There are several types of questions that can be asked at job interviews. You can expect to be asked questions about your:
- work background (experience, qualifications, roles & responsibilities undertaken, achievements etc),
- personality (introvert/extrovert, presentation & communication skills etc)
- views on life (your plans for the future, your outlook on certain situations etc)
- ability to think ? these might be in the form of crazy mind-benders that you will not know the answer to, but they are testing how your mind works when it?s impossible to know the answer eg: how many
- humans have ever lived on earth since the beginning of time?)
- etc
And none of us can predict which ones will come up in any particular interview.
However, there are some that are among the most common and below is a list of 15 standard job interview questions that you should definitely be prepared for.
Obviously, you won?t get all of these questions every time and you will certainly get other questions that aren?t listed but BE PREPARED to answer all these questions professionally and intelligently and you?ll be well set.
Why did you choose this particular vocation?
- What do you really want to do in life?
- Why would you like to work for our company?
- What interests you about our product(s) or service(s)?
- What do you want to be doing in your career five years from now?
- What style of management gets the best from you?
- What have you learned from some of the jobs you have held?
- Which did you enjoy most?
- What have you done that shows initiative in your career?
- What is your major weakness?
- What do you think determines a person?s progress?
- How do you spend your spare time?
- What does ?teamwork? mean to you?
- What entrepreneurial activities have you been engaged in?
- What type of books do you read? How many books per year?
You need to have a well-thought-out answer for each of these questions.
There are no perfect ?right? answers, but there are many wrong ones, and they must be avoided.
There are too many permutations for me to offer an ideal standard reply to each of these in this forum, but our other job interview articles and videos will give you much greater insight as to what will work in most cases.
For each question, I recommend you aim for an answer of about 100 seconds.
Is that some kind of a magic number?
Obviously, there is no one-size-fits-all answer, but your answer should not be too short (eg yes or no) or too long (5 minutes describing every single detail of the situation you?re relating) ? both of these extremes will give a bad impression.
100 seconds (plus or minus 20 seconds) will be a decent length as a guideline. If the interviewer wants to know more, they will ask for more.
Your answer should always include some reference to why you are the right person for this job, by relating it back to you own credentials.
Example: if asked about what you do outside work?
It?s ok to mention some hobbies but do not say things like ?I work so much I don?t have time for anything outside work? ? you might think that will score you some points but 99% of the time, it will just show you?re out of balance and not well-rounded.
However, in mentioning hobbies, choose to mention the ones that have some bearing on what you will be bringing to the workplace ? those that show your personality, determination, patience, communication skills, ability to achieve, project management, leadership or whatever is applicable in your case.
Note: no matter how enthusiastic you are about them, do not mention risky hobbies like sky-diving, snake-taming, entering hot-dog-eating competitions and such. The recruiter will think you?re reckless and become anxious every Monday morning in case you didn?t make it through the weekend ? not to mention that they will think you might also attract additional insurance premiums.
Once you have your answer scripted, then refine it, refine it and then refine it some more.
Practice it as much as you can - in the mirror, to your cat, when you?re driving.
The more your refine and practice, the better will be your interview performance/outcome.
This is a life skill and like any life skill, we can improve by using the 3P?s:
perseverance, practice, and persistence.
In short, your task is to take care of ALL the details in the entire job application process, appeal to everyone and not offer any reason for anyone to reject you.
So this part of the process is vitally important, and, in this blog, you will find a number of articles and tip-sheets providing guidance on how to go about it.
If you prefer to get my job interview tips all in one place, you can download my e-book
7 POWER TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PEFORMANCE AT JOB INTERVIEWS
at a special member?s price.
Till next time, always remember I am rooting for you!
With love & blessings
Peter Fleming FCMA
Your Career Success Coach????????????