What Other Companies Are You Interviewing With
Companies might ask you who else youre interviewing with for a few reasons. Maybe they want to see how serious you are about this role and team or theyre trying to find out who theyre competing with to hire you. On one hand, you want to express your enthusiasm for this job, but at the same time, you dont want to give the company any more leverage than it already has by telling them theres no one else in the running. Depending on where you are in your search, you can talk about applying to or interviewing for a few roles that have XYZ in commonthen mention how and why this role seems like a particularly good fit.
How Would You Improve Our Product/service
Your knowledge and understanding of what the company does will prove invaluable. Don’t be too critical of the product or service – you want to work there after all – but at the same, don’t say you wouldn’t change anything. The interviewer wants to hear some ideas.
Try to come up with one or two things that you think could be improved. The key is to offer an explanation of how and why you’d make these changes. Make sure you focus on relevant areas that you would have some responsibility for if you got the job.
Why Is There A Gap In Your Work Experience
In most cases, a gap in your work experience doesnt really mean anything. You probably have a very good reason for it.
The interviewer, however, will definitely ask about it, and you should answer adequately.
Theres no secret sauce to answering this question, just let the recruiter know about your situation, whatever that may be:
- Maternity leave
- Caring for a sick family member
- Time off to pursue further education
- Relocating to a different city
- Working on a personal project
Whichever the case may be, just explain the situation in brief and move on.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that if you were laid off at work, or you quit and had trouble getting a new job, you should be very subtle about it.
If the interviewer knows that youre struggling to find a job, youre going to give them the upper hand in salary negotiations.
Possible answers:
I had a baby and had to take maternity leave.
- Sample Answer 2:
My father was sick, so I had to be the one to take care of him full-time over a few months.
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What Kind Of Work Environment Do You Like Best
Maybe you love working alone, but if the job you’re interviewing for is in a call center, that answer will do you no good.
So take a step back and think about the job you’re applying for and the company’s culture . If a flexible schedule is important to you, but the company doesn’t offer one, focus on something else. If you like constant direction and support and the company expects employees to self-manage, focus on something else.
Find ways to highlight how the company’s environment will work well for you — and if you can’t find ways, don’t take the job, because you’ll be miserable.
Tell Me About Yourself / Your Past Work Experience
What seems like such a simple question can sometimes be one of the toughest to answer for most professionals. As it is often the opening question for interviews, it is one of the most important since first impressions are key. When asking this question, the interviewer is looking for an answer that is pertinent to the job you’re interviewing for.
inside out and start with an overview of your highest qualification then run through your past jobs. Give examples of your achievements and the skills you’ve developed in your career so far.
Keep your answer brief – the interviewer will ask you to expand on any areas where they’d like more information.”
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Dont Talk Down On Previous Employers
This is interviewing 101. Restaurant employees tend to bounce between jobs, so you never know if what youll say could come back to bite you. If youre asked why you left or plan to leave your current role, keep your answer opportunistic and talk about how you just feel there were better professional opportunities in other establishments.
Do You Have Any Questions
This might be one of the most important questions asked during the interview process because it allows you to explore any topics that havent been addressed and shows the interviewer youre serious about the role. Remember that you are interviewing the company too. Take time to ask the interviewer questions about their own experiences with the company, gain tips on how you can succeed if hired and address any lingering questions you have. Some examples include:
- What do you love most about working for this company?
- What would success look like in this role?
- What are some of the challenges people typically face in this position?
- How important is it that you hire someone with XYZ qualities?
-
Do you have any hesitations about hiring me?
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Dont Forget Your Interview Essentials
The pre-interview stress can cause you to forget a few basics before your meeting. Remember to do these before you show up.
- Arrive at least 10 minutes early. Showing up late sets a very bad precedent in this industry. Be early to show your gratitude for this opportunity, but if you do end up running late, call on your way to apologize and explain the situation. If you have a legitimate excuse, any decent interviewer will understand.
- Bring multiple copies of your resume. Brush up your resume so that its relevant and grammatically correct, and bring copies for all of the employees who will be interviewing you.
- Remind yourself to smile. Its such a simple thing, but smiling in an interview can truly play a role in your hiring.³ It shows your interviewer that youre kind, positive, and comfortable in awkward situations .
Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Job
Let’s start with what you shouldn’t say .
Don’t talk about how your boss is difficult. Don’t talk about how you can’t get along with other employees. Don’t bad-mouth your company.
Instead, focus on the positives a move will bring. Talk about what you want to achieve. Talk about what you want to learn. Talk about ways you want to grow, about things you want to accomplish explain how a move will be great for you and for your new company.
Complaining about your current employer is a little like people who gossip: If you’re willing to speak badly of someone else, you’ll probably do the same to me.
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Do You Have Any Questions For Us
You probably already know that an interview isnt just a chance for a hiring manager to grill youits an opportunity to sniff out whether a job is the right fit from your perspective. What do you want to know about the position? The company? The department? The team? Youll cover a lot of this in the actual interview, so have a few less-common questions ready to go. We especially like questions targeted to the interviewer or the companys growth If youre interviewing for a remote role, there are some specific questions you might want to ask related to that.
Talk Us Through Your Professional And Technical Skillset
Why employers ask this: They want to get a clearer picture of your abilities and how you can apply them to the role. This question aims to understand your full skillset to do the job, McInerney says.
How to respond well: Rather than a laundry list of generic skills, be prepared to talk about your skills that are most relevant to the job and to give examples. This question is a great opportunity to share your technical know-how by demonstrating how you used a particular technical skill in a past job and how this skill will be relevant to the job youre applying for, McInerney says. She says while talking about technical skills is usually straightforward, professional or softer skills like communication and leadership can be more difficult to talk about, so its important to come ready with examples of these skills in action.
Tip: Examples can be hard to come up with off the top of your head, so prepare a list. You wont be able to refer to it in the interview, necessarily but the process of creating it could help firm up examples in your head. Look back to projects youve completed or refer to feedback or performance reviews to help you come up with examples of skills that have made a difference.
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Questions To Ask About Your Colleagues
The other important aspect of your job is peoplewho you will be working with can greatly affect your success and job satisfaction. I like to ask directly about the people I will be working withgoing so far as to ask to meet them!
Is It Better To Be Perfect And Late Or Good And On Time
If your candidate responds with “It depends,” hear them out — the interview question itself is phrased in such a way that candidates can sense there is a right and wrong answer, and they’ll be looking for signs from you that they’re heading in the right direction.
A good answer to this question:
For most companies, the correct answer is “good and on time.” It’s important to let something be finished when it’s good enough. Let’s face it, every blog post, email, book, video, etc. can always be tweaked and improved. At some point, you’ve just got to ship it. Most managers don’t want someone who can’t hit deadlines because they’re paralyzed by perfection.
Try to remain neutral as they feel out their response, though. They might not be able to relate to work that’s measured purely by quality and deadline, but it’s important that they can express how they prioritize their tasks.
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Do You Consider Yourself Successful
This question might make you uncomfortable. But you can think of it as an opportunity to allow the interviewer to get to know you better and to position yourself as an excellent choice for this job. First off, make sure you say yes! Then pick one specific professional achievement youre proud of that can be tied back to the role youre interviewing forone that demonstrates a quality, skill, or experience that would help you excel in this position. Youll want to explain why you consider it a success, talk about the process in addition to the outcome, and highlight your own accomplishment without forgetting your team. Zooming in on one story will help if you feel awkward tooting your own horn!
What’s Your Favourite Non
It’s always important to try and understand what kind of person a candidate is, and finding out what they enjoy outside of work is a great way to dig into this.
While it may not impact their work at all, it can help you understand someone’s character. These kind of interview questions help to relax candidates and encourage them to open up and speak about their life.
It’s also pretty interesting to know that you have a budding kitesurfer or a weekend chess aficionado in your team!
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Why Are You Interested In Working At This Organisation
Why employers ask this: Have you done your homework? This question shows how much research you have done, demonstrating motivation for the job and providing recruiters with an insight into your own values to ensure they align with the hiring organisation, McInerney says.
How to respond well: Take some time to identify your values, then be prepared to talk about how these align with the company and what it does. If you can build a connection with the organisation’s people, strategy and values and your own values and aspirations, you will show the potential employer why youre an ideal fit, McInerney says.
Tip: Learn what you can about the companys values and aims. Many businesses include this sort of information via their websites About us page.
What’s Your Management Style
Obviously this question is only applicable to people that you’re interviewing for senior or management roles.
Bad management techniques can kill company culture and employee happiness in the blink of an eye, you need to know that anyone you hire isn’t going to f*ck up the culture
Ask candidates about specific examples of times when they feel like the displayed positive a positive management style, as well as times when they got things wrong.
Good traits to look out for include a willingness to take feedback and make time for employees, a clear indicator of this are a manager running monthly one-on-one sessions with their team.
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What Can You Bring To The Company
When interviewers ask this question, they dont just want to hear about your background. They want to see that you understand what problems and challenges theyre facing as a company or department as well as how youll fit into the existing organization. Read the job description closely, do your research on the company, and make sure you pay attention in your early round interviews to understand any issues youre being hired to solve. Then, the key is to connect your skills and experiences to what the company needs and share an example that shows how youve done similar or transferable work in the past.
Questions To Ask A Sales Interviewer
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How To Answer 14 Most Common Interview Questions
These questions are the ones youre bound to hear at just about any job interview – whether youre an intern, or a senior professional with a decade of work experience.
All of these questions are used to learn more about you, both as a person and a professional.
You might have heard the popular idea that theres no right or wrong answers for job interview questions.
Well, while that might be true, there ARE a set of rules you need to follow when answering these questions.
If you understand what, exactly, the interviewer is looking for with each question, youll be able to give the right answer
In this section, were going to go through 14 of the most common job interview questions and answers. Were going to explain what the HR manager wants to see in you, as well as give you sample answers you could use.
So, lets get started!
Tell Me What You Know About The Role
Employers may ask this question to get a starting line for how much they need to tell you about the basics of the position youre applying for. It might also tell them whether or not youve taken the time to carefully read the job description and research as much as possible before.
Example answer:From the job description, I understand that you are looking for a bookkeeper to provide support to the departments financial activities primarily related to Accounts Payable and Procurement. I also understand that you require HIPAA compliance training, for which I am certified. It sounds like many of the daily tasks include processing vendor creation, journals, check requests, wire transfers and invoice for payments. Can you tell me more about why this position is open and what needs the team needs?
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What Is Your Greatest Weakness
What They Want to Know: There are different ways to tackle questions about weaknesses. One is to turn a negative into a positive by sharing an example of how something you considered to be a weakness actually helped you on the job. The other is to speak about additional skills you now have because you worked on those that needed an upgrade.
Im an introvert, which I used to regard as being a weakness because I was always shy about reaching out to people. However, part of being an introvert is that Im a great listener, and I find this has really helped me as a Help Desk Technician. Im able to focus on our customers issues, ask the right questions to elicit information, and resolve their tech issues.
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Pitch To Me As If I Were Buying Your Product Or Service
This is a slightly different, and more challenging, alternative to our earlier “What do you know about the Company?” question. Not only does it make candidates to reference material from their research, but it forces them to come up with a compelling message on the fly.
Focus less on the delivery here. Sales and marketing candidates have an unfair advantage as they should be accustomed to this kind of task. The key to a good answer is thorough research and clear articulation of your business.
If you are hiring for a customer facing role though this is also a great way to gauge how they’d deal with the curveballs that customer meetings often produce.
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