Most Common Job Interview Questions and Answers
Job Interview Questions and Answers PART 3
While some job interviewers take a reasonably unusual approach to interview questions, most job interviews involve an exchange of common interview questions and answers. (Including a number of the foremost often-asked behavioral interview questions.) Here are a number of the foremost common interview questions, along side the simplest thanks to answer them:
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Job Interview Questions and Answers PART 1
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13. "Tell me about the toughest decision you had to make in the last six months."
The goal of this question is to evaluate the candidate's reasoning ability, problem-solving skills, judgment, and possibly even willingness to take intelligent risks.
Having no answer is a definite warning sign. Everyone makes tough decisions, regardless of their position. My daughter worked part-time as a server at a local restaurant and made difficult decisions all the time -- like the best way to deal with a regular customer whose behavior constituted borderline harassment.
A good answer proves you can make a difficult analytical or reasoning-based decision -- for example, wading through reams of data to determine the best solution to a problem.
A great answer proves you can make a difficult interpersonal decision, or better yet a difficult data-driven decision that includes interpersonal considerations and ramifications.
Making decisions based on data is important, but almost every decision has an impact on people as well. The best candidates naturally weigh all sides of an issue, not just the business or human side exclusively.
14. "What is your leadership style?"
This is a tough question to answer without dipping into platitudes. Try sharing leadership examples instead. Say, "The best way for me to answer that is to give you a few examples of leadership challenges I've faced," and then share situations where you dealt with a problem, motivated a team, worked through a crisis. Explain what you did and that will give the interviewer a great sense of how you lead.
And, of course, it lets you highlight a few of your successes.
15. "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision. What did you do?"
No one agrees with every decision. Disagreements are fine; it's what you do when you disagree that matters. (We all know people who love to have the "meeting after the meeting," where they've supported a decision in the meeting but they then go out and undermine it.)
Show that you were professional. Show that you raised your concerns in a productive way. If you have an example that proves you can effect change, great -- and if you don't, show that you can support a decision even though you think it's wrong (as long as it's not unethical, immoral, etc.).
Every company wants employees willing to be honest and forthright, to share concerns and issues ... but to also get behind a decision and support it as if they agreed, even if they didn't.
16. "Tell me how you think other people would describe you."
I hate this question. It's a total throwaway. But I did ask it once, and got an answer I really liked.
"I think people would say that what you see is what you get," the candidate said. "If I say I will do something, I do it. If I say I will help, I help. I'm not sure that everyone likes me, but they all know they can count on what I say and how hard I work."
Can't beat that.
17. "What can we expect from you in your first three months?"
Ideally the answer to this should come from the employer: They should have plans and expectations for you.
But if you're asked, use this general framework:
You'll work hard to determine how your job creates value -- you won't just stay busy, you'll stay busy doing the right things.
You'll learn how to serve all your constituents -- your boss, your employees, your peers, your customers, and your suppliers and vendors.
You'll focus on doing what you do best -- you'll be hired because you bring certain skills, and you'll apply those skills to make things happen.
You'll make a difference -- with customers, with other employees, to bring enthusiasm and focus and a sense of commitment and teamwork.
Then just layer in specifics that are applicable to you and the job.
18. "What do you like to do outside of work?"
Many companies feel cultural fit is extremely important, and they use outside interests as a way to determine how you will fit into a team.
Even so, don't be tempted to fib and claim to enjoy hobbies you don't. Focus on activities that indicate some sort of growth: skills you're trying to learn, goals you're trying to accomplish. Weave those in with personal details. For example, "I'm raising a family, so a lot of my time is focused on that, but I'm using my commute time to learn Spanish."
19. "What was your salary in your last job?"
This is a tough one. You want to be open and honest, but frankly, some companies ask the question as the opening move in salary negotiations.
Try an approach recommended by Liz Ryan. When asked, say, "I'm focusing on jobs in the $50K range. Is this position in that range?" (Frankly, you should already know -- but this is a good way to deflect.)
Maybe the interviewer will answer; maybe she won't. If she presses you for an answer, you'll have to decide whether you want to share or demur. Ultimately your answer won't matter too much, because you'll either accept the salary offered or you won't, depending on what you think is fair.
20. "A snail is at the bottom of a 30-foot well. Each day he climbs up three feet, but at night he slips back two feet. How many days will it take him to climb out of the well?"
Questions like these have become a lot more popular (thanks, Google) in recent years. The interviewer isn't necessarily looking for the right answer but instead a little insight into your reasoning abilities.
All you can do is talk through your logic as you try to solve the problem. Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself if you get it wrong -- sometimes the interviewer is merely trying to assess how you deal with failure.
21. "What questions do you have for me?"
Don't waste this opportunity. Ask smart questions, not just as a way to show you're a great candidate but also to see if the company is a good fit for you -- after all, you're being interviewed, but you're also interviewing the company.
Here goes:
22. "What do you expect me to accomplish in the first 90 days?"
If you weren't asked this question, ask it yourself. Why? Great candidates want to hit the ground running. They don't want to spend weeks or months "getting to know the organization." They don't want to spend huge chunks of time in orientation, in training, or in the futile pursuit of getting their feet wet.
They want to make a difference -- and they want to make that difference right now.
23. "If you were to rank them, what are the three traits your top performers have in common?"
Great candidates also want to be great employees. They know every organization is different -- and so are the key qualities of top performers in those organizations. Maybe your top performers work longer hours. Maybe creativity is more important than methodology. Maybe constantly landing new customers in new markets is more important than building long-term customer relationships. Maybe the key is a willingness to spend the same amount of time educating an entry-level customer as helping an enthusiast who wants high-end equipment.
Great candidates want to know, because (1) they want to know if they will fit in, and (2) if they do fit in, they want to know how they can be a top performer.
24. "What really drives results in this job?"
Employees are investments, and you expect every employee to generate a positive return on his or her salary. (Otherwise why do you have them on the payroll?)
In every job some activities make a bigger difference than others. You need your HR team to fill job openings, but what you really want is for them to find the right candidates, because that results in higher retention rates, lower training costs, and better overall productivity.
You need your service techs to perform effective repairs, but what you really want is for those techs to identify ways to solve problems and provide other benefits -- in short, to build customer relationships and even generate additional sales.
Great candidates want to know what truly makes a difference and drives results, because they know helping the company succeed means they will succeed as well.
25. "What are the company's highest-priority goals this year, and how would my role contribute?"
Is the job the candidate will fill important? Does that job matter?
Great candidates want a job with meaning, with a larger purpose -- and they want to work with people who approach their jobs the same way.
Otherwise a job is just a job.
26. "What percentage of employees was brought in by current employees?"
Employees who love their jobs naturally recommend their company to their friends and peers. The same is true for people in leadership positions -- people naturally try to bring on board talented people they previously worked with. They've built relationships, developed trust, and shown a level of competence that made someone go out of their way to follow them to a new organization.
And all of that speaks incredibly well to the quality of the workplace and the culture.
27. "What do you plan to do if...?"
Every business faces a major challenge: technological changes, competitors entering the market, shifting economic trends. There's rarely one of Warren Buffett's moats protecting a small business.
So while some candidates may see your company as a stepping-stone, they still hope for growth and advancement. If they do eventually leave, they want it to be on their terms, not because you were forced out of business.
Say I'm interviewing for a position at your ski shop. Another store is opening less than a mile away: How do you plan to deal with the competition? Or you run a poultry farm (a huge industry in my area): What will you do to deal with rising feed costs?
Great candidates don't just want to know what you think; they want to know what you plan to do -- and how they will fit into those plans.
