In the first part of our guide, we covered behavioral interviewing and outlined an effective method you can use to answer these questions. The second part of the guide includes a list of some very common interview questions, grouped by category, with tips for answering each type of question.
While not every question you hear in interviews will be on this list; preparing for an interview using this practice guide will give you a solid start to improving your preparation and performance.
Common Interview Questions
Here are some common types of questions used in interviews along with tips to help you prepare for each of them. You’ll be able to use these questions to practice and get comfortable speaking about yourself professionally and in an organized, thoughtful way using the STAR method. There are no perfect answers to any one of these questions, however the more you practice and prepare, the easier it will be for you to perform to the best of your ability once a job is on the line.
Covered below are 20 common questions and one bonus question that is asked in almost every interview. Questions are divided into 4 types or categories of behavioral interview questions. Each will have a summary about the type of question so you can better understand why an employer is asking them and also list a few tips for answering questions of this type. For each question, remember to practice answering using the STAR method.
The question types covered are:
- Self Evaluation, Self Knowledge
- Emotional Maturity, Self-Management
- Risk Evaluation
- Motivational Fit
Omitted from this list of questions are skill-based questions. Whether you are in Sales, IT, Customer Service or Healthcare, you are likely to receive questions in this area. Be sure to find common questions for people in your discipline and practice those as well.
Practice Tip: Try writing out your answers and STAR stories for each of these questions and then ask a friend to perform a practice interview with you.
Question Type #1: Self-Evaluation, Self-Knowledge
This first group of questions all require you to display your level of self-knowledge, a key factor in emotional maturity and self-management (the next section of questions). With these types of questions, it’s important to be honest and remember at the same time to sell yourself.
Tips for answering self-evaluation and self-knowledge questions:
- When you answer each of these questions, there is an implied “at work” or “professionally” at the end of each sentence. So, when you answer the question “Tell me about yourself,” you want to stick to your recent work experience, professional interests and passions, and your immediate and/or long-term career goals.
- When talking about strengths and weaknesses it is usually best to discuss the positive and negative effects of your dominant traits, so they can be two sides of the same coin. Understand who you are as an employee, what strengths and weaknesses you bring to the table, have examples of how they show up at work, and discuss how you use or overcome them.
Questions:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Tell me about your greatest success or accomplishment.
- Describe your greatest weakness and/or strength (or top three of either) and how you overcome or use them.
- If I asked, how would your coworkers (or past managers) describe you?
- What is the biggest mistake you’ve made at work? How did you make it right?
Question Type #2: Emotional Maturity, Self-Management
These questions require you to tell good and bad stories about your past work history. You should focus on evaluating and relating how you interact with others, handle conflict, deal with failure or poor outcomes, and negate stress.
Tips for answering emotional maturity and self-management questions:
- Stick to the STAR method to help you remember to relate an example story each time (even if not explicitly asked), and to relate an outcome or a lesson learned at the end of each one.
- Especially with negative outcomes it is essential to highlight how you resolve or work through bad situations—which is a critically important skill set to have.
Questions:
- How do you handle failure?
- Tell me about your favorite manager. Describe your ideal manager. Tell me about your worst manager.
- Tell me about your best work relationship and/or your worst work relationship?
- Tell me about a situation where you had to meet a difficult deadline. How did you manage it?
- Tell me about a time where you experienced conflict at work and how you resolved it.
- Give an example of a time where you had to deal with unreasonable expectations of you. How did you handle it and what was the result?
- How do you handle multiple projects at the same time? Can you give me an example?
Question Type #3: Evaluating Risk
Employers ask these types of questions to uncover any red flags about your past work experience and prevent themselves from hiring employees that might have performance or personal issues, or another difficulty that might impact their ability to perform the duties of the role.
Tips for answering questions that evaluate risk:
- Only answer questions you are comfortable answering. Remember that everything you say at an interview is voluntary. You do not have to relay anything to an employer that might put you at risk for illegal discrimination, or that makes you uncomfortable in any way.
- If you are looking for work because your last role was terminated, stick to the facts. If your employment was ended as part of a reorganization, share that information and then move on to what your future employment goals are. If it was performance-based, speak to the issue (if you are comfortable with that) and what you’ve learned moving forward. In either situation, pivot at the end of your explanation to a forward-facing statement about your current career goals.
- When answering questions about gaps in your employment, remember to keep this factual and brief. If it related to a health or other type of personal issue, you can share that the gap was from a personal or family issue which has since been resolved.
Questions:
- Why was your position terminated?
- Why is there a gap in your employment?
- Why are you changing jobs?
Question Type #4: Motivational Fit
All of the above questions could speak to your cultural fit and how well you align with the organization’s expectations for their employees. However, companies often make the final decision based around specific questions that speak to your motivational fit. Employers want you to demonstrate how much you want the job and that you are committed to being a contributing member of the organization.
Tips for answering questions about motivational fit:
- Do your research. Make sure that you have done your homework about the organization including reviewing their website, career pages, recent news stories, and social media content. Being well-prepared will demonstrate that you are highly motivated to work for them.
- Keep your answers focused on what is in it for them and not what is in it for you (especially when answering “Why should we hire you?” and “Why do you want to work here?”). An employer wants to understand what value you bring to the table and how you can solve their problems and meet their needs.
Questions:
- Why do you want to work here?
- What do you know about us?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- What are you looking for out of your next role?
- Why should we hire YOU for this role? How are you uniquely qualified?
Bonus Question
This question will be asked at almost every interview:
- Do you have any questions for us?
Tips for answering:
- Have questions prepared for the interviewer. Have a notepad with these written down. Also write down any questions you have that come up during the interview.
- Do not ask about pay or benefits at this time. Many employers have a multi-step hiring process that involves more than one interview. Save the compensation questions when you are further along.
- Ask questions about the scope of the role, the challenges the company is facing, how success will be measured in the position, the organizational structure, the culture, anything that can’t be easily answered from the company website.