Preparing yourself for a job interview is crucial for getting through to the next stage of the job application process. Interview questions can stump jobseekers or catch them off guard, leaving them speechless or in a muddle as to what to say. That’s why it’s a good idea to prepare for the most common interview questions and do plenty of research on the company and the type of job before the interview.
Use the following tips to learn how to answer interview questions and read through our typical interview questions.
How to Answer Interview Questions
While it’s handy to have an idea of what you would like to answer for common interview questions, no answer should be memorized or feel over-rehearsed. You want to be genuine and answer all interview questions naturally.
Check out our tips on answering interview questions for some basic interview advice:
- Don’t rush your answer. You don’t need to start answering the second the interviewer has finished asking the question, especially if you find the question a bit challenging. Think about the question for several seconds and stay calm while you gather your thoughts
- Use examples to demonstrate your points – one of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is that they don’t back up their answers with examples. It’s not enough to say you’re well-organised for example – what can you mention to prove it?
- Don’t ramble onbabble and take 5 minutes to answer 1 question (also known as nervous chatter) – aim for 2 minutes on average per answer to a competency based question. Of course many questions don’t require more than a minute answer.
- If you’re a jokey or humorous character, that’s great and can even ease the tense interview environment. Still, I wouldn’t actually make jokes in an interview, they may fall flat. It’s ok to show that you have a sense of humour, but you also need to make sure you do take the questions seriously!
Common Job Interview Questions
Get a rough idea of how to answer these common interview questions by reading through our tips and suggestions.
1. “Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?”
This is not exactly a ‘job interview question’, but a typical interview opener especially when the job interview is being conducted by an inexperienced or unskilled interviewer. Logically, a good interviewee would think of asking the interviewer to confirm exactly what information they want answered, but there is a better way to answer this question professionally and succinctly.
The key point is to not repeat everything you’ve stated in your resume. Recruiters will have read your resume prior to asking you this interview question, therefore you don’t need to recite it. However, you should make reference to impressive achievements or relevant work experience when touching down on your professional background.
I suggest you learn to answer this question with a three part, pre-planned marketing statement that can more or less be reused from interview to interview. Start with a brief summary of your career history – “I am a Marketing Manager with 10 years of experience working for global software companies in the UK and abroad.”
Then, talk them through briefly how your career developed but don’t just repeat what they can see on your resume. Talk to the interviewer more in terms of what you’ve learnt or achieved. Mention a recent accomplishment that you are proud of that will also capture the potential employer’s attention (i.e. cost savings, revenue increase). You really want to focus on what makes you exceptional and how your skills and experience match the requirements of the job.
A brief summary of specifically what you want to do next in your career or why you’re interested in this specific role. Finally, end your answer with a one-sentence statement that indicates what you’re looking to do next in your career, ensuring of course that it matches exactly what the employer is looking for.
2. “How did you find out about the job?”
This is a simple question that can be answered in a short sentence, although you can also use it to get your foot in your door by stating that you keep up to date with company activity or that you’ve had your eye on a position in the IT Department for a long time etc.
If you’ve been genuinely following the company for a while, you might want to mention here what specific activities of the company really appeal to you or if you’ve spoken to some employees of the company and heard great things about working for them, you can comment on that here, too.
3. “Why should we give you this job?”
This isn’t the most common interview question, but it is still probable that you’re asked this question in a job interview. They might also ask you: “What are your main skills and strengths” or “Why do you think you’re the best candidate for the role?”
It might seem intimidating or you might even feel uncomfortable boasting about yourself, but if you are given the opportunity, go for it!
Your answer should focus on what you offer the company and not the other way round. The company wants to make sure that you are the right person for their firm.
When a company hires a good person, they are making it harder for their competitors to compete with them. Basically, you want to try to answer this question by letting the interviewer know what you can do that other candidates can’t. Companies hire people to solve problems so let the interviewer know what problems you’ve solved and how your employers benefited as a result.
Focus on specific tasks in the job description that are critical to the position and tell the interviewer why you are the person to handle them.
Back your answers up with examples. Anyone can say that they have good organizational skills for example, but if you say something specific e.g. “I have excellent organizational skills and in the past 12 months I have personally organized and supervised 6 corporate events with up to 300 participants on each one”, you are definitely going to make a better impression than someone giving a generic answer.
4. “How much do you know about the company?”
This interview question is one of the most common interview questions asked and is essentially a test to check that you’ve done your research and know your stuff. If you can prove that you’ve dug a little deeper than the company website and refer to a company achievement, press release or recent update, you’ll be sure to win extra brownie points.
Researching the company is a must, and almost all job candidates do it to some degree today. But the interview is not a test to see whether you read the company website. Instead, you want to identify opportunities and demonstrate how you can add value to the company, if they hire you. Take the information you gain through your research and prepare insightful questions and observations that can serve as discussion points during the interview. Here are some ways to do that:
- Check the company website for information – but not just in the usual places. Look at every page on the website and try to deduce where the company is headed and how you can contribute to their mission. Review the company’s products and services and get a handle on how they present themselves to the marketplace.
- Google the company’s name for articles written by third parties. How is the third-party information different or similar to the company’s take on the same subjects? Also, research stories about the company on major news outlets and industry publications.
- Look up the firm on glassdoor.com for what is said about the firm by its employees. If you find negative points, are these things you can live with—or better yet, would you thrive within that type of environment? Remember to take the information in its context, as every firm has unhappy employees and these may be the ones who take the time to write negative commentary.
- Follow the company prior to the interview on Twitter and on its Facebook and LinkedIn pages. What is the company talking about? What are they tweeting and posting? Can you apply any of your previous experiences to some of these topics being discussed in social media channels?
5. “Could you give us an example of a personal or professional achievement?”
If you can think of an achievement that relates to the job for which you are applying, it will seem more impressive and relevant to recruiters. However, if you have an equally impressive achievement that you would like to share, don’t be afraid to do so. If you are talking about a previous job, be sure to include what you were working as, for how long you worked on the achievement prior to the result or outcome.
Think about which of your achievements would be most relevant to your potential employer? Whenever you are asked any competency based question, use STAR format:
SITUATION / TASK Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. Be very specific and give details, but keep it short and concise. Give them a bit of context about every example – what was the situation before you had to step in? What was the problem? What was the impact of this problem on you/others?
ACTION Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did – not the efforts of the team. Use words such as “I initiated/led/managed for etc. – otherwise the interviewer will not know what your personal contribution was. You can mention some time-frames, people involved, names, results etc.
RESULTS Describe what you achieved. What happened? What was the final result? How much money/time did you save? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? What feedback have you received? etc.
6. “What is your dream job?”
This is a way of uncovering your professional passion and helps the recruiter to identify your career goals. If your dream job has nothing to do with the job in hand, depending on the type of job and situation, you might want to be honest and explain your dream job. Recruiters understand that we need part-time jobs, student jobs, and even full-time jobs to help us reach our goals so it won’t come as a surprise if you don’t reply “this job”. This could also be a taking point for the interviewer or a way to discover that you have an interest in common.
That said, if you have been climbing the career ladder and have a career goal relevant to the job post, it is definitely worth explaining your passion for the industry and goals or dream job.
7. “Why did you leave your old job?”
Either a dreaded job interview question, a delicate one or one with a simple answer, you’ll almost definitely have to answer this common interview question. Whatever your situation, be sure to give things positive spin, but also be honest. Another important thing to remember is to not talk negatively about past jobs or employees.
If you were let go from your last job, there’s no need to hide it or over-explain it. It happens – most people were made redundant at some stage in their lives. You can say something as simple as “unfortunately, I was let go”. If your last company made a number of people redundant e.g. due to restructure or financial problems, mention that – you don’t want them to think you were the only employee who was let go, as it might make them think that it was due to low performance.
8. “What were you doing in your employment gap?”
Don’t be afraid of employment gaps, despite the very real threat of unemployment bias they are justifiable. For example, you might have had a gap if you were studying or on maternal/paternal leave.
However, these are not the only reasons for a temporary break from work and sometimes these topics can be complicated. Check out our blog or more complex employment gap issues and how to explain employment gaps in your resume.
9. “What salary do you expect?”
Be realistic and answer this question in a respectful manner, as if you want to negotiate a good contract it is wise to be pragmatic. Do your research and propose a realistic salary based on what you earned previously and what you think is adequate for the job position. In the case that the job offers less than you had expected, you can always balance it out by asking for days where you can work from home, the number of holiday days and other benefits.
Instead of mentioning one specific number, you might want to mention a range e.g.:
“I am interviewing for roles in the low 60s to high 60s salary range and I am flexible based on the nature of the responsibilities for the position.”
Or:
“I am ideally looking for 75k-80k but the most important thing is the job itself and the company culture”.
Whereas if you mention just one specific number, that’s the maximum you’ll ever get and you might get offered less than that.
Read more tips on how to negotiate your salary.
10. “Give an example of a challenge you had to overcome”
This interview question is a tough one and also a disliked one amongst those who find it difficult to think of the different challenges and professional hiccups they have had. Don’t forget that this doesn’t have to be a solitary challenge, as you might have completed it in a group or achieved the goal as a team. When you give your example, include the skills and necessary measures you took to ensure that the goal was reached and the challenge was overcome. Ideally, pick a challenge that would be relevant to the job you’re interviewing for and make sure you follow the STAR format.
For more interview advice, read our blog for professional career advice such as how to calm nerves before a job interview or how to dress for a job interview. If you haven’t quite got to the interview stage of the job application process and you’re still writing your resume, check out our resume builder and how easy it can really be to write a resume.
