Studies have shown a majority of interviewers do not have a scientific way of determining who would do best on a job. Instead, most simply use their own biases to determine whether they think person is smart and would "fit in" with rest of people at company. Deciding on this basis is really no better than flipping a coin, and it tends to favor people who are good interviewers rather than good employees.

Nevertheless, this is reality of most interviewing situations you'll run into. As a job seeker, a good way of dealing with this is twofold: presenting yourself well so you can do as well as possible with interviewer's superficial biases, and at same time presenting interviewer with facts and substance that would back up idea that you could be a good fit for job -- regardless of whether or not interviewer asks you to provide that information. The second point does not mean you should be disrespectful with interviewer; this could cause you to score low marks on their superficial grading scale. Rather, you will often need to take some initiative to steer conversation in a direction that would give you an opportunity to share facts that would bolster case to hire you.

CREATING A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION

There are several things you can do to create a good first impression:

1. Have a good looking, error-free resume. Even before interviewer meets you in person, they're starting to form a judgement of you based on your resume: its content, writing style, whether there are any spelling or grammar errors, etc.

I recently had an interview where man asked me What 3 people living or dead would I have dinner with. Honestly I answered question. From that he stated, "Oh, you're a democrat". Then he asked me what books I was reading, one I pointed out was a self help book, he asked "What kind of self help book?" Are these questions legal? - D.A.

Dear D.A.,

I'm not a lawyer so I can't give legal advice. But my understanding is that those interview questions would not in themselves be illegal. It is not legal to discriminate against someone when making a hiring decision on basis of their membership in a protected class (such as race, sex, sexual orientation, age, etc.).

It is often difficult to prove such things, especially if it is an isolated incident and just your word against theirs. If you do feel you were discriminated against in an illegal way, you should consult an attorney and/or EEOC (www.eeoc.gov). The EEOC will usually, at minimum, let you file a complaint against company. This way if they start to see an unusually high number of complaints against a particular firm, that may be considered evidence of unfair hiring practices.

All that being said, filing complaints against companies or suing them is not best way to get offered a job. An interview is a selling situation. When going into an interview situation, it might be helpful for you to think of yourself as an agent for yourself. Remember HBO show "Arliss"? Or Tom Cruise's character in "Jerry Maguire"? Jerry Maguire had to endure all sorts of off-color remarks and behavior in his efforts to sell his services. But he just rolled with punches and kept focused on his goal of closing sale, always.