Do you have any questions? When asked this question in a job interview, the worst answer you could possibly give is, "no." If that is your answer, you'll look unprepared, uninterested and uneducated. So how do you know what questions to ask? The best questions to ask usually stem from dialogue exchanged during the interview process, but in case this doesn't happen, come prepared with general business and/or position related inquiries.

To avoid sounding as though you did no previous research on the company, don't ask overly broad questions about the company's products, mission statement, etc. These types of questions should be easily answered through the company's website or a simple Google search. So instead of asking generalities, ask specific position and/or business related questions.

Here's a short list of position related question you could consider taking with you to a job interview:

• What is the hiring process at your organization?
• With whom and how many would I be working in ______ department?
• Who would I report to and what would be my general duties?
• What are the opportunities for growth within the organization?
• What do you like best about your job?
• Describe a typical day for you.
• Does your organization offer any opportunties for professional development?
• In what way, if any, is the organization involved in the community?
• What are the projections for future change within the position and its department?

A reader asked the JobHelper, "What do you do if you lost a job and you weren't given a clear reason?"

First, if your past employer was not forthcoming with an explanation as to why you were let go, you may want to try calling now to get a clear cut answer. "Firing" or "letting an employee go" is a difficult task for most managers and he or she may be a bit more comfortable discussing the topic in depth with you over the phone now that you've left the company as opposed to face-to-face in the heat of the moment.

Why call? Because as an employee, it's important to fully understand what you may have done wrong in order to improve upon those areas in your future endeavors. Explain this to your previous manager. Be professional and understanding in your tone and manner. If you do this, chances are, your old boss will appreciate your attempt at self betterment and offer up a bit of advice.

Once you've got an answer, it's important to be truthful with prospective employers. If you make up excuses for your previous at-work conduct in a job interview, they will be seen as just that – excuses. Instead, tell a prospective employer what you did wrong and how you've since rectified the situation. Provide an example of how you've learned from your mistakes. One of the biggest job interview mistakes to avoid is this: don't place blame and don't bad mouth your old employer. Accept responsibility for your own actions and the outcomes of those actions.

Now, if you left on bad terms and giving your old boss a ring is a bit too far outside your comfort zone, do some serious self evaluation. In all reality, if the company was downsizing and your position was eliminated for business – not personal – reasons, they would have told you that. If you weren't told that, chances are it was something YOU did. So be honest with yourself and critically evaluate the quality of your work as well as your relationships with management and coworkers.

We all have areas of our personality and work ethic that could stand to be improved upon. Figure out what yours may be and create solutions that will aid you in becoming a better employee and hence more employable. Then, you will not only have a reason to cite for your current state of unemployment, but you will also have a carefully crafted message of your own self improvement to sell to prospective employers.

If you've got a job-related question, ask the JobHelper.

Nonverbal cues can tell a listener a lot about your inner thoughts and emotions, especially those listeners that are trained to read them – like say, a recruiter or human resources professional. In an interview, you may think that what you say will be taken at face value, but if you project the wrong nonverbal cues, what you say can be a whole lot different than what the listener actually hears. Here are some important nonverbal cues to practice and avoid, most of which were taken from the Center of Nonverbal Studies' Nonverbal Dictionary.

What Not to Do

Stand with hands on your hips
Standing with your hands on your hips can signify defiance, arrogance and/or agression.

Bounce your foot
When sitting in an interview, avoid fidgeting or bouncing your foot as it may convey boredom or nervousness.

Cross your arms
Crossing your arms across your chest signifies defiance and guardedness.

Touch your face
Touching your nose, eyes or lips is a "tell" that says you are lying or are concealing a thought.

Tap your fingers
Tapping or drumming your fingers on the table signifies boredom.

Look left
If a person shifts their eyes to their left while speaking, it is a tell that he or she is lying.

Turn away from the listener
Angling your body away from whomever you are speaking to can make you look afraid or uninterested.

Gaze down
Lowering your eyes away from the listener reflects feelings of guilt, shame or deceitfulness.

Clear your throat
Excessively clearing your throat can reveal fear and/or deception.

What You Should Do

Stand tall
Walking and standing erectly, with shoulders back and eyes level, signifies confidence.

Palm-down guestures
Palm-down guestures in which the hands and forearms assume the position of a floor pushup, show confidence and assertiveness.

Palm-up guestures
Uplifted palms can be taken as a nonagressive sign to the listener that you are his or her ally. Reaching out to someone with palms rotated upwards builds rapport.

Tilt and nod your head
Tilting and nodding your head tells the speaker that you are interested and fully aware of what they are saying.

Make eye contact
Look a listener in the eye when you are talking to convey honesty and confidence.

Lean forward
Sitting with a slight forward lean across a conference table shows attentiveness and interest.

1. Come Prepared
Be sure to bring enough copies of your resume for each person you will be interviewing with. Put them in a portfolio with a pad of paper and a pen for taking notes. You should also have prepared a schedule of availability for yourself throughout the next couple of weeks. This way, if you are asked to schedule a second interview, you will be able to do so without having to go home and check your calendar first.

2. Dress for Success
It is often said that interviewers form an opinion of candidates within the first 30 seconds of their meeting. Whether fact or not, 30 seconds hardly affords one enough time for a second chance. That's why it's extremely important to look the way in which you want to be perceived. So, be sure to dress for success. Job candidates must take the time and care to be sure that their suit is crisply ironed, their hair is neatly combed and their shoes are brilliantly shined. Furthermore, body language is key in portraying a sturdy, confident air. Practice a sturdy handshake and walk with your shoulders back and eyes straight ahead.

3. Listen Thoughtfully
Throughout the entire interview it is important to maintain good eye contact. Not only does doing this tell interviewers that you're interested in what they have to say, it gives them a picture of how you'll interact with clients and coworkers. It is also very important to give positive nonverbal feedback when listening. A simple head nod tells interviewers that you understand everything and are giving them 100 percent of your attention.

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Every now and then an interviewer will throw a curve ball at you. You know the type, one of those off-the-wall questions that make you wonder what in the world they could possibly be fishing for. A question like, "If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?" is sure to make you squirm in your seat, but that may be exactly what the interviewer is watching for. My best explanation as to why someone would ask such a seemingly irrelevant question is that he or she is looking to see how you react to stressful situations, or how well you can think on your feet.

Chances are, if you've prepared for an interview correctly, you've already planned out your answers to the common interview questions. So, an interviewer may ask you one of these questions to try and learn a little about your personality instead of how well you can rehearse your answers.

Now, you can beat them at their own game by preparing for the unexpected.
Here are some "irrelevant" interview questions to look out for:

• What is your biggest weakness?
• If someone wrote a biography about you, what should it be titled?
• What would you do with your winnings if you won the lottery?
• Who do you admire most and why?
• What kind of car, soup, food, etc. are you?
• If you had six months to live with no constraints, what would you do?
• If you could be a superhero, what powers would you have?
• If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be?
• If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to play your role?
• Name three people from history that you would like to have dinner with.
• Name anyone in the world that you would like to trade places with.
• If you were abducted by aliens and they offered you any job you wanted on your new planet, what would you choose?

This list just scratches the surface of potential crazy questions. The important thing is to remember that there really is no right or wrong answers, but don't blurt out the first thing that crosses your mind. Take a breath, think about it for a second and give a calm, composed response. You can be funny and creative, just be sure you don't say something really dumb like a friend of mine who told an interviewer, "If I could be any FISH, I would be a killer whale."

No matter how good your sales number are, no matter how many great deals you foster, if you don't get along with your boss and your coworkers, you won't last long at your place of employment. To curb the high cost of employee turnover that's incurred when a hire is made that doesn't fit the "company culture," many hiring managers are administering personality tests during the job interview.

Before your next interview, it's a good idea to try out a few free tests on the web, so you'll have an idea of the types of questions that will be asked and what your answers will reveal about you. For example, if you take three or four tests and the results consistently say that you don't work well in groups, you can do one of two things:
1) Don't apply to positions that stress group work as a key job requirement.
2) Learn how to identify the test questions that determined that particular outcome so you can modify your answers when and where they count.

There are tons of personality tests on the web, but the "Psyhchometric Advantage" is my favorite because it tells the job seeker how a hiring manager could potentially read into your answers.

The free report also gives you a brief description of your personality type, how to highlight your personality strengths in an interview, an example of a question that might trip you up, and the type of work environment you would most likely be a good fit with.

Although I wouldn't suggest exaggerating about your level of experience or knowledge of a particularly important job requirement, I will say that exaggeration is expected and encouraged to some very common sense questions during an interview.

A colleague of mine recently conducted a phone interview in which her final question was, "On a scale of one to ten, what is your interest level in this position?" To which the candidate oh so cheerfully replied, "about a seven."

A SEVEN?!?

Now, I have a question for this candidate: Why on earth would you low-ball an answer to such an obvious question?

Perhaps, she was thinking, "If I say 10, she'll think I'm just exaggerating to get the job." To which I say, "So What?" There's no way to prove that you're exaggerating and furthermore, if the interviewer suspects as much, it only communicates to her that you're exaggerating because you really want the job!

Needless to say, this candidate will not be getting a call back, whereas the handful of other qualified candidates that said, "10" no doubt will.