interview question advice

[oldbanger]

I have an interview first thing tomorrow and a colleague was interviewed a week ago. One of the questions they were asked was if they had ever achieved anything that they thought was impossible.

Apart from being a smart alec and giving the answer "thinking up an answer to this question in advance" I'm stumped.

The few really huge challenges I've faced aren't the types of things to be discussed in a job interview. I didn't go travelling or anything really exciting like charity sky diving, and to be frank, career wise I've found that nothing is truly impossible - it just depends on effort, planning and so on.

[condor]

Given up smoking? that's quite an achievement

[oldbanger]

lol too bloody right - took me 5 years to quit

thanks, that's something with potential

[AJS-]

Remember there's 2 sides to that question

1) What have you achieved
2) What did you think was impossible

I would be concerned that someone who thought giving up smoking was "impossible" might have some defeatist tendencies.

I'm sure that like most interview questions there's no right and wrong answer as such, but to make a more powerful impression I would probably qualify the word impossible and note that you did something you thought would be very difficult.

Unless you genuiunely have done something you may have thought impossible, like surviving a 200mph car crash or eating a house.

[VPower]

oldbanger said:

The few really huge challenges I've faced aren't the types of things to be discussed in a job interview. I didn't go travelling or anything really exciting like charity sky diving, and to be frank, career wise I've found that nothing is truly impossible - it just depends on effort, planning and so on.

Well I hope you just gave that answer?
Having undertaken a lot of interviews in past employment, that says a lot more about you than you might think!

[oldbanger]

VPower said:

Well I hope you just gave that answer?
Having undertaken a lot of interviews in past employment, that says a lot more about you than you might think!

Thanks. I didn't get that exact question in the end - though I did squeeze in a comment about very few things being totally impossible anyway. Apart from breathing in a vacuum.

Not my best effort to be honest, but I do really enjoy the opportunities to see inside other organisations that interviews get you, so not a loss by any means.