Common Traditional Job Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself. 3. What would you say are your weaknesses?4. Why do you want this job?5. Why should we hire you?6. What would you contribute to this job?7. If you had a personal mission statement, what would it be?8. If you had to describe yourself in one word, what would it be?9. What do you feel makes you unique?10. What do you find motivating?11. How do you define and measure success?12. Where do you see yourself in five years?13. How does this position fit in with the career path you see for yourself?14. Would you consider yourself a big-picture person or a detail-oriented person?15. What are some of your hobbies?16. What were some responsibilities in your previous job?17. Whats your work style like?18. What were some of your favorite things to do in your last position?19. What were some of your least favorite things to do in your last job?20. What would your manager say are your best strengths?21. What would your manager say are areas that you need to develop more?22. How do you make decisions?23. What could you contribute to make this company better?24. What are you looking for in your next position?25. Whats your style of management?26. Can you describe the best boss you ever had?27. Can you describe the worst boss you ever had?28. How do you manage your time?29. What are you looking for regarding career development?30. Whats a goal you have for self-improvement in the next year?33. How do you keep yourself organized?
Job Interview Questions Answers And Tips To Prepare
Theresa Chiechi / The Balance
Do you have a job interview coming up? Are you prepared? The best way to get ready for an interview is to take the time to review the most common interview questions you will most likely be asked, along with examples of the best answers. Knowing what you’re going to say can eliminate a lot of interview stress.
Questions About You And Your Goals
Another crucial aspect of an interview? Getting to know a candidate. Thats why youll likely encounter questions about how you work, what youre looking for , and what your goals are. Its a good sign if your interviewers want to make sure youll be a good fitor addto the team. Use it as an opportunity!
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What Do You Plan To Do If
Every business faces a major challenge: technological changes, competitors entering the market, shifting economic trends. There’s rarely one of Warren Buffett’s moats protecting a small business.
So while some candidates may see your company as a stepping-stone, they still hope for growth and advancement. If they do eventually leave, they want it to be on their terms, not because you were forced out of business.
Say I’m interviewing for a position at your ski shop. Another store is opening less than a mile away: How do you plan to deal with the competition? Or you run a poultry farm : What will you do to deal with rising feed costs?
Great candidates don’t just want to know what you think they want to know what you plan to do — and how they will fit into those plans.
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Tell Me About The Last Time A Co
Conflict is inevitable when a company works hard to get things done. Mistakes happen. Sure, strengths come to the fore, but weaknesses also rear their heads. And that’s OK. No one is perfect.
But a person who tends to push the blame — and the responsibility for rectifying the situation — onto someone else is a candidate to avoid. Hiring managers would much rather choose candidates who focus not on blame but on addressing and fixing the problem.
Every business needs employees who willingly admit when they are wrong, step up to take ownership for fixing the problem, and, most important, learn from the experience.
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Whats Your Work Style
When an interviewer asks you about your work style, theyre probably trying to imagine you in the role. How will you approach your work? What will it be like to work with you? Will you mesh well with the existing team? You can help them along by choosing to focus on something thats important to you and aligns with everything youve learned about the role, team, and company so far. The question is broad, which means you have a lot of flexibility in how you answer: You might talk about how you communicate and collaborate on cross-functional projects, what kind of remote work setup allows you to be most productive, or how you approach leading a team and managing direct reports. Just try to keep it positive. And remember, telling a story will almost always make your answer more memorable.
Top Job Interview Questions And Answers
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Congrats! If you are reading this, you have most likely received a phone call for an interview.
Thats half the battle.
In this article, we are going to provide you with the 50 top job interview questions and answers to prepare for your big interview.
With so many opinions out there on what makes a great answer, it can be hard to know who to trust.
Each interview question below includes a sample answer written by a professional resume writer, career coach, and hiring manager. You are in good hands!
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Questions About Work History
The interviewer will be very interested in your work experience and how that experience might translate for the open position. So expect questions such as:
- Can you please walk me through your resume?
- Why are you thinking about leaving your current job?
- Can you explain gaps in your work history ?
- Can you describe a difficult work experience and how you handled it?
- Whats an accomplishment you are proud of?
- Can you give me an example of when you went above and beyond the call of duty in your current job?
- What is a typical workday like for you?
Tips For Answering Behavioral Questions
As you can see, behavioral questions explicitly ask you to give specific examples. Your mission, then? To highlight success stories that show you possess some of the core competencies the interviewer is looking for.
Just as all your answers should be tailored to the job at hand, so too should your examples be chosen based on the job description and organization. If problem-solving is a big part of the prospective job, then choose an example, if possible, that demonstrates your problem-solving skills.
Similarly, if youre asked to provide a failure, dont choose a story where you failed because you lack one of the core competencies. If the position wants you to be highly organized, dont go on and on about your problems with organization. In fact, you could subtly highlight the opposite maybe there was a time you failed to look at the big picture because you were too concerned with details of organization, and youve since learned how to balance the two.
As you know by now, you should tailor your responses, but dont just tell the interviewer what you think she wants to hear or choose a cop-out answer, like I work too hard or I care too much. You still want to be authentic and true to yourself.
Now that you have a sense of those tricky behavioral questions and how to prepare for them, lets look at the next major category: questions that aim to gauge your cultural fit.
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Why Should We Hire You
Ah, the ultimate humble-brag question.
Now, the real question is, how do you sell yourself without trying to look arrogant, desperate, or needy?
A good rule of thumb here is to stay away from the extremes. Think youre a good fit for the job? Say that you have the right experience.
Whatever you do, dont oversell yourself:
Im the best salesman youve ever met!
Instead, make a general statement and talk about your experiences and achievements.
Here are 3 general points you can mention:
Possible answers:
- Sample Answer 1:
Well, as a start, I have all the skills and work experience required for the job. Ive worked as a Sales Manager for 5+ years, and over the past 2, Ive closed several deals totalling in 6-figures.
Oh, and on top of that, I have experience working with tech companies, so Ill be able to pick up all the product specifics much faster than the other candidates.
- Sample Answer 2:
I have just the right skill-set to excel as an executive assistant. While I havent previously worked as a personal assistant, I pretty much fit the bill for the role.
Im very meticulous and organized, and Im more than capable of helping the CEO get the most our of their free time.
Looking for more sample answers? Check out these 10+ answers to Why should we hire you?
Tips For Answering Logistical Questions
While you may have already talked about your skills and experiences, these logistical questions will get you talking specifically about your professional history. Be prepared to speak on your last job, its responsibilities, and your reasons for applying elsewhere.
If you have any gaps in employment or are making a career change, you should also be ready to speak on that. As for salary, interviewers may save this question for later in the hiring process, like a second interview. You shouldnt be dishonest about what youve made in the past, but you may decline to share by saying that the two jobs are so different, you dont feel your last salary applies to the current situation.
If youre just not sure, do some research on the company website and sites like Payscale and Glassdoor to see what you could expect from a comparable position. Ive found these sites sometimes have such a big range its hard to be sure, but you can look at the available information and then decide what’s a reasonable range for you.
Again, as you should in all your responses, make sure to communicate your enthusiasm for the position and commitment to the organization should you be hired.
Finally, lets consider the fifth category of questions, the curveballs.
Don’t get thrown by random questions, like, “If you were a vacation, would you be a camping trip, a group tour, or a luxury spa?” Actually, maybe that one’s from a Buzzfeed quiz.
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What Is Your Salary History
Sample Answer:
Defer: As this position is not exactly the same as the job I previously held, I would prefer to discuss the expectations for this position. Then we could determine a fair salary for this job.
Range: Throughout my career, and particularly in the past 5 years, I have made anywhere from $60,000 $80,000 per year. Depending on the job I accept and the work involved, Id like to be at or above that range for my next career.
Quick Tip: Salary history is rarely required and often times this is an easy answer to dodge.
Learn more about the interview question: What is your salary history?
Frequently Asked Job Interview Questions
Before any job interview, it is important to anticipate some of the questions you might have to answer. Questions will vary depending on the industry, and the specific position to which you are applying. Yet there are some common job interview questions you should know. Here are 15 of them:
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Describe A Time You Dealt With A Conflict At Work
Sample Answer:
At ABC Company I was assigned a task by a member of the engineering team. She needed help from myself and a peer on the marketing team to finish a web page design.
Unfortunately, her deadline expectations were unrealistic for us. I had never met this individual since our departments were on separate floors, so I asked to get together with her for lunch.
I kindly asked her to walk me through her peers expectations for my role in this project. After she laid out her expectations, I walked her through the steps that we were taking to ensure the project was done correctly.
Once we had the chance to learn about each others processes, we had a much better understanding of the timeframes that were realistic.
We agreed on a doable timeframe that would help us both meet our goals and the conflict was resolved before it could escalate.
Quick Tip: Nobody enjoys dealing with conflict. But the hiring manager needs to know that if it arises, you can act maturely.
What Is The Most Important Thing In Your Life
If the most important thing for you is family, you dont have to lie and say that work is everything. It is important to be honest, although some responses may demonstrate both sincerity, maturity, and interest in the position. For example, saying for me the important thing in life is trying to enjoy all aspects of existence, especially taking advantage of the family and having an intellectually stimulating job, because we spend more hours at the office than at home . Of all the questions in a job interview, this is one with easy and honest answers.
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Questions On Your Strengths And Weaknesses
The interviewer will likely ask potentially difficult questions to gain insight into your strengths and weaknesses, including:
- What do you consider to be your greatest strength?
- How do you deal with high-pressure situations?
- What is your greatest professional achievement?
- What do you consider to be your weakness?
- What one thing would you like to do better? Whats your plan for improvement?
Here Are The Most Commonly Asked Interview Questions You Can Expect To Be Asked In Your Interview And Advice On How You Can Craft Effective Responses
Know these popular interview questions and answers.
Too many job seekers stumble through interviews as if the questions asked are coming out of left field. But many interview questions are to be expected. Need some job interview tips? Monster has you covered. Study this list of popular and frequently asked interview questions and answers ahead of time so you’ll be ready to answer them with confidence.
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Curveball Questions: The Odd And Unexpected
We’ve reached the quirky curveball questions. Like they sound, these questions run the gambit of total randomness. They tend to be odd and imaginative, and are mainly asked to gain a sense of your personality and ability to think on your feet. Of course, if you’ve already prepared for the right ones, then you wont have to think on your feet!
Some questions aim to root out your entrepreneurial qualities or vision. Others seek to see how you self-reflect and make decisions. Others, well – its hard to say what some of these are getting at. Thats why I decided to call them curveballs!
Check out some potential curveball questions below, along with ten real-life examples that interviewers from big companies, like Dropbox and Trader Joes have asked prospective employees. Then check out some tips on how to prepare for the unexpected!
What Were Your Starting And Final Levels Of Compensation
What They Want to Know: Hiring managers will want to learn how much you earned to see if you’re a competitive candidate for the company from a salary perspective. Be honest when discussing how much you were paid because employers can ask about salary when checking your background.
However, also be aware that in some locations employers are prohibited from asking about your prior wages. Some employers have also implemented policies that restrict questions about salary from being asked.
When I started my entry-level job as an accountant, my annual salary was approximately $42K I then became a CPA and currently take home around $80K.
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Why Are You The Right Fit To Succeed In This Role
You should use the interview as an opportunity to say something interesting about your skills and experiences that relate back to the role at hand. Remember that interviewers will be looking for you to demonstrate key skills that match the job and behaviour that align with the organisation’s culture, so prepare examples in advance that you can call on when required.
Examples of the key attributes employers look for include:
- Project management skills
