If you’ve never been stumped by an interview question before, consider yourself lucky.
For the vast majority of job seekers, interviews can be a very stressful time, and nothing ruins the experience like being on the wrong side of a “gotcha” question.
One of the best ways you can reduce the chance of being surprised by an interviewer’s questions is to do some research ahead of time and practice answering the most common interview questions you are likely to see.
After extensive analysis of thousands of interviews, the folks at Glassdoor arrived at a list of the top 40 questions asked in interviews.
Read through the list, and practice answering these common interview questions in front of a mirror or with a friend, and you will be prepared to land the job you want.
- What are some of your biggest strengths?
- What are your biggest weaknesses?
- What makes you interested in working for [insert company name here]?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
- What reasons do you have to leave your current company?
- Why were you unemployed, or why was there a gap in your employment, between [insert date] and [insert date]?
- What unique things can you offer us?
- If we asked your former manager where you could improve, what are three things they would tell us?
- Are you open to relocating?
- Are you willing and able to travel?
- What is one accomplishment you are very proud of?
- Tell us about a time when you made a mistake.
- What’s your dream job or field?
- How and where did you hear about this position?
- What would you look to see accomplished in the first 30/60/90 days of employment?
- Tell us about your resume.
- Tell us about your educational background and experience?
- Tell us about yourself.
- Tell us about a tough situation, and how you dealt with it.
- Tell us why we should hire you?
- What are some reasons why you are looking for a new job?
- Are you open to working holidays and weekends if needed?
- Imagine you had an angry customer. Tell us how you would deal with them.
- What are your salary requirements and requests?
- Tell us about a situation in which you went above and beyond for a project or assignment.
- Who do you see as are our competitors?
- What is your number one biggest failure?
- Tell us about something that motivates you?
- Tell us about your availability.
- Who’s your mentor? Who’s someone you look up to?
- What would you do if you disagreed with your boss? Tell us about a time that you did.
- Tell us about how you handle pressure.
- What’s the name of our CEO/president? Who are some big/popular figures in our company?
- What are some of your professional goals?
- What are some of the things that make you get up in the morning?
- If your subordinates were to talk about you or describe you, what might they say?
- Tell us about your former boss’s strengths and weaknesses.
- If I called up your boss and asked for some of your weaknesses, what might they tell me?
- Would you call yourself a follower, or a leader?
- What’s the title of the last book you read for pleasure?
What other interview questions have you faced on more than one occasion? Help your fellow job seekers prepare for their next big interview by sharing common interview questions in the comments below!