Ever notice that the more tired and frustrated you get the more likely you are to start speaking in superlatives and absolutes? I see this happen with increased intensity during an election year and I am sure it has NOTHING to do with the DRIVE BY media’s LEFT-LEANING manipulations!!!!

In the same way that superlatives and absolutes should be ignored when listening to someone trying to sell you on their position or product, you should refrain from using them when speaking about your experience in a job interview. How many times have we heard this or something like this before: “Our process improvement strategy had a HUGE impact on the BOTTOM LINE.”

A more convincing and thoughtful way to say this would go something like: “We evaluated a number of process improvement strategies and settled on one that we implemented in four weeks across eight different business lines. Three months later we did an evaluation of this implementation and found that we had reduced costs by 15% . Employees involved with implementation were so excited about the improvementsthey were seeing that they initiated their own process improvement evolution check list. They now use this to suggest and implement changes on a quarterly basis.”

Employers are looking for thoughtful answers to questions that do not sound like they were picked out of an interview handbook. The more your answers sound like you actually lived through the action you are describing the more likely you will be looking at an attractive offer.