Andy Lester, who speaks fluent techie, has some eloquent responses for when you are in a job interview and are asked about something you don't know.
And no, he doesn't recommend, "I don't know but I'm a quick learner!"
[True story: My favorite interview answer was from an applicant in Alabama. When asked about his weaknesses, he replied, "Fried chicken."]
2 comments:
The dreaded 'Stumper' question! There's one other strand to this sort of question - which is the Machievellian interviewer asking a question that no-one could know the answer to, just to see how you handle ignorance.
If an interview is supposed to identify behaviour that you are likely to repeat when on the job, an answer along the lines below will tick some boxes:
"Straight answer to your question - I don't know. Now, if I was working here and you popped your head in and asked me that, I would have to say, "I don't know. How quickly do you need an answer? Then I would revert with a detailed response when you needed it. So, I'm going to do the same thing here. Can I have your card so I can email you a detailed response on that later on today?"
Confidence - tick
Humility - tick
Diligence - tick
No time-wasting bull - tick
Integrity - tick
Combine that with a healthy interest in the technology under discussion as per Andy's approach and you shouldn't lose many marks for your ignorance.
That's an excellent approach, Rowan. It smoothly transforms the question into one on the applicant's other qualities.
I'd add that if you have to use it for all of the interview questions, the job might not be a good fit!
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