Top 10 toughest interview questions

By Tony Lee

With competition for jobs fierce, many employers are in the enviable position of having numerous highly qualified candidates applying for just one or two open positions. And because these companies can afford to be selective, many are adopting new measures to screen applicants more carefully. One of the popular tactics is to incorporate difficult, unsettling questions into the standard job interview repertoire, in order to prompt "off the cuff" answers that may be more revealing of a job seeker's true capabilities.

These questions may help employers eliminate bad hires, but for job seekers they present a new kind of challenge: in order to make a strong sales pitch in an interview, candidates must not only demonstrate their work skills, but how fast they can think and how gracefully they perform under pressure as well. However, while the prospect of being asked these interview questions may be frightening, with a little practice applicants can turn them to their advantage and use them to stand out from the crowd.

They may be designed to catch job seekers off guard, but in fact the trick to fielding hardball interview questions is to prepare for them in advance. One of the typical mistakes made by smart people is to think they can just "wing it" because they're smart. The truth is that nothing beats preparation. If you rehearse answering tricky career-related questions, you'll be more apt to respond to them confidently. Practice in front of the mirror, with friends and family, or use a webcam to record yourself to fine-tune your responses, facial expressions and mannerisms.