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Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions that Will Get You
the Job! (Beshara, T.; 2008) [Book review]

Article  in  IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication · March 2009

DOI: 10.1109/TPC.2008.2012287

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 52, NO. 1, MARCH 2009
Tony Beshara
Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions that
Will Get You the Job!
Book Review
—Reviewed by
LIZABETH A. BARCLAY
Index Terms—Career preparation, career transitions, job interviews, job seeking, teamwork.
Ithen Acing the Interview, Tony Beshara provides
job seeker with a comprehensive manual to
prepare for the interview process. The material in
this book is not particularly new for the informed
reader; placement offices at universities routinely
provide similar overviews for students. However,
Beshara is able to organize the material in an
effective way to assist anyone who is in need of a
review during career transitions. The book itself
is divided into three sections (each with multiple
chapters): “Today’s Hiring Authority and You”; “The
Four Types of Qualifying Questions”; and “Asking
Your Own Questions of Yourself, Your Recruiter,
and Your Potential Employer.”
In Section I, Beshara gives the reader a context
for today’s job market. Individuals using this
book may not have had to seek jobs in a highly
competitive environment. This section provides
the reader with an overview of the US economy
and changes in job patterns (e.g., short duration
jobs are now more common). The author also
briefly touches on generational differences within
the workforce. This is an important contribution
of the book; many individuals do not understand
how cross-generational communication problems
can impact success. He continues with discussions
of why the job seeker needs to understand hiring
authorities (especially interviewers) and the
organizations with which they are associated.
Beshara clearly identifies questions that need to be
answered satisfactorily in order for the interviewer
to make an offer to the applicant. Beshara calls
these qualifying questions.
Manuscript received June 17, 2008. Current version published
February 25, 2009.
The reviewer is with the Oakland University School of
Business Administration, Rochester, MI 48309 USA
(email: barclay@oakland.edu).
IEEE 10.1109/TPC.2008.2012287
Book publisher: New York: AMACOM Publishing, 2008,
280 pp.with index.
0361-1434/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
113
Beshara then discusses basic networking to
find job leads. His discussion is very similar
to information one would receive through an
outplacement process. Hence, it is not particularly
new or innovative, but as indicated above, it is
well organized and provides a solid foundation
for those in transition. Beshara provides script
templates for what job seekers can say when they
are networking with people they know, as well as
when making warm (a.k.a. cold) calls to possible
employers. While I initially felt this might be overly
structured, I think this is a good tool for those
who might become nervous when asking others for
leads. He also provides an overview of the roles
different recruitment professionals can play in
the job search. This discussion is useful because
many individuals do not understand the range of
professionals available to the job seeker.
After this initial discussion, Beshara provides a
useful list of interview reminders for the reader.
The list sometimes reads as if it were a tough-love
lecture. I got the impression that if I did not
understand this list, getting hired would be very
difficult. This, of course, is the author’s point. Job
seekers need to understand what they must do to
prepare. This preparation includes knowing about
the organization, knowing how to sell oneself,
dressing professionally, and perhaps being more
aggressive than many of us would like to be.
The author also provides the reader with specific
scripts to use in initial interviews. The purpose
of the scripts is to get applicants a subsequent
interview and enable them to avoid being eliminated
during initial screening. Beshara has worked as a
placement and recruitment professional for many
years. He claims that using his script will get an
individual an additional interview 95% of the time
[p. 67]. He does indicate that one must practice and
suggests using a coach.
The last chapter in this section outlines how one’s
supporters (e.g., family and friends) can be either
114 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, VOL. 52, NO. 1, MARCH 2009
assets or nightmares. It also provides a letter from
the author that can be given to one’s supporters
outlining what they should and should not do to
assist in the job search process. I had not seen
such a letter before and had not considered this
part of the search dynamic. I think that this is an
important issue to consider; however, I am unsure
if an applicant’s typical supporters would read such
a lengthy (nine book pages) letter.
In Section II, Beshara examines in more detail
each of the four qualifying questions that form the
interviewer’s subtext. (Can you do the job? Do I/we
like you? Are you a risk? And lastly, can we work
out the money?) He associates the typical questions
an applicant will be asked with an underlying
qualifying question. For “Can you do the job?” for
example, the interviewer may ask the following:
• “What are you looking for in a job?” [p. 99]
• “What can you contribute most to our
organization?” [p. 101]
• “Why should I hire you?” [p. 103]
For each of the questions, Beshara explains how
the question should be approached and how
the applicant’s response helps the interviewer
answer the overarching qualifying question. These
explanations provide a larger context for the job
seeker; he or she will have a better understanding
of why employers ask such questions.
Section III deals with questions job seekers
should ask themselves, their recruiters, and their
potential employers, including the questions they
should ask before beginning the interview process.
These questions try to get the job seeker to avoid
past employment mistakes. They ask the reader
to identify frustrations and disappointments
with previous employment situations as well
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as questions that enable the reader to map out
personal strengths and weaknesses. Preparatory
work such as this can minimize one’s chances
of making an error in the process. The author
also lists questions that one should avoid in an
initial interview, such as “What kind of money
is associated with this position?” [p. 205]. In
this section, Beshara also discusses debriefing
questions. He suggests running through these
questions right after each interview. The questions
are reflective (e.g., “Did I communicate well
enough?”) and allow the candidate to modify his or
her behavior in future encounters [p. 211]. Finally,
he provides the reader with questions to ask at
the time an offer is extended. These questions are
more pointed and seek to elicit more information
about the work culture, including the employee
turnover rate, problems within the company, and
the amount of travel required in the job.
Beshara concludes with a brief epilogue that simply
restates the purpose of the book. He also includes
an appendix that lists mistakes candidates can
make at different points in the interview and job
search processes. These mistakes capture some
of the main points listed in earlier sections of the
book.
The purpose of Acing the Interview is to give job
seekers a way to prepare for interviews using
techniques the author has used throughout
his career as a placement and recruitment
professional. As indicated earlier, none of the
material is particularly unique to Beshara, but he
does assemble a good deal of relevant material in
one place. My only concern is whether individuals
who need this valuable information will seek out
and use a 280-page book.