Follow the guidelines below and you will have a 30-second pitch that will guarantee that your listeners know what you do, how you can help them and what you want from them. This can be used for your business ideas as well.

What is an Elevator Speech?: An elevator speech is a term taken from the early days of the internet explosion when web development companies needed venture capital. Finance firms were swamped with applications for money and the companies that won the cash were often those that had a simple pitch. (more…)

You may not be asked all these questions, but the probability is pretty high that you will be asked some of them. They are listed in order of frequency with number 1 being the most frequently asked question.Always have these questions answered before you go in for the interview.

Tell me about yourself.
Practice this one because it falls into that vital first three minutes when many interviewers make their decision about you as a candidate. Focus your answer on business no personal examples. Give the interviewer a precise outline of your business experience and skills, no longer than two minutes.

Why did you leave your last job? (or why are you leaving)
Good answers are: downsizing, merger, job eliminated due to restructuring
Dangerous answers include: disagreement with management style of boss; new boss brought in his/her own people; need to broaden experience

What are your strengths?
Here is your opportunity to score points, especially for the things that are difficult to indicate on a resume alone. List your real strengths, not the superficial ones like I’m good with customers or I have good organizational skills.

Good example: I have the ability to accurately identify the skills and talents of my staff and utilize those skills effectively to achieve the objectives of my department.

What are your weaknesses?
Avoid answers that switch a negative to a positive. Never admit a significant weakness like, I get impatient with procrastinators because I always get the job done on time Better to say I have some weaknesses, but none that would effect my ability to do this job well.

What can you do for us?
We have this problem here……How would you solve this problem for us?
What changes would you make if you came on board?
Be very careful answering these questions. Unless you are totally familiar with the job requirements and understand the nature of the industry and what the company needs, this is one can be a question to try and trap you into giving an answer that doesn’t make sense. The safest approach is to give a firm answer as follows:

I can’t give you a definitive answer until I join your team and gain a thorough understanding of all the relevant information and problems. However, I can give you an example of a similar situation that I successfully resolved for one of my previous employers.

What salary are you looking for?
Try to delay answering this question for as long as possible. A good way is to reverse the question. I have not given much thought to the salary aspect. What is the salary range for this position? Remember that answering with a low expectation could deprive you of substantial income and an answer that is too high could disqualify you from consideration.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Avoid answers like: I would hope to have your job by then! or I hope to be running my own business by then. Employers want to hear that you will be a loyal employee who will grow within their organization.

Are you willing to relocate?
The best answer for this question is Yes! If the opportunity is right.

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