How to Answer the Most Common Job Interview Questions

Summary: If you are preparing to attend a job interview, you should practice your answers to the most common questions posed by hiring managers.

Preparing for a job interview is very important, no matter how many of these you have attended during your professional career. The more you prepare, the more likely it is that you will succeed. We have put together a list of the most common job interview questions in this post and how you should answer these questions.

Why Should We Hire You?

The answer to this question is the best opportunity you will have to sell yourself as an employee. You need to tell the hiring manager three things with this answer; you can provide excellent results, you are a better person to hire than any other candidate and that you will fit in the corporate culture.

What are your weaknesses?

This question is asked at almost every job interview today because hiring managers want to see how you will handle yourself. To answer this question you should come up with something that is a weakness, but make sure it does not cause you to bomb the interview. Take a weakness and spin it into a positive. For example, mention a weakness, but say that you have been doing x,y, and z at work to rectify the issue.

Where else are you interviewing?

This does not come up too often, but it is still a popular question in job interviews today. Companies ask this question because they want to gauge what other companies are interested in you and if you are truly interested in the industry. The best way to answer this question is to tell the hiring manager that you are considering other options in the company’s industry.

What type of manager are you?

When interviewing for a management position, you need to convey your style in the answer. This can be done by explaining some situations that show exemplary leadership. You can also tell the interviewer that you treat each individual employee differently.

Why were you fired?

When asked this question, be 100 percent honest no matter how bad the situation was that caused you to lose a job. You can explain what happened and tell the interviewer how you have grown and learned from it.

How would your boss describe you?

This is a very difficult question to answer. Think long about the answer to this question because the interviewer will be calling your boss for a reference or work check. You need to discuss skills and traits that have not been mentioned earlier in the interview to ace this question.

Why did you change your career path?

This is another question that requires absolute honesty. You can tell the interviewer that you are looking for more difficult challenges, a more flexible schedule or that your skills were not being used in your old career.

What can our company do differently or better?

Many startup companies will ask this question of their job candidates. The reason for asking this question is that the hiring manager wants to see how well you can think critically and how well you can come up with new ideas.

If you need more job interview tips that can help in your career ahead, please click here.