Make it Your Business to Know the Answers to Difficult Interview Questions

by Jessica Curtis

I couple of years ago I sat down for a job interview. I was crammed in a dirty, helter-skelter office; the manager leaned forward and without saying another word asked me a pretty crazy question.

"Do you know how to force feed pinkies?" He asked this quickly, without hesitation. And most people wouldn't even know what that actually means let alone how to answer the question or explain inherent techniques. But I do know, and that's what won me my job at that particular pet store.

Force feeding "pinkies" (baby rodents) to snakes is a technique used by only the heavily experienced 'herpetoculturist'. And only intimate knowledge and skills derived from real life experience let me answer this question correctly.

So with one question my interviewer found a way to prove that I had a solid understanding of herpetoculture.

Before you even go to the interview, get a little introspective about a particular job.

Are you good at this task? Are you going to like it? Do you know ANYTHING about the position, details, and actions involved?

If you are unsure, then research the business up to your eyes before you walk in to the interview.

Make sure you know as much as possible, shoot for knowing more than the person who’s interviewing you. Act like you are interviewing for the position above your interviewer. (I'm not saying act pretentious.) There's little worse in an interview than "I don’t know". So make it your business to know.