What Did You Like Least About Your Last Position
This question can tell employers about types of work you enjoy, your experience level with certain workplace scenarios and whether or not you would be a good culture add. Avoid saying anything negative about your former employer, managers or colleagues. Dont mention any aspects of your last role that youre aware would be part of this role. Make your answer about your career growth and enthusiasm for joining their organization.
Example answer:While I enjoyed my time learning and growing in my last job, there was a lack of opportunity in the way I wanted to progress in my career. I deeply enjoy being challenged and getting better at what I do, which I understand is a top priority for managers at your organization. Thats why Im excited to continue having conversations about this opportunity.
Read more: Interview Question: “What Did You Like Least About Your Last Job?”
Top Questions You Should Ask In An Interview
An interview is a moment to sell yourself in a way that highlights the necessary skills that make you a qualified candidate for the job. You’ll need to practice responses to questions that may relate to the job posting and the qualifications listed for the position. Also, you must come prepared with questions to ask the interviewer to show your interest in the position.
In this article, we discuss the types of questions you should ask when you’re interviewing with a hiring manager.
Read more:How To Sell Yourself in an Interview
Questions To Ask About The Job
Question 1: Can you elaborate on the day-to-day responsibilities this job entails?
This is a good question to ask the hiring manager. The answer will be important for you to take into consideration as you determine whether or not this job is the right fit for you.
Question 2: What are the characteristics of someone who would succeed in this role?
Ask this question to the hiring manager or others on the interview panel who you might work with if you accept the job. Their answers will quickly give you an idea of the qualities they hope to see in the person they hire.
Question 3: Whats the most important thing I could do to help within the first 90 days of employment?
With this question, youre showcasing your desire and ability to contribute from day one. Its a good one to ask of the hiring manager.
Question 4: What are some of the challenges youve seen people in this role or on this team encounter?
During your interviews, you want to get a clear-eyed view of what this job is like why its hard and rewarding at the same time. Getting your interviewers perspectives on potential hurdles will give you a holistic picture.
Question 5: If I were in this job, how would my performance be measured?
Question 6: What does the career path for someone in this role look like?
Another one for the hiring manager. This question can signal your interest in growing at this company.
More questions to ask your interviewer about the job:
9. What would my first week at work look like?
Read Also: How To Research A Company For An Interview
Questions About Your Job Performance
You want to have an in-depth conversation related to the metrics they’re using to evaluate your performance. The way the hiring manager answers these questions give you clues about the leadership structure of the company.
- What are the most important goals to meet during the first 90 days of employment?
- What are your performance expectations for my first 12 months with the company?
- What does the performance evaluation process look like?
- What metrics will you use to critique my performance?
- How often will I be updated about my performance?
- What type of mistakes do people make in this role?
- What is your viewpoint of mistakes and their relationship to long-term performance?
- Is there one area of performance you prioritize as of right now?
- Who is responsible for tracking my performance?
- Is it expected to reach this performance benchmark right away?
What Training Is Offered Within The Company 12 How Do You Support People Who Want To Gain Extra Skills
This question is a great way to reaffirm to your interviewer that you are looking at staying in the company for the long term. Showing willingness to be trained can also help them to see you as flexible and someone willing to pursue the necessary steps towards success both as an individual and as a colleague.
Also Check: How To Do A Mock Interview
What Salary Do You Expect
Be realistic and answer this question in a respectful manner, as if you want to negotiate a good contract it is wise to be pragmatic. Do your research and propose a realistic salary based on what you earned previously and what you think is adequate for the job position. In the case that the job offers less than you had expected, you can always balance it out by asking for days where you can work from home, the number of holiday days and other benefits.
Instead of mentioning one specific number, you might want to mention a range e.g.:
I am interviewing for roles in the low 60s to high 60s salary range and I am flexible based on the nature of the responsibilities for the position.
I am ideally looking for 75k-80k but the most important thing is the job itself and the company culture.Whereas if you mention just one specific number, thats the maximum youll ever get and you might get offered less than that.
Read more tips on how to negotiate your salary.
What Interview Questions Should I Ask Candidates
The interview questions you should ask candidates depend on the role and the type of candidate you hope to attract. At minimum, you should ask the most standard interview questions such as:
- Tell me about yourself
- Why do you want to work for this company?
- What are your greatest strengths?
- What is your biggest weakness?
- Why should we hire you?
Additional questions should evaluate whether the candidate is a good skill and culture fit for the position. Feel free to tailor questions to suit your organization and industry.
Also Check: How To Give A Good Interview
What Are Your Greatest Strengths
Heres an opening to talk about something that makes you greatand a great fit for this role. When youre answering this question, think quality, not quantity. In other words, dont rattle off a list of adjectives. Instead, pick one or a few specific qualities that are relevant to this position and illustrate them with examples. Stories are always more memorable than generalizations. And if theres something you were hoping to mention because it makes you a great candidate, but you havent had a chance yet, this would be the perfect time.
Could You Give Us An Example Of A Personal Or Professional Achievement
If you can think of an achievement that relates to the job for which you are applying, it will seem more impressive and relevant to recruiters. However, if you have an equally impressive achievement that you would like to share, dont be afraid to do so. If you are talking about a previous job, be sure to include what you were working as, for how long you worked on the achievement prior to the result or outcome.
Think about which of your achievements would be most relevant to your potential employer? Whenever you are asked any competency based question, use STAR format:
SITUATION / TASK Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. Be very specific and give details, but keep it short and concise. Give them a bit of context about every example what was the situation before you had to step in? What was the problem? What was the impact of this problem on you/others?
ACTION Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did not the efforts of the team. Use words such as I initiated/led/managed for etc. otherwise the interviewer will not know what your personal contribution was. You can mention some time-frames, people involved, names, results etc.
RESULTS Describe what you achieved. What happened? What was the final result? How much money/time did you save? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? What feedback have you received? etc.
Read Also: How To Interview A Recruiter
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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This Important Job Interview Question Has A Way Of Making Candidates Blurt Out Their Life Stories But That Isn’t What Potential Employers Want To Hear
It’s one of the most frequently asked interview questions: “Tell me about yourself.” Your response will set the tone for the rest of the interviewno pressure! This question can be paralyzing, leaving you wondering what it is the interviewer really wants to know. Do they want to know what you did at your last gig? Your soft skills? How you named your cat? Actually, none of the above.
Here’s a little secret: When an interviewer says, “Tell me about yourself,” he or she really wants to know how your experience is pertinent to the job you’re interviewing for.
Eleanor dreaded this question. When it was the first one asked at her interview, she fumbled her way through a vague answer, not focusing on what she could bring to the job.
“I’m happily married and originally from Denver,” she began. “My husband was transferred here three months ago, and I’ve been getting us settled in our new home. I’m now ready to go back to work. I’ve worked in a variety of jobs, usually customer service-related. I’m looking for a company that offers growth opportunities.”
The interview went downhill after that. She had started with personal information and gave the interviewer reason to doubt whether she was an employee who would stay for very long.
Responding to this free-form request successfully comes down to three things: focus, script and practice. You cannot afford to wing this answer.
Recommended Reading: How To Prepare For Ml Interview
Make Natural Transitions Between Questions
Having a list of interview questions to ask is good practice, but it has an inherent difficulty: it might make the interview seem more robotic and inflexible.
For example, imagine youre listening to a candidates answer. When they finish talking, you may suddenly feel awkward, so you nod and say something akin to OK, interesting and then you move on to the next question. This isnt how a natural conversation would flow, and it might make the experience less pleasant for the candidate .
Show In Your Job Interview That You Are Organized
Be organized. It is important that you have all of your paperwork in order before you go to the job interview.
Not having any of your documents in order can show that you are not serious about getting the job.
So not only should you have your resume and cover letter up to date, but you should also have all the other material you will need ready for your job interview.
Following these tips will help you prepare your body and mind for the experience ahead.
Read Also: What Are The Top 20 Questions Asked In An Interview
How Much Do You Know About The Company
This interview question is one of the most common interview questions asked and is essentially a test to check that youve done your research and know your stuff. If you can prove that youve dug a little deeper than the company website and refer to a company achievement, press release or recent update, youll be sure to win extra brownie points.
Researching the company is a must, and almost all job candidates do it to some degree today. But the interview is not a test to see whether you read the company website. Instead, you want to identify opportunities and demonstrate how you can add value to the company, if they hire you. Take the information you gain through your research and prepare insightful questions and observations that can serve as discussion points during the interview. Here are some ways to do that:
What Are The Main Objectives And Responsibilities Of The Position
Asking this might seem obvious once youve gone over the job specification, but hearing about the role in more detail is a deciding point for many candidates who are looking at a long-term opportunity. With a clearer outline of your expectations, you can decide whether anything is likely to deter your interest or encourage you to choose to accept the job.
Read Also: What Are The Interview Questions For Project Manager
Give Me An Example Of A Time When You Made A Mistake Or Didn’t Deliver On Expectations What Happened What Did You Learn
Why employers ask this: Most businesses accept that people make mistakes, Shepard says. What is more important is that you learn from them. Employers are trying to establish what processes you use to analyse problems and how you go about solving them.
How to respond well: The key here is to focus on the take outs from your mistakes, Shepard explains. Its a good idea to give an example of a past mistake what were the circumstances? What was your decision-making process and how did you move forward from the mistake?
Sample Case Interview Questions For Social Workers
Also Check: What Should You Say In An Interview
Band 5 Interview Questions And Answers
For nursing posts at Band 4 to 5 including staff nurses, nurse practitioners in adult, children, disability and mental health you should receive an update and an invitation if you have passed the initial shortlisting.
Your invite may state that you are being invited to an assessment day, where you will take part in a number of computer-based tests specifically:
Literacy Tests: Your literacy test may be based on a patient scenario and you will be asked to document the actions you would take.Numeracy Test: At band 4 and 5 the maths tests usually involve drugs calculations. The questions are usually relatively easy and may ask you to convert or calculate quantities or work out how long it takes for a drug to deliver.
Questions About Your Success In The Position
5. What are you hoping this person will accomplish in their first six months and in their first year?
This query can give you a sense of what kind of learning curve youre supposed to meet and the pace of the team and organization. If youre expected to have major achievements under your belt after only a few months, that tells you that they likely wont give you a lot of ramp-up time. Which might be fine if youre coming in with a lot of experience, but it might be worrisome otherwise. On the flip side, if youre someone who likes to jump right in and start getting things done, you might not be thrilled to hear that most of your first six months will be spent in training.
This question can also draw out information about key projects that you wouldnt otherwise have heard about.
6. Thinking back to people youve seen do this work previously, what differentiated the ones who were good from the ones who were really great at it?
Plus, the answer to this question can give you much more nuanced insight into what itll take to truly excel in the job and whatever the answer is, you can think about whether or not its something youre likely able to do.
Recommended Reading: How To Interview Front End Developer
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!
