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Common Interview Questions

A woman interviewing a student

General

  • Tell me about yourself.
  • Walk me through your past experiences and educational background.
  • Why are you interested in this opportunity?
  • What are your strengths and how can they support you in this role?
  • What is your major weakness and what are you doing about it?
  • What do you know about our company? Why do you want to work here?  

Communication

  • Describe a time that you were successful primarily because of your ability to communicate orally.
  • Tell me about a sensitive or volatile situation that required very careful communication.

Ongoing Improvement

  • Describe a time when you made a mistake in a working environment. What did you learn?
  • Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve the processes or operations in your position or within your team.

Detail Orientation

  • Give me an example of a time where your attention to detail helped you avoid making a mistake.

Decision Making

  • Tell me about one of the most difficult decisions you made in the last year. What made it so difficult? What process did you use to make the decision?

Goal Setting

  • Give me an example of an important goal you set and how you accomplished it.

Cooperation

  • Describe a time where, had you not been able to get another person’s or group’s co- operation, you probably would not have been successful.
  • Tell me about a time you co-operated with someone particularly difficult to work with. 

Creativity/Innovation

  • Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution / idea / project /report to a work problem. 
  • Tell me about a time you were especially creative in solving a problem you had been dealing with for some time.

Customer Service

  • Give me an example of something you have done to either develop or strengthen customer relationships.

Problem Solving

  • Tell me about a time when you experienced a challenge with a coworker, classmate or peer. What happened and what was the outcome?

Initiative

  • Tell me about a time when you pushed yourself to do more than was necessary.

Flexibility/Adaptability

  • Tell me about a time when you had to stop working on one assignment and start working on another one. What did you do? How did that work out?

Questions You Can Ask

Typically, you will be asked if you have questions to share. Planning such inquiries serves to highlight your interest as a candidate. It is strongly recommended that you prepare at least 3-5 questions prepared to ask immediately following their questions. For example:

  • How would you describe a typical day/week in this position?
  • What are the critical responsibilities of this position? (This is only relevant, of course, if this wasn’t covered in the interview)
  • What type of employees are most successful at this company?
  • What is the structure of the department I am being considered for?

Do Not Ask:

  • Questions that deal with salary, benefits, vacation, or job security. For example: can I take time off for vacation? Can I change my scheduled hours of work? Did I get the job? These questions may suggest you may not be focused on company needs. Issues such as hours and vacation can be addressed once you receive an offer.
  •  Questions that refer to negative or inappropriate topics or company information. Tip: keep the interview items discussed positive!
  • Questions that you are not sure the interviewer can answer (i.e., vague inquiries, overly technical questions).