After knowing the commonly asked interview questions, a candidate tends to become more confident. Anyone who’s ever given a job interview has endured the crippling fear of providing a wrong answer or of sounding unethical. There is, however, a distinction between being incorrect and being totally messed up!
To help all the graduates with their job-seeking process, we’re listing 20 commonly asked interview questions:
Commonly Asked Interview Questions
“Tell Me/Us About Yourself.”
This is one of the most commonly asked interview questions. The HR who is interviewing you is bound to ask this question. It is generally asked to check how confident you’re and how good can you sell yourself. You don’t have to get all dark and poetic. Instead, consider yourself to be a product and tell your features as if you’re going to sell yourself to the company.
“What are your biggest weaknesses?”
If you are afraid of making a mistake during the interview, memorize the fact of never saying that you work too hard whenever this question is asked. This has never worked in the history of interviews. You’ll end up sounding too pretentious. So, save yourself and never say that you work too hard.
“What are your biggest strengths?”
This might not be a very commonly asked interview question, but it is often asked to check in what way you think about yourself.
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
Along with your relatives, interviewers too love this question. If you’re uncertain about the future, do not let that appear in your voice or face. If you’re uncertain, you can simply say that you’ll first try to fulfill your plans for tomorrow then work on the ones for the next five years. The whole purpose of this question is to check if the employee they’re hiring has an entrepreneurial mindset. So, if you’re planning to start a startup in the future, you can tell them about that as well.
“Out of all the candidates, why should we hire you?”
Now you can’t compare yourself with other candidates because you might know them or might not even have met them. Instead of comparing yourself with them, you can simply tell the interviewer about your ambitions and passion for your work. You can tell them something about yourself that you haven’t discussed yet. This question is only asked when the interviewer wants to know about you as much as they can. So, ensure that they can know more about your skills.
“How did you learn about the job opening?”
This question is not tough and can never give a red flag. You can tell them about the job boards, general postings, online listings, job fairs, etc. from where you got to know about the job. In order to sound intriguing, you can tell them that you got to know about the job opening through a colleague/current employer and you couldn’t resist yourself from applying. They say that employers don’t want to hire someone who simply wants a job. Instead, they want to hire someone who wants a job at their company.
“Why do you want this job?”
This question needs to be answered quite calculatedly. Do not simply talk about how the company would be a good place to work for. Let them know that the position that you’ve applied for will be an accomplishment in your career.
“What do you consider to be your biggest professional achievement?”
If you haven’t worked anywhere else before, you can tell them about any responsibility that you held back in college. Any work with your department or any sort of volunteering that gave you a sense of discipline can also be mentioned.
“Tell me the last time anyone got angry with you. What happened?”
This question is to prove that conflicts are inevitable in life. Mistakes can be made by you or anyone around you. But when it happens how do you handle that? If you bring your strengths to work or let your weaknesses overpower you. This question is an indirect way of the interviewer asking you that they know that no one is perfect but would like to know your imperfection. They want to know that when in crisis do you push the blame on others or do you take the responsibility?
“How much are you expecting?”
This is generally asked in the interviews when the CTC hasn’t been specified. Do not ever ask the interviewer how much they could give. This shows that you’re desperate for the job and sounds like your bargaining. If you’re a newbie, set a CTC for yourself that should suit your degree as well as the profile. If you have work experience, always ask for a higher amount than the “one you were getting at the previous place.
“Describe your dream job”
This answer should be very relevant to the job you’re currently applying for. You can think of a different job or skill but the answer should have some relevance with the job that you’re currently applying for. If your dream job is that of an aeronautical engineer, you applying at a sales firm would look absurd. But if your dream job is that of a PR Head of a firm, then applying at a sales firm would sound feasible as you can portray it to be a way of learning the skill of selling.
“Why did you leave your previous job?”
The only reassuring answer for the interviewer can be about the workplace is quite distant from our place so you are looking for work nearby or that you wish to explore something different. Do not bad-mouth about the previous workplace or the management no matter how unprofessional it was. It will give out a wrong image to the interviewer. When answering, focus on the positives that this job will bring and the things that it will help you achieve. Talk about what you wanted to learn and this job might give you the opportunity.
“What kind of work environment do you like?”
You might like working alone but these days, most of the firms look for a team player. A person who can be part of the team and work alone as well when required.
“Tell me about the toughest decision you had to make in the last six months.”
The whole point of this question is to perform a quantitative analysis of your reasoning capabilities. They want to test your problem-solving skills. Whatever situation you tell them, your judgment in that particular situation will tell about how street smart you’re. It will show your willingness to take intelligent risks.
” What is your leadership style?”
A very smart way to test your leadership skills. If you find this tough, try sharing some examples of good leadership that inspire you. If you have experience of leading a team, tell about the ways in which you motivated the team to work harder and work together.
“Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision.”
Another one from the commonly asked interview questions to check how you deal with conflicts. When working in a team, conflicts are bound to happen. Often there are arguments, debates, and even juxtapositions. This question will test how tolerable you’re with conflict resolution issues.
“Tell me how you think other people would describe you.”
Such questions are very cunning commonly asked interview questions. It aims to test your creativity. I would simply say that not everyone can like you, but make yourself a person that they can count on.
“What can we expect from you in the first three months?”
Three things to keep in mind when answering this question- work hard, learn, and stay focused. These are not only to impress the interviewer but for you as an employee if you’re planning to join a firm.
“What do you like to do outside of your work?”
Tell the interviewer about your hobbies and how you practice them in your daily life. This is not just for the interview but in reality, as well, try practicing your hobbies side-by-side so that you don’t feel the burden of the work.
“What is success for you?”
No matter what your answer will be, it shouldn’t include words like ‘money’ or ‘power’. You will look like a greedy Midas. You never have enough money in your life and power has many side-effects which will result in another series of questions. So, do yourself a favor and do not mention these words.
Well, some interviewers will try to take a different approach when it comes to interviewing a candidate but most of the interviews include these commonly asked interview questions. We hope these help you prepare for your next interview. You can check India’s best job portals by clicking here. All the best!
