The Job Interview

Pakistani job interviews carry a particular kind of fear. The interviewer is often older, often male, often related to someone influential. The candidate has been told her whole life to lower her gaze in front of authority. The room is air-conditioned beyond comfort. Half the questions feel like a test of how Pakistani you are; the other half feel like a test of how Western you are. This lesson is about the four hardest questions, and an honest answer to each one that does not require you to memorize a script.

Question one. What is your salary expectation. Most candidates either guess too low and feel cheated for two years, or guess too high and end the conversation. The professional answer has three pieces. Sentence one, a range, not a number. Sentence two, the basis. Sentence three, an opening for adjustment. Example. I am looking at a range of 80,000 to 110,000 rupees a month for a junior role of this scope. That is based on what Rozee.pk and three friends in similar roles told me last month. I am open to discussing what is right for the company.

Question two. Why are you leaving your last job. Pakistani offices are full of valid reasons, none of which sound polite at an interview. The boss yelled. The salary did not arrive on time. The owner's son started giving orders. The honest, polished version is, I learned what I could in eighteen months and the role's growth path did not match where I want to be at thirty. Avoid attacking the previous boss. The interviewer is also a boss, and is silently asking, will this person say the same thing about me one day. Stay graceful, even when grace is not deserved.

Question three. What is your biggest weakness. The trap is to either lie, I am too perfectionist, or to confess too much, I cannot wake up in the morning. The working answer picks a real, fixable weakness, names a specific step you have already taken, and stops talking. Example. I get nervous presenting in front of more than fifteen people. I joined a Toastmasters club in DHA two months ago and have given three speeches; the third went better than the first. The interviewer is not asking for a confession. She is asking whether you have the self-awareness to fix things. Show the fix, not the wound.

Last block. The interview ends with, do you have any questions for us. Always have three. What does success look like in the first six months. Who would I work most closely with. What do people in this role often struggle with that I should know. The third question is the most powerful, because it forces honesty out of an interviewer trained to sell the role. If the answer is, oh nothing, walk in slowly. If the answer is specific, listen, and you have just learned something the offer letter will never tell you.