When you get invited to an interview, you have an amazing opportunity for impressing the hiring manager and ensuring you’re given an offer to that job you’ve applied for. Although there’s no guarantee about what questions you’ll be asked during the interview, there are a bunch of questions that tend to come up time after time in interviews.
We’ve rounded up the most common interview questions as well as some pointers on how you should go about answering them:
- “Tell me more about yourself.”
This is an opportunity to showcase your strengths. Start the answer by giving the recruiter a quick overview of the job you’re currently doing. Next, rung through the jobs you’ve held up till now in your career. Don’t dish out too much detail though; the HR manager will ask you to elaborate on certain areas if they need more information.
- “What are your strengths?”
This is where you’ll have to explain what you’re good at doing and why you feel like you’re the right fit for the job. What are three attributes that you have which are most important for the job? Name them and then explain why they would be strengths in a work environment. You’re going to want to ensure you’re explaining how each of your strengths relates to the job you’re applying for.
- “What are your weaknesses?”
This is a tough one to answer, but if you explain your weaknesses and how you’ve managed to overcome them or learn from them, you’re providing the hiring manager with information they’re really craving. At the end of the day, your explanation should show the recruiter how your weaknesses and the process of overcoming them has helped strengthen your skills.
- “What are your goals?”
This question should be answered with regards to your short-term as well as your long-term vision, so go ahead and tell the interviewer about the job that you’d love to do in the future and how you plan on getting there.
- “Why should we hire you?”
“Because I’m awesome” is NOT the right answer. You’re going to want to elaborate on your skills, your attributes that match the job description, and your experiences that make you an ideal fit for the position in mind. Make sure that you’ve checked the job description before going for the interview and then use some of the ad’s phrases in your answer, if they are relevant.
- “Why do you want to work here?”
Again, giving an answer such as “because the pay is great!” isn’t going to do you any favors. The interviewer is looking for you to spell out how your skills, you experiences, and your attributes match the requirements they had for the job. You’re going to want to deliver a powerful answer here and that you’ve delivered it in a way that leaves the interviewer with a clear reason why you want to work for their organization.
- “What kind of salary are you looking at?”
To help you come up with a reasonable answer for this question, make sure you compare the values of other people that have the same skills and experience as you. If there was any mention of a salary in the job ad, mention it and then state that you’re looking for roughly the same amount. A good way to answer this is also in this blog post by The Interviewer about whether or not to talk about your previous salary.