When you receive your job interview invitation, along with rejoicing you receive a new mission: you must prepare to answer all of the interviewer’s questions as effectively as possible. An interview itself with all the tricky questions can become a minefield for any candidate who is nervous, and basically, it is almost always true for any applicant. The only thing you can do to boost your confidence and get the job is to prepare for any trap questions that may arise. For the greatest outcome, you can try professional career coaching so the expert could assist you in preparing for the specific interview you will be attending.
How to Answer Job Interview Questions
We provide a list of the most common interview questions and answers so you can see the big picture and prepare for the test.
Tell me about yourself
Most candidates consider this question to be simple and skip the preparation to answer it, which is a significant mistake. It may appear that telling about yourself is a simple task, but it is necessary to keep in mind who is asking and why. Recruiters always want to know if you are a great match for the current opening when they ask job interview questions. Therefore your answer should rather be a pitch, than a casual story about your life.
So, let’s get right to the point:
- Be concise, your pitch must be somewhere in the middle between your persona and you as an expert.
- Describe your past, present, and future career life.
- Tell different info than you have on your resume.
- You may start with some broad information about your life, hobbies, and likes, but never forget about the aim: demonstrate that you are the best candidate for this position.
- Mention your recent job position, relevant background, and future career goals in the enterprise to which you are applying.
Why do you believe you are the best candidate for this position?
This question may appear intimidating, especially if you are a shy person who dislikes bragging. Nevertheless, this is your best opportunity to sell yourself. This might be the most significant one among interview prep questions. That is why you should be ready with the answer before speaking with a recruiter. Here are some suggestions for what to concentrate on:
- The main goal here is to persuade an interviewer that you, and no one else, are the right person for the job.
- Match your skills, desires, and abilities to the position requirements and responsibilities before crafting your answer. You need to explain how good you are at those things they need you to perform at the job. You should also intensify your points with accomplishments from your previous workplace.
- Concentrate on the outcomes you can provide to the company to which you are applying.
- Mention how the company’s objectives and aims correspond to your personal lifestyle and views.
- Depict how well you’ll fit into the team and the culture of the enterprise.
Why are you looking for a job?
Good answers to interview questions suppose that you analyze what is the purpose of the exact question. A hiring manager may use this question to learn about troubles you had at your prior job to evaluate if they are likely to occur again. When asked why you are looking for a job, your duty is to be honest while also being professional. Here are some tips to consider while preparing to respond to this question:
- Don’t be emotional about management or your ex-boss.
- Don’t complain about your life difficulties, as in most cases it would sound unprofessional.
- Concentrate on your personal and professional development.
- Emphasize the advantages of the organization you are applying to, to express your attitude and craving to work there.
- Instead of dwelling on the past, concentrate on the future.
- Stick to the facts, and remain optimistic.
Why do you want to work in this company?
You should have an equally particular response prepared for such a specific query. Be wary of saying something you could state about all the other alike corporations. So that you may stand out from the crowd of other hopefuls, the HR manager must realize that you are interested in this specific organization. Basically, you should have done some investigation about the company before applying, but if you haven’t, you should do so now if you want to make a nice impression in the interview. After the analysis, you can use a lot of facts to prove how interested you are. Use the tips below to answer this question:
- While doing your research find something special about the organization that appeals to you.
- Mention how you’ve been following the company’s development over the years.
- Concentrate on the organization’s potential for future growth and how you can contribute to it.
What are you looking for in a new position?
This is a specific inquiry about the exact position you choose. Pay attention to such details:
- The responsibilities that you are going to hold should correspond to your skills and passions in life. Demonstrate that you’ll like doing the work required in this role.
- Talk about your craving to develop as a professional.
- Don’t forget to mention the working atmosphere and portray yourself as a team player if it appeals to the job.
- Highlight your craving to be useful and to bring benefits to your future employer company.
What are your strengths?
This interview question is another excellent opportunity to demonstrate that you are the best candidate for the job. Keep in mind the advice below to successfully describe your strengths:
- Don’t try to come up with a large number of adjectives to describe yourself. You’d rather choose a few, but the ones that are the most relevant to the job.
- Support your strength with illustrative stories that prove your skills. A story about your accomplishment is much easier to recall than a list of unverified abilities.
What are your weaknesses?
Another question from the list of typical interview questions is intended to assess your honesty as well as your ability to fix your flaws in addition to hearing the direct response. You must strike a balance between proclaiming that you are perfect and naming all of your imperfections.
- Mention some imperfections you’re working to overcome. Tell a hiring manager about your success in becoming stronger with some skill you couldn’t manage to develop before.
- Name the steps you implement to become better at something that you’ve always failed.
What experience did you have that prepared you for this role?
The hiring manager will ask this question to assess if your experience is relevant to the present opening.
- Demonstrate how your previous achievements are relevant to the new position.
- You may provide information about your education and skills that will assist the organization to which you are applying.
What is your best career achievement?
What tells you more about the expert than the accomplishments he or she managed to achieve? We believe that nothing. Let’s work out how to best present your accomplishments to the hiring manager. Professional career coaches recommend using the STAR method, which includes speaking about the situation, task, action, and result.
- Choose your biggest career achievement. It would be best if this accomplishment describes not your personal benefits, but the results that it brought to the company.
- Using the STAR approach, tell a manager about this accomplishment. Provide your interlocutor with the context, and define the condition and the task you’ve confronted. Describe how you solved the problem, what activities you took, and the outcome you achieved.
How do you cope with stress and pressure?
Remember that the best way to answer interview questions is to stay wise and honest. A question regarding how you become overwhelmed at work is another one that makes you want to hide the truth. However, it would be dishonest to claim that you don’t encounter any stress or pressure at work. Here is some advice on how to answer this question:
- Discuss your go-to stress-management techniques. It could be yoga, meditation, or else.
- Tell about your ways to behave under pressure and mitigate stress.
- It’s better if you relate a tale that demonstrates your capability to deal with stress or even use it to your benefit.
Tell about a conflict you faced at work and how you handled it.
Nobody likes talking about such things as conflict. But bear in mind that this question isn’t meant to evaluate you; rather, it’s meant to examine how you handle workplace conflicts.
- To tell the story, use the STAR approach.
- Spend less time detailing the dispute and more time focusing on the resolution.
- Be professional and don’t show your emotions regarding the topic.
What else would you like us to know about you that isn’t on your resume?
A resume is a document that presents you as a specialist. Whether you’ve made it yourself or with the help of a resume writing service, when a hiring manager asks you to tell more it is a promising signal. It mostly means that they’ve already checked out your resume, consider you a suitable candidate, and want you to tell more.
- Make sure your response is relevant to the job and accurately describes you as a good fit for the role.
- Tell a narrative about an experience you’ve had, or talk about your future intentions and aspirations.
How do you set up your working process?
Your interviewers want to know that you can efficiently manage your time, make decisions, and communicate. Nobody likes working with a mess. Disorganized employee not only stumbles in their own role, but they can also cause chaos for their coworkers and clients. Hiring managers want to know if you’d be able to bear the workload and if you’d be pleasant to work with. Your objective is to assure them that you can effectively handle your working process.
- Describe the system you use to keep track of your tasks and time.
- It would be preferable if you could demonstrate your self-management abilities with a real-life example from your past.
Tell about a time when you messed up.
One more question that can make you blush if you weren’t ready for it. Though it is not the nicest topic to discuss when you are trying to impress the interviewer, it can play into your hands.
- We all make mistakes, so don’t be shy, just be honest.
- When discussing your failure, never point the finger at others.
- Tell what you gained from that experience.
- Describe what you do to avoid making the same mistake again.
What aspects of your profession do you enjoy and dislike?
It’s always simple to focus on the positive aspects of your employment. When you’re applying for a specific job, the trick is to talk about your dislikes. Follow these guidelines when preparing for this question:
- Make a list of benefits. If you want this job, it shouldn’t be difficult.
- While speaking about what you despise about your job name the most obvious disadvantage, or two. Don’t make a lengthy list of your dislikes.
- Try to show your attitude of acceptance of these disadvantages, and find something useful about it if possible.
What motivates you?
Don’t be alarmed by this question; it isn’t as existential as it may appear. Remember that the interviewer is only checking to see if you are enthusiastic about the position you have applied for.
- Consider why you wanted to work in this sector in the first place.
- Pick one aspect of the job description’s requirements that makes you excited.
- Choose anything that inspired you during your prior job.
- Try to back up your claim with an example from your professional life.
What are your interests and passions?
When asked about your passions, you don’t have to limit yourself to talking about work. This is a personal question that allows the recruiting manager to learn more about you. Nonetheless, it would be ideal if you could link your response to the notion that you are the greatest candidate for the job. You must be truthful and plan ahead of time.
- If you’re genuinely enthusiastic about your job, let the interviewer know.
- You can also talk about your passion and a skill that is related to your hobby and helps you enhance your career. If you’re an engineer who enjoys drawing, for example, you may talk about how creativity aids your job process.
What are your professional objectives, and how do you intend to attain them?
Among interview questions and answers this one is aimed to see if the applicant is ambitious, cares about their career, and thinks ahead. Having a plan in place to achieve your objectives exhibits your motivation as well as your corporate and time management skills. Subsequently, the fact that you’ve achieved previous goals demonstrates your skill to prosecute and finish what you started.
- Choose one or two major objectives for the future.
- Explain why your intentions are important and what steps you plan to take to attain them in detail.
- Accentuate your past successfully accomplished goals on your professional path.
What are your salary expectations?
The best way to answer interview questions about wages and finances is not to be too precise. It could be complicated to name the exact sum of money because nobody wants to sell themselves too cheap, or price themselves out of a job offer.
- First and foremost, you must conduct research into the pay scales for related positions. You can also use an online payment calculator that takes your degree, experience, and other factors into account.
- Don’t specify how much money you wish to make. It would be preferable if you could include a salary range. Keep your declared range’s bottom end closer to the mid-to-high end of what you’re truly looking for.
Have you got any questions for us?
Finally, it is your time to ask questions. This is your opportunity to learn everything you wanted to know about the firm, team, position, and working circumstances that weren’t covered in the interview.
- Consider all the details you’ll need to determine whether this position suits you.
- During the interview, try to keep track of which points from your list are being discussed so that you don’t get confused when it’s your turn to ask questions.
- To get a better understanding of the job, you could wish to ask the interviewer personal questions about it. You may, for example, inquire about their favorite and least favorite aspects of working at the company.
Conclusion
When job seekers ask our career coaches “how to answer interview questions?” we always say “think ahead”. To ace the interview and land your dream job, do your homework and prepare as thoroughly as possible. Not to miss something out you can always seek assistance from career experts who will help you to answer all the questions and feel confident.
