Some Questions I Might Ask You At A Job Interview

Here are some questions you could be asked when you attend a job interview. In this case, I am asking the questions as a recruiter, however the questions are still relevant if you are attending an interview directly with an employer.

Tell me a little about yourself? I usually ask this question at the start of an interview as an ice breaker. During the interview I will recall what you answered to ensure you are being consistent.

What are your strengths? I want to establish what you think your strengths are which I will verify with your referees. For example, if I am looking for someone who makes quick decisions and takes action immediately and you reply “I am very thorough and carefully consider all options prior to making a decision” then I will take this into account as to whether you are the right fit for the job.

What is your biggest achievement to date? I want to establish if you have had any outstanding achievements in previous positions that you could bring to the new role. It tells me a lot about your past performance.

What makes you feel motivated? This helps me assess your personality type and if you are suited to the position.

Describe your ideal manager? This helps me to assess whether you will work in well with my client.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time? This tells me that you plan ahead and set goals for yourself and a bit about your motivation levels.

What sort of professional development are you undertaking? I am always impressed with people who constantly try to improve themselves in both personal and professional life. It shows drive.

Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a team member? How did you deal with it? What was the result? This tells me a lot about your personality and how you deal with conflict. It helps me to assess whether you are a trouble maker, easy going, can handle difficult situations or are more likely to agree for the sake of peace.

Tell me about a time when you had to reprimand a subordinate? What was the result? I am trying to ascertain if you are a good leader and have the ability to manage staff. I am also assessing how you handle difficult situations.

Tell about a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer? Most people who apply for roles in customer service can usually answer this one off the top of their head. Here I am establishing how you deal with aggressive customers and how likely you are to handle a stressful situation.

What would do you think you can bring to this position that others may not be able to? This is your chance to ‘close the sale’ so to speak, I am asking this because I want to assess your own self confidence and how you think you could add value to my client. It might also give me more information about you that I failed to ask you myself.

What kind of people do you like to work with? I am asking this to help me to assess if you fit the culture of the position or not.

What type of work environment do you prefer? Again this is to help me assess work culture fit.

Describe the best boss you have ever had. This helps me to assess if you might like working with the manager I am recruiting for.

Have you mostly worked alone or in groups? This is assessing if you would prefer to work in a team or more autonomous.

Tell me about a time when you had to handle multiple projects at once? Now I am assessing how you handle pressure and deadlines. I am listening closely to what you tell me about your time management, multi tasking and if you enjoy or really dislike having too many projects on.

What was your workload in your current/last position? This helps me assess if you can handle the workload in the position you are applying for or if you might get bored as there is not enough to do.

What are some things you find difficult to do on the job? Why? Now I am probing to see how challenged you are in your current role.

Are you a persistent person? Give me an example of this, if so. I am assessing if you give up easily or keep at it until you get it right.

Where do you stand with your former employer? I don’t want to do a reference check and find out you left on bad terms, in other words I don’t want any nasty surprises.

How do you work with new people? Assessing if you are going to fit in straight away or maybe be a bit shy and need some help.

How would you handle this hypothetical problem?(will describe a sitution to you relevant to the role) This question is asked to assess how you deal with problems and if you can come up with solutions.

FOR SALES POSITIONS

What would you say your greatest strengths are as a salesperson? Here I am establishing if you are more a relationship builder or more suited to bringing new business in.

How much time did you spend prospecting and how did you do it? I am trying to establish how resourceful you are at bringing in new business.

Give an example of when you had to overcome strong resistance from a customer. I am assessing your ability to meet objections.

What were your targets and what percentage did you achieve? This is an extremely important question as I need to know if you can keep up with your KPI’s and bring in the minimal amount of sales or you are an over-achiever.

Tell me how you developed your largest account? I ask this so I can get an idea of how you work on acquiring business and how resourceful and persistent you are.

Describe a recent situation where you negotiated terms with a tough customer. I am again establishing how strong your sales skills are and if you are a good negotiator.

Give me an example of when you had to make a presentation to an unresponsive audience, how did you handle it? This helps me assess how resilient you are.

What goals have you set for yourself this upcoming year, how have you ensured progress towards them? This tells me a bit about your own desires and drive for success.

If I called your last employer right now what do you think he or she would say about you? I am giving you a chance to tell me if you left on good terms or not, because I will verify this in a reference check.

If you are successful in this role how to you intend finding new customers? This will help me to ‘sell you to the client’ if I can give the client an example of how you might bring in new business, especially if you have good networks that you can leverage off or past customers.

What do you think makes a good sales manager? I am assessing how much mentoring and input you might need from your sales manager.

Now it’s time to close the sale – why should I refer/employ you? Now I am assessing how good you are at closing the sale.

Questions you could consider asking at the interview

· Is this a newly created position?

· What are the key requirements for the position?

· What are the KPI’s?

· Does the company have any real challenges at the moment?

· Can you tell me about the culture of the company?

· Who are your main competitors? (

· What challenges might I expect if I am successful in this position?

· Do you have any internal training programmes?

· Is there anything else you would like to know about me?

· Does the company of a strategy for growth?

Debbie Carr is professional recruitment consultant. She is also the owner/operator of a professional speaking agency.