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| Job Interview Tips and Techniques 4—List of Interview Questions |
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Good interview questions are something of a rarity. Tough interview questions prevail, but are tough only by dint of their inferior construction. Typical ancient chestnuts in the vein of 'Where do you hope to be in five years' time?' and 'Do you prefer to work alone, or within a group?' remain as popular (and inane) now as they were in the early 1950s, and today are supplemented by equally anaemic questions such as 'Are you a good timekeeper?' and 'On a scale of one to ten, how organised are you?'
Despite this shortfall, good interview questions are also in supply, aiding both you and the employer by allowing you the opportunity to talk about yourself in a meaningful and inspiring way. These stronger, more open-ended questions include 'Describe a major project that you managed, and how you coped with the challenges that you were faced with,' and 'Which personal achievements are you most proud of?'. Answering interview questions of this nature requires some forethought and planning, however—which is why we have compiled the following list of interview questions for your delight and delectation.
Answering Interview Questions—Preparation, Motivation, Acceleration and...Problem Solving
Answering interview questions is a difficult business: this you know, or else you wouldn't be here. The trick is to construct a list of responses to the following selection of sample job interview questions, days in advance of the interview itself, with precisely the same level of care and attention to detail you lavished on both organisational research and interviewer profiling during the initial stages of your job interview preparation.
You should build your list of answers with several objectives in mind, the first being energy and enthusiasm, the second being clarity and brevity (who wants to come across as a mental vegetable with a chronic case of verbal diarrhoea?), and the third being intelligence and logic, with heavy emphasis on your problem solving abilities. Go on, try it—we guarantee that answers of this calibre will easily endear you to prospective employers.
LIST OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS COMMONLY ASKED BY EMPLOYERS
 Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?
 What interests you about this role? TIP: Focus on how the organisation will benefit from your presence.
 What is it that sets you apart from other candidates applying for this position?
 What aspects of your previous employment did you most enjoy?
 How would you utilise your past experience in the workforce within our own performing organisation?
 What are your greatest strengths, both as an employee and as an individual?
 What would you say is your ultimate career objective?
 Speaking honestly, where are you weakest as an employee? TIP: This question is known as The Trap.
 What did you think of the firm you were with before? TIP: This question is known as The Grudge.
 Which of your past employers most impressed you as a manager? How did they earn your respect?
 Can you describe the most demanding problem you encountered in your last role? How did you solve it?
 A business organisation is a community: what is your approach in dealing with its more difficult residents?
 How do you typically react to gossip and negativity from those you work with?
 If you discovered that one of your colleagues was stealing from the company, how would you proceed?
 It's not always possible to meet the commitments we make to people. What is your response to this issue?
 Customers can be rude at times, especially when dissatisfied. Is there a secret to placating them?
 How are you when it comes to galvanising your fellow employees into productivity increases?
 If I interviewed your workmates concerning your personality, what would I learn that you haven't told me?
 What are your hobbies and interests? TIP: Stay relevant. Don't reveal your soft spot for belly dancing.
 What kind of salary do you expect? TIP: Reply by asking the interviewer what figure they have in mind.
Employer Interview Questions (The Interview as a Two-Way Street)
Good interview questions, as we've already mentioned, are few and far between. Regrettably, this doesn't stop interviewers from producing a face like a child sucking lemons if you yourself lack an outstanding list of questions to ask during an interview—or, at the very least, its conclusion. We can't stress this point enough—it is essential that you formulate a list of interview questions for the closing minutes of your meeting. These should be entered into your interview research journal, one of the top five items all interviewees require. Not sure which queries to pose? Don't worry: here follow some sample job interview questions sure to command the employer's attention.
GOOD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING AN INTERVIEW
What is the structure of a typical workday here?
What brought you to this organisation?
Do you offer any kind of training courses or seminars to help your staff progress?
How would you describe the company's overall ethos?
What qualities are you looking for in a new recruit? TIP: Show the interviewer you possess these qualities.
A List of Interview Questions Made Painless by Planning
As we have seen from the first installment of this series, thought and planning are vital to successful interviews. Nowhere is the truth of this more patent than when faced with the task of answering interview questions with a sense of calm and quiet composure. Whilst careful study of the list of interview questions we have provided will go a long way towards helping you achieve that goal, there remains one additional element guaranteed to make your replies to tough interview questions seem almost completely effortless: body language, a subject that we'll investigate in depth during the course of our fifth and final interview feature.
Until then, keep working on your list of interview questions—both the ones you expect to receive and those that you hope to deliver—safe in the knowledge that it's the surest means of thoroughly besting the opposition.
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