[thelist] interview questions

[rudy]

> Or you could throw the question back:
>       how web safe do you want them to be?

the idea is good but the delivery could backfire on you

if you are asked to name four web safe colours, name them

never challenge the interviewer

after naming four of them (followed by "and so on"), you can safely add a
remark like "but the 216-colour palette is not considered mandatory any
more"

only if the interviewer then says "oh, how is that? do you know more about
that?" should you elaborate on web safe colours

web safe colours may not be all that important to the job, and now the
interviewer has to take time out to explain how safe they don't have to be

the interviewer is primarily interested in your skills and knowledge and
ability to do the job

if web safe colours are important to the job, the conversation has to be
steered in those directions anyway, but it should be the interviewer doing
the steering, at least insofar as your skills and knowledge are
concerned -- you can steer when it comes to finding out what the job is
like

so go ahead and bring up your skills if asked, just do it
non-confrontationally

confrontation does sometimes come up in interviews -- the interviewer may
also be looking for you to reveal your personality, since most job
applicants, if hired, will have contact with at least one other person,
often the very same person conducting the interview

so you can see why the interviewer might try to provoke you (in extreme
cases it's called a "stress interview")

i'm not saying every interviewer does, so do not worry needlessly, it may
never happen to you

but in any case, my point was, don't *you* do it

don't provoke the interviewer

"throw the question back" suggest confrontation

sometimes confrontation can be joyful and stimulating and challenging, like
when you throw the football back

sometimes confrontation can be clear-your-bowels-frightening, like when you
throw the live grenade back

i'm sure you were suggesting the former

;o)