100 Popular Questions

These are the most popular questions asked by interviewers apart from the appropriate technical questions about your specific skills and experience.

As an exercise it is well worth writing out answers for each questions rather than just thinking them through. There is a real difference between knowing what you want to say and being able to deliver a satisfactory answer despite the anxiety of the interview.

Obviously, it cannot be guaranteed that you will be asked any of these questions. However if you practise, you can go to the interview with the confidence that whatever you are asked you will be able to respond positively.

100 Questions

Why do you want this job?
Tell me about yourself?
Why should we hire you?
What is your major achievement?
What do you consider yourself good at doing?
What sort of person are you?
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
What do you know about our organisation?
How would you approach this job?
How do you get things done?
How do you manage your staff?
What do you look for in a Manager?
What do you look for in a subordinate?
How do you decide on your objectives?
How do you manage your day?
What interests you most in your work?
What have you read recently that has taken your interest?
What sort of things do you like to delegate?
What do you do in your spare time?
In what environment do you work best?
How did you change the job?
What motivates you?
If you could change your current job in anyway how would you do it?
If you could change your organisation in any way how would you do it?
How have you changed over the last five years?
Where do you see yourself going in the next five years?
Describe a time when you felt you were doing well?
Describe a time when you felt that things were not going too well?
How do you work in a team?
What contribution do you make to a team?
What would your colleagues say about you?
Tell me about a time when you successfully managed…
When were you most happy at work?
Describe a difficult situation & what you did about it?
Who are you working best with now? Why?
Who are you finding it difficult to work with? Why?
Describe how you typically approach a project?
Given a choice in your work what do you like to do first?
On holiday, what do you miss most about your work?
Given a choice, what would you leave till last in work?
What do you think you can bring to this position?
What do you think you can bring to this company?
How do you see this job developing?
You seem not to have too much experience in… XXX?
We prefer older/younger candidates?
You seem over/under qualified?
Why did you leave xyz?
Why are you dissatisfied with your present job?
Why are you considering leaving your present job?
Why have you stayed so long/for such a short while with your present company?
Why were you out of work so long?
Why were you made redundant/let go/fired?
If we asked for a reference what would it say about you?
What sort of salary are you expecting?
What do you think is your market value?
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest how important is your work to you? Why not 10?
How did you get your last job?
Why were you transferred/promoted?
Do you like to work in a team or on your own?
What do you like best about your present job?
What do you like best about your organisation?
What did you learn in that job?
What did you learn form the xyz organisations approach?
How did that job influence you career?
If you did not have to work what would you do?
Given the achievements in your CV why is your salary so low?
What will you do if you don’t get this job?
What other job(s) have you applied for recently?
How could your boss improve his/her management of you?
What decisions do you find easy to make?
What decisions do you find difficult to make?
How does this job fit into your career plan?
From your CV it would seem that you move every so many years. Why is this?
When do you plan to retire?
What will you do in your retirement?
What training courses have you been on?
What training have you had for this job?
On what do you spend your disposable income?
On taking this job what would be your major contribution?
How do you get the best out of people?
Which of your jobs have given you the greatest satisfaction?
How do you respond under stress? Can you provide a recent example?
This job has a large component of travel/sales/negotiation/stress. How will you cope with that?
What support/training will you need to do this job?
What will you look forward to most in this job?
What sort of person are you socially?
In your view, what are the major problems/opportunities facing this company/industry/sector?
How did you get into this line of work?
What other irons do you have in the fire for your next job?
What will be your key target in this job if we appoint you?
What aspects of this job would you delegate?
What makes you think you can be successful with us?
What are the major influences that encourage you to take a job?
How does the job sound to you?
What questions have you for us?
Have you been coached in interviewing skills?
How does the job sound to you?
What questions have you for us?
Have you been coached in interviewing skills?