Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com

Interviews are nothing if not opportunities to drive yourself crazy. Just remind yourself to look good, appear confident, say all the right things and don't say any of the wrong ones. It shouldn't be so hard to follow these guidelines except you'll be on the receiving end of an endless line of questions. Factor in your nerves and you'll be lucky to remember your own name. Don't fret. If you walk into the interview prepared, you can make sure you know what right things to say, and you can stop yourself from saying the following wrong things.

Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

Job seekers – to put it mildly – don't like interviews very much. Aside from having to dress up and worry about the firmness of their handshakes, applicants have to field question after question. No matter how much they fear unexpected trick questions, job candidates dread the most common ones above all others.

When it comes to the least favorite interview questions, "What is your greatest weakness?" is job seekers' top pick, according to a recent Zogby poll. Although it's a common question, nobody knows what to say. If you're too honest, you've just told the interviewer why you shouldn't be hired. If you pretend you're flawless, you look arrogant and still don't get the job.

When you're asked questions that seem set up to make you look bad, what are you supposed to say?

By Joe Turner

You've heard it said often in the past: "First impressions are the most important." When it comes to the job interview, here's recent proof that bears this out: "Hiring managers often know whether they might hire someone soon after the opening handshake and small talk", a new survey suggests. Executives polled said it takes them just 10 minutes to form an opinion of job seekers, despite meeting with staff-level applicants for 55 minutes and management-level candidates for 86 minutes, on average.

Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

But maybe you got into a bar fight in college that went on your permanent record and you don't want to include it on your application. Maybe you got fired for standing up for what you believe but you're worried a potential employer won't see your side. Or, maybe you quit your job but haven't updated your résumé to that effect because you've found employers find you less desperate.

You're not supposed to lie, so how do you explain away all these things and remain in the running for a job? Or, the better question is, can you?

"The honesty police may arrest me but I'd have to say that everyone has probably shaded the truth in an interview," says Alan Guinn, managing director of The Guinn Consultancy Group. "It's not that as applicants we're inherently dishonest. It's that society places such a critical importance on success achievement that we look for ways to present ourselves in the best light possible."

Guinn says that honesty is generally the best policy when it comes to your interview, but in some cases, it can be hard to explain actions in which you have been peripherally involved or caught up. While you shouldn't flat out lie about anything, you should position your answers so that you are the responsible party, rather than the one to blame, Guinn says.

Some situations are more tempting to fudge the truth in than others. Here are 10 of those situations and how you can be honest with a potential employer and stay in the running for a job:

How to give the right answer to doubtful employers

by Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer

Tecently, Stephanie Somogyi Miller was interviewing candidates for an entry-level public relations position at her company, Spread PR, a Miller/Hamilton company. Over the course of 20 candidates Miller quickly realized -- much to her shock -- that many job seekers were unprepared when she asked them, "Why should I hire you?"

"I thought it gave people the opportunity to tell me what they wanted to tell me, versus me asking a million questions," Miller says. Only one candidate was able to give an answer without stumbling. What's worse, Miller couldn't envision any of these applicants having a coherent conversation with a reporter if her one question was causing so much distress.

"It is so hard to get a job these days, and I really expected people to be on their game," she says. "I guess it made my job easier though, because when I finally met someone who knew what was up, I hired her on the spot."

In today's job market, where many seasoned workers have found themselves out of a job and plenty of young but inexperienced graduates are entering the workforce, do you have the right answer to beat out the competition?

Here are three common scenarios job seekers find themselves in and how they might handle each one: