How To Answer Common Job Interview Questions Smartly
If you’ve got an important interview coming up, then you should know how to answer the most common interview questions with confidence. If you’ve landed the interview, you already took the effort to find a build a resume website and dazzle them with your background. Now, it’s time for the next step towards securing the position.
In this article, we are going to outline the six most common interview questions and answers and how to answer them in a way that makes you sound professional, confident, and a great attribute to the company. Because it’s all about how you’re marketing yourself.
Question 1 – Why Should We Hire You?
Unless this is your first time going for a job interview, then you’ve probably heard this one pop up a few times over the years. “Why Should We Hire You?” is commonly used by interviewers to determine whether or not you would be an asset to the company. When the interviewer asks you this question, you need to respond with why hiring you would make the company a better place.
In fact, you want to turn it up a notch and begin bragging about your achievements in a confident but calm manner. Start by listing three of your greatest achievements and how they are going to help you excel in the job you’re being interviewed for. The key is to make sure the accomplishments are connected to the line of work you’re being hired for.
Question 2 – What Are Your Weaknesses?
You can expect to hear this one at almost all interviews. The reason it’s so popular is because it gives the interviewer the chance to determine whether or not you’re self-aware enough to know your own weaknesses.
The best way to answer is by explaining what your weaknesses are, telling a story, and then ending on how you’re currently working on improving any weaknesses. For example, let’s say you’re not good at working in a team. You could say something like this: “One of my weaknesses is the inability to work in a team effectively. I tend to like to do things a certain way and am not always the best at listening to the opinions of others; however, recently, I’ve been taking the time to listen to other people more when working as a team, and as a result, have seen a great improvement.”
There is also a wrong way to answer this question. A lot of people will say something like, “My biggest weakness is that I’m a perfectionist.” Interviewers have heard this hundreds of times, so it isn’t going to score you any points when trying to land that dream career.
Question 3 – Tell Me About A Time You Overcome An Obstacle
The reason this one baffles the person being interviewed is because it requires you to think on your feet, which isn’t ideal considering you’re already nervous. That’s why it’s important to plan what you’re going to say before you even arrive for your interview.
The reason interviewers ask this question is because they are looking to see how you deal with adversity. You can provide them with an example from either your personal or professional life — as long as it involves dealing with a difficult situation.
Question 4 – Why Do You Want To Work Here?
When being interviewed, the interviewer is going to ask questions regarding the company, so make sure you’ve done your research beforehand. It may come up as a question similar to this one, or they may just ask you outright what you know about the corporation. Either way, the goal here is to go into detail about what you’ve learned about the company and why you chose to apply for the particular position.
Question 5 – What Motivates You?
The reason so many interviewers ask this question is to determine whether you’re going to be motivated for the role you’ve applied for. Therefore the best way to answer this question is by providing real-life examples of times when you’ve felt motivated in your job. The key is to be as specific as possible by providing dates, time, and locations if you can.
Also, an essential aspect of answering this question lies in your tone of voice. You need to make sure you’re speaking in an enthusiastic voice rather than a monotone one.
Question 6 – Why Are You leaving Your Current Job?
You have to remember to keep the interview as positive as possible. Therefore if you left your previous job on bad terms, then you don’t want to bring it up to your interviewer.
However, you still want to provide a valid reason why you decided to leave. For example, you could say something along the lines of: “I left my previous job as a digital marketer, as I am always looking to excel in my work situation, and didn’t think the training I was provided with was in-line with my future goals. However, I enjoyed my time working at XYZ company and learned a lot over the previous two years.”
By saying something like this, you have spoken about your previous job in a good manner while providing your interviewer with a good enough reason on why you decided to leave.
Conclusion
A well-put-together CV/Resume will only take you so far when looking to land your dream job. Employers are also looking for certain personality traits — one of them being confidence.
If you learn how to answer interview questions in a calm and relaxed manner, then you’ll stand out to the employer. However, to stay calm throughout, you need to revise possible questions beforehand. The questions in this article are a great starting point as they are commonly used by interviewers, regardless of the job you’re applying for.
