15 Common Interview Questions And Answers

If you’re reading this, you are probably preparing for an interview or might have just got rejected from one. Well, congrats on both. You made it to the interview table, hats off. 

Not your educational qualifications, but the tenacity to deal with such learned interviewers is what determines your success through one. Preparation the step that may take you to the other. 

Making it to the table is half the battle now. In this article, I am going to get you prepared with the most common and basic questions of a job interview. Although it may seem easy to counter, you may land up fumbling, and remain out of words. 

It does scare the best of us!

After conducting a lot of research, from the most preeminent websites that conduct student counseling and human resource studies, I have shared the most important interview questions and answers. 

The challenge to get through the hands of those who have a deciding power on your future is more anxiety-inducing than meeting your in-laws for the first time. Not all of them are related to the current position that you are applying for. However, you can read it for knowledge or maybe a better performance. 

Let’s dive in!

Nonetheless, basic questions usually triggered, include a general brief on your resume, your interest to work, your strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly a short description of yourself. 

Tell Me About Yourself 

Although it’s almost like answering in class 1 and writing an essay about myself, well this answer sets the tone for the remainder of the interview. Make sure you do not introduce yourself, starting with your name or where your hometown location is, it’s already listed in your resume and very well presented in front of the interviewer. 

Instead, describe your qualifications and your academic choices first. Where you have studied, your first organization to have worked with and how do you feel about working in this domain. 

If you have excelled in any part of your work, previously, it’s time to introduce that excellence in a single line. Let your passion take a talk on. Talk about a car or property or real estate project that excites you. 

This will not only build your morale, but the interviewer will also know you have an understanding of precise knowledge, and you do no beat around the bush.

A quick tip will be, not to talk too much about your personal life or your hobbies or the fact that you like partying and hanging around with friends. Make sure your aims and ambitions get more to talk about than what you do in your free time. 

Why Do You Want To Work With Us?

Here your research and analytical skills come into the picture. Make sure the recruiter does not catch you off guard with the question. It is your duty as a candidate sitting for a job interview, to make the interviewer and the company feel special. 

The very simple way to do that is to have a little research done before sitting on the table. You can always introduce this answer with an opening line about the information available on LinkedIn. Tell them you have visited the company’s website. 

Make sure to list the pros only as of now. The pros should have the company’s vision and mission. Try aligning your background and experience with the company’s motto and you are all set to gain impression in the interviewer’s mind. 

List Out Your Strengths And Weaknesses

Don’t be dreaded before answering this. It often turns the face of the candidate pale and the interviewer is made aware of the candidate’s mindset. You do not have to pen down the real flaws or the weaknesses, as that may sound too bad, isn’t it?

Try criticizing yourself in the beginning and then introduce the positive abilities that overshadow your weaknesses. Describe yourself as an average speech giver and talk about the extra courses that you have taken so that your career alignment is in line with your job specifications. 

Do not like either a weakness should be something that does not turn you down as a candidate and also let the interviewer see that you have hidden skills and you try to work on them. 

Why Do You Have Gap In Your Job History?

You make the site a dozen of a legitimate reason why you have experience gap, however, if you do not get through this question, your shortlisting may be questionable. 

It does not have a one-size answer that fits all answers. It’s best, to be honest, and relate your life experiences with your job experiences. Be honest if you have taken time off from your work and traveled around the world with your family. 

You may also talk of a time when you had to prepare and study for a government exam. Do not forget to mention the time when you started looking for a job all over again, the reason why you are at the interview table.

 Why Should We Hire You?

This question is a determining one. The hiring manager may either fix or drop you off the list. Here is where he will ensure if you are a good fit for the position. 

Sometimes the management board overlooks all the flaws and looks up for an answer to this question only. Make sure you are confident and relate your confidence to your experience.  

Align your skills with the job you seek, along with your background. 

“I See You Have Changed Jobs Frequently. Why So?”

From my own experience, I can tell you, changing a job is not a bad thing. It has given me the edge, I have always desired, the amount that I forecasted as security for me. 

Changing jobs can either positively or negatively affect the interview’s success. You need to talk about the amazing opportunities that you had for the last few years. Talk about the time when you have been working, about the success that you have got in all the last jobs. 

Mention how your managers have praised your work and given you a senior position. Here you can play a trick, you can talk about how the senior role would have affected you or your personal life at the time. 

As such you should choose to apply for a much moderate position. If you have frequently changed jobs, make sure they have always been upward moving positions, both in terms of designation and in terms of pay. 

What Are Your Salary Expectations (Careful)

Well if this is the question you are dealing with right now, you have come a long way in the process. Do not give a range or a number before you know the industry standard. 

Your expectation should pretty much meet the standards being offered to new or experienced candidates. You can always research on websites such as glassdoor.com, and naukri.com. 

Align your next statement with the range that you mention. When it comes to money, we are all greedy. Of course, you are very well aware of the salary, this company is about to offer. It was present in the job description. However, if the salary was not mentioned, you can always ask them.

Prefer passing with generic response. Subtlety is better than obviousness.

“Do You Have Any Questions For Me?”

This is another question that shows your research and analytical skills. Here the interviewer will be eager to know if you have information about the organization, that has led you to have an interview with them. You can always ask about the organizational culture and the people who tend to excel. 

Talk about a social initiative (if any), that has taken the organization on the top list today. It shows your interest and potential to work with them. So if any other candidate is not able to answer or counter this question, your positive skills may help you grab a seat here. Take that chance.

 “What Do You Like The Most About Working In This Industry?”

This answer has to repel all the bad matches the interviewer has come across, so far. Apply a common strategy to make yourself attractive, keep your approach negligent to the negative. 

Don’t worry about saying the right thing, one way to do it right is saying something authentic and appropriate. Here you have to select the core components of working in the industry. 

Discuss what you like the most and provide fewer details than going into descriptive answers. When you describe something, its human nature to go off-topic. This can be a loophole to your good performance.  

“What Makes You Uncomfortable?”

This is a high rise question. It does not mean they are capable of seeing your nervousness or have got hold of any of the loopholes you were trying to cover. 

Here the employer approaches to understand you better, your limit both in terms of your quality and quantity. This is an alternative approach to asses show far do you will push yourself or grow beyond the ethical boundaries. 

Think and answer! Avoid highlighting a key part of the role. For example, if you are working in sales, do not bring out experiences that have made you uncomfortable while you were talking to people (customers) directly. 

Always go for something that has a partial positive reflection on your attitude. For example, you can always highlight an uncomfortable experience when a co-worker behaved unethically with you.

“Where Do You See Yourself In The Next 5 Years?”

It’s always best to answer safer than to act over motivated. You can always answer by saying, “hopefully not doing this”, especially if you are a fresher or have applied for an entry-level job. 

Your expectation should showcase a senior position, managing a team of CO workers, being in a leadership role, then directly being a director of the company you have just planned to enter. 

This question brings along with it the motivation for the interviewer to assess if ambitious enough. You need to answer with realistic expectations about your career. One way to keep safe is by mentioning the next step after this position. So if you are joining for an associate-level job, make sure your next approach talks about a senior associate position or a team lead. 

Don’t blame yourself for not being able to hit back well with such tricky questions. They all have inner meanings. They have been framed with the mentality to keep things correct.

“How Well Do You Deal With Stressful Situations?”

If this is a senior position you have applied for, for example, a team lead, account manager, supervisor, coordinator, or a director’s position, this question is sure to be shot in your face. 

This question aims to check if you’re the type of person who has survived in the typical environment of risk-taking. The interviewer is all set to know if you have healed the cracks that have come your way, or you ran when the signs of trouble showed up. 

Well, do not answer about the panic attacks, crying, and running away, even if you have done the same. Instead, you should always give examples where you had performed well under pressure. 

To back the situation well, quote some of the best performance reviews. 

“Why Are You Leaving Your Current Job?”

Now this is a toughie, isn’t it?

Trust me when I say this, this is where the water wave tries to reach the land. The certainty of this question is infinite. Keep things positive. You will gain nothing by answering any negative about all the previous work experiences, but a negative impression on the new one. 

Try framing things in a way that shows your ego to be an opportunistic one. Be significant and compare the service industry with a product industry. Discuss Converse on the pros and cons if you were in a service industry and you are interviewing for a product based company.

Make sure to cite the pros of product-based industries and then related to your background experience and vice versa. Most importantly, if you were let go from the previous organization, keep it short and simple. 

Let them know you were asked to leave. It’s an acceptable, honest answer. Exoneration will only loosen your chances of getting through the process. 

“Are You Planning On Having Children?”

It’s best to make you aware that questions on gender, religion, caste, and family planning are illegal. But they still get asked and more often than not they are presented very well. 

Not always are the intensions negative. The interviewer must be trying to make a conversation to get you talking and might not realize that he has been pushing those off-limits. Always make sure not to disclose any of your troubles and planning, while in an interview. 

 Make a polished ignorance, particularize that you’re not quite there yet. Put together your answer and confess that you are currently focusing on your career. A prominent come back can be asking about the job description in detail. 

Once the interviewer gets a hint of your clever dodge, he may downright change the topics. Unless of course, he has an evil intention. 

“On A Scale Of 1 To 10 Rate Me As An Interviewer?”

Thinking about a perfect 10 to fabricate an impression, too easy to please, isn’t it? Here’s a trick! 

Give anything less than the perfect 10.

Having said that, be prepared for a critical question bouncing back. Keep your answer thoughtful and expressive. The interviewer will only resent criticism coming from you. 

Here you can show positivism if you think you might not have shown enough. Don’t start by giving a numerical rating. Simply praise the style of the interview and talk about the qualities that you have noticed. Of course, if the interview has been long and this is the very last question you’ve been asked, you have spent 40 to 50 minutes with the same person. 

Keep your sense organs active. List qualities that include a tough-minded personality, good communication skills, substantially notifying that the person did not make you feel uncomfortable and was very careful with the questions.

Compliment his personality to be methodical and analytical and align it with the critical selection that he has been making. A sincere compliment is better than divulging and anchoring on the old statement. 

Hope this brings some change in your presentation. 

Good Luck with the amazing opportunities you seek in furtherance.