What Not To Say
This is not the time to be humble. While you don’t want to exaggerate your strengths, you should be comfortable articulating what makes you an ideal candidate. On the other hand, you do not want to answer this question with a laundry list of vague strengths. And neither do you want to seem boastful or arrogant.
As with any interview answer, it’s best not to ramble or speak for an eternity. Here are examples of answers that you shouldn’t give:
- I am probably the most gifted applicant you will ever meet. Everyone says that I am extremely intelligent, hard-working, and a fabulous communicator.
- My greatest strengths are writing, project management, quantitative research, event planning, budget development, and social media.
- I’m a talented musician, the life of the party, and a great joke teller. I roll with the punches and don’t take defeats too seriously.
- I should tell you about the time when our fraternity was under pressure. The president had mismanaged some money, and a lot of the brothers had gotten into trouble for hazing and partying too much. The dean called all the officers into her office, and they had a hearing about all our transgressions. I took over the leadership and turned things around, and we are now a well-respected fraternity with no problems.
Determine Your Soft Skills
As we mentioned above, soft skills are your personal attributes that enable you to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.
In short, these are the skills you possess, that you can’t necessarily quantify. This is your EQ , not your IQ. Here are some examples of soft skills:
- Having a strong sense of self-awareness
- Being optimistic
- Having patience
- Being a good listener
When I started my first business, I pretty much only possessed soft skills. I had to teach myself how to create a product with absolutely no past experience. What I lacked in hard skills like coding talent, marketing chops, and writing abilities at the time, I significantly made up for in determination, optimism, and people skills that would help me build the meaningful connections I’d need, to get my business off the ground without doing everything myself. Later on, I trained myself to become proficient with the hard skills my business would need, and I painstakingly learned how to use all the best tools to start an online business.
In our comparison between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs from above, Jobs clearly possessed and leaned on his strongest soft skills, in order to champion Apple through to success. Gates, in the beginning, took the opposite approach and utilized his hard skills within Microsoft.
How Can You Improve A Dissatisfied Customer’s Experience
One of the many responsibilities of a customer service representative is handling complaints from unhappy customers. The hiring manager will want to ensure that you have the necessary skills and tact to manage these situations successfully. If you have experience solving a problem like this from a past position, you can reference it in your answer.
Example:”I’ve found the most successful strategy for turning an unhappy customer into a happy customer is by actively listening to what they’re saying. Sometimes, customers just want you to hear them, and they want to feel like the company cares about them and their opinions. For example, I once had a customer who got home to find there was only one shoe in her shoebox. She was very upset, so I let her tell me why she was upset, validated her feelings and provided her with a discount on her purchase along with the missing shoe. She left in a much better mood.”
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Why Is Anticipating Interview Questions Important
The goal of anticipating interview questions isnt to memorize responses, but rather to get comfortable talking about these topics. This advance preparation will help you feel more confident and less on the spot during the interview.
As you develop your answers, select anecdotes and specific examples from your previous work experiences to share with your interviewers.
Find A Personal Connection
It’s also important to be genuine and personal in your response to show how much time and effort you put into preparing for the interview, which will set you apart from the competition.
“One of the most empowering actions you can take as a candidate is sharing what specifically drew you to an organization,” Liou says. “You can say, ‘I love the reputation your company has built around having excellent-work-life balance or how you give back to the community through X, Y and Z, those are important values to me as well.”
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What Is Your Experience With Customer Service
This is a general interview question that you should be prepared for. Please talk about your experience with customer service and how effective it was in helping the company reach its goals.
Example Answer
I have had experience working as a help desk at my current job, where I am in charge of resolving issues for clients. I also volunteer with the local librarys help desk and enjoy helping patrons look up information on our database system.
My favorite part about this job is that we can offer self-help resources to our patrons, which saves us a lot of time and money.
How You Would Handle A Customer Who Was Upset About A Known Problem With Your Product Or Service
The hiring manager wants to know if you’re able to handle difficult issues, like a defective product. This is another great opportunity to share an anecdote from a past position if you have one. If you don’t, consider providing an example using one of the company’s own services or products.
Example:”If a customer came to me stating that the zipper on their bag broke after a week, and the company was aware of the zipper issue, I would start by apologizing profusely. Next, I would offer either a full refund or a trade-in for a different product. If the company issued specific guidelines to mitigate the problem, I would adhere to those.”
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What Are Common Job Interview Mistakes
1. Making it all about you. Remember, the company or organization is trying to fill a need. You need to show that you fill that need. Its not about you, its about them.2. Not bringing a resume.3. Not asking any questions. It will come across as lack of interest.4. Not doing any company research.5. Not going over the job description in detail. Its a gold mine that will show exactly what they are looking for in a candidate. You can use that information to craft your interview answers.6. Not preparing success stories in order to answer behavioral questions.
Check out some of our other interview questions articles:
What Do You Like Least About Your Job
Tread carefully here! The last thing you want to do is let your answer devolve into a rant about how terrible your current company is or how much you hate your boss or that one coworker. The easiest way to handle this question with poise is to focus on an opportunity the role youre interviewing for offers that your current job doesnt. You can keep the conversation positive and emphasize why youre so excited about the job.
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Where Did You Hear About This Job
Its one of the most common job interview questions. The interviewer may ask you this question to test how well youve researched the company or job, or they may simply want to know more about your background and how youve come to be interested in their company. If youre applying for a job at a company where you know someone, be sure to mention them. Shows someone in the company thinks youd be a good fit for the position and that you have credibility with someone already working for them
If You Had $40000 To Build Your Own Business What Would You Do
This question is a favorite of HubSpot Marketing Team Development Manager Emily MacIntyre. First, the type of business they choose to talk about can reveal a lot about their interests, values, and how creative they are. Second, it’ll give you insight into how business-savvy they are. By giving them a specific amount to work with , they have the opportunity to parse out how they’d spend that money.
A good answer to this question:
The best answers to this question will get specific: They’ll offer an overview of the business and get into the logistics of where that money would go, whom they’d hire first, and so on.
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Show Your Extreme Desire To Provide Value
Now this isnt the Ive got to have a job to pay the bills, please oh please give it to me. This is the I have an awesome work ethic. When there is down time I am really kind of bothered because I really need to be doing things that add value to the company, otherwise I dont feel like I am doing my part.
This is actively looking for things to do when things slow down. And not just busy work, but things that actually add permanent value to the company. I mean youre looking to add assets, not just shuffling paper around.
Youre looking for ways to change things for the better, forever. Proving your worth and showing that yeah, you really want to do more than just earn your paycheck.
What Are Some Ways That It Departments Work With Developers
The interviewer will be looking for candidates who have experience working closely within an organization where both technology teams need to collaborate on projects. This question is more geared towards technical positions but can also be asked in help desk interviews.
Example Answer
There are many ways that IT departments and developers can work together. One way is to have the developers create applications or software compatible with the companys existing systems.
Another common approach is to have a dedicated team of developers who work exclusively on developing internal software for the company.
When working with developers, IT staff should understand how applications and program code can affect running systems this helps minimize problems that arise when new programs are implemented on existing setups.
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What Is The Reason For Looking For A New Job
There can be a lot causes why you might have left your previous job. So be prepared with these kinds of most common job interview questions with answers maybe you lay off, perhaps you couldnt agree on your salary, or maybe there was some other issue with the job that made it no longer possible for you to stay there.
Whatever the reason that you left your last job, though, its crucial that you be able to explain why you ended up going during a job interview in a way that makes the best possible impression on the hiring manager interviewing you.
What To Say When You Don’t Know How To Answer A Job Interview Question
You can prepare all you want for a job interview, but still be asked a curveball question that leaves you stumped for how to answer.
Should you say I dont know when you actually dont know?
The stakes are high. How you decide to respond when a hiring manager is watching can say a lot about your ability to handle questions under pressure.
Experts say transparency will go a long way. Heres how to score points with an interviewer when you are uncertain about how to answer a question plus the missteps that may make them remember you in a negative light.
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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 Do You Prioritize Your Work
Your interviewers want to know that you can manage your time, exercise judgement, communicate, and shift gears when needed. Start by talking about whatever system youve found works for you to plan your day or week, whether its a to-do list app you swear by or a color-coded spreadsheet. This is one where youll definitely want to lean on a real-life example. So go on to describe how youve reacted to a last-minute request or another unexpected shift in priorities in the past, incorporating how you evaluated and decided what to do and how you communicated with your manager and/or teammates about it.
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What Are Your Weaknesses
When answering the classic weakness question, you always want to give an answer that isnt really a weakness. You may say, I dont speak a second language, or when I start a project, I cant focus on anything else until I get it done. This shows that you are dedicated and hard working. You never want to truly bash yourself when answering this question. That isnt the point. The following examples here are easy to discuss and can lead to talking about future growth and learning.
What Single Project Or Task Would You Consider Your Most Significant Career Accomplishment To Date
Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired and Hire With Your Head, spent 10 years searching for the single best interview question that will reveal whether to hire or not hire a candidate — and this was the one.
A good answer to this question:
Candidates’ answers will tell you about their prior success and sense of ownership. A great answer will show they are confident in their work and professional choices while being humble enough to show they care about the company’s success. For example, if a candidate built a sales or marketing campaign they’re particularly proud of, listen for them to explain how the business benefited from it. Did it help the company sign a major client?
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Tell Me How You Think Other People Would Describe You
I hate this question. It’s a total throwaway. But I did ask it once, and got an answer I really liked.
“I think people would say that what you see is what you get,” the candidate said. “If I say I will do something, I do it. If I say I will help, I help. I’m not sure that everyone likes me, but they all know they can count on what I say and how hard I work.”
Can’t beat that.
Show You Rock At Teamwork
You may be an individual contributor and do a great job all by yourself, but every company is built on team work and working together. Whether its super large matrix organizations or relatively flat, small businesses. You have to work with somebody along the lines. Whether thats co-workers, vendors, people that are in outsourced logistics.
It doesnt matter. You always have to work with somebody unless youre an entrepreneur all on your lonesome. And if thats the case, great. However, if youre going for an interview for a job at a corporation or a local business, tout your teamwork. And give specific examples on how it is an important part of your life.
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Is There Anything Else Youd Like Us To Know
Just when you thought you were done, your interviewer asks you this open-ended doozy. Dont panicits not a trick question! You can use this as an opportunity to close out the meeting on a high note in one of two ways, Zhang says. First, if there really is something relevant that you havent had a chance to mention, do it now. Otherwise, you can briefly summarize your qualifications. For example, Zhang says, you could say: I think weve covered most of it, but just to summarize, it sounds like youre looking for someone who can really hit the ground running. And with my previous experience , I think Id be a great fit.
Crafting The Perfect Why Should We Hire You Answer
top three best reasons to hire you.
Our full video curriculum inside Big Interview has full lessons on answering why should we hire you? and many other questions!
TIP: If this is your first job, you might find this question difficult to answer, especially since you are expected to build your case on previous work experience. Check out this article that we wrote just for you.
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Give An Example Of A Challenge You Had To Overcome
This interview question is a tough one and also a disliked one amongst those who find it difficult to think of the different challenges and professional hiccups they have had. Dont forget that this doesnt have to be a solitary challenge, as you might have completed it in a group or achieved the goal as a team. When you give your example, include the skills and necessary measures you took to ensure that the goal was reached and the challenge was overcome. Ideally, pick a challenge that would be relevant to the job youre interviewing for and make sure you follow the STAR format.
For more interview advice, read our blog for professional career advice such as how to calm nerves before a job interview or how to dress for a job interview. If you havent quite got to the interview stage of the job application process and youre still writing your resume, check out our resume builder and how easy it can really be to write a resume.
