Interview Question Corner -- How You Think

Your interviewer will want to measure how well you think on your feet, on your seat - how you think, period. How does that brain of yours channel and process information - rationally, creatively, sporadically? Companies prize the ability to think analytically. Many of the most successful people in business attribute their success to the fact that they surrounded themselves early on with intelligent people.

A number of questions in the interview will give you an opportunity to demonstrate how your mind gathers, sorts, files, and discards information. Sometimes the best thing to do when faced with a difficult question is to take a deep breath or to ask for a minute to consider it, instead of launching into a hurried, muddled answer. The interviewer will respect your decision to think your answer over carefully.

In addition to being a necessary attribute on the job, possession of a rational thought process can be a tremendous asset in terms of getting a job. If you can offer an impeccably-reasoned, airtight case for why you should get the job, the interviewer, having difficulty refuting it, may simply surrender and hire you.

• Describe the most creative things you've done in past jobs. In your personal life.

• If you were hiring someone, what attributes would you define as being the most desirable and why?

• What criteria did you use to determine your career path?

• If we could form a perfect job for you within this organization, what would be some of the primary characteristics of this job?

• What are the criteria you would use to determine success? How should a company determine success?

• Describe your most rigorous intellectual challenge to date.