Top 10 Interview Questions And Best Answers
Review these most frequently asked interview questions and sample answers, and then prepare your responses based on your experience, skills, and interests. Remember that its less about providing the right answers and more about demonstrating that youre the best candidate for the job.
1. Tell Me About Yourself – Best Answers
This is one of the first questions you are likely to be asked. Be prepared to talk about yourself, and why you’re an ideal candidate for the position. The interviewer wants to know why you’re an excellent fit for the job.
Try to answer questions about yourself without giving too much, or too little, personal information. You can start by sharing some of your personal interests and experiences that don’t relate directly to work, such as a favorite hobby or a brief account of where you grew up, your education, and what motivates you.
You can even and showcase your personality to make the interview a little more interesting.
2. Why Are You the Best Person for the Job? –Best Answers
Are you the best candidate for the job? The hiring manager wants to know whether you have all the required qualifications. Be prepared to explain why you’re the applicant who should be hired.
3. Why Do You Want This Job? – Best Answers
Be specific about what makes you a good fit for this role, and mention aspects of the company and position that appeal to you most.
4. How Has Your Experience Prepared You for This Role? – Best Answers
Who Would I Be Working With The Most
While job descriptions tend to include what department you’ll be working in or who you’ll be reporting to, sometimes employers leave out this information. Asking this question can help you figure out who your potential team members and manager will be. With this information, you can even look them up on the company’s team page.
What Do You Find Most Challenging About Your Job
Ask this question to learn more about potential challenges in the workplace. This may be especially important if one of your interviewers is someone who will manage you directly if you receive this job. Use their response to evaluate potential organizational challenges, and discuss relevant experiences you have that may help resolve these issues.
Recommended Reading: Interview Attire Womens
Questions To Ask A Sales Interviewer
What Do You Like To Do Outside Of Work
Many companies feel cultural fit is extremely important, and they use outside interests as a way to determine how you will fit into a team.
Even so, don’t be tempted to fib and claim to enjoy hobbies you don’t. Focus on activities that indicate some sort of growth: skills you’re trying to learn, goals you’re trying to accomplish. Weave those in with personal details. For example, “I’m raising a family, so a lot of my time is focused on that, but I’m using my commute time to learn Spanish.”
Also Check: Questions To Ask A Cfo
What Are Your Career Goals
Career Goals refer to the profession that individual plans to pursue throughout their career. These goals help you in getting closer and achieving your targets be it short-term, or long-term. You can prepare your answer for this question by keeping some specific goals in mind and can also include how the company will help in achieving them.
Questions About The Role
- How has the position become available?
- How is performance measured and how often is it reviewed?
- What long-term career opportunities are available and how do you support the professional development of staff?
- What are the key challenges of the role, particularly in the first six months?
- How would you describe a typical day in this position?
Recommended Reading: What To Wear For An Interview Women
Work Experience Questions To Ask Job Candidates:
- What types of jobs have you held in the past?
- What was your title at your current/previous/last job?
- What were your duties in that position?
- What did you like most/least about the position?
- Why are you leaving your present employer?
- Whats the most important thing you learned in school and/or at your last job?
- Why did you choose your major?
- If selected for this position, can you describe your strategy for the first 90 days?
- What is your understanding of the skills necessary to perform this job?
- What special training have you completed that qualifies you for this job?
- What certifications do you hold?
- Can you describe how to _____________ ?
- This job requires the ability to _____________ . Can you give me an example of a time that you have had to _____________ ?
Where Do You See The Company In Five Years
This question serves two purposes. First, we all want stability, and the hiring manager’s answer will serve to tell you just how stable the company is. Who wants to work for an organization that will lay off team members in the near future? Asking this question also tells the interviewers you care about the company and want to build a lasting relationship. Hiring managers aim to hire long-term candidates who are willing to stick around for more than a couple of years.
Also Check: Interview With Cfo
How Would Someone In This Role Work Best With The Rest Of The Team
Are you big on collaboration? Do you thrive in a boisterous work environment? Youll want to know if this company seeks input and collaboration from all employees or if departments are siloed. A silo mentality has been shown to reduce an organizations efficiency, and has a significant effect on corporate culture.
Best Questions To Ask In An Interview
Come to your interview with your questions prepared. Give thought to who you’re interviewing with and what questions would be best suited for them. For example, recruiters will have the best knowledge of company culture, benefits and high-level responsibilities of the job while VPs or CEOs are best equipped for questions about strategy, vision and goals of the company. Beforehand, practice asking at least three questions that demonstrate youve thought seriously about what it would be like to do this job. Here are a few examples of questions you might ask:
You May Like: Best System Design Interview Prep
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.
What Motivates You To Work
It is a simple question but requires the interviewee to exhibit a great amount of thought and often unlocks valuable discussions from a candidate looking internally for what truly motivates them.
If they only answer at the surface level with something like I relish a challenge, this can convey that they are a less-than exceptional candidate.
You may need to probe further do extract a deeper understanding of their motivations.
Read Also: Best Interview Attire For A Woman
Questions To Ask The Employer During An Interview
An interview is a two-way street. Ask questions. The employer will typically, provide an opportunity for you to ask questions at or near the end of the interview, and they judge your questions as a reflection of your preparation and thought process.
Always prepare questions to ask.Having no questions prepared sends the message that you have no independent thought process, or are ill-prepared, or some combination.
Employers make judgments about you based on the questions you ask.
- Have you done your research on the organization?
- Are you asking rather dull questions that you could find in a web search, but about which you have no interest?
- Are you asking about salary?
- Are your questions intelligent and thoughtful and cordial?
How many questions to ask:
Show you’ve done your homework.Example: “I read on the company / organization / agency website that employees have recently done presentations at XX conference. Is that a typical opportunity in the job for which I am interviewing? Are there specific professional organizations employees have been encouraged to join?”
Know the nature of the organization and appropriate terminology.
Some of your questions may be answered during the course of the interview, before you are offered the opportunity to ask. If so, you can simply state something to the effect that you were interested in knowing about …, but that was addressed during the interview .You could ask for additional clarification if applicable.
Now Consider These Factors To Help You Evaluate Candidates:
Now that you have a complete overview of the best interview questions to ask, theres one last thing to do: be prepared to answer common questions from candidates. Theyre interviewing you too, after all. That way, candidates can also get useful insight on whether your company is a good fit for their skillset and motivations and hopefully, youll get to convince the best among them to join your team. Happy interviewing!
Read Also: Questions To Ask Cfo During Interview
‘who Would I Be Reporting To’
It’s important to ask about the pecking order of a company in case you have several bosses, Oliver wrote.
If you’re going to be working for several people, you need to know “the lay of the internal land,” she says, or if you’re going to be over several people, then you probably want to get to know them before accepting the position.
Learn About The Employer
Familiarize yourself with the employer before your interview by reading their Handshake page, company website, and searching for recent news online. Avoid asking questions about things that are readily available online, and show the interviewer that youve done your homework.
- What are the most important company values?
- What are the biggest goals for the company?
- How does this team/role contribute to the company goals?
- What excites you most about the companys future?
Also Check: Women’s Outfit For Job Interview
Good Questions To Ask At An Interview
To make sure the employer knows you’re prepared and interested in the role make sure you have some questions ready to ask at the end of the interview
Your interview is going well. You’ve answered all the recruiters questions confidently and the session is coming to a close. One of the final things you’ll be asked will be, ‘Do you have any questions for me?’ To have a chance of securing the job, always say yes.
Having a list of questions to ask an interviewer makes you look interested, enthusiastic and engaged – all qualities that the employer will be looking for. It also gives you one final chance to further highlight your relevant qualities and experience.
Try to come up with at least four or five questions to ask the interviewer. That way, if one or two of them are answered during the earlier discussion, you have backups in place.
Avoid asking questions that focus too much on what the organisation can do for you. Save questions about salary and holiday allowance for when you’ve got a job offer. Also, stay away from questions that require a yes or no answer, as you’re likely to find this information on the company’s website.
While it’s ok to ask your interviewer to clarify certain points, avoid asking about anything that has previously been covered. You don’t want them to think that you haven’t been paying attention. If you need some inspiration here are some good questions to ask at an interview
How Many Other People Are You Interviewing For This Position
Use this question to learn more about the organization’s hiring process. Their response may help you gauge your competition for the position and how long the process may last, which may be particularly important if you’re interviewing for multiple jobs and hoping to secure one soon. However, it’s important to be understanding when asking this question if the interviewer is unable to provide you with a clear answer.
You May Like: Interview Attire Women
Questions To Ask So You Know What Happens Next
Now, ask the 5 essential MUST-ASK next step in the interview process questions so that you will understand how their process works, when you can expect to hear from them, what happens next, and who will be your contact. If you dont ask these questions, you will have no idea when you will hear from them next or where they are in their process which will be very stressful for you.
If you dont ask those questions, you also risk being in contact with the wrong person at the wrong time, looking either desperate or annoying.
What Opportunities Will I Have To Learn And Grow
Does the company offer formal or informal mmentoring and coaching to boost your career potential? Does it invest in continued education or professional training to advance your career? Great companies want to hire people who are dedicated to personal and professional growth. Show your hiring manager that ccontinued development is essential in the job market and is important to you.
Don’t Miss: What Should Females Wear To A Job Interview
Great Example Questions To Ask At The End Of An Interview
Weve prepared 14 solid explanations below for you to help kick start your creative juices as well as included why theyre good questions to ask the interviewer.
Of course, as always, these are example questions meant to help you write your own.
What Does The Training Or Onboarding Process Include
Ask this question to learn more about what you might expect when you begin working for this company. This may help you find out if the company provides you with formal training or a mentor when you start your position or if they will expect you to begin working independently immediately. The answer may help you better prepare for your potential first day or allow you to share the relevant experience you have that makes you qualified for the position.
Read Also: Questions To Ask A Cfo In An Interview
Can You Share A Good Memory Of An Interaction With Your Manager
Ask this question to learn more about the leadership within the organization and how they treat employees. This may help you learn more about the company’s culture and values. For example, stories about feedback or opportunities for growth may support the company’s commitment to personal employee success, or stories about management getting to know each employee may demonstrate how the company values each employee.
Related:10 Common Leadership Styles
Questions You Should Not Ask In A Job Interview
Ok, now that you have some surefire questions you can ask that will impress hiring manager lets go over the types of questions you should avoid asking. As youll see, these questions reflect poorly on you and paint you as a less than ideal candidate
You May Like: Questions To Ask Cfo In Interview
