A job interview proves extremely critical to a fresher. The fact that he has no prior experience working in the industry makes his interview process very important.
The interviewers select a set of questions to gauge the candidate for the industry. The questions are devised to evaluate the knowledge and confidence of the candidate. Some of the questions are related to your field of expertise while others are designed to check your confidence and attitude.
You may answer questions related to your field easily if you have subject knowledge. You need to be careful about the general job interview questions. Answers to important interview questions like such are used to gauge you as a person and your attitude towards life.
Here we have made a list of common job interview questions for freshers which helps during his job interview.
Most Common Interview Questions for Freshers:
The following mentioned are few general interview questions asked in an interview to freshers and also few interview advice and job interview tips for freshers.
1. Why have you chosen this field?
There are many people who select their profession after assessing their likes, dislikes and knowledge in different fields. But this is not the case with all students. There are youngsters who lack direction in life. These are individuals who are unable to identify their strengths early. They may choose a field just because it appears better than the rest. Questions regarding choice of a field can be challenging to such individuals.
The interviewers usually expect to hear about your choice and liking for a field when they ask you why you chose a certain field. You should be in a position to explain to them what you like in your chosen field. Your passion for the chosen field should be evident in your answer.
2. What is your strength?
When the interviewer asks you about your strength, he is trying to gauge your confidence in your skills and abilities. You should be able to reveal through your words what your true strength is. This question should be carefully phrased. Interviewers are always eager to trap you with your answers. Frame your answer in such a fashion that they cannot counter question you. The interviewers are always looking for loopholes in your answers. Individuals who have experience working in the industry are aware of these tricks. They know how to tackle tricky questions. You must make sure you are confident and prepared for challenges.
3. What is your weakness?
An earnest man would easily fall prey to questions like these. You need to tackle questions like these tactically. When they ask about your weakness, your reply should be something like, ‘ I do not get peaceful till the work at hand is complete even if excess work affects my health adversely’. Such an answer reveals your love for the work you do and your true dedication and devotion as an employee. Your choice of an answer to such questions reveal your true attitude towards work.
You may also say things like ‘ My weakness is my strict adherence to deadlines even when the project is not urgent’ or ‘I can’t tolerate indiscipline’. These are replies that highlight you in positive light. Such weaknesses only glorify you.
4. What is your career goal?
This is one of the common questions posed in interviews. The interviewers are always curious to know your career goal and your dream career. They try to analyse from your replies whether you are a good choice for the particular job. Different questions they pose try to understand your liking for the industry you have chosen.
5. Who is your mentor?
The interviewer wants to understand you as an individual. He wishes to understand whom you respect or take as a mentor. The interviewer tries to identify the ideology you stand for by asking this question. Prepare your answer in a fashion that does not give a hint of extremist ideology as it may act against you in the interview.
6. What is your goal/ambition in career?
This another very probable question for freshers appearing for an interview. The interviewers wish to know whether you have well set dreams and ambitions for yourself. They try to analyse whether you are an ideal choice for the career. Your dreams and goals explain a lot regarding your knowledge and confidence in your field. Individuals who are not sure what they want to do with their lives are unable to have a clear goal or ambition.
7. Are you a team player?
The huge organisations succeed because they work in teams. An individual needs to have a very high level of understanding to be able to perform in a team. The interviewers always seek team players. If they ask you whether you are one, you should be able to tell them how good you are while working in a team. Give them examples of college events where you have actively participated.
8. What is your favourite hobby or pass-time?
Youngsters often fail to realize the significance of questions like this and blurt out replies that are totally irrelevant. When someone asks you regarding your hobbies and interests, you need to speak of the hobbies that could be relevant to your trade. If you are appearing for a sales job, even shopping could count as a good hobby.
If you are in for a creative role like an interior designer or an advertising agency creative head, you may speak of hobbies like writing poetry or painting. These are industries where creativity truly counts.
9. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
The interviewers wish to know whether you are ambitious. They also wish to know how well you understand the industry and your own potential. Questions like these should be answered with clarity. Your answer should reveal to the interviewers that you know exactly what you are doing. You may reply that you see yourself as the chief editor of the creative department in a prominent firm. This reply reveals confidence and clear understanding of the industry.
10. What is your salary expectation and why?
The firms try to do cost cutting by paying low wages to freshers. You need to remember that your initial wage decides your later progress. You need to negotiate to make sure you get a decent first salary. You may have a tough time convincing the interviewers why you deserve the pay you are quoting. Freshers are just out of the college and they lack work ethics or understanding of the work culture. The company has to spend time, money and effort to train freshers into eligible employees. This is the reason why the companies are hesitant to pay a good wage to a fresher. If you negotiate well and are able to convince why you deserve a better pay, you may get the pay you have quoted.
The last few questions in an interview for freshers turns out to be very tricky. You need to use your brains while answering these questions. Check out a few such questions.
11. Are you a good leader?
Every organization looks for good leadership qualities in their employees. While freshers are expected to follow their seniors in most situations, the firms know that only freshers can bring in change. They look for youngsters with an ability to bring change. You need to explain your leadership skills and your ability to understand the situation and find an apt solution. They seek leaders who are not bossy but understanding. Power blinds most men and you need to show the interviewers how you can help progress happen with your leadership skills.
12. Do you believe in socialism or democracy?
This is another tricky question that is often posed to freshers during interviews. The interviewers try to gauge your understanding of different ideologies. Picking any particular ideology could be risky during an interview. The interviewer may be a staunch socialist and if you pick democracy, you may have a tough time putting your point across. You need to pick an amalgamation of different ideologies that help organisations function efficiently. Such an answer can keep you safe even while tackling tough interviewers.
13. What do you think India is lacking?
The old school guys always have a bad impression about youngsters. They think the present generation is less patriotic and lack maturity. They wish to understand how much you care for your nation or think about it when they ask you questions like these. It would be great to have a clear answer with statistics ready for questions like these. If you mention poverty, illiteracy, lack of proper leadership or any other point, have facts and figures to support what you say.
14. Are you comfortable working on weekends?
Many times freshers tend to answers such questions in the affirmative. You must remember that your first job work culture impacts your entire job life. If you opt to work on the weekends, you must never expect free time even during weekends. It is best to set a reasonable expectation in the very beginning. There is no harm in honestly stating that you do not hope to work during weekends as you wish to have some time with your family too. A good company is sure to accept this answer in the right spirit.
Getting shortlisted for an interview is the initial step in the whole recruitment process. The next step you would have to deal with is the interview process. Attending an interview without any sort of preparation is a big NO-NO. So, it’s important that you have at least a minimal kind of preparation before heading for the interview.
Job Interview Questions for Freshers:
Let us look at a set of few common interview questions that you are going to face in the interview as a fresher.
We have segmented these common fresher interview questions into different divisions so that it will be easy for you to understand.
Warm up type interview questions:
1. How are you today?
2. Had any problem finding our office?
Preliminary questions for freshers:
3. Tell me something about yourself.
4. State reasons on why we should hire you?
General Questions:
5. Why do you want to join our company?
6. What do you know about our company?
Personality Related Interview Questions:
7. Tell me something about your hobbies?
8. How do you spend your spare time?
9. Tell me something about your values
10. What’s your biggest accomplishment?
11. What are your Strengths?
12. What are your weaknesses?
13. What are your short-term goals and long-term goals?
14. Where do you see yourself in the next 5-10 years?’
15. How well can you manage a difficult work situation ?(provide a situation as an example)
16. Do you possess any kind of leadership skills?
17. Are you good as a manager or a follower?
18. How do you react to criticism?
Tricky Questions for freshers:
19. How long would you be with us, if we hire you?
20. How are you different from the other candidates?
21. Do you feel that you’re overqualified for this position?
22. Do you think that you’re under qualified for this position?
23. You’ve applied to another Company also you have applied to us. What if both the companies select you?
24. Do you feel you are the best candidate for the job? if yes Why?
Domain Knowledge Questions for Freshers:
25. What do you think about the present state of the industry?
26. What are the important trends you see in our industry?
Experience and Skills Related Questions:
27. Tell us something about your internship?
28. State some qualities you think are required in this job?
Salary / Compensation Package Questions:
29. What are your salary expectations?
30. Providing high salaries at the entry level position is not possible. Do you still want to work with us?
Feedback Questions:
31. Do you have any question to ask me/us?
Important Job Interview Questions for Fresh Graduates:
Here is a video representation based on the vital job interview questons for freshers
These are some of the most common questions asked during interviews for freshers. If you are well prepared to face these questions with confidence, there is nothing that can stop you from achieving success in your career.
