WHAT NEXT? All to often, the interview proceeds as follows:

• Interviewer - I see you graduated from Yale.
• Candidate - Yes, great school.
• Interviewer - And your pharmaceutical experience includes eight years with Eli Lilly?
• Candidate - Nine, actually. Then on to Pfizer.
• Interviewer - Well, we're not yet as large as those two firms, so everyone has to wear lots of hats. Do you mind long hours?
• Candidate - Not at all. I always do whatever it takes... This is clearly an interview that's going nowhere. Totally monotonous and stuck in an endless loop of resume verification and leading questions. Indeed, no effort is required to conduct it. By contrast, great interviews require a clear understanding of what information the interviewer hopes to obtain - and what kinds of questions will produce the intended results?

Here are ten questions that do an especially good job of revealing what makes a candidate tick...

1. Tell me a little about yourself. Few people anticipate this disarming request, which causes them to think on their feet, decide what information they want to convey and organize a concise response. Non-threatening ...

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