Sample Interview Questions

                                       Basic interview questions:

• Tell me about yourself?

I am a self-motivated autodidact polymath. What does that mean? It means that I am driven by the desire to learn everything and will motivate myself to make it happen. As of 2020 I have read over 43,000 books on every subject from art to the psychology of xenophobia. There is not a subject I don't want to learn. And while I find that the more I learn, I realize the staggering amount of knowledge I don't have, it has not tempered my curiosity. And the width of experience and exposure has come in handy more times than I could ever have predicted. 

• What are your strengths?

My curiosity and willingness to admit I can learn from others is my strongest strength in my mind. However, Out-of-the-box thinking and collaborative innovation would be a strong tie for second place. 

Reading approx. 100 pages an hour is also a skill that has given me a leg up in life.

I have invested considerable effort in honing my soft skills to ensure that I am a well-rounded leader and mentor of others regardless of my title. 

• What are your weaknesses?

My biggest weakness is potatoes, in any form. They are literally perfection in the way they instill cravings. 

My second biggest weakness is mental math. When I was in elementary school I could not perform the math as quickly as everyone else and was made fun of by the teacher and other students. This made me detest math. 

As I got older I came to realize that my ability to mentally keep the columns from crossing in my mind was not my fault and not something I should be ashamed of. If I write the math down it isn't a problem, but a form of math dyslexia causes me issues when trying to mentally calculate. 

• Where would you like to be in your career five years from now?

I am not greedy, so my desired goal is different from most people I have met. I am motivated mostly by the impact on the world and what we leave for the next generation to suffer or enjoy. Every five years I am alive as an adult I want to make a significant change on the world we leave behind us and ensure that the next generation can enhance the human condition. 

• What's your ideal company?

One that has the opportunity to leave a better world behind, and the social ethics to strive for that goal. 

• Why should we hire you?

If you wish to adapt your company and mindset to be agile, adaptable, and open to the changes happening due to technology and Industry 4.0, I can help guide you to that goal and mentor employees to be "total picture thinkers". But I will expect that you have a strong social and sustainable mindset and not just a scorched earth mentality.

• When were you most satisfied in your job?

When after almost 15 years I saw the mentality of those I had mentored changed permanently. What I had been teaching through example had finally become ingrained at a DNA level and no longer required a conscious effort to be forced.

• What can you do for us that other candidates can't? 

 No one is perfect. While there are others that may excel at a single skill better than me, I can practically guarantee that the width and depth of my knowledge and experience can enable you to be ahead of your competition at adapting to new market forces. 

Over the past 30 years, I have kept a daily journal, and also been tracked by various supervisors; on average I have been 8 years ahead of the company I work for and 12 years ahead of the market. 

Allowing you to even explore the map of those routes, puts a company in a superior position against any competition.

• How do you deal with conflict with a co-worker?

In general, by applying the principals of "Crucial Conversations" and "Verbal Judo". In case I am the primary Speaker, remembering that clear communication is MY responsibility and not that of the Listener. If I am in the Listener role, by making sure that I paraphrase, not meta-phrase, what I heard to ensure clarity and mutual understanding. Calmly re-directing to the issue, and never making it personal. 

• What is something you didn't like about your last job?

Being a person that focuses on the positive, there were a LOT of things to love about my last position. If I had to pick the biggest negative, it would be the clock-speed it moved at. To expand; imagine a huge ship with thousands of rowers that you had to vocally instruct. If you want to turn the ship in a different direction, and you can only communicate to a small section at a time, it takes significant TIME to coordinate, educate, and motivate everyone. And hence a long time to turn the ship. This is compounded when you do the same with a fleet of ships (customer ecosystem) at the same time. Which was the majority of the time. 

But the challenge was also why I never, ever had a boring day, and enjoyed the personalities I worked with so much. 

• How would your co-workers describe your personality?

Loyal, Willing to help/mentor, problem-solving, great communicator, willing to do any work to accomplish the goals acting as both a doer and a leader.

• What motivates you?

Innovatively solving business puzzles, such as customer problems and how to make internal processes more efficient. As well as mentoring employees to do the same in the future. But at my core, I am a self-motivator.

• What are your pet peeves?

Dishonesty, closed-minds, lack of attention to detail, no investment in the higher goals of the company, people who don't work as part of a team.

• Are you willing to fail?

Am I willing to not succeed on my first attempt? Yes. However, I have learned through experience to quickly recognize when the path being taken is not going to succeed and a pivot needs to be taken. But more importantly, I have learned to always perform a retrospective with all stakeholders to ensure that any lessons learned are incorporated into future efforts.

• Why should I take a risk on you?

I don't consider myself a risk for any company. I have had a career where I have proven my consistency and reliability time and again, as is also shown by the many recommendations on my LinkedIn profile.

• How do you evaluate success?

By three main indicators: 1) Customer Satisfaction 2) Control of internal costs 3) Motivation and excitement level of employees.