101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions, 25th Anniversary Edition

This is THE book to help anyone prepare themselves properly for an interview in today's world. Most companies now have SBO (Situation, Behavior, Outcome) type questions in their interviews, and if you don't have prepared answers to these questions, you are dead in the water. This book will help you be on top of your game and seperate yourself from the others, if you do the work. It's not hard - you are basically just telling stories about yourself - but you need to take your time and write them down - but this book will guide you. When I graduated college later in life, I had worked at the same company for 8 years and had never really had a "real" interview, as my advances were automatic based on my work. I was scared to death to interview. My friend lent me his version of this book, and by the time I was done preparing, I interviewed with several companies and had 4 job offers at one time! It's obviously my experience and preparedness that landed me the offers, but this book guided me to that direction. It's a must have!!

I strongly recommend you purchase "101 Smart Questions to ask on Your Interview" when you purchase this book. The combination of the two will give you much confidence when you set out to be interviewed. The author has done a superlative job of coaching the reader so that s/he doesn't appear either arrogant or wimpy. You might actually FEEL the part of the perfect candidate when you are out there. These books are nuggets of gold. They offer insights into various interviewing types and how to handle each one. They help you prepare good, solid answers to very difficult questions. There are numerous examples to guide you as you prepare your own story.

It is a good read, and the author does have some great advice so I am still glad that I purchased it however, be warned there is not 101 questions and answers in this book, so the book is not exactly what I thought it was going to be, which was interview questions with the answers that the interviewer is looking for. He does go over some interview questions and how to answer them. The main Takeaway, is that you have to know yourself, your strengths, and your weaknesses who you are. He has some good exercises to do at the beginning of the book to have you pinpoint your strength and weaknesses, and to answer the question who you are.

I was impressed at the knowledge and experience of the author in this book. He's had his foot in employment for long enough that he can provide an answer, or a method of constructing one, to almost every interview question you'll be faced with in today's recruitment world. As a result of reading his book, rather than leaving an interview red-faced and thinking 'should of said this, shouldn't have said that', I actually walked out feeling confident that I had left a strong first impression. If you're in need of some help, this book is a great resource of information, however I would set yourself aside a considerable amount of time to read through it as it's jam-packed-full!

The title of this review says it all, but I'll add a few comments regarding specific things that I liked and disliked in the book. My background: I've interviewed for a variety of positions in chemical engineering, hospitals, professional schools, and most recently the pharmaceutical industry. I've also interviewed and evaluated candidates in hospital settings. I purchased this book hoping to gain additional valuable insights to augment my past interview experiences, but I found the vast majority of advice in the book is either common sense to any experienced job seeker or too general to be especially helpful. POSITIVE ASPECTS -The recommendations for the dreaded "Tell me about yourself" question are spot on and detailed--easily the most valuable ~7 pages of the entire book. -Tips on analyzing one's strengths and past accomplishments should help new job seekers as they prepare for first-time professional interviews. -Easy read--most readers should be able to finish this over the course of an afternoon or less. NEGATIVE ASPECTS -Example responses--if actually repeated verbatim in an interview--would sound extremely artificial, robotic, and would definitely never land you a job. I understand that these only meant to serve as examples, but placing them in quotes may fool some readers into thinking that this is exactly what interviewers want to hear (to be fair, this is addressed in the book, but it's buried in the fine print). -As mentioned previously, this book contains a lot of common sense that most readers should (hopefully) know: bathe, wear a nice suit, maintain eye contact, be confident, research the company/position, match your strengths and skills to the position, answer the question that they ask you, don't ramble, etc. -Sometimes the book reads a bit too sarcastic and unprofessional. Passages such as "You Brought Your Cat. How Nice." and "You reek, bro!" don't really add to the credibility of the author. OVERALL Don't bother purchasing--you can download a free pdf version of an older edition of the same book (4th, 2000) that essentially covers the exact same points.

I got laid off from my company after 9 years. Even though I interviewed people before, I felt I was unprepared and I did not answer well when I landed two in person interviews, one with Boeing and another one with Gallup (the famous Strengthfinder interview they conduct). They both were structured interviews and they wanted to hear certain things from me and wanted me to give more examples, and that's was this book prepared me for. After studying the book, not reading it, I devised an interview strategy where I would have an answer ready with an example to show to every major question this book lists. For example, I had the same answer for the Accomplishment=Success=Growth type of question. Remember, you only have one hour to wow the interviewer or panel. I landed a third videocall interview (2 rounds) with a company, they were at the stage of offering me the position and I canceled my candidacy. Work on some weaknesses from that interview and it was good dry run oportunity. I had a fourth in person interview with a company, they offered the position, and I accepted. I feel like this book prepared me well. Buy the book, study it, skip the parts that don't pertain to you. Have a strategy, study the major interview questions, be positive and come across as outgoing, fun to be around and you will get the job. Good luck.

This book is timeless. The information and interview questions prepares you to think smart in your responses and how to form your responses. It made a difference on how I approached my interviews. I was so much more comfortable when it became question time. If you didn't practice the particular question being asked-no problem the book gives you tools so you can formulate a great response. I have used some of the thought process when answering tough questions at my new job. It puts your mind in a whole new way of how to formulate an answer.

WHEN I GRADUATED FROM TECH SCHOOL, THE SCHOOL GAVE US THIS BOOK FOR REFERENCE. IT DID LAND ME MY FIRST TECH JOB IN 2000! IT PREPARES YOU HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THESE INTERVIEWERS ASK. ESPECIALLY THE "TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF" QUESTION. I LEND THIS BOOK OUT AND NEVER GOT IT BACK AGAIN. ALL PARENTS SHOULD GIVE THIS BOOK TO THEIR CHILDREN. THIS IS A BOOK YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP IN YOUR HOUSE FOR REFERENCE. IT'S LIKE A BIBLE. (LOL)

Well written book with good presentation. The entire content mayy not be relevant globally but definitely an interest read for researchers.

Easy to read and it helps to structure your answers. Worth reading. I like the examples to the answers and the fact that the book is short and to the point.

Great book, provides useful tips and challenging questions. Serves as a good tool in preparing for interviews. The author's sense of humor makes the book enjoyable to read and his examples are memorable.

This is a great book. Suitable for anyone going trying to break into that job they've always wanted. Topics include: * What to do if you don't have much experience * What to do if you have too much experience but haven't been promoted very quickly in previous jobs * If you didn't get along with your last boss * How to present yourself and your answers And answers to all those irritating questions which we've all come across but never answered well: "So, tell me about yourself", "What's your biggest weakness?" etc. It uses a nice and original "green flag/red flag" layout to let you know what is not only a good answer, but also a very bad answer to each question. It's also nice that the author goes into details about what the interviewer is actually asking. What information are they really hoping to gain with each question? Overall, a great book.

Most suitable for those who's looking for a management level job. But also suitable for beginners. I wish I had it earlier.