Mastering Interviews: Tips on Answering the Top 10 Most Common Interview Questions

Tips on Answering the Top 10 Most Common Interview Questions

1. Tell me about yourself.

This is usually the first question that the interviewer will ask you, and it is your chance to make a good first impression. You should give a brief overview of your professional background, your skills and achievements, and your career goals. You should also mention why you are interested in working for the company and what value you can bring to the team. Avoid giving too much personal information or rambling on for too long.

Below are some of the specific responses you can give;

• I’m really energetic and a great communicator.

• Working in sales for 2 years helped me to build confidence and taught me the importance of customer loyalty.

• I’m punctual, dependable, can be counted upon to finish what I started.

• I understand my customers needs.

• I consider myself hard working / reliable / dependable /helpful/Outgoing/ organized/ honest/cooperative.

2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

This question is designed to assess your self-awareness and your ability to improve yourself. You should highlight your strengths that are relevant to the job and provide specific examples of how you have used them in your previous work or projects. You should also acknowledge your weaknesses and explain how you are working on overcoming them or turning them into strengths. Avoid being too humble or too arrogant, or mentioning weaknesses that are deal-breakers for the job.

Below are some of the specific responses regarding your strengths;

• I believe my strongest traits is my attention to detail. This trait has helped me tremendously.

• In this field of work I’ve always been a great team player.

• I’m good at keeping a team together and producing quality.

• I can work in a team environment.

• I’m an adaptable person.

• I work for three different management styles and I’m able to adjust my approach to meet each of their needs.

Below are some of the specific responses regarding your weaknesses;

I’ve never been very comfortable with public speaking which as you know, Can be hindrance in the workplace. Realizing this was a problem. I asked my previous employer if I can enroll in a speech workshop. He said ‘yes’ . I took the class, and was able to overcome my lifelong fear. Since then, I’ve given lots of presentation to audience of over a 100 High level executives. I still don’t love it, but no one else can tell!

I had troubles in the past with planning and prioritization. However, I’m now taking steps to correct this. I just started using a pocket planner, I might need to learn to be more flexible when things are not going according to plan. This is something I’m working on at the moment.