Today's Pepper ....and Salt cartoon in the Journal reminds me of the answer I used to get a lot when I was interviewing people for entry level PR positions at an agency. Because these were entry level, most candidates did not have much experience, a few internships, school work, references from summer or college jobs. Near the end of each interview, I'd ask what I then thought was a pretty straightforward question -- "There are four other people who are being considered for this job. What is the one reason I should hire you instead of any of them?" In an alarmingly high number of cases, the answer was, "I really like to work with people." After hearing that answer a few times, I decided I'd inadvertently stumbled upon a question that could shorten the interviews, and moved it to the front. If the answer was "likes people" then I'd end the interview and go on to the next candidate. I thought at the time that people who liked people should be looking for jobs in HR, not PR, but subsequently discovered that the opposite was true (nb. this is a joke. HR people, please don't send me nastygrams).

Best answer I ever got? "The ability to translate complicated ideas into language that most people understand,for example..."

Those two words "For example" could stand to see a lot more use, btw. Used well, they make the abstract real.

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