I watched Tuesday night’s episode of LOST, The Substitute in wonder. I always watch in wonder, but I thought this particular episode had a great scene that tied in nicely to interviewing. Finding examples of good and bad interviewing skills can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. LOST helped me to find a great example, and John Locke clearly demonstrated what not to do!

Here’s the story. He arrived at work after a week long trip to Australia. He was supposed to be there on business and attending a seminar. Unfortunately, he decided (though unsuccessfully) instead to take a walkabout. His boss Randy caught up with him shortly after he arrived back at work. Randy was curious about John’s whereabouts during the week. Obviously he knew John did not attend the conference or any meetings set up by the company. Long story short, John was terminated.

Fortunately, John met up with Hugo Reyes and Hugo set him up with an interview at a temp agency he owned. Later, John met with temp agency staff to interview.

During his interview, he was asked the following, “what kind of animal would you describe yourself as?” After he balked at answering, the interviewer suggested that he “just say whatever comes to mind.” Again he balked instead of answering and the interviewer asked him if he considered himself a “people person.” Rather than answering the question, he asked to see her supervisor. The supervisor, Rose conversed with him further and eventually they decided on an appropriate role.

Well John Locke might be great with knives and at slaying wild boar, but he is not a great interviewer. In fact, he was awful – it was obvious he did not know how to interview or how to answer interview questions.  He was given the opportunity to show how well he could adapt, how he was able to manage himself under pressure, and how well he was able to improvise. He could have named just about any animal, really. There was no wrong answer except his!

An interview coach would have been a good idea in his case. He would have gotten comprehensive advice for preparing for a job interview. Some simple job interview preparation might have helped him.

If you get asked an odd interview question, don’t follow John Locke’s lead. Simply smile and answer the question as best you can. If there is a way that you can align your answer to the job, then do so. If not don’t worry about it.

You’ll have much more interview success if you just go with the flow. Consider answers for the following list of interview questions:

• What kind of breakfast cereal do you think you are the most like?
• If you were a soda, what kind would you be?
• If you could be anyone for the day, who would you want to be?
• What was the job you remember wanting most as a child?
• If you were a car, what kind would you be?

These too:

• What kind of tree would you be?
• What is your absolute favorite color?
• What is your favorite food?
• What super power would you want most?
• And the list goes on…

Rather than emulating John Locke’s interview techniques, you might want to learn to use knives instead. You’ll have much greater interview success!

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