Ace Your Next Job Interview: Answering the Most Common and Tricky Questions

It’s important to know what kinds of questions you might be asked at a job interview. That way, you can prepare your answers ahead of time and be sure of them when the pressure is on.

Job interviews can be nerve-wracking. You want to make the best possible impression and stand out from other candidates. At the same time, you don’t want to come across as too rehearsed or robotic with your answers. The key is being prepared to talk about yourself and your qualifications comfortably and confidently.

In this article we’ll look at some of the most frequently asked interview questions along with tips for how to answer them. With the right preparation, you can walk into any job interview ready to wow the interviewers and land the position.

Common Interview Questions (And How to Knock Them Out of the Park)

Here are some of the most ubiquitous questions interviewers love to ask, along with suggestions for responding effectively

Tell Me About Yourself

This open-ended request to discuss your background and qualifications can be tricky to answer concisely. You want to highlight your strongest assets without rambling.

Focus on your education, skills, and experiences most relevant to the job. Keep it high-level to start.
Emphasize what makes you uniquely qualified. Include 1-2 specific accomplishments or strengths that match what they are looking for.
Conclude with how this role fits into your career goals or growth trajectory.

Keep it to 2-3 minutes and invite the interviewer to dive deeper into anything you summarized.

Why Do You Want This Job?

With this question, interviewers want to understand your motivations and alignment with the role.

Don’t just say you want it for the paycheck! Make your enthusiasm for the company and position clear.
Explain why the role appeals to you and match your interests/skills. Show you understand and care about their mission.
Highlight some key responsibilities of the job that excite you, and how you would thrive.

What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

This is a chance to sell your best assets!

Choose 2-3 strengths that directly pertain to the position/company needs. Back them up with specific examples.
For a customer service role, you could say you’re an excellent communicator, empathetic, and committed to providing top-notch service to clients.
For a marketing role, creativity, analytics skills, and ability to identify trends/insights could be compelling strengths.

What Are Your Greatest Weaknesses?

The key here is being honest while positioning your “weakness” as a strength in disguise.

Choosing something like “working too hard” or being “too perfectionist” can come across disingenuous.
Pick an actual weakness and explain how you’ve taken steps to address it. For example:
- Public speaking used to be difficult for me. I joined Toastmasters and have become very comfortable presenting to groups.
Frame it as an area you continually seek to improve versus a fatal flaw.

Why Should We Hire You?

This is your sales pitch! Outline why you are the ideal candidate.

Connect the dots between your qualifications and the role’s responsibilities/requirements.
What value do you offer that makes you stand out from other applicants? Convey your genuine excitement.
Close with a summary of how your skills, experiences, and passions make you perfectly poised to excel in this position.

Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?

With this common question, interviewers are trying to understand your career ambitions and trajectory.

Reassure them you are excited about this role and intend to stay for the long haul, not just as a career stepping stone.
At the same time, express your aspirations to grow professionally. Share how you hope to develop new skills and evolve in responsibilities over time.
You could say something like: “In 5 years, I hope to become an expert in X aspect of this role. I’d love to mentor new team members and potentially move into a leadership position.”

What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment?

This is your time to boast about a career achievement that showcases your abilities.

Choose an accomplishment that directly relates to the role. Quickly summarize the situation.
Emphasize skills you applied successfully, challenges you overcame, and measurable positive impact.
If you saved money or time, generated revenue, increased productivity, etc – quantify it!
Describe how you felt about the experience and what you learned in a sentence or two.

How Do You Handle Pressure or Stressful Situations?

With this question, interviewers want to know how you respond under duress.

Share an example of a high-pressure situation you stayed calm and effective in. What tactics did you use?
If you don’t have a suitable work example, describe a stressful personal experience. How did you demonstrate level-headedness and perseverance?
Emphasize teamwork, preparation, and focusing on what you can control. Show that pressure motivates versus paralyzes you.

Do You Have Any Questions for Me?

Always close with 2-3 thoughtful questions for your interviewers.

Good options include:

What does success look like in the first 30-60-90 days?
Could you describe the team culture?
What are 1-2 of your favorite things about working for this company?
What are the most immediate priorities or challenges of the position?

Smart questions reinforce your interest, understanding of the role, and curiosity.

Behavioral & Situational Interview Questions

In addition to common personal background questions, many companies incorporate behavioral and situational questions. These require you to describe how you’ve handled specific work situations in the past, or hypothetical scenarios.

Examples include:

Tell me about a time you had to rapidly adjust priorities to meet changing demands. How did you handle this?
Describe a situation where you had to persuade a resistant colleague to get onboard with an idea. How did you convince them?
Imagine you strongly disagree with your manager about an important decision. How would you handle this?

To excel at these behavioral questions:

Listen closely and make sure you understand all aspects before answering. Repeat the core situation back if needed.
Provide a real example from your experience if possible. Set the scene.
Clearly explain your thought process, actions, and outcome. Emphasize skills like communication, critical thinking, and collaboration.
If hypothetical, outline how you would proactively address the situation in a productive manner.

Preparing stories and examples to reference for common behavioral prompts can help you feel more confident.

Questions to Ask the Interviewer

Interviewers will almost always allow time for you to ask questions. This is a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate your engagement, interest, and professionalism.

Smart questions to consider include:

Company vision: What are your top priorities for the team/department this year? What’s the big-picture vision on the horizon?
Values: How would you describe the work culture and values? What makes it an enjoyable place to work?
Growth: Does the company offer opportunities for professional development such as mentoring or continued education?
Management style: Could you describe your management style and what you look for in top performers?
Feedback: What feedback are exiting employees sharing about their experience? What could be improved?
Next steps: When should I expect to hear back regarding your decision? What are the next steps in the interview process?

Listen closely to the responses, which will provide valuable insights. This also enables you to incorporate what you learned seamlessly into thank you notes.

Sell Yourself Confidently While Staying True to You

With the right mindset and preparation, you can tackle any interview question with grace. The most important thing is understanding your own background inside and out so you can highlight your assets without exaggerating or becoming flustered.

Be thoughtful about how to succinctly convey your qualifications. But don’t be afraid to infuse your personality. Interviewers want to understand who you are beyond just skills and experiences. Your passion and humanity can resonate more than memorized answers.

Throughout the process, listen closely and be present. Have a conversation versus reciting rehearsed speeches. Ask smart questions that advance the dialogue. Express genuine interest in the company’s mission and enthusiasm for the role.

If you click with the culture and sincerely convey how your talents would contribute, an offer is sure to follow! With practice and confidence in articulating your worth, you can make any interview feel more like a friendly discussion and less like an interrogation.

Can you tell me about a time where you encountered a business challenge? How did you overcome it?

Behavioural question alert! This is your opportunity to use the CAR method: Context, Action, and Result. You should pick an example that shows how you solved a business problem using a skill the employer wants to see.

Provide the background, describe what action you took and the professional result you achieved.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Your employer wants to see how driven and goal-oriented you are. They also want to check that your expectations are realistic.

In your answer, demonstrate your awareness of industry trends and ability to be flexible.

Follow these 14 Basic Rules to ensure you crack every interview

FAQ

What are the 3 C’s of interviewing?

These three C’s that we will examine are: Credibility; Competence; and Confidence. They are inextricably connected. I’m an introvert by personality type, but can interview with the best of them because of the successful implementation of these three C’s.

How do you clear an interview question?

Listen carefully to the interviewer. Be sure you understand the question; if not, ask for clarification, or restate it in your own words. Answer completely and concisely. Stick to the subject at hand.

What are the 5 C’s of interviewing?

These 5 Cs stand for Competency, Character, Communication Skills, Culture Fit and Career Direction. 1. Competency – having the requisite technical skill in performing the task is the key. Detective Tip: giving technical assessment during interview.

What are the most common interview questions?

In this guide, we’ll go through the 21 most common interview questions. For each question, you’ll see why the person is asking and how you should answer, plus some sample answers and even an answer template you can use for your interview. 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. How do you stay organized? How do you prioritize tasks? 3. What are your hobbies?

What questions should you ask a job interviewer?

Tell me about yourself This is one of the most common interview questions, and it trips a lot of job seekers up because of how open-ended it is. Here’s what the best answers include, and how to impress when the interviewer asks this question: First, keep your answer work-related when answering, “ Tell me about yourself.

What is a good answer to the interview question?

There are a lot of good answers to this interview question. There isn’t just one “right” answer. Here are some guidelines: If you chose to leave on your own terms, stay positive and focus on what you wanted to gain from the decision, rather than bad-mouthing or focusing on negatives you wanted to avoid.

How do you answer a job interview question?

In your answer, you’ll want to reassure them you’d have things under control (both in what you say and how you say it), describe a specific system or method you’ve used (bonus points if you can tie it to the role you’re interviewing for), and explain how it benefited you and your team. Just make sure your answer is succinct and, well, organized.