Monday, April 05, 2004

Some difficult questions that you can expect if you are interviewing outside of the western world

#1 - how many women were there in your class at university?
#2 - why did you not choose medical school or chemistry since there are more women in these classes?
#3 - why would you choose our company? Everyone at the top is a man.
#4 - how can you prove to me that you'd be successful in my company as a woman?
#5 - what kind of credibility would you have in this position since you are not a man?
#6 - why did you choose this kind of major? Isn't this a male thing to do?
#7 - are you planning on having children, or is this already out of the way?
#8 - why would any customer in their right mind ever listen to a woman when it comes to technical aspects?

My hints
#1: answer honestly. show you could operate in a man's environment. You graduated and did well afterwards
#2: answer "why did you choose your major and what did you like about this business?
#3: answer what you like about their business, discard the man part of the question/ Show you researched the company
#4: answer and give example of what can make you successful at that company, forget the woman business but show examples if you can where you managed teams in a similar environment to add credibility
#5: same as above - insists on why you are suitable for the job full stop. forget the woman thing, unless it gives you a competitive advantage because the target segment is women, etc...
#6 : same as #1
#7: I actually wouldn't answer this. Or give indication about your current status (instead of speculating about the future) and reassure them about how dependable you can be and how important servicing a customer is
#8: forget the woman bit and dwarf the problem by giving examples of outstanding technical achievements - any public recognition will help, any successful project will help. Show you have done it in the past and you can do it in the future.

A word of caution, if this comes back consistently, this might be a company that you do not want to work for OR a company that operates in a region where this might pose a problem. Then enquire: which country are you considering me for? Have you experienced problems in the past? Would there be a strong elements of relationship building?
Then, build your case around it (perhaps you have already got a deal in that country, you might know the language, you might have found other ways to deal with a credibility problem - someone at some point indicated that she got her chauffeur to sign the deal she crafted in Indonesia to get commitment for her customer and provide a figure of authority!)

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