Common Job Interview Questions

The scariest part about a job interview is not knowing what the interviewing employer will ask. Although you can never be 100% certain of what they will ask, you can consider what is important for an employer to know about you during the interview. From here, you can begin to assess the types of questions they might ask and can prepare by reviewing these items before sitting down for the actual interview.

Work History

Of course one of the most important indicators of how well you will fit into a new company is your work history. Here are some potential work history questions:

• Basic information regarding names of company, dates of employment and reasons for leaving.
• Expectations of previous employers. Did you fulfill those expectations? If not, why? If so, how?
• Accomplishments and failures from previous employment. What accomplishments would be helpful to a position at this company? What types of failures and how have you learned from your mistakes or past failures?
• Previous work responsibilities. How well did you handle these responsibilities?

Personality Questions

Employers want to get a feel for how you will react in certain situations, whether it is when faced with a deadline or an angry customer. For this reason, they are especially likely to ask behavioral or personality related questions:

• Teamwork. Do you prefer to work independently or as a team? What type of team player would you be? Would you be opposed to being assigned to a team to fulfill project deadlines?
• Work Environment. What is an ideal work environment? What type of work environment would be difficult for you to deal with? How would you overcome this?
• Work ethic questions. What type of pace do you work out? How do you handle stress? They may even present you with a theoretical situation and ask how you would handle it.

Job Potential

Of course one of the major focuses of the interview will be how well you would fit into the job vacancy. With this in mind a potential employer will likely spend a great deal of time asking you questions regarding how you would handle the new job if you were selected for the position:

• Working for the company. Why do you want to work for this company? Tell me how much you know about what the company does? Why are you interested in this job in particular?
• Fulfilling the job requirements. Why do you think you are the best candidate for the job? Explain what experience or skills you have that make you prepared for handling the job?
• Extras. Are you willing to travel? If so, when and how often? Are you willing to work overtime if necessary? How about nights and weekends? Do you have any commitments that would interfere with the position?