10 Most Common Interview Questions and How to Tackle Them
It’s always worth being prepared for traditional interview questions hiring managers are known to ask, so here are some tips along with ten of the most commonly asked questions and hows best to answer them.
It’s important that you don’t memorise your answers word for word, just the concept as you don’t want to sound rehearsed, it needs to be natural. Would you rehearse a conversation and write it down if it was a mate? This precise mindset also creates so much pressure and room technically for an error you won’t come across as your normal self and it is a promoter of nervousness. Be polite, shake their hand, show confidence by being yourself!
Most Common Interview Questions and Answers
What is your greatest strength?
Very popular interview question. Discuss what you feel your strengths are but tie them into as many examples of recent roles, projects or work experience you have gained that’s still relevant to what you’re interviewing for. This works really well and is ultimately what the manager needs to know to assess your suitability properly.
What is your greatest weakness?
Everyone has a weakness, so identify one with a positive attitude towards it. Depending on who’s interviewing this could go either way. Theirs no point in hiding any weaknesses, everyone has something and if someone doesn’t want you for being honest unless this weakness makes incapable of doing the role, maybe they aren’t the right manager for you.
Tell me about yourself.
Don’t share too much, but give a decent insight and try and show some personality. Identify some interests which don’t relate directly to work.
Why should we hire you?
Explain why you feel you’re a solid match, highlighting as many areas you can relate to or by using anecdotes of previous similar successes and ultimately, identifying what you can offer the company.
What are your salary expectations?
Know beforehand what salary you expect from that role, otherwise, you may lowball yourself.
Why are you leaving or have left your previous job?
Be direct with the facts, providing a genuine reason. Be cautious not to down talk previous companies or managers, instead identify the differences in experiences to this new opportunity that made you feel their position was a better fit for you.
Why do you want this job?
Research the role and company beforehand. Explain what areas of the business interest you the most, identifying why the company appeals to you.
How do you handle stress and pressure?
Prepare an example of how you resolved a stressful situation in a previous job. It’ always a good one to have a few examples of because its also one of the questions people will often fail at, even though they have loads of example once the pressure has gone.
Describe a difficult work situation/project, and how you overcame it.
Again, give an example of how you resolved a stressful situation in a previous job. The interviewer wants to know how you tackle challenging situations.
What are your goals for the future?
The hiring manager recruits someone who will stay with the company. Identifying you wish to seek financial security and progression with this company supports this.
Do you have any questions?
They’ll often ask this as well. Prepare a list of questions you’d like answered in preparation for an interview but don’t ask questions just because you feel you should. If there’s nothing you genuinely want to find out about the business other than whats on a spec, it’s probably not the right company for you!
L J Doulton administrator
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