美国面试的问题基本上都是behavioral questions（简单的说就是让你举例子），尤其是在第一轮面试，根本不涉及任何技术性问题，不管你应聘什么样的职位。这也许和那些对技术性及专门知识要求比较强的工作面试有所不同。通过behavioral questions,面试者主要想要了解的是应试者的软性技巧 (soft skills), such as communication skills, personal skills, self-promoting skills and personalities etc. 根据这些了解，面试者给出几个判断：应试者的工作经验和skill set是不是fit这个职位，这个人的沟通技巧是不是足够好，这个人的性格是不是fit公司的文化，是不是一个和同事能team work的人等等。
面试，尤其是第一轮面试，通常是半个小时到一个小时。在这么短的时间里，面试者的考察当然不可能全面，有时甚至是很主观。所以在面试的短暂的时间里，最重要的是展现出自己最适合这个工作的特质，无论是hard skills（经验）还是 soft skills. 有时候，真实的你，真实的话，不一定讨喜，人家不一定愿意听。Fortunately, 越是大公司，越是正规的公司，面试的形式越程序化，越rigid, 所以只要好好准备，摸清了美国公司面试的套路，面试本身就不再是一个可怕的东西。
tips：
1。回答不要啰里啰嗦，没有structure, 没有重点，give too much details。如果一个问题你的回答超过3 - 5 分钟，你就已经死翘翘了。
2。认真听考官的问题。当答完一个问题时，不管答得如何，赶快move on。If you are not sure about the question, ask the interviewer to clarify it.
3。借一本专门指导如何面试的书。 图书馆里有很多种这样的书。先找一本薄一点的，简单一点的，你可以在短时间里读完的。目的是读过以后，你会有一个general idea关于职业面试的概念。然后分析你的具体情况，如果有必要再去找针对性强一些的书或内容。 推荐 "55 Interview Traps"。这本书只有60多页，言简意赅，有很多例子，可读性强。"55 Interview Traps"的下载网址是：http://www.onlinetestprep.com/interview.html。上面一些techniques 在拿到offer的面试中特别有用。一本general interview book 加上 Interview Traps应该可以对面试有一定academic的认识了。剩下的主要任务是do your homework about company research, work on your stories and sharpen your story-telling skills.
2）如何回答behavioral questions？
前面说过behavioral questions是在美国的职业面试当中最常见的形式。通常是面试者抛出一个问题，让你从你的经验当中举出例子。而从你给出的例子当中，面试者得以对你的skills和personalities加以了解和判断。有工作经验的人，尤其是工作时间比较长的人，当然最好举你工作当中的例子。对于那些没有工作经验的人，可以举在学校和同学做project的例子，参加学校社团活动的例子，在community做 volunteer 的例子。
面试中，最常遇见的问题有：
Tell me about your self.
Leadership example
Teamwork example
Project management example
Problem-solving example
Taking initiative example
What's the most difficult decision you've made recently?
Why are you interested in this position/this company?
What do you see yourself five years later in this organization?
关于leadership，我们国人的概念是leader就是领导，就是有一定权力的人，有下属汇报的人。但要知道，有的人在领导的位置上，不一定就有leadership，而有的人不在领导的位置上，但他或她可能在工作当中表现出很好的leadership的素质和能力。英文这个所谓的leadership很抽象，很难具体化。但是，leadership can be demonstrated in different ways.
For example, sometimes, a leader needs to be a change agent. When you initiate something new to change the common practice or the status quo, you have to rationalize your ideas, convince others, motivate them to change, and overcome various obstacles etc. In this case, you are in a leadership role.
Another example. Sometimes, it'd be more difficult to lead people and have them work in concert when they are not reporting you. In my case, as an Export Sales Manager in charge of export sales to China, Japan and Korea, I need internal production, processing and logistic teams to work with me and to insure the production is in place on time, the product quality meets my customer's requirement and the shipments to my customers are on time. It takes leadership and teamwork skills to get the job done.
Leadership can also be demonstrated in crisis management, for example, when there is a quality problem with your company's products that may potentially cause a huge loss or negative publicity to your company or your customer. It takes leadership to act fast and decisively, so that the situation would be remedied and the potential damage would be minimized.
Leadership can be also demonstrated when you successfully carry out a project under the challenging timeline or with limited resource, or when you take initiative, identify a potential business opportunity and bring a new revenue stream to the company.
最主要的是不要把leadership理解的很教条和僵化。美国人可以把小小的或看似简单的事情给安上一个漂亮的名字。就象project这个词。只要是有这么一件事情，有一定的objective, 需要人力物力在一定的时间里完成，都可以称之为project. 你完成个作业都可以是个project. 所以你没当过领导不要紧。大家把自己的工作经历和人生经历好好想一想，找出关于leadership的例子应该是不难的。
关于teamwork的问题，有很多varieties. 面试者可能有不同的方式发问。比如：
Give me an example how you work with a team to solve a problem/carry out a project
Give me an example that how you encourage your team members to do their jobs.
Give me an example that how you deal with resistance in a team.
