Common Interview QuestionsFebruary 7th, 2007
If you are just beginning your job hunt, or have not interviewed in awhile, it is probably a good idea to brush up on your interviewing skills. In an earlier article, we covered general preparation tips and tactics. With this article, we will cover a few common interview questions.
How to Answer Common Interview Questions
Q. Tell me more about yourself.
A. This is a common first question. Answer honestly, briefly and include only those details which you are comfortable revealing. They can always ask you to elaborate on particular points of interest. Try to mention something about where you grew up, where you attended school, a prominent move or career change, maybe a hobby. Include one recent detail of your life. This is a chance to establish common ground and find similar points of interest.
“Well I was raised in New Jersey and moved to Washington DC to attend American University. I worked for XYZ doing research while getting my MBA at night. I graduated one month ago and I am looking to start the next phase of my career in a new city. My sister lives just outside of Chicago and I love sailing, so I was really thrilled to learn your firm is hiring. I just moved to town and I am loving it so far!”
Q. Why did you choose this career?
A. Almost anything goes for this, as everyone has a different story. Even if you stumbled into your line of work, this is a chance to show passion. If you have dreamed of this career your whole life, it is a great way to show follow through and desire.
Q. Why do you want to work here at ABC Inc.?
A. If you did your prep work, researching the company and position, you should have an idea of why you want this job. If you are just applying hoping for a better opportunity, keep researching and make sure you have at least one aspect of the job/company that you can point to as appealing.
Honesty is the best policy, compliment the company, point out one specific qualification you posses and remember, simplicity is best. Avoid an extended story about how your brother’s girlfriend’s cousin said he loves working there and hooked you up with HR.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to be a part of the growing ABC sales team, and I believe my customer service skills can help further ABC market share in this community. Especially with the new bean counting device coming out next Fall.”
Q. What would you say is your strength? Your weakness?
A. These questions are your chance to really sell yourself - your strength should be a characteristic that is relevant to the position you are applying for. Think of something that you are proud of and can elaborate on. They will want an example or details. Your weakness should be an honest assessment of an area in which you lack experience or need to improve upon. Remember though, your still trying to sell yourself. Don’t mention that you are constantly late, always procrastinate or can’t deal with people well. Be smart.
“I believe that I am highly organized and good with numbers. It’s why I like bean counting so much I guess. For my weakness, I think I could use more experience with some of the newer bean counting technologies out there.”
Q. What did you learn from your last job/internship/educational experience?
A. Sell the qualities that you want to highlight. Point out how that experience is directly related to making you a great candidate for this position. Take advantage of this open ended question by bringing up all the points you’d like to emphasize. They will ask follow up questions, so lead them where you want to go!
Q. Why did you leave your previous job?
A. Never offer up excuses or bash the job in question. If you do not have an “easy out” answer such as relocation, consider this question a chance to show your ambition for growth. Transition to explaining how this new opportunity is a better fit for your skills and/or your career ambitions.
Q. Why is there a 1 year gap in your resume?
A. If you have a period of unemployment on your resume, be prepared to answer a question about it.
If you took time off for a personal or family crisis, avoid details. Simply state that for personal or family reasons you were unable to work for a period of time. If you have been unemployed on the job hunt, be honest. Layoffs are a common occurrence these days. Brevity and a positive attitude towards the situation will be your best bet in any scenario.
Q. What are your salary requirements?
A. See our “Negotiating a New Job’s Salary” article for guidance on negotiating the pay you want.
Remember that an interview is very much a sales meeting. Do not allow yourself to dominate the conversation, ask plenty of questions when afforded the chance, dress properly, and smile — positive attitudes are contagious!
Have any other questions you would like to share? Any answers? Maybe a interviewing horror story? Join in on the conversation in the comments below!
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Remember, when you go into an interview, your potential new boss is going on a very small amount of information about you, so it’s easy for him/her to summarily dismiss you for odd little details. Make sure you can answer any and all questions related to what’s on your resume and cover letter. If your email is something odd, be ready to explain it. It’s best to get a nondescript email address just for applying to jobs. If you have a really weird email address from your video game playing, like killkill123@whatever.com, that’s going to reflect negatively upon you in your interview.
February 7th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Good points. And also try and think about the underlying messages that you send along with these answers. Managers are not only listening to what you say, but also listening for what this might say about you.
http://candidateadvantage.com/advice/2007/01/sending_the_rig.html
February 7th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
What about the question: “Have you ever been fired?” How would you answer that if you have. It can’t always be a clear yes or no they will want to know why.
February 7th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Freddie,
In our original draft, we actually started to cover that.. Sorry that it didnt make the cut.
My suggestion, and others may have further insight, is to be honest about it but remain positive. You have to emphasis why you learned from it and how it made you a better person/employee. If you lie about it, and get the job — you might just find yourself being fired again
February 7th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
While I would not disagree with most of the articel I would tak eissue withthe “Tell me about yourself.” question
I have always found that when asked that question I followit with “What do you want to know?
February 7th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I find it really valuable when as the applicant, I can work in the question “What would the perfect candidate look like?”. Be careful, a poor interviewer could be thrown by this question. However, if answered honestly, it’s very valuable. First, it lets the interviewer talk for a while, while you gather your thoughts. More important, it allows you to tailor your presentation to what’s important to your prospective employer. What can be better than that?
February 7th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
In the past, along with the question about what the ideal candidate looks like, I have also found interviewers to be impressed and informative if asked the following three questions:
1) What do you believe will be the greatest challenge for the new hire in this position in his or her first month? First year?
2) How did this position come open?
3) How do you see this position evolving over time?
I can’t take credit for originating these questions. I read about them in a job-hunting article in a magazine for female executives, which I used to think I wanted to be until I grew disenchanted with corporate culture.
The earlier poster who said to only ask these type of followup questions of good interviewers is a crucial tip not to be forgotten. Just as job candidates come in all varieties, so do interviewers, and it is all too easy to flummox or intimidate many interviewers.
As for what to say when fired, which I unfortunately have been and I WAS hired afterward at other companies, I read in another article years ago to be honest, vague, and positive. This is what I’ve said and it worked: The interviewer asked, “Why did you leave this position?” I said, “I was fired. Unfortunately, it was not a good fit, but I learned an awful lot and I met a lot of really nice people.” Usually the interviewer moves on to something else at this point.
February 7th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
A reminder not so much about dealing with specific questions but about dealing with the idea of the questions.
An interview can be a stressful experience, especially if you go in thinking too much about “omigosh, what if they ask me about…?” Remember this: They are already interested in you; you’ve shown them something they find attractive. If they weren’t, if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be there.
That’s obvious, it’s true, but it’s also easy to forget in the concern about landing the job by acing the interview. Have some faith in yourself!
One other bit of advice: Think about your answers to questions such as the above but don’t over-rehearse. An answer that sounds too pat, sounds canned, is unlikely to come across well to an interviewer.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:45 am
As for the question about what is your greatest weakness…follow up the answer to that question with something positive about your weakness.
Example) My greatest weakness is my organizational skills, but I have started to write everything down in a daily planner which has helped me tremendously…..
That way, it looks like you know what your weakness is and you are doing something to overcome that weakness!
February 9th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
hi, i am changing my career from a carer to working in a factory and i am having trouble filling in my application as i have never done this type of work the first question is
1.what work have you undertaken which you consider relevant to this type of job,
2.why would you like to work for us.
3. what skills and knowlege do you have which would be relevant to our business and why do you think these would be relevant to us.
please can you help.
all i have done is care work and cleaning and i realy need this job
thankyou sonia
March 15th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Sonia,
I would be honest and forth-rite with the company..Let them know that you have no experiance with this line of work..but then follow that up with the fact that you are hard-working and willing and able to learn new things..and catch on quickly
April 26th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Thank you for the greate info. I am going to use this for a school assignedment!!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
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June 11th, 2007 at 12:01 am
I do not agree with the “what is your weakness” answer. You should never say anything negative about yourself, even if it is I need more experience. I have always been taught to put a negative spin on a positive attribute. Such as, “Well, I’m very picky about organization.” or “I can never be still, I must always have something to do.” That is much better than saying I need more experience or I lack knowledge in…
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:04 am
and always remember that u dress to impress because the way u look shows how much responsibilities u have and shows how u carry yourself
January 9th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Here is a great website that will help you learn how to do Targeted Selection or Behavioral Based style interviews. There are a lot of companies that are using this method and everyday the list is growing.
http://www.tspractice.com
January 15th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
i am so afraid of interview its not funny i can prep myself all week but when i get to the interview i freez up and become speechless and afraid of what the interviewer will think of me.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:53 pm