What Is The Best Answer For Interview Questions

Can You Give An Example Of A Time When You Had To Cope With A Difficult Situation

This question is one of the most popular competency-based interview questions. It allows the employer to assess how calm and reliable you are under pressure. Outline an instance where you’ve coped with an unexpected problem, discussing how you reorganised and managed your time. Think about times where you’ve had to meet tight deadlines or handle difficult people.

Similar questions include:

• Give an example of a time when you had to cope under pressure.
• Give an example of a time when you’ve handled a major crisis.
• How do you manage your time and prioritise tasks?
• How do you respond to stress and pressure?

Prepare For The Question

Since this question is common at the end of every type of job interview, it makes sense to plan for it in advance and be prepared. Develop a list of questions that you want answered and keep in mind that your questions may change slightly based upon your interviewer.

If you’re meeting with someone from human resources, for instance, your questions might focus on the interviewing process or on the overall organization of the company. If you’re meeting with the person who will be your manager, you might ask specific questions about your intended role or about the hiring process for new employees.

Prepare several questions, as many of them may be addressed during the interview.

Why Havent You Gotten Your Masters Degree/phd

As a start, keep in mind that the interviewer isnt judging you for your decision.

After all, if they were looking for someone with a better degree, they wouldnt have invited you to an interview. The degree is not the dealbreaker here, but your answer to the question might be.

When asking this question, the interviewer is trying to see your reasoning for pursuing a career instead of getting another degree.

Heck, theres a chance that if you give them the right answer, theyre even going to like you more than someone with 3 Phds!

So, simply explain why you didnt think that another degree was the right thing for you at the time.

Dont say you were lazy or didnt feel like it, or that its a waste of money .

Instead, give compelling arguments, such as

• You wanted to see whether your field was the right one for you.
• You didnt have the financial resources at the time.
• You wanted to get some practical work experience before committing to another degree.

Possible answers:

• Sample Answer 1:

At this stage of my life, I decided to pursue my career instead of further education. On the one hand, I want to make sure that Marketing is what I want to do with my life.

On the other hand, I believe that in my field, practical work experience is a lot more valuable than academic.

So far, my decision has paid off pretty well – Ive already gotten a lot of experience doing online marketing for 3+ companies and delivering awesome results to boot.

• Sample Answer 2:

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Interview Questions About Integrity

Some of the most common questions asked in a job interview relate to a single idea: integrity. In the workplace, integrity relates to the consistency of your character, and knowing how to answer questions about integrity can positively influence the impression you make on the interviewer. Showing a commitment to honesty, responsibility and loyalty could make you a more hirable candidate for many jobs.

In this article, well discuss how to respond effectively to interview questions about integrity.

Below are six commonly asked interview questions related to integrity:

Analyze The Job Posting

Reread the job posting and analyze it to determine what the employer is looking for in a candidate. Then make a list of the skills, knowledge, professional, and personal qualities that are required by the employer and are most important for success in the job. Be ready to describe the attributes that make you the perfect match for the job. The closer your qualifications match the job requirements, the better chance you’ll have of getting a second-round interview and a job offer.

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Describe A Time You Had To Make A Difficult Decision At Work

How to Answer: No matter what your position is, chances are, there has been a time when youve had to make a tough call. Perhaps you had to fire someone. Maybe you decided to confront your manager about something with which you disagreed.

Demonstrating your rationale for making this decision gives the interviewer insight into your judgment and thought process. Walk her through the pros and cons and the different aspects you considered before coming to closure to show that youre thoughtful and understand the ramifications and impact of your ideas.

Example: I was once tasked with firing someone for not fulfilling their responsibilities. While it is never easy to fire someone, I had to take the emotion out of it, understanding that I had to do my own job, too. Fortunately, I was able to quickly replace that person with someone else who has exceeded my expectations.

Tell Me About The Toughest Decision You Had To Make In The Last Six Months

The goal of this question is to evaluate the candidate’s reasoning ability, problem-solving skills, judgment, and possibly even willingness to take intelligent risks.

Having no answer is a definite warning sign. Everyone makes tough decisions, regardless of their position. My daughter worked part-time as a server at a local restaurant and made difficult decisions all the time — like the best way to deal with a regular customer whose behavior constituted borderline harassment.

A good answer proves you can make a difficult analytical or reasoning-based decision — for example, wading through reams of data to determine the best solution to a problem.

A great answer proves you can make a difficult interpersonal decision, or better yet a difficult data-driven decision that includes interpersonal considerations and ramifications.

Making decisions based on data is important, but almost every decision has an impact on people as well. The best candidates naturally weigh all sides of an issue, not just the business or human side exclusively.

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What Are You Reading

How to Answer: This might seem random, but trust us, youll probably be asked this question at least once or twice during an interview. Employers want to know that youre intellectually curious, and this question will give them a window into your particular interests.

If youre binge-watching 3 shows on Netflix and havent opened a book in a month, youre not alone but make sure you think about the last book youve read or one of your favorites.

Example: Im currently reading , which fascinates me because .

How To Answer What Is Your Greatest Strength

How should you answer questions about your strengths? The best way to respond is to describe the skills and experience you have that directly correlate with the job you are applying for.

Be prepared to answer by making a list of the criteria mentioned in the job posting and then:

• List your skills that match those the employer is seeking. This list can include education or training, soft skills, hard skills, or past work experiences.
• Narrow down your list of skills to three to five particularly strong skills.
• Next to each skill, note an example of how you have applied that strength in the past.

This will prepare you for when the employer asks you to elaborate on a particular strength, and you’ll be able to share examples with the interviewer.

When you answer, you will be sharing strengths that match the qualifications the company is seeking.

Also incorporate into your responses these power words, which help to make a good impression. The more closely your skills match the stated job requirements, the more likely you’ll be to get a job offer.

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What Role Have You Played In Team Situations

What They Want to Know: Some people are natural leaders, while others are excellent followers. By asking this question, an employer is trying to gauge both how you would fit into the departments current team dynamics and to assess whether you are someone they should flag for eventual leadership responsibilities.

How Did You Hear About This Position

Another seemingly innocuous interview question, this is actually a perfect opportunity to stand out and show your passion for and connection to the company. For example, if you found out about the gig through a friend or professional contact, name-drop that person, then share why you were so excited about the job. If you discovered the company through an event or article, share that. Even if you found the listing through a random job board, share what, specifically, caught your eye about the role.

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Tell Me About Your Work Experience

An interviewer may or may not already be familiar with your background. Regardless, this question gives you the chance to detail your experiences that are most valuable to the prospective role. Employers want to know that youve reflected on their expectations for a qualified candidate and that you have directly relevant or transferable skills. Consider these tips for answering:

1. Quantify your experience:I have 10 years of experience in personal finance management, and I have assisted 45 repeat clients in increasing their capital by an average of 15% every year.

2. Illustrate connections to role:As a financial analyst, Ive used visual growth charts to show my clients how each saving plan option can impact their goals. When I became a senior financial analyst, I supervised other analysts and trained them in providing the most helpful experience to our customers.

3. End with a goal statement:“As your senior financial consultant, I aim to integrate my individualized approach to helping clients build the retirement fund they will depend on.

Read more: Interview Question: Tell Me About Your Work Experience

What Do You Like To Do Outside Of Work

Interviewers will sometimes ask about your hobbies or interests outside of work in order to get to know you a little betterto find out what youre passionate about and devote time to during your off-hours. Its another chance to let your personality shine. Be honest, but keep it professional and be mindful of answers that might make it sound like youre going to spend all your time focusing on something other than the job youre applying for.

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What Would You Contribute To Our Team Culture

What They Want to Know: Interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and training new employees costs both time and money for employers, so they dont want to have to repeat the process because an employee proves unable to adapt to their corporate culture. Research the organization ahead of time so that you can present yourself as someone who would fit seamlessly into their team culture.

What Is Shift Work

Shift work applies to any work schedule where the total number of hours that need work coverage are divided into shifts and covered by available staff. For some industries, shift work can include overnight, early morning or late night hours. In some instances, availability for particular shifts can be crucial for employers to maintain business operations throughout the day and night. Here are some additional about shift work:

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What Parts Of Your Current Role Frustrate You

Why employers ask this: Employers accept that there will be elements of every job that may be frustrating so its important to be honest when answering this question, Shepard says. By asking this question they are wanting to find out if youre compatible with the role youre applying for.

How to respond well: Dont be afraid to bring up frustrations, but focus on how you handle them. Rather than just venting things you find frustrating about your current role, try to frame your response in a positive light by talking about how you manage your frustration, Shepard says. But choose what you focus on carefully, he adds. Remember to think about the job description for example, you dont want to say you find dealing with difficult customers frustrating if the role is customer-facing.

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.

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Can You Tell Me About A Difficult Work Situation And How You Overcame It

This question is often used to assess how well you perform under pressure as well as your problem-solving abilities. Keep in mind stories are more memorable than facts and figures, so strive to show instead of tell. This is also an excellent opportunity to show your human side and how when faced with adversity you are able to persevere.

For this question, consider sticking to the STAR method:

• Situation
• Action

• Result or learning

Example answer:It was the first day of my bosss two-week vacation and our agencys highest-paying client threatened to leave because he didnt feel he was getting the personalized service he was promised. I spent my lunch hour on the phone with him talking through his concerns. We even brainstormed ideas for his next campaign. He was so grateful for the personal attention that he signed another six-month contract before my boss even returned from her trip.

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A Snail Is At The Bottom Of A 30

Questions like these have become a lot more popular in recent years. The interviewer isn’t necessarily looking for the right answer but instead a little insight into your reasoning abilities.

All you can do is talk through your logic as you try to solve the problem. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself if you get it wrong — sometimes the interviewer is merely trying to assess how you deal with failure.

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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.

Do You Want To Tell Us Anything Else About You

As you reach the end of the job interview, the employer may ask, do you want to tell us anything else?

When you hear this, you have two choices.

First, if you feel the interview went well and you dont have anything else to add, its completely fine to say:

No, I think we covered the important topics here. Im satisfied if you are. Im looking forward to hearing your feedback, though, and the role sounds exciting to me.

This is normal/acceptable and you shouldnt feel pressure to say more if youre satisfied that the interview went well. This is not a trick interview question.

However, if there is a topic you wish they had asked about but didnt, or something unique that sets you apart from other candidates that you didnt explain yet, then feel free to share it. Theyre giving you the opportunity because they genuinely want to know.

You can also give yourself the opportunity to share a final point even if they dont ask.

Just say, Is it alright if I share one more detail? Something came to mind and I think its relevant.

99% of interviewers will say, Yes, sure!

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What Do You Expect Me To Accomplish In The First 90 Days

If you weren’t asked this question, ask it yourself. Why? Great candidates want to hit the ground running. They don’t want to spend weeks or months “getting to know the organization.” They don’t want to spend huge chunks of time in orientation, in training, or in the futile pursuit of getting their feet wet.

They want to make a difference — and they want to make that difference right now.