Executive Secretary Question:

Well, this is a really tricky question. Before you start to think about an answer, you should ask yourself the following question: Will there be any business trips in this job?

When I was interviewing women for positions of secretaries, we used this question all the time, doesn’t matter if accompanying on business trips was a part of a job, or not. If it wasn’t and candidate got too excited about a question, saying how she would love to travel and enjoy such a part of a job, the decision was clear- we did not choose her.

Why did we do so? Well, she would not be happy about her job. She would expect something more than the position could offer… Some other applicants got offended with the question. They imagined everything that one can imagine, when I mentioned “accompanying boss on business trips”. Needless to say, these candidates were also not hired, doesn’t matter if there was need to do such trips or not. It is a common thing to accompany a boss on a business trip and it’s work – nothing else, nothing more, nothing a job applicant should get offended with.