From: ssimmons@convex.com (Steve Simmons)
Subject: >>>> What is essence of SUCCESS
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 13:27:06 GMT
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

>>In article <EfEDuOC00WBNM2ZpMM@andrew.cmu.edu> zh00+@andrew.cmu.edu (Zhengguo Hu) 
writes:
>>
>>
>>     I was recently interviewed by a consulting company. The interviewer
>>   ask me the question:
>>     "How would you describe the essence of success?"
>>
>>     This question surprised me. What are your answers?

> In article, Allan Adler writes
> You have the right to know the purpose of every question that is asked
> of you. So ask. For questions about your experience, the purpose might
> be self-evident. On the other hand, questions about your sex life would be 
> inappropriate in most professions. You don't have to assume that every question
> put to you is legitimate and the one they asked you sounds to me to be
> way out of line. If you are not satisfied that they have the right to ask you 
> something like that, then don't answer it.

Huh.... not relevant... If the EEO has problems with this question, we might
as well conduct interviews using those black dot tests, like on SATs. 

The question is trying to establish your values and to see if they match 
with the company's values.  It is a very good question and you would see 
so if you have ever worked in a situation where everyone has different 
values/goals.   

There are several good answers that are dependent with whom you are talking
and for what job. 

If you are looking for development job where you must work on a team, you 
should answer

	"Being a key contributor on a team of many other talented and 
	 enthusiastic people.  All-stars are fine but it is more important
	 on what the team develops as a whole."

If you are looking for a salesman job where you must make quota, you should 
answer about indiviudual goals.

	"Within 5 years, I want to produce $10 million in revenue and be 
	 your top salesmen. Making money is important to me because I like
	 having a lot of toys to play with."


If you are looking for a management position, you have talk about nurturing
and creating teams.

	"It is important to build a team from a group of individual engineers
	 that develop innovative products on time."

If you are looking for a personnel position, you should emphasize the touchy
feeliness issues...

	"The ability to help other people resolve their problems so 
	 that it is a real positive work atmosphere."

This may sound corny/canned but it is important for newly hired people to 
have a similar mindset as the rest of the organization.   Otherwise, a 
great deal of friction develops among people and the work won't be done
efficiently.  As an engineer, I've worked on teams where some people think 
of themselves as God's gift to software and believe only in themselves.  This 
does more damage to the team and hurts the product in the long run because
of their selfishness. 

Thank you. 

					Steve Simmons
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc