Chemists are to be creative, careful, and productive.It is a career for people who think about the future. In the commercial sector, they find new uses and applications for it. In the academic sector, they study the implications of newly discovered chemical properties. Specific duties may include modeling, analysis, synthesis, research, limited fieldwork, or even sales and information management. Chemists should be challenged, excited and satisfied with the profession in which the majority spend their entire careers.

As in all matters of your interview, never fake familiarity you don't have. Yet you don't want to seem like a dullard who hasn't read a book since Tom Sawyer .

BEST ANSWER:  Unless you're up for a position in academia or as book critic for The New York Times, you're not expected to be a literary lion.  But it wouldn't hurt to have read a handful of the most recent and influential books in your profession and on management.

Consider it part of the work of your job search to read up on a few of these leading books.  But make sure they are quality books that reflect favorably upon you, nothing that could even remotely be considered superficial.  Finally, add a recently published bestselling work of fiction by a world-class author and you'll pass this question with flying colors.

A unique and individual employment path exists for anybody considering a tourism career. For those who are drawn to people, places and opportunities, the tourism sector provides everything you've ever desired in a profession. The various sectors available are:

Accomodation, food and beverages services, recreation and entertainment, transportation, travel services

TRAPS:  Unless you phrase your answer properly, your interviewer may conclude that whatever you identify as "difficult" is where you are weak.

BEST ANSWER:  First, redefine "difficult" to be "challenging" which is more positive.  Then, identify an area everyone in your profession considers challenging and in which you excel.  Describe the process you follow that enables you to get splendid results.and be specific about those results.

Example:  "I think every sales manager finds it challenging to motivate the troops in a recession. But that's probably the strongest test of a top sales manager.  I feel this is one area where I excel." 

"When I see the first sign that sales may slip or that sales force motivation is flagging because of a downturn in the economy, here's the plan I put into action immediately." (followed by a description of each step in the process.and most importantly,  the exceptional results you've achieved.).

This is a tough question because it's a more clever and subtle way to get you to admit to a weakness.  You can't dodge it by pretending you've never been criticized.  Everybody has been.  Yet it can be quite damaging to start admitting potential faults and failures that you'd just as soon leave buried.

This question is also intended to probe how well you accept criticism and direction.

BEST ANSWERS:  Begin by emphasizing the extremely positive feedback you've gotten throughout your career and (if it's true) that your performance reviews have been uniformly excellent.

Of course, no one is perfect and you always welcome suggestions on how to improve your performance.  Then, give an example of a not-too-damaging learning experience from early in your career and relate the ways this lesson has since helped you.  This demonstrates that you learned from the experience and the lesson is now one of the strongest breastplates in your suit of armor.

If you are pressed for a criticism from a recent position, choose something fairly trivial that in no way is essential to your successful performance.  Add that you've learned from this, too, and over the past several years/months, it's no longer an area of concern because you now make it a regular practice to.etc.

Another way to answer this question would be to describe your intention to broaden your master of an area of growing importance in your field.  For example, this might be a computer program you've been meaning to sit down and learn. a new management technique you've read about.or perhaps attending a seminar on some cutting-edge branch of your profession.

Again, the key is to focus on something not essential to your brilliant performance but which adds yet another dimension to your already impressive knowledge base.