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These are great questions. I ask similarly styled questions when I interview employment candidates. It's a system that works very, very well.

However, a key pointer missing from this article: Only about 50 percent of the answer should be weighted to the content of the answer. The other 50 percent, and perhaps 90 percent (making it only 10 percent content) is how it is answered.

Here's one of my typical questions: What is a project you've taken on recently aimed at improving your skills and how did you go about accomplishing that goal.

The good answer is something like, "Well, I really thought I needed to handle objections better, so I went to the local book store and found a book by XXX called XXX and started doing some of the practice exercises suggested in the book."

That answer is specific and because of its specifics, you can test the candidate is telling you the truth.

The bad answer would be, "Well, I'm always trying to improve myself and typically I'll try to find a mentor who can talk me through some of the issues I'm having with a particular problem."

A hiring manager not paying close attention will probably like the second answer, thinking, "um, person likes to improve and isn't afraid to ask for help."

The problem is, the answer is facile. It lacks the kind of specifics that make it believable. In a term, it's bull shit.

Never, ever hire anybody who gives you even one bull shit answer.

All of these questions ask for specific responses. When a candidate listens to the question, answers it honestly with specific answers, you're on the right track.

Every time I've hired somebody who gave me a BS answer on even one question, the person didn't work out. Every time I've hired somebody I thought I knew (well, there is one exception) without putting him or her through an interview like this, the person didn't work out.

Howard Owens, publisher, The Batavian