301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions

Vicky Oliver not only gives you hundreds of questions interviewers ask - she tells you why they ask them, and what your answers say about you. Once you understand that, you can tailor your answers to your own personal situation and still be sure of making the right impression.

This book is extremely helpful and, I think, unique among books about job interviewing. Most job interviewing guides tell you to straighten your tie, smile and comb your hair before going on an interview. Once you reach a certain point in your career, you really don't need to be told these things. What this book does is it helps you with real-world job interview problems, such as, in my case, how to explain the two years I took off in my late 20's; and why I stayed in the same job for seven years without getting a promotion. If you have a tricky issue in your job history that you want to cast in the best light on an interview, this is the only book for you.

The first ten or so reviews were written couple days apart from each other. Obviously fake. I wish I noticed this before buying this book. And when I was looking for another book on interview questions, they all seem to have overinflated ratings because of the fake reviews.

They guarded the pass of Thermopylae, slightly over 300 (scholars today believe the extra one may be Ephialtes) ferocious and heavily armed questions, determined to keep out the immense horde of Persian job applicants, seeking to take over the Greek mainland by securing positions in middle management in large numbers. This seminal text on a major historical event by Ms. Oliver, as an allegory for our time, juxtaposes our usual depiction of the Greek defenders as heroes by making the reader identify far more strongly with the uncertain lot of the Persian interviewees, brought to Thermopylae not by revenge or glory but simply by the desire to do their job and maybe better their condition just a little bit.

Ultimately, of course, the Persian invaders were successful in getting their jobs, as no doubt readers of this book will hope to be. But even so, like us, the Persian invasion of Greece met its demise in the very end, and perhaps that is the real tragedy of the book: even in moments of crowning achievement, the inevitable finality that awaits us all lurks on the horizon.

Follow the advice given by Vicky Oliver in this book and your chances of getting that job expand exponentially. The devil is in the details and this book contains details galore that will provide a measure of confidence from what to wear to what to say, and more important, what not to say.