The 250 Job Interview Questions

You'll Most Likely Be Asked...and the Answers That Will Get You Hired!

Peter Veruki

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 1999
• eBook ISBN: 9781440501876
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Careers

Why do you want this job? Why should I hire you? Why do you want to leave your current job? Do you have convincing answers ready for these important questions? Landing a good job is a competitive process and often the final decision is based on your performance at the interview. By following the advice of prominent career planning and human resources expert Peter Veruki, you'll know you have the right answers at your job interview.

4

The Basic Interview Questions

Okay, now you're ready to start practicing your interview questions. The following two hundred are among the most commonly asked questions in interviews today. If you can manage to get a good handle on these, you'll breeze through your interviews and really stand out from the crowd. Remember, employers are often interviewing many people for a single position, so you need to prepare answers that will get you noticed as a winner.

Chances are that a vast majority of the questions you'll be asked on a typical job interview appear in the next two chapters. But you may be asked a variation on one of our questions with different wording. Just remember as you work your way through the next sections that you're not trying to memorize the answers verbatim. Instead you are trying to respond to interview questions in a way that will convey that you're someone the employer would want to hire. In other words, project yourself as someone who's likely to stay with the company for a number of years, who's achievement oriented, who'll fit in well with the other employees, and who's likable. Of course, you should also try to present yourself as someone who's capable of performing extremely well in the position.

You should avoid giving generic answers like “I'm a people person” or “I have excellent written and oral communication skills.” Your response should always be specific (with supporting examples), and it should relate specifically to the job, the industry, or other personal factors to help your answer (and you!) stand out. Particularly in screening interviews, where generic questions are often asked, recruiters are looking to eliminate the average respondent. You can't afford a predictable, nondescript response. You must turn a common question into a memorable answer.

Go through the practice interview questions in the next two chapters. At first you may wish to read the sample responses and the accompanying discussion. Later, as you begin to feel more comfortable with the questions, try answering them without any help, as you would during a real interview.

1. Passion for the Business

Q: Why do you want to work in this industry?

A: I've always wanted to work in an industry that makes tools. One of my hobbies is home-improvement projects, so I've collected a number of saws manufactured by your company. I could be an accountant anywhere, but I'd rather work for a company whose products I trust.

Tell a story about how you first became interested in this type of work. Point out any similarities between the job you're interviewing for and your current or most recent job. Provide proof that you aren't simply shopping in this interview. Make your passion for your work a theme that you allude to continually throughout the interview.

Q: Why would you be particularly good at this business?

A: I was a pastry chef, so I understand dessert products well and can help you with new product development. Recent preservatives have come a long way toward eliminating texture difference in pastry dough. This means we can investigate many more products than before.

Show how you keep up due to natural inquisitiveness, reading, and so on. Do you have sufficient natural interest to go that extra step and channel appropriate energy into your work? Give a specific answer.

Q: How do you stay current?

A: I pore over the Wall Street Journal, the Times, Institutional Investor, and several mutual fund newsletters. And I have a number of friends who are analysts.

Demonstrate natural interest in the industry or career field by describing publications or trade associations that are compatible with your goal.

Q: Why do you think this industry would sustain your interest over the long haul?

A: The technology in the industry is changing so rapidly that I see lots of room for job enhancement regardless of promotions. I'm particularly interested in the many applications for multimedia as a training tool.

What expectations or projections do you have for the business that would enable you to grow without necessarily advancing? What excites you about the business? What proof can you offer that your interest has already come from a deep curiosity — perhaps going back at least a few years — rather than a current whim you'll outgrow?

Q: Where do you want to be in five years?

A: I'd like to have the opportunity to work in a plant as well as at the home office. 1 also hope to develop my management skills, perhaps by managing a small staff.

Don't give specific time frames or job titles. Talk about what you enjoy, skills that are natural to you, realistic problems or opportunities you'd expect in your chosen field or industry, and what you hope to learn from those experiences. You shouldn't discuss your goals in a field or industry unrelated to the job you're applying for. This may sound obvious, but too many job candidates make this mistake, unwittingly demonstrating a real lack of interest in their current field or industry. Needless to say, such a gaffe will immediately eliminate you from further consideration.

Q: Describe your ideal career.

A: I'd like to stay in a field related to training no matter what happens. I was too interested in business to work at a university, but I believe that teaching is somehow in my blood. I've been good at sales because I took the time to educate my clients. Now I look forward to training the new hires.

Talk about what you enjoy, skills that are natural to you, realistic problems or opportunities you'd expect in this particular job or industry, and what you hope to learn from those experiences. Avoid mentioning specific time frames or job titles.

Q: If you had unlimited time and financial resources, how would you spend them?

A: I'd love to be able to take several executive seminars on financial management that aren't geared toward financial experts. I'd also love to be able to shut down my department long enough to send everyone through an Outward Bound-type program. Finally, I'd probably travel and look at foreign competitors, and enjoy the food along the way. What would you do?

Although it's tempting to discuss things you'd do for fun, stick to job- or industry-related pursuits, or to skill-building efforts that could transfer to the job you're applying for. For example, if you're applying for a teaching job, you might also be interested in volunteering for an adult literacy program; this demonstrates a passion for your field — a belief in the importance of education — even without pay as an incentive.

2. Motivation and Purpose

Q: Tell me something about yourself that I didn't know from reading your resume.

A: You wouldn't know that I've managed my own small portfolio since I was sixteen, but I believe that it's important for you to understand my interest in investment sales. I've averaged a 12 percent return over the past eight years.

Don't just repeat what's on your resume. Think of a talent or skill that didn't quite fit into your employment history, but that's unique and reveals something intriguing about your personality or past experience.

Q: Tell me what you know about this company.

A: I served as an intern to a restaurant analyst last summer, so I followed all the steak-house chains closely. What you've done especially well is focus on a limited menu with great consistency among locations; the business traveler trusts your product anywhere in the U.S. I'm particularly interested in your real-estate finance group and expansion plans.

Describe your first encounter or a recent encounter with the company or its products and services. What woul...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Before the Job Interview
• Preparing for the Interview?
• Setting the Right Tone
• Interview Strategies
• The Top 250 Questions
• The Basic Interview Questions
• 50 Zingers!
• After the Interview
• Clinching the Deal
• The Art of Negotiation