On average six candidates are interviewed for every single job position; The good news is, the employer is interested in YOU! Whatever you recorded on your CV or Application Form has impressed your potential employer. Research is varied but two to three hundred applicants can apply for every advertised job position and guess what? They chose you! Well done.
Below are some of the most common asked questions in interview situations for your sector, along with a rough guideline to help you tackle them effectively.
Job Interview Guidelines
The guidelines below will explain the type of answer the interviewer is looking for. After you have read the question, start by reading the explanation and then think about the organsiation you are applying for a position with; what are the job criteria they deem important? Tweak your job interview answer using the guidelines to ensure that your answer will highlight your skills set during your forthcoming interview and set you apart from other unprepared candidates.
Job Interview Questions and Answers
Job Interview Question – Tell me about yourself
Ok, we are starting with the obvious one! The tell me about yourself job interview question, which is asked in a number of ways (tell me about your work experience, give me an overview of your career to date, what bought you here today, tell me your elevator pitch) is the most common asked interview question in the world!
Every employer from every business, from every sector, from every niche, will ask this question in some format or another – you think they’d change it up a bit but they don’t!!!
The good news is – we know you will be asked this question so you can prepare a killer response. Be cheeky – you can even deliver your job interview answer for this question like you didn’t expect to be asked it.
So I will stop waffling and get straight to the point – here is how you will answer the question to create a response from the interviewer that will make them want to employ you on the spot! well not on the spot but at least a few days later
This question gives you the opportunity to deliver a short statement about your experiences and skills relevant to the job position you are applying for.
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- Open strongly with a “selling” line that will highlight your unique selling point – if you don’t have a unique selling point get one!
- Talk about 3 different strengths and/or qualities – not the generic ” I’m a great team player” not only is this a little cringe, but every other interviewee will also be saying the same thing. You have to be unique, you have to be different, you have to stand out.
- Keep each point brief as you can explain each point again in more detail throughout the interview – remember this opening answer is a tease – get the interviewer to find you irresistible
- End this answer with a reason why you’re looking for a new job
As an example….
“I have over 8 years experience in X, specialising in A, B and C. As a qualified X, I am able to bring the methodology and the practical experience to gain favorable results for the organization. What makes me stand out from other applicants is my ability to (add unique selling point) which always results in (benefit for the organisation) The reason why I am applying for this position is because I am now ready for a new challenge and with your company having a great reputation, I believe that we will collaborate well together”
Job Interview Question – Why did you leave your last job?
Are you one of the many interviewees who fears this question? Don’t be this is a great question to be asked. And once you know how to structure your answer you will be able to turnaround this potentially negative interview question into a winning interview answer
Be positive with this answer and smile – employers like to hear that you left your last position for a good opportunity or reason, a chance to do something special or for a good career move.
Break your answer down using the following structure:
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- Start the answer with a look back at the old position (highlights)
- Explain what you enjoyed about your previous role (passion)
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- Give a positive reason for leaving (values)
An example could be:
“I enjoyed working at Company Name and really enjoyed the interaction of working with a wide range of individuals – I feel I gained a lot of transferable skills from this experience, which I can use in this role. One of the highlights was (add highlight) But now I feel I need to progress with my career. It was a hard choice to leave but I felt that this is a great opportunity and that a career move is the next obvious step for me”
Job Interview Question – What experience do you have in this field?
This is a silly question. Is the interviewer has done their job properly they know what experience you have from reading your application. But many employers like to ask it, which means you need to prepare for it.
For this question, you first need to read and understand the job specification, as this will tell you what experience the interviewer is looking for. Don’t fall into the trap of just telling the employer the things you find important (as they don’t care even if they find it interesting) The employer has a list of criteria they score you against if you don’t state that you have the required criteria you will not be offered the position.
Your answer should relate your experience and achievements to that of the job role.
You can use the following structure and edit it to match your skill set and the criteria the employer is looking for.
“I have over 6 years experience in (sector and niche) and I am qualified to (add highest industry qualification) My experience is key to my success, as someone who has spent the last (add duration in industry or specialism) as a (add specialist role) I am able to (add a unique selling point making reference to the specialist role) An example of this is (add a real-life example that will highlight the above)
Job Interview Question – How would your colleagues describe you?
Interviewers have many tricks up their sleeves. One technique many interviewers use is to ask a negatively framed question as a positive question.
The interview question – how would your colleagues describe you? Is an interview question designed to catch you out. The employer is really asking- would any of your colleagues say anything negative about you? The employer knows that asking the question the second way will pull up your defensives.
The trick here is preparation. Have a couple of positive quotes ready.“David always said I was….” or use statements like: “In my last job I was always known for…” Here you are giving a verbal reference from a college that makes you shown like the ideal employee.
An example would look like;
“In my last company, I was always known as the person who got things completed on time and to a high standard. I have always had this reputation in all my previous positions, probably because of my strong work ethic. I remember overhearing my manager last month saying ‘if you need a job doing quickly and efficiently to get (your name) to do it”
Job Interview Question – Are you applying for any other jobs?
This for me is a stupid question as it is rare for someone to only be applying for one position. What the employer is really asking is “why are you applying for this job?” They want to understand if you are applying for any job or if you are really interested in this position.
Why? Because people who apply for “any” job often job hop on a regular basis as they haven’t committed to the role or organization. From the employers perspective, this is negative, unless you are working on short-term contracts. The reason is the cost of recruitment is high, for some employers recruitment cost can be as high as 33% of their profits. The employer is looking to employ someone that they believe will stay with the organisation. This explains the importance of this question and your reply.
“I am in a position to take on a new challenge within a new organisation. I am keen to find an employer that I know I can collaborate with, as I always commit to my role rather than constantly seeking new opportunities. I have researched your company and feel this is the type of company I would really fit into and I know I can value to the organisation, this is why I am applying for the role with yourself”
Job Interview Question – What motivates you?
Every employer requires a motivated worker, someone they can rely on, someone that will put the effort in, an employee that will go above and beyond.
When interviewers ask the motivation interview question, they are really asking is will this job motivate you? Will this job keep you excited? To answer this question you need to tailor your answer and what motivates you to the job criteria
Don’t talk about being motivated by a team if you will be required to work mainly on your own initiative.
“I am a highly motivated person who always puts 100% into every challenge I am set. There are certain things that help to increase my motivation at work. These include working for an organization that has a positive mission and values, working for a company where staff personal development is a priority and (add job criteria)”
Job Interview Question – Are you willing to work overtime?
There are certain interview questions that will give you, the applicant, an insight into life in this organisation. The interview is a two-way street where the employer is deciding of you are a good fit for the organisation and where you the applicant are deciding if the organisation is a good fit for you.
If you are not asked these insight questions, you need to ask the employer questions about the organsiation at the end of the job interview.
Let’s get back to this example interview question – are you willing to work overtime? The question could easily be “are you willing to work weekends?” “would you stay behind if a last minute job came in?” “are you good at dropping a task is something with a higher priority came through the door?” “do you work well in a pressurized environment?”
You are only asked these type if this is the reality of the organsiation. The employer here is telling you how it is. If you are happy to work within this framework then let the employer know that this is the environment you would excel in.
“yes, I did a lot of overtime in my last company”
Don’t put up any barriers or start to confuse the employer by saying “I can work overtime on a Monday 6-8, Wednesday 8-9 etc..” keep it simple.
If you cannot, tell the employer this and give the reason why. You won’t be offered the job, but the likelihood is you wouldn’t accept the job anyway or if you did you wouldnt enjoy working with this particular employer.
Job Interview Question – Why did you apply for this position?
Your research will pay off with this question; explain you have always wanted to work for their company and the reason why. Use your research to quote the mission statement, the company values or recent company successes such as winning new contracts or company expansion.
Discuss how your career goal has always been to work within this industry as you always wanted to (mention a key job criterion from the job specification form) and finally finish by explaining how your previous experience or qualifications will add value to the company.
Use the below as a template to edit:
“Since becoming qualified in (add industry qualification)…
or start with
“After 10 years experience in this industry….
…my career goal has been to work with your organisation, as I believe in (add company values or mission). My strengths include (add industry skill) and I feel that my (add personal competency) will make a real difference for your company as I know I will be able to (add outcome to skill). My experience in (name sector), and my ability to (add additional skill) will add value to your company.”
Job Interview Question – where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
The career progression of employees has changed. 40 years ago you left school or university, gained an apprenticeship or graduate job and in the main, you worked for that one company for the whole of your life retiring with a gold watch gift and a pat on the back!
Now the job cycle is different. Most people will have 3 careers in their lifetime (some of you in 10 years time will be working in jobs that currently don’t exist) and job hop from organisation to organisation every 3-5 years.
Employers asking this question are looking for employees who have a longevity job in mind. They aren’t looking for a job hopper. You need to make it crystal clear that you plan to work for them for a long period of time.
“When I accept a job offer I feel committed to the organisation and put in 100%. Personally, I do not like to job hop between organisations, rather I put my focus on making my role a success. In 3-5 years I see us collaborating successfully together on a range of projects.”
Job Interview Question – Do you work well within a team?
Everyone, no matter what your job role is, works as part of a team. In some roles, retail as an example the team is obvious. For outreach workers and contract work you may feel distant from a team environment – but even here you are part of a team.
The ‘team’ question is one of the most common asked interview questions. Employers when asking this question want to know if you have the skills to work with others. Can you delegate, take direction, negotiate, support and motivate? Can you plan ahead, meet schedules and collaborate?
When asked this question you need to make it crystal clear that you understand the functions of a team and your role within a team environment.
“In all my previous roles I have worked as part of a team. Either in a small direct team of as part of a project-wide team. For me, teamwork and success go hand in hand. As a team, you have a collective knowledge and a large collective experience base to support you when facing new challenges. In a team I often take (add your role; leader, planner, innovator) an example of this was when (add real work-related team experience example)
Job Interview Question – Why should we hire you?
The job interview “why” questions are poor questions to be asked and only weak job interviewer, with little experience in job interviewing ask this question. This is because the “why” question creates a psychological reaction in the job interviewee – they get defensive.
When asked a why question you first step is to reframe or re-ask yourself the question. The why should we hire you question becomes what can you offer this role? Deleting the why element takes away your intuitive defensive mode creating a more professional response.
Start with “by hiring me…” now give them a great selling line, what is the one thing they want from you? and then tell them how you will do it, use examples from previous job roles to highlight your ability and knowledge
“By hiring me, you will gain an experienced (add job role) who has a proven track record of (add selling point). An example of this is (add real-life example) To summarise if you offer me the job I will (add one line summary of the above)
Job Interview Question – Why did you leave your last job?
A dreaded question for many! When answering this question never give a negative answer. “I did not get on with my manager” or “The management did not run the business well” as this will show you in a negative light (due to the psychology of association) and reduce your chance of a job offer. Answer the question positively, emphasizing that you have been looking for a career progression.
Start by telling the interviewer what you gained from your last job
“I enjoyed my last job, I quickly learned how to (add skills IE multitask and prioritize work) and over the last (add years in the industry) years I have built a reputation as a (add unique selling point). I am now ready to take the next step up the ladder with my career and feel I would suit working for company such as this”
If you were made redundant, let the interviewer know, this is not a negative!
Job Interview Question – Tell me about a suggestion you have made?
Not always interview questions are common. For the off-field job interview questions, you need to ask yourself what is it the employer wants to know from this question? If you are unsure ask the interviewer.
Here the employer is looking for someone who will innovative, suggest and improve systems and/or practices. They don’t want someone who will wait to be told what to do or the job interview question would be “can you follow orders?”
Here is an example answer that you can tailor for your sector:
“I always make a suggestion if I can see how something can be improved. After working in this industry of X years I have seen systems that work and add value and other processes that can be costly. When creating a new system it is always good to get the ideas and opinions of the whole team, especially the employees who work directly with the process that may be changed”
Job Interview Question – What irritates you about your co-workers?
Danger Danger – Don’t fall into this trap and answer the question straight away explaining how you hated Sally because she always talked about her cat!
With this question, the interviewer is trying to (in a sneaky way) understand how you work with other people in the team. So, instead of answering this question directly, you can flip this around and talk about your strengths as a team member:
“One of my strengths is the ability to get on with people. I’ve learned that my understanding the different personalities on a team can allow me to communicate differently to different individuals helping the whole team to be more productive. In my last team a had a colleague who was highly organised, so when working with her I would always hand over an action plan, whereas another colleague who was more innovative would get motivated when asked about his ideas about the project. So for me, it’s not important if someone is irritating or if you all work in different ways, what is important is how you all work together, and being able to get on wth others is a strength of mine”
Job Interview Question – What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?
This managerial job interview question is asked in management job interviews as well as being asked in job interviews for none management positions. The difference is the frame of the interview question. For potential managers, you need to focus the answer from the perspective of how you manage teams, projects and how your strategies for achieving objectives.
As an employee, you need to answer this question from the position of what type of manager motivates you to be successful.
This job interview answer structure can be tailored for both positions.
“A successful manager will have 3 key qualities. The first is clear communication. A good manager has the skill to take high-level communication about the objectives of the organisation and make clear to employees at all levels, so each individual understands fully what they need to deliver on a day to day basis. This results in time focus actions and reduces the number of errors teams members may make. The second is creating a positive vision. People respond to a clear vision, they need to know that what they are doing has a positive outcome – meaning creates motivation. Successful managers reinforce the vision when communicating task. And the third is being to develop staff. Staff at all levels like to be developed. When a manager puts effort into an employees personal development, that staff member feels valued and valued employees work at a higher rate, they take less time off due to stress and they often want to impress the manager or organization. So for me, a successful manager embeds communication, vision and development into everything they do”
Job Interview Question – What are your strengths?
This is one of the most common job interview questions you can be asked. Don’t fall into the trap of listing a long list of irrlevenat skills. The employer dosent care what your strengths are, what they care about are the strengths relevant to the poistion you are applying for.
When answering the stregths job interveiw question you first need to understadn fully the job criteria recorded on the job specifciation. Then answer stating the required criteria; For example, if you are applying for a job where accuracy is an important issue, one of your strengths could be that you have an eye for detail. It may useful to find different words to describe similar attributes and qualities in order to avoid repetition.
“I have often been told that I have an eye for detail and that I am very accurate and precise. This was very important during my last role where I worked on large business accounts”
Job Interview Question – Do you have any weaknesses?
I hate it when interviewers ask negative questions. What’s the point? The applicant, unless they are blindly honest, isn’t going to list all their negatives.
So, what is the interviewer looking for with this negative question? They want to see that the applicant has the skill to develop, to reflect, to improve. To answer this question, you can mention a past weakness but you need to follow this up with the actions you took to improve this area of development.
A frequent mistake many make when answering this question is to frame the answer negatively “I can sometimes let things get on top of me”.
Remember to positive overall by turning a negative into a positive. For example,
“What are my weaknesses? Well, I remember in my previous position one of my tasks was (name a duty you had to perform) and I hadn’t completed this task before, so this was a perceived weakness. When I ever find an area of development I am keen to improve this. In this example I (add the action you too to develop yourself). We all have weaknesses, but when I recognise my weaknesses I always take action to improve them.”
Job Interview Question – What is your dream job?
I have interviewed people. I have asked this question. The answers you hear can be unbelievable. People will actually say, during the job interview, that their dream job is the opposite to the position they are applying for.
Why would any employer offer the job to an applicant that deep down they don’t really want? So how to answer this tricky question. Well, ideally you are applying for your dream job. But saying this can sound well weird or creepy. Rather than mention the job, talk about the company values, duties and skills you like. To impress the interviewer these values, duties and skills have to be relevant to the position you are applying for.
“My career goal is working for an organsiation that Values X. I am passionate about X and I know that by collaborating together we can (achieve X) My dream job has always been a role where I can (add skill or duty) What is really important to me, is to work within a good team in a company that is moving forward”
Job Interview Question – Why do you want to work for this organisation?
Interviewees often forget that the job interview process is a two-way street. An employer, when they meet a perfect applicant, doesn’t want a competitor to steal them.
The employer understands that you will be applying for other positions, but they want to offer the position to someone who will be committed to their organisation. When answering this question show the interviewer how enthusiastic you are about the job, industry and their company.
“I have been applying for several positions recently. I applied for this position because the organisation has a very good reputation. I like the values and the company mission, this is something I can relate to. I have over X years experience and specialise in X. I know together we can achieve (add something industry related)
Job Interview Question – How do you develop yourself?
Technology, automation and the shrinking world is making career sectors and job duties change at an unprecedented rate. Employers now require employees that have a passion for learning, someone who keeps up with industry changes.
When answering this job interview question make it clear that you have a high level of knowledge about your sector, talk about new changes and technology and showcase your talent, and finish with what you have done over the previous year to develop yourself
“This industry is changing rapidly. Last week I was reading how (mention a new technology that is making a change in the industry) this will affect the day to day task by (mention the potential changes this technology will make) This is one reason why I continue to develop myself to keep on top of new changes. Over the past 12 months I have (mention 2-3 developments you have undertaken)
Job Interview Question – Can you work under pressure?
‘Can you’ questions give you an insight into the day to day routine of the organisation. The employer needs you to have this skill. You need to answer this question with a real-life experience.
“Yes I actually enjoy it. One of my strengths is that I can start several tasks at the same time while working to deadlines. I don’t get flustered, instead, I keep a calm head and ensure that task get prioritized in order of importance. An example of this was (add example)
Job Interview Question – How do you know when you have been successful with a task?
Many interviewees get lost with this type of question because they don’t understand what this job interview question is about. The question is about motivation – what motivates you to keep on task?
- The job has been completed on time
- The task has been completed to a good standard
- When your customers walk away happy
- When your employer tells you
- When you have job satisfaction
The employer also wants to know that you can reflect on a task to ensure you meet the required standards. Employers want to ensure that their staff can stay motivated when task become hard. You need to reassure your interviewer that you are highly motivated.
“I have a track record for successfully completing a task. An example is (give real-life example) I know when I have been successful because (add how you know you have been successful) and by checking that the task has been completed to the required standards.
Job Interview Question – Can you tell me about the gaps between positions on your CV?
Employers are looking for employees that will stick around once they have been hired. The reality is that many people take a gap year after university or between jobs – now more than ever before. When an interviewer asks this question the employer is looking if you “bummed” around or took a break between jobs for a particular reason.
“After completing my (add course or say “between jobs..) I took a gap year and traveled and work in (country), it was a great personal development experience and I gain a large number of transferable skills. One experience was (add experience and required skill) I can use this experience to (relate the experience to the job duties)”
Job interview question – Do you have any questions?
Every interviewer will ask this final job interview question. Remember to prepare for this question but don’t ask about salaries or holidays until you have been offered a job position. Instead ask;
- “Do you have any future plans to expand the company?”
- “Does your team work well together?”
- “Have you put in any new bids for any new contracts?”
- “What is the company’s policy on personal development and training?”
- “Where do you see the company being in 5 years time”
- “What are you looking for in an employee?”
- “What would my first day/week look like?”
- “Why did you choose this job/company?”
- “What made you choose to work here?”
- “What is like to work here on a day to day basis?”
- “How are advancements in technology going to affect the organisation?”
If you are struggling with questions you can end with “I did have several questions planned to ask you, but you have answered these throughout the interview.”
Interview Preparation Resources
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