters
For harder interview questions like this, it's best to tackle it like a traditional consulting case interview question: First buy yourself some time, then break the question down into segments, and finally address this part
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Hardest Interview Question Ever
00:55 Stall for Time
02:44 Break Question Down into Segments
04:15 Address Each Segment
05:52 The "Correct" Answer
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🌟 What was the HARDEST interview question YOU'VE ever received in your life??
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Hardest Interview Question Ever
00:55 Stall for Time
02:44 Break Question Down into Segments
04:15 Address Each Segment
05:52 The "Correct" Answer
Well, I haven't had a real job interview but I think the hardest question someone has asked me was back on 11th grade, when a psychology teacher asked me, "WHO ARE YOU?"
@@nleonc00 hahahahha
My hardest interview question is always, "tell me about yourself" as I am decidedly NOT a shameless self-promoter.
How do you make your favorite sandwhich?
Used this approach when meeting my girlfriend's dad and now I'm married.
That's great David! But why does your tone suggest you are disappointed with that outcome? 🤔
@@JeffSu cause he married his girlfriends Dad
@@SatumitheNeet 😂
No one gives a an absolute fuck
I find it annoying when interviewers expect you to read their mind and know what they're looking for. In this situation, it's interesting that she explained her thoughts behind the question after the fact. But she should've been clear up front. Asking vague, unexpected, or trick questions ends up wasting the interviewer's time because they get irrelevant information. Plus, it stresses out the interviewee. Stressed people give more canned, scripted answers, so it's harder to get to know the candidate. Interviews should prioritize building rapport and making the candidate feel comfy so they answer honestly and openly and don't stick to their scripted answers too much.
That's a good point S.K! Thanks for sharing your perspective on this! That's actually the reason I brought up the MECE method. In consulting case interviews, the only thing the interviewer will say at the beginning is a vague question like "how should I increase profits for company XYZ?" and just stop talking, so it's up to you (the interviewee) to ask questions and make assumptions!
SO TRUE and right off the bat if I run into an interviewer asking questions of this nature, I SERIOUSLY CONSIDER IF I WOULD EVEN WORK FOR THIS COMPANY.
@@EmmaDee I think I agree with you. "Dislike' is a strong word anyhow. It could be 'disagree' in the case of this question, and a better question could be more of a standard question, "When working with internal teams can you share with me how you handle a situation where you and someone disagreed on requirements for a project?" or something like that. Just thinking out loud.
Well said 👏 I couldn't agree more ❤
To be fair, you weren't wrong. If she had asked if 10 random colleagues instead of ten random people in your life, she would've gotten the answer she was anticipating for. You would've broken down your thought process the same way. Surprised she didn't clarified when you asked follow up questions. Also kinda weird she made the assumption that you ONLY have colleagues; maybe that's what the culture is like there. Awesome video, thanks for sharing Jeff!
That's a great point Billie!! Thanks so much for sharing your viewpoint on this 😁. I think the interviewer just assumed I would have broken it down by my colleagues since it was a business interview BUT she didn't penalize me in the end so no harm no foul!
I was looking for this comment! That’s exactly what I was thinking as well- she did say 10 “random people” in your life right now. She didn’t specify if family, friends or colleagues. I’m with Jeff on this one as well :)
@@SK_509What irks me is he, indeed, did ask the interviewer if the random people were his family, friends, or COLLEAGUES in the beginning of the video! The interviewer totally blundered this question for Jeff
Love the logic used to break the question down
Thank you Garry 😁, it came with a lot of trial and error during my management consulting interview days haha
I liked both approaches, yours and the interviewers answers both make sense. I think if you were a fresh graduate, you would think in terms of family, friends and classmates. And if you were a highly experienced professional, you would think in terms of colleagues at work and business partners. Great question, Jeff
That's a great point Yasmine! Thank you for sharing your insights! 😁
I just wanted to pop on and tell you I love your editing style. You keep it fun and interesting!
Thank you my friend 😁
As a Talent Acquistion leader I really dislike these questions. It’s the thought process on how you arrived at your response that’s important. That people at work may dislike you due to a business decision you had to make comes with some jobs. If they are trying to understand how you react to people disliking a call you make, a behavioral or situational question would be better. It will have less ambiguity and get the desired outcome they are seeking.
Good thing the interviewer also liked my thought process 😂
This video is really golden enough to be heard multiple times in the future. Thanks for sharing and do keep sharing these interview types of questions in the future.
Thanks so much for the kind words! Will do Ushnish 😁
I was amazed. You led me from surprises to surprises. Such highly recommended content. I will watch and like all of your videos.
Woohoooo thank you!!
Your interviewer's own answer was also spot on, and what's good about her was that she was objective enough to pass you knowing the logic you used with your answer. I've had many interviews where their answer is different than mine, and when they gave me the feedback, I can tell it's a major reason why they failed me. Worse, my answer is similar to theirs, but they were waiting for me to mention very specific words and phrases.
Yes I'm very lucky that my interviewer was so accommodating. I'm sorry to hear about your experiences Rommel!
awesome Jeff ！this is what I want to know always，then here comes the video，case interview framework mindset is pretty useful in many situations
Yes definitely Bingbing!
Lots of great tips in this video, thanks again for the content!
Thank you Lucas! Glad you enjoyed it!
THis is a cool approach. I've just finished an interview where I was asked "Imagine that we hired your copy, what would be the most difficult things to work with you for you?" I just started to tell everything came to my mind...
Did you pass the interview?
@@JeffSu Unfortunately, not. I was given comprehensive feedback though. The key point was that they had doubts about my ability to collaborate in a team.
It would be a good question to cover in your videos :) how to highlight/deliver your ability to work in team
@@lyudmilalazareva5048 Got it, thanks for letting me know!
Thanks for making this video Jeff! Have a great one too :)
You're very welcome!! Will do 😁
Thankyou for the insights.. The common mistake people does, starting mentioning people they don't like. This video is definitely help to be positive always during an interview irrespective of interviewer trying to bring some negative comment from you.
Yes, definitely 😁
Good thought process!!
Thank you Richa 😁
Stalling for time helps so often in plenty of circumstances. When you end up having a clearer idea of what you are going to say you will have a much better answer!
Yes exactly Demetri 😁😁
Jeff Su.. i consider as "The Best And Fun Mentor" i have seen in the Whole CZcams..
Nicee! That's what I'm going for 😁
Your energy always flows through 🙂👍
Thanks so much Pandu!! I do it for you guys!
Thanks for thid very useful video, Jeff !
You're welcome as usual francois!
You both came up with three out of 10, which is the number I would have picked in the first place. Kind of goes back to Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" Theory.
Hahaha interesting though Llah!
Very interesting approach, I would noy use🤷♀️ ooops! Thanks👏
Haha
I need this ‘cause I have an interview coming up on Thursday & I feel as though I’ll be a bit out of my depth. Thanks again for always coming through in the clutch, Jeff ✨.
Best of luck Monique!!! You got this!
@@JeffSu Jeff! Update: I got the job 🕺🏽✨.
@@MoniqueXSM CONGRATS!!!!!!
@@JeffSu thank youuuuuu! I definitely used this technique. It’s now in my Arsenal forever.
I would love to see a video on how to answer questions around grit and resilience!
Me and you both Kate 😂
What the hell kind of question is that at a job interview? I'm trying to get a job, not results for my personality test.
I admit it's a pretty "unorthodox" question but hey, I couldn't have just walked out so I tried my best to answer it 😁
Ikr!? I got annoyed at the question and it's not even a real interview.
Great approach to make difficult questions simple! My hardest interview question was "when do you put on your poker face". I somehow directed to a way saying i'm a honest person barely pull poker face and the interviewer was not very happy about my answer...
Haha I feel like the interviewer might have viewed that as a "fake" weakness 😉
Hi Jeff, thanks for sharing your amazing thought-process! Love your channel. Big fan here. Curious to know Jeff's response to this question: What's the biggest misconception people have about you?". And now before your System 2 started to activate its analytical process, "people" can be referred to anyone (a colleague, a family member, a friend, etc.).
Context: This is a question that my manager always loves asking (guess from whom I learn the 'context' piece...) 🤔
Hahaha excellent use of having "Context" below the main question!!! LOVE IT
Re: biggest misconception question, I would still start by asking whether it would be professional misconceptions, personality traits, or just anything (since colleagues and friends alike can ask about any of those areas).
But I would say this is a relatively simple question I wouldn't have to break down completely into component parts. If it's just casual conversation, I'd probably say something for me, the biggest misconception is that I'm an extrovert haha
Hi, Jeff. As you know from having studied in the US, it's the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, so I wanted to send you extra thanks this time. ☮️
And I am EXTRA grateful 😁😁, thank you Sak Beh! Unfortunately no Thanksgiving break here but I'll....imagine one 😂
@@JeffSu 仕事がんばってください
@@w.w.sakbeh571 Google Translate tells me that says "Good luck with your work" haha
@@w.w.sakbeh571 Hahahaha
Jeff, have you ever had an interviewer ask “do you consider yourself to be a manipulative person?” of course this position was for a sales rep.
Wow that's a pretty harsh question haha (I feel like it assumes bad intent). I never received something like that before
It's a lot of overthinking imo, personally I would have taken 10 people of each group ( friends / family, ...) because you need a good sampling, also how comes than friends dislike you? They are not friends if they dislike you imho. In fact I think I would have answer than I know very few people who dislike me, so would answer 1 among 10
Somehow, I feel like I remember you talking about this question before 🤔 still a great question to revisit though and loving the jokes sprinkled in! xD
By the way Jeff, I actually landed an internship just recently! :D Went through three rounds of interviews and had quite a few questions trip me up but I think the strangest one I got asked was “tell me about a time you demonstrated empathy” 🤔 we ended up just moving on because I couldn’t find an answer at all lol, but I’d love to hear how you’d answer this one :3
Hi Andrea! Yea this was one of my first videos on CZcams but I re-structured it to make it more easy to understand haha. Hope you still enjoyed it though!
Empathy question -> Think about the company's clients, the painpoints they face, and how you would relate with them before trying to solve their issues :)
Yeah definitely! I enjoyed the video, thanks for the remake! 😁
Oooh, I think I get it now :o so when they ask about empathy, all they’re really doing is gauging how well you’d work with clients. Yet there I was scrambling to recall recent “save the cat” moments 😂 I was so far off haha
@@Andrea_Dong hahaha well now you know!!
Jeff Su .. Never fails to impress you!
That's what I love to hear Khalid 😁
Well in my opinion this question can have multiple answers and approaches however there cannot be a right or wrong answer as such. From the interviewer’s perspective her answer was right, if someone else would asked the question they would have a different correct answer as per them. Nonetheless the takeaway from your video is how to approach these trick questions which is quite helpful.
You're 100% right! Glad you agree Kanchan 😁
Gracias!
You're welcome 😁
Why did I find this video right after my interview lmao
It's okay, I'm sure you did just great 😁
That was the weirdest interview question I have ever heard.
Me too 😂
Wow your answer actually kept me hooked with complete attention. Would you recommend any books to develop such mindset?
Case Interview Secrets by Victor Cheng
Jeff, I would have been concerned that you tend to overthink simple questions and would wonder how that would affect your productivity and decision making capabilities. It could be a pro or a con depending on the type of job being interviewed for.
Hi Brent! Thanks for the feedback! I'm sure that's a valid concern in some cases but in my experience for questions such as this one, when the interviewer is clearly trying to gauge how you would face an unfamiliar situation, I've found the consulting case interview approach is the best way to answer the question :)
LMAO you demonstrated the truth of perfect personality differently.
Hahahaha thank...you? 😂
Day 10. 57th today. Well an improvement from 62nd :D
Hahaha hopefully you can be first at some point 😉
@@JeffSu Trying my best hehe
The moment when i read notification
read
read
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oh ff no jeff su 30 mins ago :(
Watching this just made me more nervous 😓 for my upcoming interview
Wait what no :(
Thanks for a very insightful video, Jeff! However, I've often found myself lose the confidence that I've built over the week leading to the interview when the interviewer puts forth a question that I didn't see coming/hadn't prepared for before. How would you go about addressing that?
Honestly? Practice. Practice. and....a lot more practice. I can't stress this enough. Practice in front of a mirror, then film yourself, then ask a friend to watch you. You will be more and more confident. I promise you!
@@JeffSu Thanks - will put in the work!
Jeff, advise on the salary negotiation please. I just had an interview yesterday and the company asked me to lower down my salary expectation. Any thoughts?
Check out my video on negotiating salary :). If you did your homework and you know you're worth that much, stay firm (but be polite about it!)
A proper company would give you a range. It’s not up to you to put a ceiling on yourself.
To be very honest Jeff, I would have preferred your answer over what your interviewer was expecting. :)
Hahaha thank you Aayushi 😁
Hey Jeff! Could you PLEEEEEEEASEEE make a video talking about ALL chrome extensions you use, why do you use them and what do they do???
Thanks!!
I try my best to be a browser "purist" actually so I don't use that many extensions! For the Notion extensions I do use though check out my Notion Capture + Organize video 😁
@@JeffSu Great! I will! Love your channel man! I feel like I am being more productive every day thatnks to you! Keep it that way please!
@@nleonc00 Will do!
It doesn't sound like she actually meant "random" if she already had subsection of people in mind.
Good point!
Is that the Rephrase Clarify Structure strategy based on situational questions?
Yes!!!
I liked your advice on rephrasing the question to buy time while you’re crafting your answer in your head for two minutes. But I usually don’t write my answer on paper but write the points I need to cover then I answer covering those points.
I don’t think I would include friends and families as they’re irrelevant to a job…I think she meant random people you would be interacting at work. MECEs and all anyone who worked for Big Four knows this when interacting with clients, but in interviews they don’t care about MECEs…unless it’s a consulting role and related to a consulting question. I think you missed her point. She asked you this question to see how well you work with colleagues. I would have asked her if she meant people I interact at work randomly, then I won’t miss what she wanted to know or why she’s asking you this question. I’m surprised she passed you but then you perhaps did well on other questions. If someone told me about some random family or friends on job interview I didn’t specifically ask or touch, I would think he’s not very wise or emotionally immature. There are too many of these immature late 20s and people in 30s. Lack of maturity is something I screen out.
finished watching
Nice!!
That question sucks!! I'd say “I hope there isn't a long list of people that do not like me but I've learned throughout the years that everyone you meet will not be your biggest fan!”
Great start to the answer Amy!
Tbh I like your original answer more
Haha thank you Isaac!
You are awesome !.. i do actually have a presentation ... could i share to you, i will be very glad to have advice how to improve it Jeff..
I am Berton from Indonesia. ^^
What kind of presentation?
In an analyst interview i was asked "if there were 8 overweight bosses and a balance scale, how would i figure out which boss was the biggest?" i was honestly stumped.
wait what
She asked you for 10 random people in your life.. that does not limit it to work teams. She should have clarified that she meant in your professional life.
Thanks for having my back!
Once I got a question: Why are manhole covers round?... I answered but that was the moment I knew I didnt want to work for that company and that team lead. I found it unprofessional way of using my time during the interview.
Hahaha yea I have received those brainteasers in the past too
how do you answer interview questions when its been 3 or 4 years of not working? Stay -at -home mom or personal medical or tragic events prohibited from working . Should it be disclosed? How to best explain gaps in employment
Check out my employment gap video 😁
Day 13. I missed two days, I had fever. Should i continue from start or just extend to 30? ah wink wink
I was wondering where you were! Haha both sound just fine. Maybe we go for the big 30 😉
💖💖
😁😁
That is actually a terrible question to ask as an interviewer, not only this but if the requirement was to have no haters, wouldn't this job be somewhat culturally unhealthy if their definition of success is requiring you to be a people pleaser. Someone that puts too much focus on being liked by everyone, is not focusing on innovation, disruption or owning thier vision. Every visionary is usually ridiculed before they were revered.
Thanks for the input Tyler! While I don't disagree with your points, to be fair I don't think the interviewer really cared about the "likeability" of candidates, but rather on the thought process of someone who would go about answering the question 😁
Day 12
Sad that it's coming to an end 😭
👏🏼🙏🏼
😁😁
Day 11
Double 11 😁
It's actually an incredibly rude and unprofessional question for an interviewer to ask...
Haha yes it's an unorthodox question, but I am glad the interviewer put more emphasis on the logic I used to solve it 😁
@@JeffSu That's a positive way of looking at it. Does it not put you off the company a little bit, though? Personally, it would make me question their integrity.
@@azhivago2296 nah. I’m a realist. I can’t expect someone else to behave the way I’d like them to. I roll with the punches 😁
@@JeffSu interesting point and I agree with it to some extent; although the way you put it does strike me as excessively agreeable.
@@azhivago2296 which part 😂😂
Dislike is way too strong of a word. You don’t want people at work disliking you. If you are influencing others, and you are dependent on each other, you don’t want them to dislike you.
Also 10 random people in your life are not all going to be people at work.
Bad question by interviewer. I would have said 1. 0 is too optimistic and you are coming across as disingenuous. 2 or greater is too many because the “why?” follow up would be impossible to answer cleanly.
Thanks for your input!! You make some good points! I'm a realist so I still try my best to answer when the question is presented to me :)
My hardest question:- Tell me something about yourself and why should we pick you ??
How did you answer that question??
@@JeffSu lol I can't explain it like it was like a 800 words essay
@@rudrajaiswara9851 ohhhhhh so it wasn’t an oral interview right
@@JeffSu yeah
I just pretending to no perfect person. Just look feedback the hiring manager looks my offer All databases
That was a stupid question
Tell that to the interviewer 😂