MOST COMMON INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ASKED

Common Interview QuestionsQuestions asked by skilled and wellprepared interviewers always have a purpose regardless of howirrelevant to the position they may seem.It is important to realise that the purpose of many questions is totest out whether you have the specific qualities and skills requiredfor the position. There is not necessarily a right or wrong answerto such questions, rather interviewers are seeking evidence of suchqualities as your motivation, energy, attitudes, initiative or maturity.

An example of a seemingly irrelevant question could be "Tell me how wouldyou go about buying a car?" In this situation the interviewer is notconcerned so much about what car dealer you would go to or the order inwhich you would go about doing this, but rather about the sort of approachyou would use. Do you plan? Do you give up easily? Do you seek assistancefrom other people? How do you budget your time and money?The following are examples of some of the more difficult questions you maybe asked in interviews. The guidelines are intended only to stimulate yourthinking. They are not model answers. You will not necessarily be askedall or even many of these questions in one interview. The questions as setout here are not in priority/sequential order..

Question 1 "What do you have to offer us?" Guidelines - Answer in terms of the skills and personal qualities you haverelevant to the job. You may refer to your academic qualifications,relevant sections of university courses, experience in the workplace,leisure activities or personal qualities.

Question 2 "What has prompted you to apply for this position?" Guidelines - Explain why you are interested in the organisation. If youhave had a long-term interest in them, say so. If location is significant,you could mention this after talking about your interest in the firm. Trynot to focus on what you will get from the organisation, but the qualitiesyou will bring to them. You could mention that you see the position asoffering challenge, a chance to learn new things and to enhance anddevelop skills and abilities necessary for the position.

Question 3 "What do you want from us?" Guidelines - This is a good time to talk about training or promotionopportunities giving some idea of long-term career plans. There may beaspects of the organisation's work that really interest you, and you maywish to move into another area of that organisation later on. Theinterviewer is probably trying to assess your enthusiasm and ambition.

Question 4 "At the end of the first year, if you got this job, how would you measureyour success?" Guidelines - In your preparation for the interview you would havedeveloped a good understanding of the duties and personal attributeslisted in the job description, as well as finding out about the goals andobjectives of the organisation. Think about tangible results you might beable to achieve on the job that contribute to those goals and objectives.The interviewer is not so interested here in what tasks or duties you planto have completed, but how you go about planning and assessing your ownperformance. Are there any practical ways you currently measure yoursuccess in part-time work or study e.g. sales figures, grades, feedbackfrom your supervisor or lecturer?

Question 5 "What appeals to you about this job?" Guidelines - This is similar to Questions 2 and 3, but you may want tofocus more closely on the specific duties outlined in the job descriptionor what your understanding of typical tasks for this kind of job would be.Again, cover the kinds of skills, interests or knowledge from previousstudy or work that you would bring to the position.

Question 6 "What are your long-term plans?" Guidelines - If you are flexible about your long-term plans say so,however, it pays to give a general picture of what interests you now, andhow you see that developing. You should not commit yourself to a long-termperiod with an employer if you do not honestly feel that you can do so. Atthis stage you may not be in a position to know how long you would seeyourself staying in any one job. On the other hand, you are keen to put towork the skills that you have developed. Avoid 'I don't know' and a shrugof the shoulders, as an employer is usually trying to assess how motivatedand interested you are!

Question 7 "What do you see yourself doing in five years from now?" Guidelines - Similar to Question 6. Your answer will give evidence ofwhether or not you are the sort of person who plans ahead. Remember thatfewer and fewer employers expect all their employees to make a life-longcareer in their organisation. You may want to express a desire to progressas rapidly as ability and opportunities allow within the organisation, orwhat you would like to do on a broader scale.

Question 8 "How long do you expect to stay with us?" Guidelines - Do not commit yourself to a specific time unless you arequite clear on this. Indicate you anticipate staying in the position foras long as it takes to learn the job and to gain experience in it, andthat you then hope to move on within the organisation. After making acomment yourself, you can always turn this question back to the employerand ask how long they would expect you to stay with them.

Question 9 "Tell us about yourself" Guidelines - If this is asked at the beginning of the interview give aquick run down of your qualifications and experience to date, then askwhether the interviewer(s) would like you to expand. If the question isasked towards the end of the interview and you have already talked a lotabout yourself, then this is the opportunity for you to elaborate on anypositive points and put across any messages you have not had the chance togive so far.

Question 10 "Why should we appoint you?" Guidelines - Answer in terms of the qualifications, skills and intereststhat you have which are relevant to the position, i.e. summarise yoursuitability. Where a job description is available before the interview,make sure you have studied it thoroughly as part of your preparation forthe interview. Your reply should be based on the required skills outlinedin the job description. Do not compare yourself with other applicants evenif you know some of them. If you are invited by the interviewers tocompare yourself with other applicants, politely state that you are not ina position to judge others, and leave that side of the interviewing tothem!

Question 11 "Have you applied for other jobs?" Guidelines - Be honest. This question is often used during graduaterecruitment. Your approach to job hunting indicates how you approachchallenges. Employers are aware of the competitiveness of the job market.They would be most surprised if you indicated that you have not appliedfor other jobs and may question your initiative or motivation.If you are not a student/graduate participating in a universityrecruitment programme, you may wish to approach this question morecarefully. The interviewer may be looking to ascertain how focused andclearly defined your job objective may be.

Question 12 "How do you handle pressure?" Guidelines - Give examples of situations where you have been underpressure and ways in which you have positively handled it. Remember thisis a typical example of a question where there is no one correct answer.The employer is more interested in whether you have developed strategiesfor coping under pressure rather than in what these strategies are.

Question 13 "Aren't you over qualified for this position?" Guidelines - This is a leading question. If you have been called for aninterview it is unlikely the employer considers you greatly overqualified. Otherwise they could not justify the time spent interviewingyou. Do not apologise for your degree. Rather state your willingness tostart at the bottom and work your way up, your enthusiasm for theorganisation and your desire to develop a broader range of skills.Emphasise skills such as fact finding, analysis, your capacity to acquirenew knowledge quickly, rather than the specific content of your degree.Some employers are more interested in what you can offer in the "practicalhands-on" sense than in the "academic" sense!

Question 14 "What are your major strengths and weaknesses?" Guidelines - Once again the employer is seeking to ascertain how matureyou are and your awareness of yourself as a person. If you have a jobdescription, you may find it useful to focus on where you see yourstrengths and weaknesses in relation to the tasks listed. Rememberweaknesses can be turned into strengths. Talk about the strategies you usefor dealing with that weakness, or its positive side e.g. taking time tomake decisions may slow you down, but on the other hand you are notimpulsive. Listing too many weaknesses will type you as very negative. Youmay have to admit that you do not have a particular type of experiencecalled for however you may be able to give evidence of your ability todetermine the skills required. Don't bring up too many weaknesses - one ortwo will suffice!

Question 15 "How much do you know about our organisation?" Guidelines - Your answer will reveal the amount of homework you have donebefore the interview. For example, if the company has products in themarket place look for these at points of sale. Use your initiative to findout as much as you can about the organisation and during the interviewcite ways in which you have gone about finding out this information.

Question 16 "How much do you expect to be paid?" Guidelines - This question is generally more common in the private sectorwhen you have applied for a position with no identified salary scale.Where the salary range is unknown it is very important to investigatecomparable rates elsewhere before you attend the interview. Never discusssalary until the end of the interviewing procedure, when they haveactually offered you the position. If the question is asked before theoffer, reply along the lines that until an offer is made, you feel anydiscussion of salary is premature. You might also add that as a reputableorganisation, you expect that they will be paying a fair and competitivesalary for the position. When an offer is made talk about a range ratherthan a fixed figure. Since the employer created the position, they willalready have some figure in mind. Find out what that is, use your salaryresearch, and don't undersell yourself.

Question 17 "Have you any questions for us?" Guidelines - It is important that you do have questions for the followingreasons:In order to make your own assessment of the job you need to find out asmuch as possible about what the job is really like, or more informationabout the organisation;To show your serious interests in the position and preparation for theinterview;To further outline achievements and skills not covered so far in theinterview. This is a good time to ask the employer what skills theyconsider to be the most critical for the position, and whether they seea gap in the skills you have to offer. This will give you an opportunityto identify skills and/or experiences which have not yet come up duringthe interview.

Question 18 "Why did you choose to major in ...?" Guidelines - Avoid the impression of aimlessness or uncertainty. It isfine to major in a subject because of your interests. However be willingto talk about this interest. Show evidence of knowledge, positive attitudetowards study, and an understanding of skills and knowledge you havegained.

Question 19 "What do you do in your spare time?" Guidelines - This is generally asked by employers seeking a fuller pictureof you or to help you relax during the interview. Finding out about yourother interests and leisure activities gives employers another opportunityto uncover skills and abilities which may not have been discussed. Otheractivities also give employers a chance to assess your enthusiasm,curiosity and quality of life.

Question 20 "What are the most important considerations for you in choosing a job?" Guidelines - Answer in terms of job objectives, training, experienceavailable or future prospects. Do not answer in terms of pay or overseastravel or other indications of self rather than job interest.

Question 21 "How do you get on with other people?" Guidelines - This question is asked to find out more about your social andinterpersonal skills. Quote examples of past participation in teams,committees or community organisations. Avoid discussing reasons why you donot get on with certain people. This is a good opportunity to giveevidence of any situations which you may have had to use skills ofnegotiation, motivation or conflict resolution.

Question 22 "Tell us about a project or piece of research you have worked on while atuniversity".This is a question commonly asked at graduate recruitment interviews. Theinterviewers are not particularly concerned about which research/projectyou choose to give as an example, but are more interested in finding outthe steps you took in completing the project/research. By examining "why"and "how" these steps were taken, the interviewers can get an idea of someof the skills you possess, and assess your ability to solve problems.Skills identified in your answer may include: preparation and planning,team work, time management, organising and researching. Interviewers mayalso ask you to elaborate further on this issue by asking questions suchas "what did you learn from this project" and "why do you consider thisproject to be an achievement".

Finally

Remain flexible in the interview so that you hear and answer the actualquestions that are asked rather than the ones you thought or hoped theinterviewers would ask. After interviews are over reflect upon any ofthese and other questions you were asked. Think about the ways in whichyou could improve your answers so that when such questions are asked inthe future, you will be able to answer them more competently.Keep in mind that answering interview questions with general responsesis not making the most of your opportunity. Interviewers want to hearevidence of your abilities. By being factual in your approach you canreveal your skills without appearing to be "boastful". Illustrate youranswers with concrete examples wherever possible. Graduates with nofull-time work experience will be able to use as their examples theirparticipation in sports, voluntary committee work, casual employment oruniversity studies to give evidence of initiative, administrative,research or communication skills.PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!Get a friend or family member to ask you some of the questions listed inthis handout and practice your answers until you feel comfortable withyour response. However, be aware of developing pat answers and listencarefully to the questions.If you feel you would like more assistance, a Careers Adviser isavailable to discuss informally/confidentially with you ways in whichyou can improve your skills in handling these and other interviewquestions. Also, you can sign up for one of our many workshops runthroughout the year in order to gain more practice in interview skills