ENG WORK: English in the Workplace Handout No.

7/Week 9

Lesson Title: The Job Interview: Common and Useful Interview Questions

Guide to the Most Common Interview Questions

1. Tell me about yourself. Don’t give your complete employment (or personal) history. Instead, give a
pitch—one that’s concise and compelling and that shows exactly why you’re the right fit for the job.
2. Walk me through your resume. Instead of framing your answer around what qualities and skills make
you best for the position, your answer should group your qualifications by your past jobs and tell your
career story. Highlight your most relevant experiences and accomplishments for this job and wrap up
by talking about the future, i.e. connect your past and present together to show why this job should be
the next one you add to your resume.
3. How did you hear about this position? This is actually a perfect opportunity to stand out and show
your passion for and connection to the company. For example, if you found out about the gig through a
friend or professional contact, name-drop that person, then share why you were so excited about the
job. If you discovered the company through an event or article, share that. Even if you found the listing
through a random job board, share what, specifically, caught your eye about the role.
4. Why do you want to work at this company? Beware of generic answers! If your response makes you
sound like every other candidate, you’re missing an opportunity to stand out. Do your research and
point to something that makes the company unique that really appeals to you; talk about how you’ve
watched the company grow and change since you first heard of it; focus on the organization’s
opportunities for future growth and how you can contribute to it; or share what’s gotten you excited
from your interactions with employees so far. Make sure to be specific. And if you can’t figure out why
you’d want to work at the company you’re interviewing with by the time you’re well into the hiring
process? It might be a red flag telling you that this position is not the right fit.
5. Why do you want this job? Companies want to hire people who are passionate about the job, so you
should have a great answer about why you want the position. (And if you don’t? You probably should
apply elsewhere.) First, identify a couple of key factors that make the role a great fit for you, then share
why you love the company.
6. Why should we hire you? Your job here is to craft an answer that covers three things: that you can not
only do the work, but also deliver great results; that you’ll really fit in with the team and culture; and
that you’d be a better hire than any of the other candidates.
7. What can you bring to the company? Interviewers want to see that you understand what problems
and challenges they’re facing as a company or department as well as how you’ll fit into the existing
organization. Read the job description closely, do your research on the company, and make sure you
pay attention in your early round interviews to understand any issues you’re being hired to solve. Then,
the key is to connect your skills and experiences to what the company needs and share an example that
shows how you’ve done similar or transferable work in the past.
8. What are your greatest strengths? Here’s an opening to talk about something that makes you great—
and a great fit for this role. When you’re answering this question, think quality, not quantity. In other
words, don’t rattle off a list of adjectives. Instead, pick one or a few specific qualities that are relevant
to this position and illustrate them with examples.
9. What do you consider to be your weaknesses? Strike a balance by thinking of something that you
struggle with but that you’re working to improve. For example, maybe you’ve never been strong at
public speaking, but you’ve recently volunteered to run meetings to help you get more comfortable
when addressing a crowd.
10. What is your greatest professional achievement? A great way to do answer this question is by using
the STAR method: situation, task, action, results. Set up the situation and the task that you were
required to complete to provide the interviewer with background context, then describe what you did
and what you achieved.
11. Tell me about a challenge or conflict you’ve faced at work, and how you dealt with it. Be honest
about a difficult situation you’ve faced (but without going into the kind of detail you’d share venting to
a friend). Stay calm and professional as you tell the story (and answer any follow-up questions), spend
more time talking about the resolution than the conflict, and mention what you’d do differently next
time to show “you’re open to learning from tough experiences.”
12. Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership skills. Think about a time when you headed up
a project, took the initiative to propose an alternate process, or helped motivate your team to get
something done. Then use the STAR method to tell your interviewer a story, giving enough detail to
paint a picture and making sure you spell out the result.
13. What’s a time you disagreed with a decision that was made at work? The ideal anecdote here is
one where you handled a disagreement professionally and learned something from the experience.
14. Tell me about a time you made a mistake. Be honest without placing blame on other people, then
explain what you learned from your mistake and what actions you took to ensure it didn’t happen again.
At the end of the day, employers are looking for folks who are self-aware, can take feedback, and care
about doing better.
15. Tell me about a time you failed. Make sure you pick a real, actual failure you can speak honestly about.
Start by making it clear to the interviewer how you define failure. Then, don’t forget to share what you
learned.
16. What are you looking for in a new position? Hint: Ideally the same things that this position has to
offer. Be specific.
17. What type of work environment do you prefer? Hint: Ideally one that's similar to the environment
of the company you're applying to. Be specific.
18. What’s your work style? When an interviewer asks you about your work style, they’re probably trying
to imagine you in the role. How will you approach your work? What will it be like to work with you?
Will you mesh well with the existing team? You might talk about how you communicate and collaborate
on cross-functional projects, what kind of remote work setup allows you to be most productive, or how
you approach leading a team and managing direct reports. Just try to keep it positive.
19. How do you deal with pressure or stressful situations? Don’t say, “I just put my head down and push
through it,” or, “I don’t get stressed out.” Instead, talk about your go-to strategies for dealing with stress
and how you communicate, and otherwise proactively try to mitigate pressure. If you can give a real
example of a stressful situation, you navigated successfully, all the better.
20. What do you like to do outside of work? Interviewers will sometimes ask about your hobbies or
interests outside of work in order to get to know you a little better—to find out what you’re passionate
about and devote time to during your off-hours. It’s another chance to let your personality shine. Be
honest, but keep it professional and be mindful of answers.
21. How do you stay organized? Interviewers will often ask about how you keep yourself organized to
make sure you’d be able to handle the workload and gauge what you’d be like to work with. In your
answer, you’ll want to reassure them you’d have things under control, describe a specific system or
method you’ve used, and explain how it benefited you and your team. Just make sure your answer is
succinct and well-organized.
22. How do you prioritize your work? Your interviewers want to know that you can manage your time,
exercise judgement, communicate, and shift gears when needed. Start by talking about whatever
system you’ve found works for you to plan your day or week, whether it’s a to-do list app you swear by
or a color-coded spreadsheet. This is one where you’ll definitely want to lean on a real-life example. So
go on to describe how you’ve reacted to a last-minute request or another unexpected shift in priorities
in the past, incorporating how you evaluated and decided what to do and how you communicated with
your manager and/or teammates about it.
23. What are you passionate about? The answer can align directly with the type of work you’d be doing
in that role.
24. What motivates you? Think back to what has energized you in previous roles and pinpoint what made
your eyes light up when you read this job description. Pick one thing, make sure it’s relevant to the role
and company you’re interviewing for, and try to weave in a story to help illustrate your point.
25. What are your pet peeves (something that annoys you)? Most likely, they want to make sure you’ll
thrive at their company—and get a glimpse of how you deal with conflict. So be certain you pick
something that doesn’t contradict the culture and environment at this organization while still being
honest. Then explain why and what you’ve done to address it in the past, doing your best to stay calm
and composed.
26. How do you like to be managed? Think back on what worked well for you in the past and what didn’t.
What did previous bosses do that motivated you and helped you succeed and grow? Pick one or two
things to focus on and always articulate them with a positive framing. If you can give a positive example
from a great boss, it’ll make your answer even stronger.
27. Do you consider yourself successful? You can think of it as an opportunity to allow the interviewer
to get to know you better and to position yourself as an excellent choice for this job. First off, make sure
you say yes! Then pick one specific professional achievement you’re proud of that can be tied back to
the role you’re interviewing for—one that demonstrates a quality, skill, or experience that would help
 you excel in this position. You’ll want to explain why you consider it a success, talk about the process in
addition to the outcome, and highlight your own accomplishment without forgetting your team.
28. Where do you see yourself in five years? If asked this question, be honest and specific about your
future goals. Your best bet is to think realistically about where this position could take you and answer
along those lines. It’s okay to say that you’re not quite sure what the future holds, but that you see this
experience playing an important role in helping you make that decision.
29. How do you plan to achieve your career goals? Having goals shows interviewers you care, are
ambitious, and can think ahead. Having a plan for how you’ll achieve your goals demonstrates your self-
motivation as well as organizational and time management skills. To craft your answer, make sure you
focus on one or two goals in detail, explain why the goals are meaningful, communicate what milestones
are coming up, highlight past successes, and connect back to this job.
30. What are your career aspirations? Career aspirations are bigger and loftier than career goals. With
this question, interviewers are asking: What kind of career would make you happiest (while also being
realistic)? Your aspirations might revolve around what kind of company you’d like to work for, what
tasks you’d like to do, who you’d like to help, or how you’d like to be seen by your colleagues. So, to
answer this question, talk about what would energize and fulfill you and connect it to the position
you’re interviewing for. Be specific about how this job will help you achieve your career aspirations.
31. What’s your dream job? Talk about your goals and ambitions—and why this job will get you closer to
them.
32. What other companies are you interviewing with? Companies might ask you who else you’re
interviewing with for a few reasons. Maybe they want to see how serious you are about this role and
team (or even this field), or they’re trying to find out who they’re competing with to hire you.
33. What makes you unique? Give them a reason to pick you over other similar candidates. The key is to
keep your answer relevant to the role you’re applying to. Use this opportunity to tell them something
that would give you an edge over your competition for this position. Focus on one or two things and
don’t forget to back up whatever you say with evidence.
34. What should I know that’s not on your resume? Try talking about a positive trait, a story or detail
that reveals a little more about you and your experience, or a mission or goal that makes you excited
about this role or company.
35. What would your first few months look like in this role? Your potential future boss wants to know
that you’ve done your research, given some thought to how you’d get started, and would be able to take
initiative if hired. So, think about what information and aspects of the company and team you’d need to
familiarize yourself with and which colleagues you’d want to sit down and talk to. You can also suggest
one possible starter project to show you’d be ready to hit the ground running and contribute early on.
This won’t necessarily be the thing you do first if you do get the job, but a good answer shows that
you’re thoughtful and that you care.
36. What are your salary expectations? The number one rule of answering this question is: Figure out
your salary requirements ahead of time. Do your research on what similar roles pay by using sites like
PayScale and reaching out to your network. Be sure to take your experience, education, skills, and
personal needs into account, too! From there, career coach Jennifer Fink suggests choosing from one of
three strategies:
• Give a salary range: But keep the bottom of your stated range toward the mid-to-high point
of what you’re actually hoping for, Fink says.
• Flip the question: Try something like “That's a great question—it would be helpful if you
could share what the range is for this role,” Fink says.
• Delay answering: Tell your interviewer that you’d like to learn more about the role or the
rest of the compensation package before discussing pay.
37. When can you start? Your goal here should be to set realistic expectations that will work for both you
and the company. What exactly that sounds like will depend on your specific situation. If you’re ready
to start immediately—if you’re unemployed, for example—you could offer to start within the week. But
if you need to give notice to your current employer, don’t be afraid to say so; people will understand
and respect that you plan to wrap things up right.
38. Are you willing to relocate? The simplest scenario is one where you’re totally open to moving and
would be willing to do so for this opportunity. But if the answer is no, or at least not right now, you can
reiterate your enthusiasm for the role, briefly explain why you can’t move at this time, and offer an
alternative, like working remotely or out of a local office. You can say you prefer to stay put for some
reasons, but would be willing to consider relocating for the right opportunity.
39. If you were an animal, which one would you want to be? Seemingly random personality-test type
questions like these come up in interviews because hiring managers want to see how you can think on
your feet. There’s no wrong answer here, but you’ll immediately gain bonus points if your answer helps
you share your strengths or personality or connect with the hiring manager.
40. Sell me this pen. The main thing they’re testing you for is how you handle a high-pressure situation.
So, try to stay calm and confident, and convey that you can handle the situation.
41. Is there anything else you’d like us to know? If there really is something relevant that you haven’t
had a chance to mention, do it now. Otherwise, you can briefly summarize your qualifications. For
example, Zhang says, you could say: “I think we’ve covered most of it, but just to summarize, it sounds like
you’re looking for someone who can really hit the ground running. And with my previous experience
[enumerate experience here], I think I’d be a great fit.”
42. Do you have any question for us? What do you want to know about the position? The company? The
department? The team? You’ll cover a lot of this in the actual interview, so have a few less-common
questions ready to go.

Reference:
• The Muse Editors., (2023). Your 2023 Guide to the Most Common Interview Questions and Answers. Retrieved from
https://www.themuse.com/advice/interview-questions-and-answers