Top 10 Common Interview Questions and Answers
Most job interviews involve asking fairly common interview questions and answers that job applicants will do well to be familiar with. Some of the interview questions asked are often behavioral interview questions, while others are situation-based or based on the job position and requirements.
10 commonly asked interview questions and answers.
What are your strengths?
Although an applicant’s resume should contain their strengths or demonstrate these strengths, employers still to prefer to pose this question to applicants. Again, this is because they want to hear the applicant express themselves clearly and confidently in this instance.
How to answer
The key to acing this question is to provide a concise and vivid description of your biggest strengths. Then, rather than just saying things that make up your strengths, demonstrate these strengths by giving examples of when you used them.
Why should we hire you?
The interviewer is searching for reasons to be sold on you when he poses this question. Therefore, this question presents a chance for the applicant to describe what makes him the ideal person for the role and why he should be selected.
How to answer
This question gives you the chance to sell yourself to the hiring manager briefly. Just remember to keep it brief and highlight how your skills and experience relate to the role’s requirements and description.
Why do you want to work here?
This question is commonly asked by hiring managers and interviewers. This question gauges the amount of knowledge the applicant possesses about the company and the role. They also want to hear a link between the organization’s goals and the applicant’s goals.
How to answer
This question is more profound than it appears. Interviewers don’t just want to hear that their organization is excellent to work for, and that’s why you want to work there. They also want to hear how your long and short-term goals align with the position.
What’s a workplace achievement you’re proud of?
This one’s more closely related to the job than it appears. First, interviewers want to hear a response that’s relevant to the position. Second, the interviewer wants to picture how well the applicant will perform based on past performances in previous roles.
How to answer
The applicant has to answer in such a way as to let the interviewer picture you in the particular position. You also have to keep it brief and let the interviewer know you’re a high-achiever that will excel in the role.
How did you hear about this opening?
This is one of the trickier questions asked during job interviews. It seems harmless and straightforward enough at first but is a bit deeper than it appears. Employers want to be convinced you want to work at their organization and that you went out of your way to find out about the opening.
How to answer
Rather than just saying it you found out about the opening on a job board or Google search, you need to demonstrate that you don’t want any job but a job with their company. Following an organization’s social media handles and finding out about an opening through them demonstrates a deep interest in the company. Try this to leave your interviewer impressed with your response.
Where do you see you hope to be in the next five years?
Employers ask this to get a picture of the kind of dreams an applicant has. They want to learn about their passion and what they like to do rather than just a response about loving to have moved through the organization’s ranks.
How to answer
Try to strike a balance between being overly optimistic about your chances and being humble about your options. The interviewer already knows you want the job to keep job-related information away from your response and instead demonstrate that you have dreams and inspirations besides the job.
Tell me about your dream job.
Interviewers only want to hear an answer relevant to the job position when they ask this question. They want to listen to an original response and not one that’s made up halfway through the answer.
How to answer
Describe how you hope to develop someday skills that will enable you to land your dream job. Keep your answer relevant to the job role, and remember to keep it brief and concise to keep the interviewer interested.
Describe a difficult decision you had to make recently
Answering this interview question allows the interviewer to measure the applicant’s judgment, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and propensity to take risks. Difficult decisions have to be made frequently in adult human life, and interviewers want to hear about these and your response to them.
How to answer
There’s no right or wrong answer to interview questions like these. However, you have to prove that you can make complicated decisions of several options and that you’re not afraid to take risks when necessary. You also need to demonstrate that you can consistently make the right decision every time, regardless of how inconvenient doing that might be when given options.
Describe a time you demonstrated leadership
This question requires taking some care to prevent rambling on and on. The critical thing interviewers want to hear is instances and situations where you demonstrated your ability to lead. In addition, the interviewer wants to have an idea of who you are as a leader and have a sense of how you lead.
How to answer
The applicant has to highlight some successes achieved while leading others and share with the interviewer situations where you solved complex situations and inspired team members as a team leader.
How would people you’ve worked with describe you?
This question can be quite hit or miss. An interviewer that poses this question wishes to learn more about the applicant’s interpersonal skills based on previous relationships with former colleagues. This allows them to gauge things like the applicant’s personality and temperament.
How to answer
Honesty is essential in acing this question. Most interviewers are trained to sniff out dishonesty and know if you’re not painting the whole picture. Be sure they can deduce your temperament and how you relate with people you come in contact with from your response.
In answering interview questions, it is essential first to try to understand the motive of interviewers in asking specific questions and ensure that your response is brief, honest, and allows the interviewer’s decision to hire you to become more manageable.
