Tough Job Interview Questions and Answers. One of the most challenging aspects of our job search journey is when you finally land yourself a job offer and you have to go through an interview process for you to be assessed. Most often, you are not the only person applying for the position in question therefore, the only chance you have to convince the Human Resources (HR) team is the chance given to you during the interview session. During this phase, you have all the opportunities to sell yourself to the hiring team and prove why you should be the selected candidate among all other applicants. In this guide, we shall help you answer some tough questions that often come up during interview sessions and how best to answer them.
Common Interview Questions and Answers
Below are some of the common interview questions that often come up during most interview sessions.
1. Tell me about yourself
Note: About 80% of all interviews begin with this “innocent” question. Many candidates, unprepared for the question, skewer themselves by rambling, recapping their life stories, and delving into ancient work history or personal matters.
ANSWER: Start with the present and tell why you are well qualified for the position. Remember that the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking for. In other words, you must sell what the buyer is buying. This is the single most important strategy in job hunting.
So, before you answer this or any question it’s imperative that you try to uncover your interviewer’s greatest need, want, problem or goal.
To do so, make you take these two steps:
- Do all the homework you can before the interview to uncover this person’s wants
and needs (not the generalized needs of the industry or company) - As early as you can in the interview, ask for a more complete description of what the
position entails. You might say: “I have a number of accomplishments I’d like to tell
you about, but I want to make the best use of our time together and talk directly to
your needs. To help me do, that, could you tell me more about the most important
priorities of this position? All I know is what I (heard from the recruiter, read in the
classified ad, etc.)”
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Then, ALWAYS follow up with a second and possibly, a third question, to draw out his needs even more. Surprisingly, it’s usually this second or third question that unearths what the interviewer is most looking for.
You might ask simply, “And in addition to that?…” or, “Is there anything else you see as essential to success in this position?:
This process will not feel easy or natural at first, because it is easier simply to answer questions, but only if you uncover the employer’s wants and needs will your answers make the most sense. Practice asking these key questions before giving your answers, the process will feel more natural and you will be light years ahead of the other job candidates you’re competing with.
After uncovering what the employer is looking for, describe why the needs of this job bear striking parallels to tasks you’ve succeeded at before. Be sure to illustrate with specific examples of your responsibilities and especially your achievements, all of which are geared to present yourself as a perfect match for the needs he has just described.
2. Why are you leaving (or did you leave) this position?
Note: Never badmouth your previous industry, company, board, boss, staff, employees or customers. This rule is inviolable: never be negative. Any mud you hurl will only soil your suit.
Especially avoid words like “personality clash”, “didn’t get along”, or others which cast a
shadow on your competence, integrity, or temperament.
ANSWER:
(If you have a job presently)
If you’re not yet 100% committed to leaving your present post, don’t be afraid to say so. Since you have a job, you are in a stronger position than someone who does not. But don’t be coy either. State honestly what you’d be hoping to find in a new spot. Of course, as stated often before, your answer will be all the stronger if you have already uncovered what this position is all about and you match your desires to it.
(If you do not presently have a job.)
Never lie about having been fired. It’s unethical – and too easily checked. But do try to deflect
the reason from you personally. If your firing was the result of a takeover, merger, division-wide layoff, etc., so much the better.
But you should also do something totally unnatural that will demonstrate consummate professionalism. Even if it hurts, describe your own firing – candidly, succinctly and without a trace of bitterness – from the company’s point of view, indicating that you could understand why it happened and you might have made the same decision yourself.
Your stature will rise immensely and, most important of all, you will show you are healed from the wounds inflicted by the firing. You will enhance your image as first-class management material and stand head and shoulders above the legions of firing victims who, at the slightest provocation, zip open their shirts to expose their battle scars and decry the unfairness of it all.
For all prior positions:
Make sure you’ve prepared a brief reason for leaving. The best reasons are more money, opportunity, responsibility or growth.
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3. Why do you want to work at our company?
Note: This question tests whether you’ve done any homework about the firm. If you haven’t, you lose. If you have, you win big.
ANSWER:
This question is your opportunity to hit the ball out of the park, thanks to the in-depth research you should do before any interview. Best sources for researching your target company: annual reports, the corporate newsletter, contacts you know at the company or its suppliers, advertisements, and articles about the
company in the trade press.
4. What are your greatest strengths?
This question seems like a softball lob, but be prepared. You don’t want to come across as egotistical or arrogant. Neither is this a time to be humble.
ANSWER: You know that your key strategy is to first uncover your interviewer’s
greatest wants and needs before you answer questions. And from Question 1, you know how
to do this.
Prior to any interview, you should have a list mentally prepared of your greatest strengths. You should also have, a specific example or two, which illustrates each strength, an example chosen from your most recent and most impressive achievements.
You should have this list of your greatest strengths and corresponding examples from your achievements so well committed to memory that you can recite them cold after being shaken awake at 2:30 AM.
Then, once you uncover your interviewer’s greatest wants and needs, you can choose those achievements from your list that best match up.
As a general guideline, the 10 most desirable traits that all employers love to see in their
employees are:
- A proven track record as an achiever…especially if your achievements match up with the employer’s greatest wants and needs.
- Intelligence…management “savvy”.
- Honesty…integrity…a decent human being.
- Good fit with corporate culture…someone to feel comfortable with…a team player
who meshes well with the interviewer’s team. - Likeability…positive attitude…sense of humour.
- Good communication skills.
- Dedication…willingness to walk the extra mile to achieve excellence.
- Definiteness of purpose…clear goals.
- Enthusiasm…high level of motivation. Confident…healthy…a leader.
5. What are your greatest weaknesses?
Note – This is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for honesty, but an “F” for the interview.
PASSABLE ANSWER: Disguise a strength as a weakness.
Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”
Drawback: This strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it’s so widely used, it is transparent to any experienced interviewer.
ANSWER: (and another reason it’s so important to get a thorough description of your interviewer’s needs before you answer questions): Assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this position with excellence. Then, quickly review your strongest qualifications.
Example: “Nobody’s perfect, but based on what you’ve told me about this position, I believe I’d make an outstanding match. I know that when I hire people, I look for two things most of all. Do they have the qualifications to do the job well, and the motivation to do it well? Everything in my background shows I have both the qualifications and a strong desire to achieve excellence in whatever I take on. So I can say in all honesty that I see nothing that would cause you even a small concern about my ability or my strong desire to perform this job
with excellence.”
Alternate strategy (if you don’t yet know enough about the position to talk about such a perfect fit):
Instead of confessing a weakness, describe what you like most and like least, making sure that what you like most matches up with the most important qualification for success in the position, and what you like least is not essential.
Example: Let’s say you’re applying for a teaching position. “If given a choice, I like to spend as much time as possible in front of my prospects selling, as opposed to shuffling paperwork back at the office. Of course, I long ago learned the importance of filing paperwork properly, and I do it conscientiously. But what I really love to do is sell (if your interviewer were a sales manager, this should be music to his ears)
6. Why should I hire you?
Note: Believe it or not, this is a killer question because so many candidates are unprepared for it. If you stammer or adlib you’ve blown it.
ANSWER: By now you can see how critical it is to apply the overall strategy of uncovering the employer’s needs before you answer questions. If you know the employer’s greatest needs and desires, this question will give you a big leg up over other candidates because you will give him better reasons for hiring you than anyone else is likely to…reasons tied directly to his needs.
Whether your interviewer asks you this question explicitly or not, this is the most important question of your interview because he must answer this question favourably in is own mind before you will be hired. So help him out! Walk through each of the position’s requirements as you understand them, and follow each with a reason why you meet that requirement so well.
Example: “As I understand your needs, you are first and foremost looking for someone who can manage the sales and marketing of your book publishing division. As you’ve said you need someone with a strong background in trade book sales. This is where I’ve spent almost all of my career, so I’ve chalked up 18 years of experience exactly in this area. I believe that I know the right contacts, methods, principles, and successful management techniques, as well as any person, can in our industry.”
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“You also need someone who can expand your book distribution channels. In my prior post, my innovative promotional ideas doubled, then tripled, and the number of outlets selling our books. I’m confident I can do the same for you.”
“You need someone to give a new shot in the arm to your mail order sales, someone who knows how to sell in space and direct mail media. Here, too, I believe I have exactly the experience you need. In the last five years, I’ve increased our mail order book sales from $600,000 to $2,800,000, and now we’re the country’s second leading marketer of scientific and medical books by mail.” Etc., etc., etc.,
Every one of these selling “couplets” (his need matched by your qualifications) is a touchdown that
runs up your score. It is your best opportunity to outsell your competition.
Conclusion
The journey to finding a new job is a very stressful and as a result, candidates are required to put in much effort to nail the interview sessions. We hope all the outlined tips and guidelines above will help you in your interview session in order to land your next job. Congratulations to you in advance.
