Although every interview will be different, there are certain questions that are almost guaranteed

to arise in one form or another during every interview.

From my experience as a recruiter and interviewer, I have compiled the 20 most common
interview questions and will show you how to answer each one.

You are extremely likely to hear these questions in every interview you ever attend, so it pays to
be prepared for them.

Browse through them and think about how you could adapt each answer in preparation for your
next interview.

1. Why do you want this job?

Businesses want to hire ambitious people who are enthusiastic about their brand; so this is the
impression you need to convey when answering this question.

Firstly, you need to make sure you’ve familiarised yourself with the job description and
researched the company in order to answer this question with any substance.

Your answer should include some responsibilities from the job description along with reasons
why you would enjoy them and more importantly, why you would be good at them.

You should also show an interest in the type of work the firm does and stress that you want to
progress within that industry.

You can also flatter them slightly by praising the firm’s reputation as somewhere that is a coveted
place to work.

Do Say: “I want this job because I really enjoy the sales element of the role which I’ve
previously performed well in at past companies due to my outgoing and persistent nature.
I’ve also heard great things about working here, especially the opportunities to progress
and the challenging work available”

Don’t Say: “I just need a job after being sacked from my last one”
2. Why are you leaving your current job?
The key to answering this question is to speak highly of your current firm, discuss what you’ve
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achieved there and explain that they simply can’t offer you what you need at this stage of your
career.

Never badmouth a current oressential

previous employer interview questions
in an interview; (even if they are terrible!) it’s

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extremely unprofessional and will often leave the interviewer with the impression that you could
be difficult to work with.

Do Say: “I’ve enjoyed my time with them and worked with some great people but they just

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can’t offer me enough progression within the field I want to specialise in”

Don’t Say: “The boss is a slave driver and the pay’s rubbish”

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3. Give me an example of a task you found

challenging

Interviewers do not ask this question to literally find out which tasks you find challenging.

The real motive behind the question is to find out how you deal with challenging situations.

The idea here is to give an example of a challenge you’ve faced in work previously and show
what actions you took to meet the challenge and turn it into a positive situation.

Do Say: “In my previous role I was faced with a disruptive team who were unmotivated
and not very customer focused which was damaging our sales figures. I introduced new
customer service incentives and gave a series of one-to-one training sessions which saw
a huge improvement in team morale and sales”

Don’t Say: “I had a really bad team once”

4. What are your weaknesses?
This question is similar to the previous one, as the interviewer really wants to know how you deal
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with your weaknesses as opposed to simply what they are.

essential
It’s best to mention a fairly minor interview
weakness and then demonstratequestions
how you overcome it to
ensure it doesn’t affect your work and also what are you doing to strengthen your skills in that
area.
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Do Say: “My Excel skills could be stronger so I always get somebody to check my
spreadsheets before sending them out to the whole company. I’m currently doing some
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online training to improve my skills here”

Don’t Say: “I'm no good with Excel, don't expect any spreadsheets from me”

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5. Why should we hire you?

This is probably the most important question, and one that will almost certainly be asked in every
single interview you attend, so you need to have the answer ready for this one.

It’s important to focus the answer around what you can offer the client – not what you want from
them.

Essentially you need to explain how your skills and experience match the requirements on the
job description and how that will ultimately benefit the organisation.

Prepare by making notes on the job description around how you meet the requirements and how
you can benefit the company by being there.

Do Say: “I have 5 years experience in accounts and excellent client relationship

management skills, I am also very confident with all of your software packages so I feel I
could perform well in the role and also look to pursue further opportunities with
customers in order to grow sales”

Don’t Say: “Because I need a job”

6. What motivates you?

This question can be quite tough to answer and often throws a lot of candidates off due to its
open ended nature, but it actually gives you a great opportunity to show how ambitious you are.

Ideally you should demonstrate how the role will tie in with your motivations and how you hope to
grow in the role in order to achieve your long-term goals.
If you are looking for a long-term position then it’s best to go with motives that will make you
appear stable and dependable like financial security, learning more about your industry, career
progression etc.

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Try to give a good expansive answer that looks like you’ve really thought it through

Do Say: “At the moment I’m essential

really motivatedinterview questions
by a desire to learn more about online
marketing because it’s an area I’m extremely keen to progress I really want to become an

levels so that’s another key in the Pro for me”Job Hunter Pack
expert in the field. I also know that the financial rewards can be really good at senior
motivation

Don’t Say: “Money, holidays and cars”

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Land your
7. Where do you see perfect jobin
yourself quickly
5 years?
This is another question where the interviewer is looking to gauge your levels of ambition but is
also looking for a degree of realism and knowledge of the industry.

Your answer should be ambitious but realistic to show that you’re driven but you have an
understanding of the speed of career progression and a degree of modesty.

You should also look to tie the job vacancy into your answer to show how it will help you
progress to where you want to be.

Do Say: “In 5 years I’d quite like to be settled in to a mid-management level role and
ideally have a small team working within the education sector. I really think this position
would give me the opportunity to build up my knowledge and client base to allow me to
work towards this goal.”

Don’t Say: “CEO of the company”

8. What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever

made?
Everybody makes mistakes; it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

But how you handle your mistakes is what can really set you apart from other candidates.

When answering this question you need to pick a fairly minor work related mistake and describe
exactly how you acted to rectify it and what you have consequently learnt from it.

Do Say: “In a previous job I once forgot to email some event confirmation details to a big
client which resulted in the client missing the event – something they were quite upset
about. So afterwards I pestered my boss for extra budget to take the affected client out to
a private event and also made sure we did more to automate our event confirmation from
then. Afterwards the client were really happy about the extra effort I had made to rectify
the mistake and our new processes ensured that it didn’t happen again”

Don’t Say: “I lost £100k of company funds which haven’t been recovered to this day”
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essential interview questions
the Prodifficult
9. How do youinhandle Job Hunter Pack
colleagues?

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Most jobs will involve you working closely with one or more people, so it’s understandable that
employers will want to know how you interact with others.

In an ideal world, everybody in a team would get along but sometimes colleagues can display
disruptive behaviour that threatens the completion of tasks, so it’s important you can show how
you deal with them in order to get the job done.

Your answer should ideally be example based and explain how the colleague’s actions were
having a negative impact on the job at hand, and how you acted diplomatically to alter the
person’s behaviour and get the team back on track.

Do Say: “I was working on a project last year and one the team members was constantly
interrupting progress meetings with questions and comments that most people found
irrelevant and were causing the meetings to run over time. I had a quiet word with the
person outside of the meeting and changed the format of the meeting so that questions
could only be asked at the end. This helped us get through the meetings more efficiently”

Don’t Say: “I confront them instantly”

10. Do you ever disagree with your line

manager?
A potential employer will be keen to know how you are likely to interact with them and this
question should hopefully allow you to shed some light in that area.

Many people wrongly assume that an employer is looking for somebody who will agree with
everything they say; but they would actually prefer somebody who can bring fresh opinions to the
team and push back to management when needed.
So, your answer should really try to highlight that on occasions where you do disagree with your
line manager; that you handle it with tact, reason and diplomacy in order to reach a solution that
benefits your organisation.

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Do Say: “Sometimes I don’t agree with some of the supply chain processes that our team
manager puts in place for us to follow, as they can sometimes take up too much of the
essential interview questions
junior staff’s time in admin duties. I will usually bring the points up in our 1-to-1 meetings
by suggesting some more effective processes we can use and talking through them

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together, rather than just directly criticising her ideas in front of other staff members”

Don’t Say: “I never disagree with my manager”

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11. How would your current boss describe
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you?
This is a fairly open-ended question that can be tricky to answer, but the key point to remember
is that employers generally hire staff to help them in the running of their business.

So when answering the question you need to describe yourself as somebody who is so
helpful that you are quite literally critical to the running of the business.

Do Say: “I think my manager would describe me as somebody who can re relied up on to

constantly achieve the results he needs in the team. Also he would probably say that
I pro-actively reach out to relieve him from some of his service and admin responsibilities
to allow him to focus more on business development when he needs to.”

Don’t Say: “As a nice person”

12. Are you currently pursuing any other job

opportunities?
Some candidates think that they should avoid revealing details of other jobs they are applying for
in an attempt to appear loyal to the interviewer’s firm – however that is the complete wrong
approach to take with this question.

You should be transparent about your other opportunities for 2 reasons:

1) Somebody with lots of interviews elsewhere and interest form other companies is attractive to
an employer because someone who is in demand is usually good.

2) Having more opportunities gives you more leverage to negotiate with when it comes to offer
time. If an interviewer knows that you are about to interview with one of their competitors; then
they may offer you a higher salary to try and tempt you away from the rival firm.

Do Say: “Yes I’ve made quite a few applications for similar roles with a number of firms
and I’ve got a first stage interview with Company X tomorrow afternoon”
Don’t Say: “No it’s just your job at the moment”

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13. Tell me about yourself
essential interview questions
A seemingly simple question but the answer actually requires quite a lot of thought and structure.

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Try to keep your answer mainly work focused, discuss your background and then a bit about
your career aspirations in a manner that ties in with vacancy in question.

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You can include a bit about your life outside of work if you like but keep it brief.

Do Say: “I studied law at university, became especially interested in corporate law and
joined Company Z where I worked for a senior lawyer carrying out legal support work
Landupyour
which I’ve enjoyed quite a lot. I’ve built a lot perfect job quickly
of experience in the field so I really want to
start taking on my own clients but there just isn’t any opportunity to do so at Company Z
so I ‘m looking for a role where I can grow and take on more responsibility.”

Don’t Say: “I’m a bit of a character”

14. What are your salary requirements?

Although I would never suggest bringing up salary requirements in an interview without being
prompted, it’s perfectly fine to discuss salary if the interviewer asks about it directly.

The key to answering this question is to research market rates beforehand and have a clear idea
of the salary you can command - you will not impress anybody by providing a wild guess.

Looking through job websites and speaking to recruitment consultants should give you a rough
idea of the salary you can achieve. It’s up to each individual to decide where they want to pitch
their salary requirements but make sure you are realistic and stay within any pre-mentioned
range.

Do Say: “From doing a bit of research into my current value I’m looking to achieve around
£30K which I believe is within the budget mentioned on the job advert”

Don’t Say: “I’m looking for a 250% increase on my current salary”

15. Are there any elements of your

current/previous job that you dislike?
It’s quite natural that you will dislike certain elements of previous jobs – but employers really want
to know more about how you deal with those dislikes to maintain good performance in the role.
Ideally you should pick a fairly common and minor dislike to demonstrate how you work around it
and make sure it doesn’t have a negative effect on you or the business.

Do Say: “In my previous sales role I wasn’t hugely keen on keeping weekly sales records
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but I just made sure that I recorded everything in note form and spent just 20 minutes
every day updating the database. Most of my colleagues spent an hour at the end of each
essential interview questions
week doing it, but that felt like too much in one sitting for me so I broke it up over the
week to make it easier”

Don’t Say: “I don’t really likein the ProsoJob

administration Hunter
I usually Pack
just avoid doing it”

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16. Can you explain your perfect job quickly
gap/short-role in
your CV?

Two things that are quite hard to hide in your CV (without lying) are gaps and short roles.

Employers don’t like them because they can sometimes indicate that candidates have been fired
from a role or have taken a lot of time out of work.

So where possible, try to avoid gaps by adding details of what you were doing between the roles
(maybe you went travelling or completed a personal project) and if you have a very short role (a
few weeks etc.) that doesn’t add any value to the CV, then maybe consider omitting it.

However, if you can’t avoid this question then try to come up with a good positive explanation
that makes you look proactive and competent like the below.

Do Say: “The reason I was only in that role for 2 months is because it was a short contract
role to provide cover during a busy period. The firm knew that I would still be looking for a
more permanent role so it wasn’t a shock to them when I moved to the next company.”

Or
“During that gap I was actually travelling through America which is something I’ve always
wanted to do”

Don’t Say: “I was just looking for work for during that 11 month gap”
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Or
essential interview questions
“I was let go after 2 weeks in the role for bad performance”
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17. Describe a timeGet the you’ve

when Pro Packdealt with a
difficult customer/client
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This is a fairly typical question for candidates applying to customer facing roles and one you will
need to answer well in order to show your abilities in turning negative situations around and
keeping your customers happy.

Ideally you should explain a time when a customer was irate or behaving rudely towards you
(ideally the root of the problem should have been caused by someone other than yourself to
avoid looking incompetent).

Then describe how you reassured the customer and rectified the situation by delivering a good
service or product sale etc.

Do Say: “I once had a client who was really upset by price rises implemented to his
account that were outside of my control. I empathised a lot with him and took the time to
meet with him to see if there was anything that I could do to rectify the situation. After
meeting with him, it actually transpired that he needed a lot more of our services and I
was able to upgrade his service at a discounted rate which meant more revenue for the
company and a much happier customer who ended up saving a lot more money”

Don’t Say: “Once I messed up a customer’s order and he shouted at me so I apologised

and said somebody else would call him back”

18. Describe a time when you’ve had to make

a difficult decision
Your decision-making process is crucial to your success in the workplace and sometimes your
decisions can have a big impact on your employers, colleagues and clients.

So you need to show that you can think on your feet and have a methodical thought process
when making big decisions.

Ideally the result of your decision should provide a positive outcome for your employer to show
that your decision making is effective.
Do Say: “In my current job I was faced with a situation where a very important client
wanted a refund for some project work that had gone wrong due to some errors by the
delivery team. Providing a refund would have meant quite a big loss of revenue for the
firm but not providing a refund could mean a very upset client and potential lack of future
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business from them. So after much discussion with my director and team members I
decided not to refund the work but to provide the next project free of charge. This did cost

essential interview questions

the firm initially but it allowed us to salvage our reputation with the client and secure
further work from them in the long run.

intothe
Don’t Say: “I made a decision Pro
hire staff Job Hunter Pack
once”

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19. How do you respond to criticism?
Managing staff can often be a difficult Land your
task for perfect
employers so job
your quickly
answer to this question should
show that you are easy to work with and that you take negative feedback on board.

Preferably your answer should demonstrate the fact that you not only do you handle criticism
well, but you use it to improve yourself and build your skill set.

Do Say: “I try to avoid criticism where possible but I listen whenever I receive it and make
sure I improve in those areas to avoid receiving the same criticism again”

Don’t Say: “I am never criticised”

20. If you were an animal… which animal

would you be?
Although this is quite an unusual question, it is quite well known amongst hiring managers so it
could crop up.

The actual animal you decide upon isn’t really relevant – the question is just designed to throw
you off track a bit and make you think on your feet.

So pick any animal and describe why its qualities match yours in a way that relates to the job you
are applying for in a well-structured manner.

Do Say: “I would be a shark because I’m good at hunting down opportunities and
surviving in tough environments”

Don’t Say: “I would be a squirrel because I quite like squirrels”