If you want to land a new role, you’ve got to deal successfully with the Q&A portion of the job interview. Fumble in responding to a question or offer a garbled answer, and you could miss out on that next dream role.

That’s why it’s such a good idea to do your research and prepare a set of potential answers in advance. To do this, think of what questions could be asked and use the following template to build a set of answers.

Having this four-step “H-I-R-E” template will also help you answer unexpected questions eloquently on the fly. (For a fuller discussion of this method, see my book The Job Seeker’s Script.)

Step 1: HOOK

Every answer should begin with a hook that provides a “handshake” and an introduction to what’s to follow.

First, take a moment to pause. This shows respect for t

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