5 Common Interview Questions And What To Answer
Sometimes it is easy to face the toughest questions in an interview and difficult to answer the most mundane and common questions. A question about your professional experience may give you the scope to come up with an original answer but when it comes to common questions, often prospective employees are thrown off the curve. The difficulty with common questions in an interview is that there is little scope to come up with an original answer.
But it's not all that difficult to answer the common questions in an interview. Here we have compiled the most common five questions asked in an interview and how best to answer them.
1. 'Tell me about yourself' - The classic ice-breaker. The first question thrown at your way in an interview. In answer to this question, you can either tell your life story or use it as a two minute pitch. In answer to this you can summarise what and who you are, your area of expertise and how you can use it for your employer.
2. 'Why did you leave your last jobs' - It is never a wise thing to talk trash about your previous employer. So refrain from doing that. Even if your previous employer was not that great, you don't need to come across as someone who puts blames on others. You can stick to factual answers like you have shifted base to another city or positive reasons such as you need a more challenging role and be specific about the challenges you are looking for.
3. 'Tell me about your strengths' - This question has the potential to sell yourself as the ideal candidate but often interviewees fumble and end up using jargon words. When replying to this question, you should not just mention your strengths but substantiate it with you previous job experience.
4. 'Tell me your weaknesses' - Okay so every one knows the drill. In answer to this question you can say something positive with a negative spin on it, like 'I am a perfectionist' or 'I focus on one thing at a time'. While these are some good answers, a great answer could be something which is not general. Think of something specific which is not central to the role you have applied for you can also talk about how you realized what your weakness was and what you are doing to correct it.
5. 'Where do you see yourself in X number of years'- A very standard question and usually the standard response is naming a position. However, career experts believe that interviewees should instead talk about the lessons you intend to learn and experiences you wish to attain. This can also be an opening for you to talk about the company's future and where it might be in next five years and how you can fit in the company's future goal.
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