Say the interviewer tells you this in a job interview:
It’s your dime. (Meaning, they don’t ask questions and just wait to see what you do.)
What will you say?
I once had a candidate go to a sales interview, sit down and….nothing. The hiring manager just ignored her and played with a pen. That’s enough to rattle the most skilled and experienced person.
The wrong thing to do would have been to get rattled, and just sit there, too. It wouldn’t take long before the manager would have gotten up and invited her to leave—or even walked out without saying anything.
However, this woman was unflappable. She smiled at the ‘interviewer’ and said, “I’m so happy to meet with you today. I understand that you are in the market for a new sales rep. What are the most important qualities you’re looking for in someone for this job?”
With that question, she got the hiring manager talking, they went on with the interview, and she got the job.
What the hiring manager was looking for was someone who had a strong enough personality and confidence to walk into a cold-call situation and make the sale. If this woman had shown that she couldn’t even step out of her comfort zone to stand up for herself, how would she ever find the strength to stand up for the company’s product in the face of an initially disinterested customer?
I’ve seen a lot of companies “play” with candidates this way—put them in uncomfortable situations to see what they’re made of. One company routinely had a cab collect interviewees from the airport and then drop them off at an incorrect location. Another company did something similar—they had the cabbie deliberately take a long and winding route to the interview, making the interviewee late. They learned a lot about their candidates by seeing how they reacted under pressure, how they treated the cabbie (who was in full cahoots with them), and what they did to rectify the situation.
Never let anything make you lose your composure in an interview situation. Even if you think something is just too weird, it may be a play to rattle you and see what you’ll do. Just smile at the attempt, keep your cool, and keep moving toward your goal.
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This question and answer is just one of the 101 job interview questions and answers in my ebook How to Answer Interview Questions II, available on Amazon. (Along with the Keys to a Great Interview!)
If you know there’s a job interview in your future, I encourage you to get this book (How to Answer Interview Questions II) as well as the first book, How to Answer Interview Questions. Both books have 101 job interview questions and answers that will have you ready to stand out in any job interview and get the offer.
