1）美國通常的職業(yè)面試到底是個(gè)什么東東？
美國面試的問(wèn)題基本上都是behavioral questions（簡(jiǎn)單的說(shuō)就是讓你舉例子），尤其
是在第一輪面試，根本不涉及任何技術(shù)性問(wèn)題，不管你應聘什么樣的職位。這也許和那
些對技術(shù)性及專(zhuān)門(mén)知識要求比較強的工作面試有所不同。通過(guò)behavioral questions,
面試者主要想要了解的是應試者的軟性技巧 (soft skills), such as communication
skills, personal skills, self-promoting skills and personalities etc. 根據這
些了解，面試者給出幾個(gè)判斷：應試者的工作經(jīng)驗和skill set是不是fit這個(gè)職位，這
個(gè)人的溝通技巧是不是足夠好，這個(gè)人的性格是不是fit公司的文化，是不是一個(gè)和同
事能team work的人等等。
面試，尤其是第一輪面試，通常是半個(gè)小時(shí)到一個(gè)小時(shí)。在這么短的時(shí)間里，面試者的
考察當然不可能全面，有時(shí)甚至是很主觀(guān)。所以在面試的短暫的時(shí)間里，最重要的是展
現出自己最適合這個(gè)工作的特質(zhì)，無(wú)論是hard skills（經(jīng)驗）還是 soft skills. 有
時(shí)候，真實(shí)的你，真實(shí)的話(huà)，不一定討喜，人家不一定愿意聽(tīng)。Fortunately, 越是大
公司，越是正規的公司，面試的形式越程序化，越rigid, 所以只要好好準備，摸清了
美國公司面試的套路，面試本身就不再是一個(gè)可怕的東西。
tips：
1?；卮鸩灰獑飭?，沒(méi)有structure, 沒(méi)有重點(diǎn)，give too much details。如果一
個(gè)問(wèn)題你的回答超過(guò)3 - 5 分鐘，你就已經(jīng)死翹翹了。
2。認真聽(tīng)考官的問(wèn)題。當答完一個(gè)問(wèn)題時(shí)，不管答得如何，趕快move on。If you are
not sure about the question, ask the interviewer to clarify it.
3。借一本專(zhuān)門(mén)指導如何面試的書(shū)。 圖書(shū)館里有很多種這樣的書(shū)。先找一本薄一點(diǎn)的，
簡(jiǎn)單一點(diǎn)的，你可以在短時(shí)間里讀完的。目的是讀過(guò)以后，你會(huì )有一個(gè)general idea關(guān)
于職業(yè)面試的概念。然后分析你的具體情況，如果有必要再去找針對性強一些的書(shū)或內
容。 推薦 "55 Interview Traps"。這本書(shū)只有60多頁(yè)，言簡(jiǎn)意賅，有很多例子，可讀
性強，上面一些techniques 在拿到offer的面試中特別有用。"55 Interview Traps"的
下載網(wǎng)址是：http://www.onlinetestprep.com/interview.html。一本general interview book 加上 Interview Traps應該可以對面試有一定academic的認識了。剩下的主要任務(wù)是do your homework about company research, work on your stories and sharpen your story-telling skills.
2）如何回答behavioral questions？
前面說(shuō)過(guò)behavioral questions是在美國的職業(yè)面試當中最常見(jiàn)的形式。通常是面試者
拋出一個(gè)問(wèn)題，讓你從你的經(jīng)驗當中舉出例子。而從你給出的例子當中，面試者得以對
你的skills和personalities加以了解和判斷。有工作經(jīng)驗的人，尤其是工作時(shí)間比較
長(cháng)的人，當然最好舉你工作當中的例子。對于那些沒(méi)有工作經(jīng)驗的人，可以舉在學(xué)校和
同學(xué)做project的例子，參加學(xué)校社團活動(dòng)的例子，在community做 volunteer 的例子
。
面試中，最常遇見(jiàn)的問(wèn)題有：
Tell me about your self.
Leadership example
Teamwork example
Project management example
Problem-solving example
Taking initiative example
What‘s the most difficult decision you‘ve made recently?
Why are you interested in this position/this company?
What do you see yourself five years later in this organization?
關(guān)于leadership，我們國人的概念是leader就是領(lǐng)導，就是有一定權力的人，有下屬匯
報的人。但要知道，有的人在領(lǐng)導的位置上，不一定就有leadership，而有的人不在領(lǐng)
導的位置上，但他或她可能在工作當中表現出很好的leadership的素質(zhì)和能力。英文這
個(gè)所謂的leadership很抽象，很難具體化。但是，leadership can be demonstrated
in different ways.
For example, sometimes, a leader needs to be a change agent. When you
initiate something new to change the common practice or the status quo, you
have to rationalize your ideas, convince others, motivate them to change,
and overcome various obstacles etc. In this case, you are in a leadership
role.
Another example. Sometimes, it‘d be more difficult to lead people and have
them work in concert when they are not reporting you. In my case, as an
Export Sales Manager in charge of export sales to China, Japan and Korea, I
need internal production, processing and logistic teams to work with me and
to insure the production is in place on time, the product quality meets my
customer‘s requirement and the shipments to my customers are on time. It
takes leadership and teamwork skills to get the job done.
Leadership can also be demonstrated in crisis management, for example, when
there is a quality problem with your company‘s products that may potentially
cause a huge loss or negative publicity to your company or your customer.
It takes leadership to act fast and decisively, so that the situation would
be remedied and the potential damage would be minimized.
Leadership can be also demonstrated when you successfully carry out a
project under the challenging timeline or with limited resource, or when you
take initiative, identify a potential business opportunity and bring a new
revenue stream to the company.
最主要的是不要把leadership理解的很教條和僵化。美國人可以把小小的或看似簡(jiǎn)單的
事情給安上一個(gè)漂亮的名字。就象project這個(gè)詞。只要是有這么一件事情，有一定的
objective, 需要人力物力在一定的時(shí)間里完成，都可以稱(chēng)之為project. 你完成個(gè)作業(yè)
都可以是個(gè)project. 所以你沒(méi)當過(guò)領(lǐng)導不要緊。大家把自己的工作經(jīng)歷和人生經(jīng)歷好
好想一想，找出關(guān)于leadership的例子應該是不難的。
關(guān)于teamwork的問(wèn)題，有很多varieties. 面試者可能有不同的方式發(fā)問(wèn)。比如：
Give me an example how you work with a team to solve a problem/carry out a
project
Give me an example that how you encourage your team members to do their jobs
.
Give me an example that how you deal with resistance in a team.
想提醒大家的是，這些例子之間不是mutually exclusive。你可能有一個(gè)例子，which
may fit different settings, such as leadership, teamwork, project management
, problem-solving or initiative-taking. 你也有好幾個(gè)不同的例子可以展示同一個(gè)
quality。一般來(lái)說(shuō)，你需要準備至少8 - 10 個(gè)例子來(lái)回答我列出的這幾個(gè)topics.
除了Tell me about yourself 這個(gè)問(wèn)題，the most commonly used structure/format
to answer behavioral questions is STAR - Situation, Task, Action and Result
.
一般來(lái)說(shuō)，對每個(gè)問(wèn)題的回答得控制在2-3分鐘以?xún)?。在這很短的敘述例子的過(guò)程中，
你的重點(diǎn)應該是強調Action 和Result，這是面試者最關(guān)心的部分。所以在時(shí)間分配上
，對于Situation和Task你要非常簡(jiǎn)潔地一筆帶過(guò)，交代清楚大概的背景就可以了。關(guān)
于Result, 盡量用數字或百分比來(lái)表示。
如果原來(lái)工作的行業(yè)比較特殊，在面試當中常犯的一個(gè)嚴重錯誤就是在舉例子時(shí)，沒(méi)有
把那些行業(yè)專(zhuān)業(yè)詞換成人家能懂的，通用的詞。因為人家聽(tīng)不懂，就試圖想和人家解釋
，結果陷入給太多details的泥潭，糾纏在描述Situation 和Task上出不來(lái)。一個(gè)例子
別說(shuō)2-3分鐘，就是5-6分鐘也嘮叨不清。
所以當你面試的工作是跨行業(yè)的，你一定要遏制住欲望，使用那些你耳熟能詳的原行業(yè)
的詞或term。人家聽(tīng)不懂至少有兩樣壞處：聽(tīng)不懂，就沒(méi)興趣聽(tīng)了。而且還留下一個(gè)印
象：你的經(jīng)驗離面試這個(gè)行業(yè)太遠，你不fit。 不管是那種，你的面試已經(jīng)完了。最好
把你所有的例子寫(xiě)下來(lái)，嚴格按照STAR的形式寫(xiě)，然后反復斟酌記憶。有可能的話(huà)，找
老美改下，要那些寫(xiě)作好的老美改。老美當中也不是每個(gè)人都擅長(cháng)business writing的
。面試的時(shí)候，千萬(wàn)不要讓人感覺(jué)你在面無(wú)表情的背書(shū)。模仿老美講話(huà)，抑揚鈍挫，眉
飛色舞。
很重要的一點(diǎn)是，你的例子不能用大白話(huà)寫(xiě)和說(shuō)，要用professional business
language來(lái)寫(xiě)和說(shuō)。整個(gè)面試考察很重要的內容就是你的communication skills. 因為
就算你成績(jì)好，技術(shù)好，水平高，但你不擅長(cháng)用business language 來(lái)溝通和交流，你
的communication skills不好，sooner or later, 你的事業(yè)發(fā)展會(huì )受阻，尤其是在美
國，這個(gè)非母語(yǔ)的國家。
記得有這樣一句話(huà)，寫(xiě)得很好。"In business, communications are not only the
way that we express ourselves, but also, more importantly, the way that we
work with people."
但如何提高自己的business communication skills 呢？
比如，隨身帶一個(gè)小本子。在日常學(xué)習中，讀到任何一篇business的東東（可以是課本
，case，報紙，公司的宣傳材料等等），聽(tīng)到學(xué)校講座里請來(lái)的那些公司頭頭任何一句
講話(huà)，只要覺(jué)得在我面試當中可以利用上，就把它記下來(lái)?，F在在面試當中說(shuō)得很多話(huà)
，都可以學(xué)人家的，靠平時(shí)這樣積累下來(lái)。 俗話(huà)說(shuō)，好記性不如爛筆頭。只有記下來(lái)
，有空就看看，不知不覺(jué)你就記住了，那些professional business language就變成了
你自己的了，到用的時(shí)候就可以隨手拈來(lái)，運用自如。你如果注意觀(guān)察一下那些成為公
司executive的人，沒(méi)有一個(gè)講話(huà)沒(méi)有水平的。如果有機會(huì )聽(tīng)他們講話(huà)，可以觀(guān)察他們
的譴詞造句，他們講話(huà)的structure, the logic behind their speeches，還有他們的
body language。還可以在各種場(chǎng)合觀(guān)察美國人怎么interact, 怎么chitchat。這些技
巧不管是在面試當中，還是將來(lái)工作當中，都是非常重要的interpersonal skills.
總結下，準備應對面試的那些behavioral questions，是臨上轎才扎耳朵眼兒的事情。
而提高business communication skills，對于在美國打拼的中國人來(lái)說(shuō)，是需要
constant, persistent and life-long efforts，需要learn smart and work smart，
才能在美國的職場(chǎng)立于不敗之地。
Tell me about yourself
這個(gè)問(wèn)題大概不管你面試什么工作，都是鐵定要問(wèn)到的問(wèn)題。這個(gè)看似簡(jiǎn)單的問(wèn)題，實(shí)
際上是個(gè)難對付的問(wèn)題。通常我們會(huì )想，不就是介紹介紹我過(guò)去的經(jīng)驗嗎，那很容易呀
。別人不了解我，難道我還不了解我自己？
但是你有沒(méi)有想過(guò)，既然你簡(jiǎn)歷上已經(jīng)把你的經(jīng)驗也得很清楚了，why bother面試者要
你再復述一遍？所以說(shuō)，面試者肯定希望聽(tīng)到more than what your resume tells。
他們通過(guò)你的敘述，除了工作和生活經(jīng)驗之外，最想知道的是在你made every each
transition along the way，是什么原因使你做這個(gè)決定的。比如，你換了個(gè)工作或行
業(yè)，why; 你選擇來(lái)美國讀書(shū)，why; 你選擇讀MBA，why？有些公司不錯，在問(wèn)這個(gè)問(wèn)題
之前會(huì )告訴你，他們對你做的每個(gè)決定后面的原因感興趣。有的公司根本就不告訴你，
但他們會(huì )expect你在你的回答中告訴他們。
在回答這些原因的時(shí)候，you need to be very careful, you need to selectively
choose a reason that would make sense from the interviewer‘s perspective,
not necessarily from your perspective.
在短短幾十分鐘的面試里，很重要的一項考察內容是soft skills。所以，如果可能的
話(huà)，在陳述你做過(guò)的每一個(gè)工作時(shí)，簡(jiǎn)單的summarize what soft kills were
developed。如果你有一個(gè)很好的progressive track record，隨著(zhù)你的職位升高，你
的responsibilities變化，你可以向面試者展示在每個(gè)不同階段你培養的不同的soft
skills.
要強調的是，除了談到你的responsibilities, 千萬(wàn)別忘了講到results，tangible
results。Again,
最好把結果量化，用數字或百分比。用百分比有個(gè)好處，有時(shí)你的成績(jì)，如銷(xiāo)售或節約
的成本，合成具體金額可能不那么impressive, 但換算成總銷(xiāo)售或總成本的百分比可能
就聽(tīng)起來(lái)比較厲害。
還有，回答Tell me about yourself，時(shí)間最好控制在5-6分鐘，不管你有再長(cháng)的工作
經(jīng)驗。就算你有10年的工作經(jīng)驗，你也得在5分鐘里面把它講完。這就需要你用的語(yǔ)言
非常concise，需要很好的structure, 需要很流利地把它講出來(lái)。試想，你如果吭吭巴
巴，5分鐘哪里講得完。如果你做了若干個(gè)工作，但其中一，兩個(gè)對你的事業(yè)發(fā)展起到
重要的作用，或那些工作經(jīng)驗最接近你現在面試的這個(gè)，你需要highlight them，對于
其他不重要的可以簡(jiǎn)單的說(shuō)一下。
最好就是把你的回答寫(xiě)下來(lái)，反復研究修改，使的你的回答達到最簡(jiǎn)潔有力的程度，需
要你大聲的讀出來(lái)，背下來(lái)。建議錄音，自己聽(tīng)聽(tīng)，有發(fā)音問(wèn)題的讓別人糾正下，計算
時(shí)間，別超時(shí)了。有條件的話(huà)穿的整整齊齊錄像，最能看出自己的各種毛病了?？梢院?/span>
朋友，有經(jīng)驗的人，邊看邊討論。俗話(huà)說(shuō)，當局者迷，旁觀(guān)者清。要不恥下問(wèn)，不要怕
丟丑，旁觀(guān)者往往能看出你看不出的毛病。這個(gè)練習方法也適用于其他behavioral
questions。
現在，這里為大家提供一個(gè)模版：
I would like to thank everyone for being here and interviewing me. I am
going to give you a presentation about my resume.
My name is ~ ~. I got my bachelor degree at XXX University, a top-10
university in China. My major was Japanese. It‘s funny that I ended up in
the US, instead of Japan.
I got my first job at N Company, which was a top-10 Japanese international
trading company. I was working as a sales representative dealing with import
/export business between China and Japan. This job brought me a great
learning opportunity. I learned how to work with different people, such as
importers, exporters, suppliers and customers in both counties. I learned
how to negotiate with them, and how to close a deal. My communication and
interpersonal skills were developed greatly. During 3.5 years, the business
I was in charge of grew from 1.5M to 5M. Then, it reached a point, where I
felt that import/export business was too broad and general. I wanted to go
to an industry and gain specific industrial knowledge and expertise.
D Corporation presented me with a wonderful opportunity, where I could not
only utilize my import/export experience, but also have greater
responsibilities, such as strategic implementation and market development. I
was reporting directly to the Asia Pacific VP. Since he was based in the U.
S. and only visiting China 5-6 times a year, most of time, I was working on
my own. It takes initiative, self-management and self-motivation to get the
job done. From 1995 to 1999, I successfully implemented strategic plans,
commercialized five products in highly regulated markets, recruited five
exclusive distributors, and developed a strong distribution network. Sales
grew from half million US dollars to 3.4M.
Due to my significant contribution to the company‘s bottom-line, I was
promoted again from China Office Manager to Export Sales Manager in charge
of export sales to China, Japan and Korea. I was transferred from Beijing
Office to the company‘s headquarters in IL. In the meantime, D Corporation
was acquired by M Company. We all became M‘s employees.
As an Export Sales Manager, my responsibilities included pricing, budgeting,
production planning, inventory management, and coordinating internal
production, processing and logistics teams to fulfill customer‘s demand. My
focus was gradually transferred from developing the top-line to watching out
the bottom-line. Profit of China sales continually doubled in 2000. Sales
to Japan increased by 30% due to successful delivery of commitments to
customers. Sales to Korea were maintained same during an economic recession.
However, during my work, I realized that I needed to expand my knowledge and
understanding in accounting and finance areas. This was one of the major
reasons that I decided to leave M Company and pursue an MBA degree. The
second reason was that I believe an advanced US MBA education degree would
bring me more career advancement opportunities in the near future. Thirdly,
B-school is a perfect place to meet people, make friend, and build my own
professional network in this country.
At XXX School, I took 22 credits in accounting and 11 credits in finance.
Plus Business Law I took before, I am now eligible for sitting on CPA exam.
In 2003, I got my internship at H Company in the marketing department, which
deals with climate control products for residential consumers. I worked on
a distribution project to review the current distribution strategies,
analyze distribution network coverage and evaluate the distributors‘
performance. I was able to finish the project under a limited timeline, and
provide the management team with meaningful recommendations.
Today, I am ready for a new set of challenges and an opportunity to bring
all I have learned to a more challenging and rewarding position at your
Company。
Now, I am open for questions. Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks.
聯(lián)系客服
