Common Interview Questions and Answers

The following is a list of some of the most common interview questions you might encounter:

Tell me a little about yourself

This is not an open question to go into every little detail about your life. You need to keep your answer to this question very professional by giving a 1 to 2 minute summary of your professional life.

Describe a typical workday for you.

This is where you will want to highlight the skills that you use in your current or most recent job that would be beneficial to company who is interviewing you. You want to make your day sound interesting, full of challenges and how you approached/solved those challenges.

Why are you leaving your job? Or why did you leave your job?

This can be a tricky question for many job hunters. If you are changing careers, you may want to highlight some of the reasons that you are changing industries.

Answers that will work for many interviews is that you are looking to work closer to home and that you are looking for a company that you can grow with.

Don't cover the topic of money.

What is your best and what is your worse attribute?

Sometimes it is reworded by asking you what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Answering the first part of this question is often easy for most people in an interview. It is the second part that gives people trouble.

You need to say that something about you is bad, but you do not want the interviewer to see you in a bad light. You need to put a slight twist on the answer to make the weakness sound quite positive.

One possible answer to the worse attribute is that you are a perfectionist and that you tend to keep working on a project until you get every little detail right.

What interests you about the job?

This is where some of your research will come in handy. You can point out how some of the responsibilities that the employer listed in their job advert are the sort of things you are keen to work with and have some experience.

If appropriate, you can also point out that the company is at the cutting edge of your profession and that you want to grow with an industry leader.

Why would you like to work for us?

Consider this question carefully defore answering. Mention the positive aspects of the job that you find attractive (leave out anything negative). Don't mention salary.

What is your salary expectation?

This is a tricky question to answer. On the one hand you don't want to undersell yourself and then again you don't want to appear greedy either. There are two answers you could give here:

- If the question is asked toward the early part of the interview then say that it is difficult to say at this point without knowing more about the jobe iteself and the responsibilites that will go with it.

- You could ask them what the salary range is and then answer by saying that your experience would place you somewhere towards the top at the top end.

Are you considering any other positions at the moment?

As a jobhunter, the answer is undoubtedly yes. However, don't tell them much and especially don't mention the names of the other companies either. Mention that you've have had a few offers.

What do you think of the last company you worked for?

This is a trick question to test if you are going to bad-mouth your last employer - don't do it. Remain positive about them.

Tell me what you know about our company.

You should have done some research on the company beforehand and this is your chance to create a strong impression on the interviewer.