Here Are the Most Common Interview Questions You MUST Be Prepared For

One of the most dreadful confrontation and conversation we need to have in our life is undergoing the interview process. The interview is necessary in order for the HR personnel or your future employer to get to know you better in order to determine whether you’re a right candidate for the job or not. Now that you’ve finished polishing your resume, you need to step up to brush up your communication skills by polishing your interview. While we cannot truly anticipate and plan out the actual scenario that’ll happen in the actual interview, since, let’s face it, every company is unique.

However, we can be prepared because there are questions asked that we’ve already encountered in the past. You can practice your answer in advance so that you won’t encounter a mental block. Here are the most common questions asked during an interview and we’ve also compiled the best answers you can come up with.

I like to do an interview when the other person isn’t expecting it. I find it’s more spontaneous. Gregory Hines

Tell Us More About Yourself

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This is an incredibly tricky question and a total bummer to start the interview process. The question is just too broad and we just don’t know where to start. Do you really need to narrate all the big events that happened in your life for the past 20 or so years? The answer is no. The truth is, your interviewer is not interested in your personal life.

What they mean about this question is that a tiny background about your family, perhaps, your educational background, and most of all, your work experience. Yes. The keyword here is your work experience. They want to know what kind of worker you are in the past. What roles, responsibilities, and duties you’ve undergone in the past. Did you encounter some conflict? How did you resolve them? That’s why keep in mind that when this question was asked to you, you need to be able to demonstrate your skills and work experience.

What Are Your Strength/Weaknesses?

Demonstrating and emphasizing your strength might be a no-brainer to you. However, we suggest you think twice before answering with your skills and experience. It’s because your future employer is not referring to that. Remember that you already submitted your resume and your interviewer had already scanned it. He or she already knows your skills.

You need not repeat it. What your interviewer means about strength are your soft skills. How well are you equipped in dealing with conflicts, problems, etc with your co-workers and customers? Are you patient enough to deal with an irate customer? Are you open-minded enough to take ideas from your co-workers, even if it opposes you? These are just the strength or weaknesses they need to know from you. And if your answers to these questions are quite negative, that’s where your weakness lies. You can admit it but you need to back it up with a positive note. For example, your weakness may be creativity and arts. But you can back it up by saying that you are also willing to undergo training in order to improve your skills.

Why Should we Hire You?

You might feel intimidated with this question because you felt like you’re boastful enough to market yourself. But you need not feel guilty about it. The truth is this is your only chance to prove to your employer that you’re the best one for the job. That’s why we recommend you to man it up and grab this chance. We suggest you don’t emphasize your skills as, like we’ve said before, it’s just redundancy. We suggest you focus more on emphasizing the benefits your employer will get from you. Explain to them why it’ll be a big loss for their company not to hire you.  

What Are Your Salary Expectations?

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Another tricky and a crucial question since there is money involved and let’s be honest, this is the most important thing in a job. As an employee, you’re looking for a stable income to support your lifestyle.

And as an employer, you’re willing to risk some of your money investing the right employee if it means improving your company and productivity at a maximum. That’s why this can be a tough question. We recommend you not to say anything about your past salary. Your employer doesn’t need to know that. What you need to tell, instead, is a middle or average of the salary range given by your employer to the job. Don’t quote yourself too low as it will give your employer the impression that your talents are mediocre.