Five questions you’ll probably hear at a job interview
The purpose of a job interview is to confirm whether the candidate is the right person to work in a particular position, in a particular organization. To do this, the recruiter asks you questions about your professional experience, skills, competences, motivation and the general course of your professional career. If you want to do well, think beforehand about what you’ll answer when you hear:
- Please tell me something about yourself
This is an opportunity to talk briefly about your experience until now, and your skills and competences in the context of the position you’re applying for. So in replying, you need to stress selected aspects that make you the ideal candidate for a given position. People who don’t understand the intentions of the interviewer concentrate on their private lives when answering, while here it’s about professional matters.
- Why have you decided to change jobs?
In reality this is a question about why you want to leave your current employer. Even if the reason is dissatisfaction with your current company or your relationship with your supervisor, keep that to yourself. Don’t concentrate on evaluating others, or the negative aspects of work where you are now. Instead, focus on what a change of employers can give you, e.g. the opportunity to discover a new industry, or using and developing your skills.
- Please describe your strong points
Choose the three strong points that are most desirable for the position you’re applying for. Remember to support your answer with appropriate examples. So if your strong suit is negotiating skills, tell about a situation where you managed to negotiate a good deal for your company. Concentrate on examples that show how your skills helped your company achieve concrete benefits. Refer to numbers to confirm your effectiveness and build credibility.
- Please describe your weak points
It’s important to be aware of your weak points, because only then can you work on your development. Asking about your weak points has the goal of checking not only whether you know what you still need to work on, but also how you handle stressful situations. Never answer that you don’t have any weak points. Nobody will believe this, and you undermine your credibility. It’s better to concentrate on one or at most two weaknesses, which aren’t key for work in the position you’re applying for. And confirm that you’re taking the right actions to combat your weaknesses.
- Please describe your ideal workplace
In answering this question, concentrate on the aspects that are important for you and that have a positive influence on your motivation to work. Talk about the work environment that suits you, the kind of organizational culture you’d like to work in, your way of building relationships with people and developing. This is not the place to bring up the subject of compensation and other benefits.
