The Complete Q & A Job Interview Book

Rating:
Summary: It's a LOT of work, but it gives you almost unfair advantage
Review: Being a computer programmer, I focused more on studying up on my C++ and SQL in order to do well on the technical tests during the interview. But when a question such as: "Why do you want to work here?" came at me on several interviews in one form or another, I probably invented another language in the process of trying to think something up - such was the babble that came out of my mouth. BUT WHAT WAS WORSE - was my body language. I'm sure it screamed: "total lack of confidence" to the interviewer.

Then I pulled my 1988 edition of the Q&A Interview book out from a box in my closet, and finally understood the point Allen was making with respect to putting all those answers into your subconscious so that they flllooowwww out very nicely without worry. And the important point is, It's NOT the answer at all! It's the physical calm of your facial expressoin, your lack of gestures, your stable unquivering voice tone that wins the interview.
The process of going through EVERY answer to the questions in this book, memorizing them, and then testing yourself in front of a mirror by answering your own questions from a tape recorder is grueling work, and at times very disheartening to do this day in and day out for a week while friends and family are enjoying their daily life employed.
But this work psychologically frees you up like nothing else on the day of the interview. Becuase it's like having a mind-meld machine laser a huge groove in your brain with the "action" vocabulary, so that you're ready for ANY question. All the questions in the book are in one way or another a variation of what you will be asked.
A side effect: you'll speak so confidently with recruiters/employers on the phone as well, and in person. You need this book, bottom line, if you're job hunting.
If you have distorted false beliefs about your self that further hamper your performance, check out "The Interview Rehearsal Book" by Gottesman in addition. This particular one will teach you about "Flash writing" which is basically automatic writing to uncover those skewed limiting beliefs about yourself.
An even better book on replacing deep-seated limiting beliefs is Nature of Personal Reality By Jane Roberts.
If you're in a crunch, however, and have an interview in three days, the Q&A Job Interview book will bring you over the top just enough or more to get the job.

Rating:
Summary: Worthless for Professionals
Review: I found this book absolutely worthless for anyone pursuing a professional career. 50% or more of the questions it helps you answer are questions that I have never heard asked in an interview and it would be the waste of an interviewers time to ask them. I have interviewed people for my past employers before and I would never dream of asking most of these questions, so why would you waste your time preparing for them? What's worse, the questions that I hear most frequently when being interviewed don't seem to be mentioned in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not Complete
Review: I've just started my job search, but already I have read a few job interview books. This one does not compare favorably with the others, such as Knock Em Dead and 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions. Like 101 Great Answers it has questions and sample responses. However, unlike 101 Great Answers, the responses seem canned. Other books emphasize that you need to answer the questions for yourself and not just cut and paste the responses into your repetoire of answers, but this one leads you to believe that if you follow their responses exactly, you will more likely have a better interview. What also is missing is a clear overview of the process you need to go through to prepare yourself. This is where Knock Em Dead is much better. It puts the interview in the context of the whole job search process.

Recommendation: Choose a better interview book. The suggestions in this book won't make you stand out from the rest or be true to yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Not Complete
Review: I've just started my job search, but already I have read a few job interview books. This one does not compare favorably with the others, such as Knock Em Dead and 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions. Like 101 Great Answers it has questions and sample responses. However, unlike 101 Great Answers, the responses seem canned. Other books emphasize that you need to answer the questions for yourself and not just cut and paste the responses into your repetoire of answers, but this one leads you to believe that if you follow their responses exactly, you will more likely have a better interview. What also is missing is a clear overview of the process you need to go through to prepare yourself. This is where Knock Em Dead is much better. It puts the interview in the context of the whole job search process.

Recommendation: Choose a better interview book. The suggestions in this book won't make you stand out from the rest or be true to yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Worthless for Professionals
Review: This is an excellent book. The author has done a great job in pulling together the elements which spell success in the quest for employment. I recommend it.

Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D., author of "The Accelerated Job Search" [e-mail]