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Questions to Expect: Work ethic

Published: Mar 10, 2009

 Interviewing       
The quality search

Interviewers, inevitably, seek the ideal candidate. To become this perfect hire, put yourself in the mind of the interviewer. Take a good look at yourself. What does this person look like? How does this person dress, and carry him or herself? Which qualities does this interviewee demonstrate in his or her answers? Increasingly, interviewers will ask behavioral questions -- questions that seek to understand you through the prism of your past behavior and accomplishments. Here's a look at some questions you might receive. These questions are designed to assess your work ethic.

Nose to the grindstone

The ability to belly up to a job and keep going all day long, week in and week out, is indispensable. Even with the emphasis on efficiency, automation, computers, and a hundred other shortcuts, there's still no substitute for a John Henry on the job, someone who's going to finish the job even if they sweat to death doing it. Here are some questions that key into how hard you work.

  1. How does it make you feel if you don't get to finish a job?

  2. What's the most difficult thing you've ever had to do in your life?

  3. What does hard work mean to you?

  4. Describe a time when you worked hard to achieve an on-the-job goal.

  5. Place hard work in the hierarchy of qualities necessary to do a good job.
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