What Questions Will You Be Asked In An Interview

Why Do You Want To Work Here

Interviewers often ask this question to determine whether or not you took the time to research the company and think critically about whether youre a good fit. The best way to prepare for this question is to do your homework and learn about the products, services, mission, history and culture of this workplace. In your answer, mention the aspects of the company that appeals to you and aligns with your values and career goals.

Example answer:The companys mission to help college grads pay off their student loan debt resonates with me. Ive been in student loan debt myself and would love the opportunity to work with a company thats making a difference. Finding a company with a positive work environment and values that align with my own has remained a priority throughout my job search and this company ranks at the top of the list.

Read more: Interview Question: Why Do You Want to Work Here?

Why Should We Hire You

What They Want to Know: The best way to answer this question is to discuss what you can do for the company. What do you bring to the table? What skills and attributes do you have that will benefit the organization? What will you achieve if you were to be hired? This is an opportunity to sell yourself to the hiring manager.

I am a superb consultative salesperson, never failing to surpass my quotas and break prior personal sales records because I truly enjoy working with customers to match them with the brands I know theyll love as much as I do.

More Answers: Interview Question: Why Should We Hire You?

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.

You May Like: Questions To Ask Cfo In Interview

What Is Your Greatest Achievement

You shouldnt brag about yourself in every interview question and answer, but sometimes its called for. And this is one of those cases.

Dont be timid and dont hold back. This is your chance to share one accomplishment that youre most proud of and why. I recommend choosing a professional achievement, but if the biggest win that comes to mind is personal, thats fine too.

Ideally, share a story that illustrates how you overcome a challenge, went through a transformation, or overcame doubt or fear to accomplish something that youre proud of. If you can show determination and resiliency, thats going to impress most employers. However, there are plenty of scenarios where your biggest achievement might show other traits instead. Thats fine, too.

How To Respond To Do You Have Any Questions For Me

The Balance/Theresa Chiechi

As an interview draws to a close, it’s likely that the interviewer will ask, “Do you have any questions for me?”

When you hear this query, you may groan inside, since it can feel like you’ve covered absolutely everything during the course of the interview. It’s always better to respond with a question than to politely demur. Otherwise, you could leave interviewers with the impression that you’re not engaged with the conversation, or that you’re not interested enough in the position to jump at the opportunity to learn more.

Below are some suggestions for how to respond to this question strategically.

You May Like: Cfo Interview

Personality Questions To Ask Job Candidates:

• Tell me about yourself.
• What are three character traits that your friends would use to describe you?
• What are three positive character traits you dont have?
• What do you like to do?
• What are your lifelong dreams?
• What do you ultimately want to become?
• What is your personal mission statement?
• Tell me about your proudest achievement outside of work.
• Give me an example of a time you did something wrong. How did you handle it?
• What is your greatest achievement outside of work?
• If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
• What is the last book you read? What did you think of it?
• What magazines do you subscribe to?
• Whats the best movie youve seen in the last year?
• What would you do if you won the lottery?
• Who are your heroes?
• What do you like to do for fun?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• What is your favorite memory from childhood?
• What is one thing youd like to achieve in life?

Do You Prefer Hard Work Or Smart Work

Smart work on the other hand, means doing the work efficiently. If you manage to get the job done in 2 hours instead of 5, with the same end-result, youre doing smart work.

Keep in mind, though, that by asking this question, the interviewer is looking to understand what your work ethic is like. Meaning, theyre looking for a healthy combination of both, not just one.

That is, they want you to be the candidate who not only thinks smartly but works hard as well.

So, your answer here shouldnt be one-sided…

Oh, I looove smart work. Thats when you come up with what to do, and make other people do it, right?

Instead, explain how you excel at both:

Sample answer:

I dont particularly have a preference – I believe that both hard and smart work is important to get the best results.

Smart work, on one hand, lets you figure out the best and most efficient way to get things done.

Hard work, on the other hand, means that youll do the job right. Even if theres no way to do it smart or efficiently, youll be willing to put in long hours of work to get it done.

Im the type that does both.

For an example of smart for, during my time at , I was in charge of the sales department. As a process improvement initiative, I migrated from an outdated, in-house CRM, to Pipedrive. This improved the departments productivity by around 20%.

Read Also: What To Wear For An Interview Women

Why Do Employers Ask Tough Interview Questions

Employers ask tough interview questions for several different reasons. One reason employers ask difficult questions is to seek out important information about you. For example, employers might ask you to tell them about yourself. While it is difficult to provide a brief, eloquent summary of yourself, it is helpful context for employers to understand.

Another reason employers ask difficult interview questions is to learn about your thought processes. For example, they might ask you an unexpected and abstract question like, If you were a tree, what type of tree would you be? The employer is not looking for a specific answer here but rather asking to see if you can think quickly and support your answer with some logic or explanation.

Lastly, employers might ask tough interview questions to gauge your experience level and comfort with difficult tasks. This is more common in technical roles like computer programming or accounting. These questions should be answered to the best of your ability. Check with friends or colleagues in your industry for examples of test questions theyve received.

Related:

Are You A Team Player

Wherever youre applying, the answer to this question should be a Yes!

Even if youre applying for a completely solo role, chances are, youre still going to have to work in a team occasionally.

Wed recommend being very specific about your answer here – dont just say yes. Give the interviewer an exact example of when you excelled at working with a team.

Possible answers:

• Sample Answer 1:

Im much better at working in a team than alone, actually. Thats what I love about working in advertising – everyone has their own specific type of a creative spark, and when you combine it all, magic happens!

Im good at both leading and following in terms of creativity and brainstorming. Im also super receptive to others ideas, and do my best to help them execute it without nay-saying or criticism.

• Sample Answer 2:

Yep, definitely. I excel at team-work.

This one time while working at , I was assigned to an existing team working on a web application for a business process management company.

They were working on a tight deadline, and needed help on the API side.

I optimised their development cycles and oversaw a team of three developers while collaborating with the other two dev teams.

Everything went pretty well, and we managed to finish the project on time.

You May Like: Preparing For System Design Interview

Questions About Company Culture

The company culture can have an enormous impact on how enjoyable it is to go to work and perform your job duties. Ask these questions to learn about the culture of the company:

• How would you describe the company culture?

• Is the company collaborative or do most people work independently?

• Does the company ever hold out-of-the-office events?

• Do most people go out for lunch or eat lunch in the office?

• Are the departments pretty independent or do most people in the office know each other?

What Are The Three Traits Your Top Performers Have In Common

Great candidates also want to be great employees. They know every organization is different — and so are the key qualities of top performers in those organizations. Maybe your top performers work longer hours. Maybe creativity is more important than methodology. Maybe constantly landing new customers in new markets is more important than building long-term customer relationships. Maybe the key is a willingness to spend the same amount of time educating an entry-level customer as helping an enthusiast who wants high-end equipment.

Great candidates want to know, because 1) they want to know if they will fit in, and 2) if they do fit in, they want to know how they can be a top performer.

You May Like: Interview Questions For A Cfo

What Percentage Of Employees Was Brought In By Current Employees

Employees who love their jobs naturally recommend their company to their friends and peers. The same is true for people in leadership positions — people naturally try to bring on board talented people they previously worked with. They’ve built relationships, developed trust, and shown a level of competence that made someone go out of their way to follow them to a new organization.

And all of that speaks incredibly well to the quality of the workplace and the culture.

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?”

Recommended Reading: Women’s Outfit For Job Interview

Questions For The Interviewer

The interviewer has personal insight into what it’s like to work for the company. Ask these questions to see what it’s like from their perspective:

• How has your experience with the company been?

• Has the company culture changed since you started?

• What do you like best about the company?

• What’s your favorite thing about working for this company?

• What do you find most challenging about working for this company?

• Why did you choose to work here?

How Can A Person Be Successful In This Role

This will tell you exactly what theyre looking for, from job responsibilities to expectations. Which is important because the job description online might look a lot different from what the job morphed into under its last employee.

Hearing what it takes to successfully tackle this position from the mouth of the interviewer can also help you identify if you are qualified or confident enough to handle the current expectations of the position.

Read Also: Interview With Cfo

Smart Questions To Ask In An Interview

While an interview is an employer’s chance to get to know more about you, it’s also an opportunity for you to learn more about the company. Throughout your interview, you can ask thoughtful questions to gain more knowledge about the role you’re applying for. Along with helping you decide if this is the right job for you, asking insightful questions shows an employer that you are eager to learn more and make effective decisions. In this article, we discuss the importance of asking questions and share 25 smart questions to ask in an interview.

Related:

Whats The First Problem Or Challenge The Person You Hire Will Need To Tackle

This question shows that youre coming in focused and ready to contribute from day one. It also shows that youre making sure to look for a position that youre well-equipped to handle.

So youll build trust with the company, and show them that youre a motivated candidate. Thats a win-win.

Plus, youre going to discover the companys biggest pain point in the interview so you can speak more about that topic and further demonstrate that youre ready to solve their problem.

Or if you feel you already discussed the topic, you could say:

Thats great to hear, since Ive done similar work at my past company and helped them solve this exact type of problem. I know we touched on that past work in this interview already, but is there anything else I can provide in terms of information on the topic? Im happy to share more if so.

Also Check: System Design Interview Prep

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 .

What Type Of Work Environment Do You Prefer

Be sure to do your homework on the organization and its culture before the interview. Your research will save you here. Your preferred environment should closely align to the companys workplace culture . For example, you may find on the companys website that they have a flat organizational structure or that they prioritize collaboration and autonomy. Those are key words you can mention in your answer to this question.

If the interviewer tells you something about the company that you didnt uncover in your research, like, Our culture appears buttoned-up from the outside, but in reality, its a really laid-back community with little competition among employees, try to describe an experience youve had that dovetails with that. Your goal is to share how your work ethic matches that of the organizations.

Example: That sounds great to me. I like fast-paced work environments because they make me feel like Im always learning and growing, but I really thrive when Im collaborating with team members and helping people reach a collective goal as opposed to competing. My last internship was at an organization with a similar culture, and I really enjoyed that balance.

Also Check: Top 10 Behavioral Questions

Whats Your Work Style

When an interviewer asks you about your work style, theyre probably trying to imagine you in the role. How will you approach your work? What will it be like to work with you? Will you mesh well with the existing team? You can help them along by choosing to focus on something thats important to you and aligns with everything youve learned about the role, team, and company so far. The question is broad, which means you have a lot of flexibility in how you answer: You might talk about how you communicate and collaborate on cross-functional projects, what kind of remote work setup allows you to be most productive, or how you approach leading a team and managing direct reports. Just try to keep it positive. And remember, telling a story will almost always make your answer more memorable.

Ask These Questions To Learn About Co

If the person would be a co-worker, learn more about how things look from this persons level by asking questions like these:

• How often is this job filled?
• How long have you worked for this employer?
• How long have you been in this job?
• Are you glad you took this job? Are you happy to be working here? Why?
• What makes someone successful in this job?
• Have you received any training here or taken any classes this employer paid for?
• Have long do people typically stay in this job? How many coworkers have left? Where did they go?

Understanding more about the person will help you choose the next questions to ask, and also help you keep their responses in perspective.

Also Check: Questions To Ask A Cfo