To ace your job interview, you must prepare for the interview. Here are a few typical interview questions along with advice on how to respond to them.

Table of Content

Q1. How to answer “Tell me about yourself” in an interview?

“Tell me about yourself” was the first question asked in roughly 80–85% of the interview. Thus, get ready well in advance, and if necessary, rehearse with friends, family, or a coworker. Many applicants began discussing their prior employment history, personal issues, and other life stories when asked this question since they were ill-prepared.

What will be the best response, then? Before summarizing your qualifications for the position you are applying for, describe your previous employment experiences and present duties. Always keep in mind that the secret to a successful interview is to match your qualifications to the position being interviewed for. In other words, you have to sell the buyer what they are purchasing. This is the one of the most crucial for any interview strategies.

Key Points

In order to determine the interviewer’s precise needs, do these actions prior to the interview.

• Examine the job description and make an effort to comprehend the precise requirements, skills, and knowledge that are sought after.
• Try to find out more details about the role and its top priorities if you receive a call from HR or a recruiter.
• It is advisable to inquire regarding more details about the job description from the interviewer as soon as feasible. You may say something like, “I want to make the most of our time together and talk directly to your needs, but I have a number of accomplishments I’d like to tell you about.” Could you please elaborate on the top requirements and priorities for this role so that I can assist you with it? All I know is what I (read in the JD, heard from HR, or the recruiter, etc.)

After learning more about the role, you can discuss your prior accomplishments and work history, as well as how you overcame challenges of a similar nature. You can give instances of your responsibilities and accomplishments, which are all focused on positioning you as the ideal candidate for the requirements he has just described.

Q2. How to answer “Why should we hire you” in an interview?

This is the question that will set you apart from the other applicants. The employer has already examined your resume at this point and is aware of your background in school and employment. To determine whether you’re the greatest applicant for the position, they will still need to know more about you personally. Candidates that are equally qualified may not always be a good fit for the corporate culture or have similar personalities or values.

Key Points

There are a few essential components that your response must include.

• Your qualifications and skills. You should outline your qualifications for the job in three to four main points and include a list of your strongest skills.
• Your remarkable qualities and strengths. Make a point of highlighting your best attributes and suitability for the role.
• Your successes and accomplishments. You can discuss the kinds of achievements you’ve had at other companies and how you might help them reach similar goals. Provide concrete examples of how you would help the business.
• Your zeal and excitement. Lastly, convey your enthusiasm for the chance and outline your goals for the position.

How To Craft Your Answer?

By keeping in mind the previously mentioned points, you ought to be able to develop a response that will make you stand out from the crowd and improve your chances of getting the job.

1. Particular Experience to the Company

Demonstrating your commitment to the field of your interview is possible if you have experience in the same business. Additionally, it is noteworthy since it shows that you possess the necessary abilities and understanding for the position.

2. Experience Particular to Handling Responsibilities

Expand on your expertise managing tasks that aren’t normally included in your job description. Describe your approach to those tasks and your level of performance. Emphasize anything that will help you stand out from the competitors.

3. Relevant Technical Skills

In any career, the ability to employ technical abilities is a must. Other abilities, though, are equally crucial in any position. Interpersonal skills are crucial for any position that involves interacting with customers. This is because it enables you to establish a rapport with clients and win their confidence.

4. Soft Skills

In the business world, interpersonal skills are just as important as technical knowledge. Soft skills are crucial for this reason. They can assist you in resolving disputes, collaborating with a variety of teams, and demonstrating your managerial skills.

5. Education and Certifications

It can be challenging to know what to say during a job interview when you’re questioned about your experience. You could think you have little to offer if you’re a new hire with no prior work experience. But there are still a lot of topics you can cover to highlight your abilities and credentials.

6. Achievements

Describe the significant tasks or customers you oversaw during your last position or internship. Talk about the biggest professional accomplishments you believe you have made. It might be anything from creating innovative procedures that produced outstanding outcomes to effectively managing a crisis at work.

Q3. How to answer “What are your greatest strengths” in an interview?

Your strengths highlight many aspects of your candidacy. By inquiring about your strengths, the interviewer is genuinely trying to find the following

• Whether you know your own strengths or not
• Your qualifications fit the job description or are essential to the position you are applying.
• Whether you are realistic

Thus, tailor your application and highlights to the job you’re seeking for. Say you’re applying for a job as a waiter, for instance? The restaurant manager isn’t going to be impressed by your ability to create imaginative ads.

Consider your top two to three strengths that will help you succeed for each position you are applying for. It is advisable to prepare ahead of time for the interview. Always be prepared with a sample of your prior work or experience to further strengthen your skills.

Examples

Some examples of strengths are

• Curiosity and eagerness to learn new things
• Ability to adapt and adjust to changing situations
• Good time-management skills
• Analytical and problem solving skills
• Strong work ethic and determination to succeed
• Creativity, innovative and critical thinking
• Ability to work both individually as well within teams and possessing a strong communication skills.
• Specific to Management role: Leadership, Persuasion, Teamwork, Diplomatic and Responsible etc.
• Specific to Creative role: Creative, Details-oriented, Curiosity, Originality etc.

Q4. How to answer “What are your greatest weakness” in an interview?

It’s difficult to respond to this question. The majority of candidates truly don’t know how to respond. Should you argue the fact that you don’t have any? Or reveal your worst real vulnerability to recruiters and go all confessional? None of these, is the response. What precisely are you to do then? Make the most of the circumstance and present your response in a way that highlights your areas of weakness.

Key Points

By asking this question interviewer is actually looking for mostly these points

• Self Awareness: It is the capacity to assess oneself and identify one’s areas of need.
• Willingness to Improve: Everyone has some weaknesses – even recruiters themselves. That’s why they don’t expect you to lie about it. What recruiters do expect is that you’re willing and trying to improve yourself
• Sincerity and Honesty: They’re trying to find out if you’re sincere enough to admit a genuine flaw. Remember that your professional shortcomings will surface if you are hired, therefore it is preferable to be upfront about them beforehand.

Examples

Some example of weakness

• Time management: Because I’ve always paid close attention to detail, I occasionally take longer than I anticipate to complete a task.
• Perfectionist: Same example that you given for time management can be consider to this as well. I always looking to make the code perfect in terms of performance and correctness, so sometimes it stretches the timeline till the end
• Still learning to say no: I cannot say no to anyone. It makes me helping out others more often and my work sometimes delayed and I need to stretch more to complete it
• Multi-tasking: Sometime doing multiple tasks together leads to miss some important part of a task to perform
• You should also think about the following weaknesses: self-criticism, impatience, taking on too many tasks at once, and taking on too much responsibilities.

More Interview Questions

• How to Answer Most Common Interview Questions: Part – 2
• How to Answer Most Common Interview Questions: Part – 3
• More Tips On Interviews at our LinkedIn Group
• Common Interview Questions and How to Answer Them by Harvard Business Review