While many questions asked during job interviews appear to focus on your past accomplishments, here's an important tip: they may be asking about what you did in past, but what they really want to know is what you can do NOW, for THEM.

The key is to talk about your past accomplishments in a way that shows how they are RELEVANT to specific job for which you are interviewing. Doing advance research about company (such as at their website or at www.hoovers.com) and position will be extremely helpful.

Here's another example with Joe and Mary. The interviewer asks, "What is most difficult challenge you've faced, and how did you overcome it?" Joe answers with, "In one job I was delivering pizzas and I kept getting lost. By time I'd find address, pizza would be cold, customer would be unhappy, and my boss was ready to fire me. I overcame this problem by purchasing a GPS navigation device and installing it in my car. Now I never get lost!" Mary answers, "In my current job at Stylish Hounds, management ran a special promotion to increase number of customers who use dog-grooming service. It was a bit too successful because we suddenly had more customers than we could handle. Management would not hire additional groomers to help with workload. Instead of turning customers away or significantly delaying their appointments, I devised a new grooming method that was twice as fast. Then I developed a new work schedule. Both efforts maximized productivity and we were able to handle increased workload effectively without upsetting our customers."

Joe's answer shows initiative and commitment (he bought that GPS gadget with his own money, after all). But Mary's answer relates specifically to job they are applying for (dog groomer). And Mary had done research about company and discovered it was about to significantly expand it's dog-grooming operations. So she picked an example from her past that addressed an issue interviewer was likely to apply to a future situation in his company. See difference?

Here's one more example. Joe and Mary are asked, "What's your greatest accomplishment?" Joe answers, "I won two Olympic Gold Medals during 2000 Olympics in high-jump competition." Mary answers, "I was named Stylish Hounds's Dog Groomer of Year in 2003 for increasing productivity in my section by 47%."

Joe's accomplishment is pretty spectacular. But remember interviewer's perspective. He might be impressed, but he's thinking "What's in it for me? What does being a world-class high-jumper four years ago have to do with helping me to increase sales in my dog-grooming department?" Mary's answer is much less spectacular than Joe's, but it's relevant to position and indicates that she has what it takes to be successful in this particular job. It tells interviewer, "I have what you're looking for; I can help you with your specific needs."

Looks like Mary has a new job!

Do Not Lie

Last but not least, tell truth. It's sometimes very tempting to "alter" truth a bit during a job interview. For instance, say you quit instead of being fired. But risk of being discovered as a liar far outweighs potential benefit of hiding truth.

If you are thinking about telling a lie during interview, ask yourself these questions (this technique has helped me make many major decisions): "What is BEST thing that could happen? What is WORST thing that could happen? Is best thing WORTH RISKING worst thing?" In this instance, best thing would be getting job. The worst thing would be getting discovered as a liar, which could lead to getting fired, which could lead to unemployment, which could lead to more job searching, which could lead to another interview, which could lead to stress of deciding whether to lie about just getting fired, and so on… a cycle that can go on indefinitely. Is all that worth getting one job, perhaps on a temporary basis?

Always consider consequences of your actions.

In Summary, Here's What You Need To Do When Preparing To Answer Job Interview Questions:

1. Study job announcement.

2. Research company.

3. Anticipate likely questions.

4. Prepare answers to those questions that are relevant to position and company.

5. Promote your best "selling points" (relevant qualifications, capabilities, experience, personality traits, etc.) by working them into your answers.

6. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Focus - Focusing like a laser beam on each task until it is complete will not only help you get more done, but it will also motivate you with a sense of accomplishment to move down list to next priority.

Think Before You Act - Again, activity does not necessarily mean you're accomplishing anything. Often, one of greatest means of productivity is to sit and think about a project before rushing into it.

Delegate! - Learning effective management means understanding that you cannot possibly do everything. Learn to delegate those non-essential tasks to others. If you run a small business and have no employees, ask family members to help out with responsibilities. As a sales professional and career coach, I rely heavily on my wife, Rachel, who is able to do much of administrative work and web development.

The term time management is really deceiving. Time, of course, cannot be managed, but our priorities within time we have each day can be. For more information on effective priority management, I recommend First Things First by Stephen Covey and Rebecca R Merrill.