The Toughest Questions You'll Get Asked in a Job Interview

Making a career transition or even hunting for your first significant job is serious business. It takes planning and preparation, because you are about to swap 40 or more hours a week of your life for a paycheck. Being clear about what you want is the first step. There is a tendency to get easily frustrated through the job-hunting process, but stay focused. Use your network connections to help you determine the best potential employers and prepare yourself. As someone experienced in helping others write resumes and find jobs, I've come up with a list of challenging questions that candidates get asked during the interview. I suggest you print them off and get comfortable with your answers before each particular interview.

1. What do you know about this company? What attracted you to this company?

2. What ideas might you have for increasing the efficiency of this department?

3. What was/is the reason for leaving your last/current job?

4. This is a new position we're creating - we'll expect you to help write the job description. Do you have experience doing that?

5. We have some really strong candidates for this position - what do you think makes you outstanding?

6. We require regular drug tests of our employees. How do you feel about that?

7. We require a basic writing test of our candidates. Are you prepared to take that today?

8. What should I know about you that isn't on your resume or in your cover letter?

9. Tell me your biggest accomplishment.

10. Where do you want to be in five years with your career?

11. What are your salary requirements?

12. Do you have any questions to ask me?

After you feel comfortable with how to handle the questions, you need to know how to avoid mistakes in the interview.

What I'm providing below is a list of "dos" and "don'ts" to help you have the best interview experiences.

Interview Dos: