How to Confidently Answer Common Questions During Job Interviews
Job interview questions can be daunting to answer, so be prepared for these common interview questions and how to answer them.
Job interview questions can be daunting to answer, so be prepared for these common interview questions and how to answer them.
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You’ve submitted your CV and cover letter for a job opportunity, and now you’ve earned yourself a job interview. Congratulations! You’ve moved on to the next step. The interview process, however, can be even scarier than the process of writing a cover letter and CV. In your upcoming interview, you will need to be able to show off your career goals, indicate how you can perform in a work environment, and even pay attention to things like body language and eye contact. However, if you ace the interview, you’re even closer to getting the job you want. Here’s everything you need to know about making the right impression in at job interview.
A job interview gives employers a chance to dig into your background and uncover any experiences and skills that are a good fit for the specific job you’re applying to. Not only are they usually trying to make sure you’re being truthful about everything on your CV, but they’re also seeing how you put your skills into play, and what you’re like as a person.
Before the job interview, you have to submit a CV and cover letter to the job to be considered. Give yourself the best chance of finding your next job by using the CVHelp CV builder and cover letter builder to create a CV and cover letter that really show off your talents.
Next, you’ll go into the interview and answer a variety of questions from the interviewer. This may include any of these common job interview questions:
This process is your chance to explain why you’re the best candidate for the job, and it allows you to give the recruiter an idea of what you’re like.
After the interview, it’s considered best practise to write a thank you letter that thanks the interviewer for the opportunity to meet, follows up on any additional questions, and provides an additional call to action for the next interview, if needed.
If all goes well, you should be contacted by a hiring manager about being hired, including details about salary expectations and benefits.
Practicing common interview questions and answers can help you do better in a job interview. Although it’s not typically advised to memorise answers ahead of time, knowing the most common job questions can help you prepare to answer them when they come up.
CVHelp has a list of the most common interview questions that tend to show up in a variety of contexts, as well as how to approach more individualised questions like behavioural interview questions and the interesting sales-adjacent “sell me this pen” question, among others.
It’s important that you’re able to talk about yourself and your skills. You should know what your best skills are, what career paths you’re hoping to pursue, and any issues you’ve had with a previous job. Being able to talk about your strengths will make your interview answers much smoother.
The STAR method is a method of answering questions that’s effective for job interviews. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. You bring up a specific situation, talk about the task you needed to perform, go over the action you took, and showcase the result you ended up with. It’s a great way to show off your skills and the benefits you’ve provided for previous jobs.
Lastly, it’s a good idea to research both the company that you’re interviewing for and the position you’re hoping to get. Learning more about the company’s goals, challenges and culture will better prepare you to highlight skills and experiences from your own background that can address what the company needs, and open the door for you to ask intelligent questions about the job and the company.
Most of the time, you’ll do one interview, and then the hiring manager will decide who fits best into the job. Sometimes, you may need to go through two rounds of interviews. It’s fairly rare to have more than two rounds of interviews, but your best bet is always to ask the hiring manager what to expect after the first interview.
Phone interviews and video interviews are generally the same as in-person interviews. In phone interviews, you don’t have to worry about things like body language, and video interviews typically don’t emphasise things like eye contact. However, all the questions and answers will typically be the same.
There are some questions that are illegal for a hiring manager to ask you, such as age, or other personal questions like sexual preference or religion. It’s best to do some research on these questions before you go into the interview. If a manager asks one of these questions, it’s best to dodge the question and decide later whether it’s a red flag or if it seemed to be asked out of innocent ignorance rather than malice. Don’t forget, you’re not just getting interviewed by an employer – this is your chance to interview an employer too, and determine if they’re the right fit for you.
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