{"id":18364,"date":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/how-to-answer-an-interview-questions\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","slug":"how-to-answer-an-interview-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/how-to-answer-an-interview-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Answer an Interview Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let me paint you a picture: It\u2019s 2018, and I\u2019m sitting in a Starbucks bathroom stall 10 minutes before my first \u201creal\u201d job interview, Googling \u201chow to not sound like a robot when answering interview questions\u201d on my iPhone 7. My blazer still had the clearance tag hanging from the sleeve (rookie move). Spoiler: I bombed that interview. Hard. The hiring manager asked me to describe a time I failed, and I froze like a deer in headlights before muttering something about forgetting my mom\u2019s birthday once. (<em>Cringe.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the thing \u2013 after surviving 3 layoffs, nailing promotions, and eventually hiring people myself at a tech startup? I realized interviews aren\u2019t about having perfect answers. They\u2019re about showing you can solve <em>their<\/em> Tuesday afternoon dumpster fire. Let me break down what actually works:<\/p>\n<p><strong>The turning point came when a mentor told me:<\/strong><br \/>\n\u201cInterviewers aren\u2019t hiring your resume \u2013 they\u2019re hiring the movie trailer of working with you.\u201d Suddenly, \u201cTell me about yourself\u201d wasn\u2019t about reciting my LinkedIn bio. It became, <em>\u201cLet me show you why my weird mix of bartending skills and Excel macros makes me your secret weapon.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s what I wish I\u2019d known:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The \u201cSTAR method\u201d feels robotic<\/strong>\u2026 until you make it a campfire story. My friend\u2019s a nurse who landed a hospital admin job by framing her Taco Bell shift drama like this: <em>\u201cSituation<\/em>: Rush hour, broken register. <em>Task<\/em>: Keep 15 hangry customers calm. <em>Action<\/em>: Did free nacho upgrades and Beyonc\u00e9 impromptu dance-offs. <em>Result<\/em>: Got a Google review calling me \u2018the Swiss Army knife of drive-thrus.\u2019\u201d (She got the job.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vulnerability &gt; Perfection<\/strong>. When asked about weaknesses, I now say: <em>\u201cI used to overprepare reports to avoid feedback \u2013 like bringing a parachute to a stair-climbing contest. Now I send rough drafts early and ask \u2018What\u2019s missing here?\u2019\u201d<\/em> Suddenly, it\u2019s a conversation about growth, not a confession booth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Research the company\u2019s <em>culture<\/em><\/strong>, not just their mission statement. I once aced an interview by casually referencing the CEO\u2019s podcast rant about hating micromanagers (<em>\u201cSounds like we both believe in the \u2018hire good people and get out of their way\u2019 school of thought\u2026\u201d<\/em>). Found that gem buried in a Reddit AMA thread.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The \u201coh crap\u201d moments that taught me more than any career blog:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That time I wore a full suit to a startup interview\u2026 where everyone else had tattoos and hoodies. (Pro tip: Check their Instagram tags. Office dogs don\u2019t lie.)<\/li>\n<li>When I answered \u201cWhere do you see yourself in 5 years?\u201d with total honesty: <em>\u201cHonestly? I hope to be competent enough that my cat doesn\u2019t have to work.\u201d<\/em> Got the laugh \u2013 and the job. Turns out, self-awareness disarms people.<\/li>\n<li>Practicing answers in my car like a maniac\u2026 then realizing <em>the best moments came when I paused<\/em>, sipped my La Croix, and said <em>\u201cThat\u2019s a great question \u2013 let me think about that.\u201d<\/em> Humans need beatboxing breaks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Your homework (from someone who\u2019s been laid off twice):<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Record yourself answering 3 questions<\/strong> while making dinner. You\u2019ll cringe, then realize \u201cUh, I <em>do<\/em> know how to talk about leading projects\u2026 just not in interview voice.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stalk their Glassdoor reviews<\/strong> for pain points. Found out my current company hated their clunky project tools? I prepared a 90-second story about migrating my PTA from email chains to Trello.<\/li>\n<li><strong>End with a question that\u2019s all velvet hammer<\/strong>: <em>\u201cWhat\u2019s something you wish someone had told you before your first week here?\u201d<\/em> Suddenly, <em>they\u2019re<\/em> the ones being interviewed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Look \u2013 interviews still make my armpits sweat. But now I treat them like first dates: If I have to pretend to love golf or crypto to impress them? Bad fit anyway. Your stories matter more than slick answers. And hey, if all else fails, there\u2019s always the Starbucks bathroom stall strategy. (Just remember to remove the tag from your blazer first.)<\/p>\n<p><em>Now go kick some butt \u2013 and when you land the job, you owe me a virtual coffee. Dunkin\u2019 vanilla cold brew, extra shot. We\u2019ve earned it.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let me paint you a picture: It\u2019s 2018, and I\u2019m sitting in a Starbucks bathroom stall 10 minutes before my first \u201creal\u201d job interview, Googling \u201chow to not sound like a robot when answering interview questions\u201d on my iPhone 7. My blazer still had the clearance tag hanging from the sleeve (rookie move). Spoiler: I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}