TRAPS: Watchout! This question can derail yourcandidacy faster than a bomb on the tracks – and just as you are about to behired.
Reason: No matter how bright you are, you cannot knowthe right actions to take in a position before you settle in and get to knowthe operation’s strengths, weaknesses key people, financial condition, methodsof operation, etc. If you lunge at thistemptingly baited question, you will probably be seen as someone who shootsfrom the hip.
Moreover, nomatter how comfortable you may feel with your interviewer, you are still an outsider. No one, including your interviewer, likes tothink that a know-it-all outsider is going to come in, turn the place upsidedown and with sweeping, grand gestures, promptly demonstrate what jerkseverybody’s been for years.
BEST ANSWER: You, of course, will want to take a good hardlook at everything the company is doing before making any recommendations.
Example: “Well, I wouldn’t be a very good doctor if Igave my diagnosis before the examination. Should you hire me, as I hope you will, I’d want to take a good hardlook at everything you’re doing and understand why it’s being done thatway. I’d like to have in-depth meetingswith you and the other key people to get a deeper grasp of what you feel you’redoing right and what could be improved.
“From whatyou’ve told me so far, the areas of greatest concern to you are…” (namethem. Then do two things. First, ask if these are in fact his majorconcerns. If so then reaffirm how yourexperience in meeting similar needs elsewhere might prove very helpful).