Ten Interview questions you should always expect

Posted on 20. Aug, 2007 by Bill in Employment News

Ten Interview questions you should always expect

1. What can you tell me about yourself?

Don’t respond with a full-scale autobiography; instead, help the interviewer by focusing the question: “What about me would be most relevant to you and what this company needs?” Then answer this more specific question.

2. Why do you want to leave your present company?

If you have a good, positive reason for wanting to leave, use it. However, avoid negative reasons. Redirect your response to explain why you want to move to the target company. For example, instead of answering, “I don’t get enough challenges at XYZ Industries,” respond like this: “I am eager to take on more challenges, and I believe I will find them at ABC Industries.”

3. What do you know about us?

Learn all you can about the target company. There’s no substitute for research. If you’ve done your homework, this question is your chance to shine.

4. How much experience do you have?

If your pre-interview research has revealed areas in which the company is concentrating its efforts, cite your relevant experience. If your research has failed to reveal any clear-cut areas of concern to the target company, answer the question with a question: “Are you looking for overall experience or experience in some specific area of special interest to you?” The interviewer’s response should allow you to frame your answer in a way that will directly address the target company’s needs.

5. What do you most like and most dislike about your current job?

Minimize the negative part of this question by replying, “I like everything about my current position.” Then list some vital skills, abilities, and qualifications you’ve developed or honed in your current position. Conclude with, “I’m now ready for a new set of challenges and an opportunity for greater advancement and greater responsibility.”

Answer the positive part of the question — What do you like? — by citing the opportunity your present job has given you to develop assets useful to the target employer.

6. How many hours a week do you need to get your job done?

If you reply with something like 40 hours, you risk labeling yourself as a clock-watcher, but if you give a higher number, you risk implying that you’re slow, inefficient, and easily overwhelmed. Instead of pinning yourself down to a specific number, reply like this: “I make an effort to plan my time efficiently. Usually, this works well. However, as you know, this business has crunch periods, and when that happens, I put in as many hours as necessary to get the job done.”

7. How much are you making now and how much do you want?

You cannot avoid answering the first part of the question, but you can frame the reply effectively: “I’m earning $35,000, but I’m not certain that helps you evaluate my ‘worth,’ because the two jobs differ significantly in their responsibilities.” As to the second part, do not state a specific figure. Instead, itemize the skills, talents, abilities, and responsibilities the target position entails: “If I understand the full scope of the position, my responsibilities would include…” Then: “Given all of this, what figure did you have in mind for someone with my qualifications in a position as important as this?” An alternative is to reply, “I expect a salary appropriate to my qualifications and demonstrated abilities. What figure did you have in mind?” Or: “What salary range has been authorized for this position?”

8. What’s the most difficult situation you ever faced on the job?

Don’t respond by bringing up a situation so difficult that it resulted in personal failure or general disaster. Instead, prepare yourself in advance by thinking of a story with a happy ending — happy for your company, that is. Avoid discussing personal or family difficulties, and avoid discussing problems you’ve had with supervisors, peers, or subordinates. However, you might discuss a difficult situation with a subordinate, provided that the issues were resolved inventively and to everyone’s satisfaction.

9. What are you looking for in this job?

Stand this one on its head. You may be looking for money, self-fulfillment, an easy commute… whatever. But don’t tell the interviewer any of this. Put words such as contribute, enhance, and improve in your response. “At ABC Industries, I discovered just how much one person could contribute to a company. As production supervisor, I increased efficiency an average of 14 percent, which meant a quarterly bottom-line increase of $27,000 in net revenue for our department. I’m looking to do even more for XYZ Industries. That’s what will give me satisfaction in this job.”

10. Why should I hire you?

This is really a request for an “executive summary” of what you bring to the company table. Keep the response brief. Recap and repeat, in laundry-list fashion, any job requirements the interviewer may have enumerated earlier in the interview. Point by point, match your skills, abilities, and qualifications to those items.

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