The Only Three True Interview Questions

From Forbes Magazine contributor George Bradt writes this piece about Acing the only three true interview questions. His questions are:

• Can you do the job?
• Will you love the job?
• Can we tolerate working with you?

and he has a more detailed piece about why these are the only three questions.  First I encourage everyone to read both of his pieces, but his advice for acing these interview questions he gives three simple steps:

1. Think before opening your mouth.
2. Answer the question asked.
3. Bridge to answer the true underlying question.

I have unfortunately not been  meticulously documenting all interview questions I have gotten in the past two and a half years of my job search. I can however give some examples of how I think I have done this well and how I have not done so well.

First the not so well...

I was interviewing for a job as an academic librarian where the primary job function was managing the information commons (which was being built in the new building.) My understanding of one of the primary job functions was that this position would be responsible for programming, that is organizing and putting on events to bring students, faculty, and the public to the library. I can freely admit that this was not my biggest strength, but I have experience putting on these types of events. So at several points in the interview (and for those of you who are unfamiliar with academic interviews, they average a day and a half!) when I was asked about programming background and/or ideas I described my experiences. Now my personal experiences primarily center around using games (board, computer, console, and trivia) and while I am sure I mentioned other ideas I can with hindsight see that if most of my ideas appeared to be centered on games and gaming this might not jive with the library and staff.

By using Mr. Bradt's three steps here is something closer to how I might have answered the question:

think about my gaming experience
Begin the answer with a brief example of one of these game events, but quickly pivot to how I have planned events, and programs around many themes depending on circumstances.

Where I think I did well...

In this case I was interviewing for an academic librarian where the primary job function was business reference. The question was about my experience developing a collection for students and faculty in this area. I answered by describing which business areas I had supported in a previous position, talked about how I worked with the faculty in these areas to learn what was important to them and their students, and then described a project at that previous job where we analyzed the collection and removed a large amount of material that was dated, and no longer as important for students and researchers.

Now I did not get that job either, but I did have a very positive conversation with the administrator in charge of the search about how well I did, and my strengths as a candidate (which is unfortunately rare) but how the candidate they chose had twenty years experience and an advanced degree in business.

I for one am going to be practicing the techniques that Mr. Bradt describes. Have you had any experiences positive or negative with job interviews and these types of questions? How do you answer them?