Question
Areas
About Your Qualifications
- Tell
me about yourself.
- How
do you think someone who knows you well would describe you?
- What
is your greatest weakness?
- Tell
me the contribution you can make to the organization.
- Tell
me about a professional assignment you've handled.
- Tell
me about your school experiences.
- What
was your most rewarding college experience?
- Describe
your most meaningful work experience.
- How
do you think someone you have worked with would describe you?
- Why
are you the most qualified for this position?
- Do
you have supervisory experience?
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areas
About Your Ability To Be Effective In
The Work Environment
- Why
do you want this job?
- What
do you know about this company?
- What kind of work environment makes
you feel the most comfortable?
- How do you determine whether or not
you want to work for a particular company?
- How are you a team player?
- Do you work well under pressure?
- How do you handle conflict?
- Name a major problem you encountered
and describe how you dealt with it.
- How competitive are you?
- What do you expect from your
supervisor?
- What
qualities should a successful manager demonstrate?
- Describe
the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and subordinate.
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areas
About Your Career Goals
- What
are your long term career goals? How are you preparing to achieve them?
- What
career rewards are most important to you?
- How
do you spend your spare time?
- What
are your salary requirements?
- Are
you willing to relocate?
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areas
Welcome To The Real World!
Here are some tough questions employers
ask that are specifically designed to determine your career potential:
- Why
did you choose (name of school)?
- Why
did you want to major in (name of major)?
- What
course did you like to most? The least?
- What
things did you learn in school that you could use on the job?
- Do
you think your grades adequately represent your abilities?
- We have hired
people from your school before, but they have not worked out. What makes
you different?
- What problems
did you see in your school? How would you go about changing it?
- Tell me about
your accomplishments that show you have initiative and a willingness to
work.
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areas
Difficult Questions
- Have
you ever had a boss you disliked? Why did you dislike him/her?
- How
would someone that dislikes you describe you?
- Tell
me about a group you participated in that was having problems:
- What was your role?
- How did you handle it?
- What was the outcome?
- What would you
have done differently?
- How could the
group have improved its performance?
- Tell
me about a time when you experienced a failure and how you reacted to it.
- Tell
me about a time when you were under considerable pressure to meet one or
more goals.
- Describe a
problematic situation at work and how you resolved it.
- Give me an
example of how you are a risk taker.
- If you could
have any job in the world, what would it be?
- How are you
motivated?
- Why do you
want to work for us?
- Why should
we hire you?
- Give a one
sentence positioning statement of yourself.
- How do you
decide what to do first on a new project?
- How did you
handle a situation where you did not agree with something your boss asked
you to do?
- What did you
like about your last job? Dislike?
- What would
you like to be doing five years from now?
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areas
The Stress Interview
- Would
you like to have your boss's job?
- Sell
me this computer you see on my desk.
- Why
should I hire you when I could fill this job within the company?
- Why
weren't you working for so long?
- Describe
a situation where your work was criticized.
- Your resume
shows that you were with your last company for a number of years with limited
increase in rank or salary. What can you tell me about this?
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For Career Changers
- Why
do you think you would like this kind of work?
- How
do you expect to become proficient in those areas you are unfamiliar with?
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areas
Tell Us About Yourself
This is one of the most difficult
questions to answer, but yields you the greatest opportunity. Do not give
a long autobiographical lecture; rather, just organize your thoughts around
why you are interested in and qualified for the job.
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areas
Do You Have Any Questions For Us?
Always answer yes and be prepared
to have some. Otherwise, you'll appear to be disinterested. It is important
to ask questions that show a response to what you have learned from the
employer. Avoid trying to sound scripted. Here are some examples:
Advancement
- Can
you tell me how success in this position is measured?
- How
do you encourage your employees to keep current with professional developments
in the field?
- Can
you describe your training program for me?
- What
is a typical career path for someone who has been in this position?
- What is the
time frame for advancement?
- What is the
retention rate for people in this position?
- Does the company
tend to promote from within?
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areas
Responsibilities
- Tell
me about a typical day on this job.
- What is the
most challenging aspect of this job?
- Who
would I work with most closely?
- How often
can I expect to relocate?
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areas
Being On A New Job
- What
is the most challenging aspect to this job for someone who is new to the
company?
- What
will the new (job title) have to accomplish in the next six months?
- What
are your expectations for newly hired employees?
- What
qualities do newly hired employees possess?
- How would
you describe a typical first assignment?
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areas
More About The Company
- Why
is the position open?
- What
are your major projects for the coming year?
- What
is the structure of the department where the position is located?
- What
is the work environment like?
- What
are the company's strengths and weaknesses?
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areas
Return
to The Interview
Published
by the Connecticut Department of Labor, Project Management
Office
Information For Job Seekers