Congratulations, you’ve been invited for an interview with a prospective employer! To prepare yourself, here are some of the questions you could be asked.
What are your strengths?
Here’s your chance to elaborate on the qualities that make you a good employee. If you’re prompt, meet deadlines, or enjoy taking care of minute details, describe specific times you’ve demonstrated these qualities. Remember to cite an example of each strength. To help you identify your strengths, you could ask a former colleague or supervisor what they perceive your strengths to be.
What are your weaknesses?
With this question, employers are looking for self-awareness and how you motivate yourself to improve in areas where you don’t have a natural talent or ability. So, be honest about your weaknesses, and demonstrate how you overcome them.
For example, if you have a hard time starting a large project, you may overcome this challenge by taking a bit of quiet time to break down a big task into manageable steps. If you aren’t a people person, maybe you overcome this by picturing each customer as your mother, and treating them how you’d like someone to treat your mom.
How do you prioritise tasks?
Your response to this question will show your interviewer how effectively you determine which tasks need more attention than others. When answering, describe a situation in which you made one task a priority over another without sacrificing any other responsibilities that you needed to complete. You can craft this response by using the STAR method, which stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result.
How do you manage deadlines?
Many positions come with deadlines to meet. Your ability to meet deadlines reflects on your overall time management skills and your ability to adapt to new responsibilities. When you answer this question, describe how you track your projects, tasks and deadlines. By including more specific details about your project management processes, you can reassure the interviewer that you are well-organised and can turn in work on time.
Why do you want to leave your current job?
This question is asked because the prospective employer is looking for patterns or anything negative, especially if your positions are many and short-term. They may try to determine if you currently have or had issues working with others leading to termination, if you get bored quickly in a job, or other red flags. They are hoping that you are seeking a more challenging position that is a better fit for your current skill set. They also want to know that you’re particularly excited about a growth opportunity at their company.
Why have you been out of work for so long?
The prospective employer wants be assured that you possess initiative even when unemployed, as this drive and tenacity will translate well in a corporate setting. Some good responses would be: “I have been for interviews, but want to find the ideal position before I accept an offer and give my typical 110%,” or “I’m active in my job search, and I keep my skills current through [courses, volunteering, social media, business networking groups].” If you took off time to take care of a personal matter, you can also state that without giving a lot of detail.
How do you manage stress at work?
Managing the stress you may experience in your job is important to prevent burnout and frustration. Part of handling stress includes the ability to manage your time effectively. When you answer this question, think about a situation in which you prevented unnecessary stress by completing a task on time or handling a workplace disruption.
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