25 Common Interview Questions Companies Ask You
And tips on how to answer them. Boy, how I wished this guide was available when I was applying.
So why do employers and recruiters love to see you sweat while struggling for an answer?
Trust me they don’t.
(PS. Bonus interview questions at the end)
5 Reasons why companies conduct thorough interviews:
- To evaluate your vocabulary and English speaking skills
- To see if your values and goals align with that of the company
- To measure your level of commitment and interest in the job position and company
- To see how you express yourself
- To gauge if your skills are fit for the job and if your personality is compatible with the company culture
1 . Why Should We Hire You?
This might be the most intimidating question for most applicants. Consider yourself lucky to be able to sell yourself to the hiring officer.
Create your answer in a way that demonstrates these important points:
- How will you be able to bring great results for the job and company?
- Why you are the best candidate to be hired among all the applicants?
- How or why you will fit with the company culture?
2. Tell Me About Yourself
Answer in a concise yet persuasive manner. Give a quick run down of your present, past and future. Here’s how:
- Entice the interviewer about one big win you have in your current role. Or Tell a short story how you landed your current role
- Follow up with a previous job experience that is relevant to what you are applying for now.
- End your with how you will be perfect for the role
3) Why Did You Apply For This Job?
Show the company that you are passionate for the job by:
- Telling them a few reasons why you are a great fit
- Tell them why you love the company
4) How Did you Hear About The Position
This is a great opportunity to name — drop the person from whom you hear the job opening and why you got excited to apply. If you found the job from a random event, post or job board, inform the recruiter and why it caught your eye.
5) Why Do You Want To Work For The Company?
Use either one ore all of these 4 strategies:
- Research about the company and tell the interviewer a unique quality that you really like about the company
- Tell them how you watched the company grow and change since the 1st time you heard of it.
- Talk about the company’s growth opportunities and what you can contribute
- Tell them what interested you from your interactions with company staff
6) What Can You Contribute To The Company?
Read the job description and research the company, to understand their issues and what they need. Answer y connecting your skills and experiences to that and share an example how you have done similar past work.
7) What are your strengths?
Pick one to three of your best qualities, relevant to the specific question and job position. Tell them in story form so it paints a picture on your interviewer’s mind.
8) What are your weaknesses?
The purpose of this question is to know how self aware and self conscious you are. Answer with a trait that you are struggling BUT trying to improve. Tell how it is a problem for you and how you are fixing it.
9) What is your greatest achievement?
This is not a time to be shy! Answer this question in a STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Results). Give a background and a brief description of the situation. Then describe the action you did and the result or achievements.
Example: In my last job as a copywriter, it was my role to write promotional and marketing materials for the coaches. From website copies, landing pages, sales copies, blogs, emails, news letters and social media content (situation and task process). I streamlined the process and I worked overtime even on weekends (action taken). In just 3 months, I was able to finish and clear all their backlogs from last year and all the current tasks to date (result and achievement).
10) Tell me about a challenge or conflict you faced and how you managed it.
Be honest and don’t pretend you never had one. This question does not mean that the interviewer wants to embarrass you or make you feel stupid.
People who ask this questions just want to know if you are willing to face mistakes and conflicts, and how you come up with a resolution.
Stay calm and be professional while retelling the story. Focus on telling the resolution you tried, if it was successful or not, And what you learned and what you would do differently.
11) Tell me a time you acted as a leader
People can act as a leader even if they are not in a leadership position. The recruiter just wants to know if when the time comes, you are willing to step up and take responsibility.
You can tell them one of these scenarios:
- A time when you headed a project
- A time when you initiated a proposal of an alternative option or process
- The time you helped motivating your co-workers (or boss) to get a project done.
Tell the story in a STAR method (Situation, Task, Action and Result). Focus on the result and how it has affected the company or project’s success.
12) What is a time that you disagreed with a decision or with your boss?
Start your story with a summary of how you handled the whole experience. Tell your story in 2–3 sentences. And close with with a 1 sentence summary of what you have learned from the experience.
13) Tell me about the time you failed. Or Tell me about the time you made a mistake
These 2 questions are similar because they have the same purpose in mind. And you can answer them in the same manner, by following these pointers:
- Never put the blame of the mistake of failure to another person. If it did involve another person being responsible, explain how you grew from the experience.
- Tell what actions you will take to ensure it will never happen again.
- Never make up stories to impress. Tell an actual mistake or failure that truly happened.
- Begin your answer by telling why you think that was a mistake or failure, before telling what happened. End the answer by saying what lessons you have learned.
14) Why are you leaving your current job? OR Why were you fired?
I understand that this could be a very uncomfortable question. But always keep things positive and follow these steps for a great answer:
- Never be negative towards your present or past employer. Or just do not bad mouth any employer for your sake.
- Shape your answer in a way that you are excited to be part of the new opportunities in the company you are applying at
- It is okay to admit that you were let go. And your best answer is to also accept and be honest of the real reason you were fired. Never lie, because companies and recruiters talk to each other.
- Tell it in a way that you have grown from that experience and say what you have learned in the process.
15) Why was there a gap in your employment
Be prepared to tell the truth about the years you were unemployed. Maybe you tried starting a business or travelling the world. Maybe you needed to take care of your parents, a sick relative or had kids. It is ok, that is a normal part of life.
- Only share the parts of your life you are comfortable to be honest with`
- Share the lessons and skills that you gained and made you better during the time you were not working.
- Talk about how you rose above the challenges during that period
16) Why did you change career paths?
- Answer by telling the recruitment officer what areas of your previous career experience is helpful to your current role
- Show how you will use your past skills, knowledge and experience to improve the current team, company and job process.
17) What is your current salary?
This is one of the most stressful questions out there. Don’t fret. Pause, breathe and think which of the following tips you can best use to answer this:
- Deflect the question politely. Example: “Before talking about the salary, I would like to know more about the responsibilities and expectations of this job position. That way, we can both ensure that I will be a great fit to your company”.
- Leave it open ended. Example: I have researched a lot about this company and job, I am confident if we are the right fit, we both will be able to agree on a compensation that is fair and competitive to both of us.
- Say a salary number that you think will be favorable to you. Beware that if it will be too far high than their budget, and if they are not yet fully impressed that you will be an asset to their team, they might not hire you.
- You can base your salary expectations around your previous work or based on other job salary offers that you think is a fair compensation.
18) What do you like least about your job?
This can be a trick question that may quickly bring your screening score to zero, if your are not careful. Never rant about your current or previous work — that is poor taste.
Instead, tell them about the growth, gains and opportunity you can get from the company interviewing you — that is not in your current job.
19) What are you looking for in a new job?
Start answering with your skills and how you can use them. Share what motivates and excites you about the new job position (other than the salary), and how it helps with your long term goals. End your answer about why you are excited to work for the company
20) What type of boss do you prefer? OR What type of company do you prefer? OR what type of workplace do you prefer?
To answer this, you must be clear about the following:
- Ask yourself and be honest, what makes you do your best work? Can you focus more when you are alone or do you need lots of discussions and brainstorming with others? Recall what drains you and what energizes you at your past jobs?
- Prioritize the things you like and think about your deal breakers or what I like to call “non-negotiables”. Example as much as you like a ‘bring your kids to work day’, it is acceptable for you if you don’t. Rather than trade your weekend day-off to a weekday day-off, because weekends is your day of worship.
- Know the job description thoroughly. Mentions of dynamic, high work load and multi skilled, signals that the environment is fast-paced and a lot of things need to be done in a regular work day a.k.a. OVERTIME. Or if the job says flexible / changing schedules — expect changes in your rest days and work time every now and then.
- Answer by saying how your work priorities align with the job role or company culture. You can detail 2–3 qualities you sincerely like.
21) What is your work style?
This is a change of letting the interviewer know what it will be like working with you, how you will fit the company culture and how you do your work.
Share about the values important to your that aligns with that of the company and team culture. Or how you can exercise that value in the job role.
Share how you work with others in the past and how it has made your projects successful. Tell a story on how you contributed in the productivity of the team
22) What is you management style?
Show that you are a fast learner, adaptable person, with strong convictions. Example: “since every employee and situation is different, it is best to customize your strategy to the circumstance, but still be the rock and leader of the team...”
Share some of your best leadership moments. Example how you grew your team from three to 10. How you motivated and coached an underperforming co-worker to become the top salesperson.
23) How does you co-workers and boss describe you?
Be honest about this since companies call your references. Try to mention here your good points that was not talked in the previous interview questions.
24) How do you deal with stress and pressure?
Never say I don’t get stressed out — because every human being does. It only differs on how you manage and handle it.
Talk about the ways you handle stress. Example how you treat yourself to a good meal after a heavy day. Or how you like to hang out and play bowling with friends. Maybe your take 5 minute meditations and breathing techniques during work breaks.
If you can share a story of a really stressful example in your previous work and how you dealt with it, much better.
25) What motivates you? Or How do you prioritize work?
Keep in mind that when the hiring officer asks what motivates you, they mean what keeps you excited to work.
Start by saying what made you excited in your previous work and how that relates to the job role and company you are applying for.
Talk about a system you do that makes you more productive, and how that contributed in making your previous work your first priority.
Bonus: Common interview questions you need to look out for
- What is your understanding of this role?
- Describe in detail your definition of outstanding customer service
- With every new role comes challenges. If hired, what are the challenges you anticipate? How do you plan to overcome them?
- What excites you about this job opportunity?
- Describe your relationships with previous colleagues and immediate supervisors from past jobs.
- What do you consider most important when looking for jobs?
- Describe your ideal boss
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