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Tell me about your last three positions?
"Tell
me about your last three positions?"
This type of question is generally asked by lazy interviewers who want to hear
you talk for a while. A better question would be to separate the three
positions and ask them one by one. But some people will ask this question, so
you should definitely prepare for it. You can use this as your advantage. If
you don't have many good things to say about your second position, you can
briefly comment on it and spend more time talking about the other two
positions. I'll give an example in the long answer, but here are some short
answers first.
Short Answers
"I've
only had one position. In my last position, I worked as a marketing analyst for
South American markets. I worked closely with partners in Chile and Argentina."
"I've
only held two different positions. In my first job, I was a lab manager for ABC
Software company. I monitored 50 computers and performed diagnostics regularly.
In my last position, I was a network engineer fixing network problems and
trouble shooting bottlenecks."
"I
worked as a translator for the King County court house. Afterwards, I worked as
a translator for hospitals. My last position was translating help documents for
a software company."
Long Answer
"The
first position I held was working at Radio Shack as a salesman. I learned a
great deal about retail stores, about sales and working with customers, and
became more independent. I thought I learned a great deal and enjoyed my work,
but I wanted to experience different types of work. So I started working for
Verizon. I had an office job and did a variety of different tasks such as
planning, data entry, and organizing projects. I learned a little about the
office setting, but I wanted to get back into sales. So I was given an
opportunity to sell cell phones for Verizon at a retail store. I used my past
sales experience and worked hard becoming one of the top sales person three
years in a row. I've been there ever since."
I haven't worked at three different positions, so I just made one up. The
question is pretty general, so the answer is pretty general. It does emphasize
sales skill and coming back to the type of work that this person enjoys. But
you should think of something that is related to the position you are
interviewing for. Only thing you should be concerned about it clearly
explaining your past three positions, what you learned there, and if you did
something notable, include that as well. |