Wouldn’t it be amazing if you are aware of all the questions, along with perfect answers, that would come across to you in the interview! Knowing questions in advance with their answers will help you to nail the interview. Here are some tricky questions you would experience during your job interview. All questions mentioned here are been filtered and researched in order to ace the interview procedure. Some of such questions might seem simple and don’t even sound tricky. The real difficulty comes with the most simple and common questions. Most of the candidates, do overlook these questions but they are vital to crack any interview.
It is required to understand that, even simple questions may have a variety of answers. If the question is so simple then the interviewer himself would opt that question. The main aim of conducting an interview is to select the best in this competitive world. Though everyone could answer a simple question, it is important to understand that the question might be simple but the answer to it might not be the same.
The greater are open-ended questions, the more variations would be there in the answer. Whenever there are many answers to a single question, it doesn’t mean that any answer could be the right one. It implies that you have to select the finest answer which suits your profile the best.
Once you have groomed your interviewing skills, you can answer any question very well for a particular question. Even the answers to these questions would offer you with a novel perspective on how to answer intricate questions. Tricky questions are just to understand the thinking and perspective of a person. The interview does not always expect you to give the right answer but analyses the thought process carried by your mind to answer the question.
While you can modify these responses, but these answers would help you to understand the question well and add your own perspective in a precise way. So if you don’t want your hiring manager to get disappointed and if you really want to grab your next job, then here you must go through each question and answer listed below!
Sample Interview Questions and Answers:
Tell me about yourself/describe yourself?
It might seem an obvious question to you, whenever you attend an interview. The interviewer always has his own expected answers to this question. Most of the candidates do overlook the question, but this is the only question which helps the candidate to exactly convey the capabilities and potential present in you. This is the only time the interviewer asks you whether you fit for the job. Rest of the interview process is all about direct answers to direct questions.
Therefore, you need to reconsider your answer as this is an open-ended question and hence you need to answer it specifically to win the game. It is because the hiring manager is looking for a brief and quick response from you. You need not clearly mention information about your family, your primary schooling and grades in schooling. The interviewer is not here to analyze how you have performed in your school but is available to check the proficiency in your skill. Grades and marks will be available in the curriculum vitae or the resume you are submitting. You are not expected to read out whatever is present in the resume, the person can read it by himself.
The interviewer is just intended to know about your professional work-out that makes you the best candidate for this position. You may use any real-life example if it is related to your answer. Giving experiences in the past would make your description much reliable. Don’t just tell you have worked on a few projects. Include a line describing the experience you have gained working in that project. Give an explanation about your experience and background. Just remember that you don’t have to tell each detail about yourself, rather you just have to highlight your best.
What are your long–term goals?
The key, to this question, is to do an emphasis on your achievable objectives and what all you are ready to do in order to reach those goals. This question is intended to know how visionary are you towards your future. It is essential that any goal you highlight must be supported by an example. For instance, if you say that you would like to be the employee or head of your department in the upcoming five years. The interviewer is not going to appreciate for the answer you have given rather expects the journey you have planned to reach your destination. Therefore, you must be prepared to frame a strategy or plan of how you would achieve it.
Try to include points which mention the hindrances and difficulties you might face in achieving the goal. Also, mention the efforts you are willing to put forward which helps you to reach towards your aim. Instead of points which mentions a change in the workplace, you can mention that you wanted to see yourself in a higher position in the same organization. You might frame some positive points in your answer as you would be willing to take up the responsibilities, or you would communicate with the team to gain more knowledge and experience. It is one question that cannot be answered without examples!
Why the company/I should hire you?
The common answer that would surely occur in your mind as well would be ‘since I am the best.’ Definitely, you must consider yourself suitable for the position as it would help to boost your confidence, but then you need to remember that you do not develop overconfidence while answering this question. A different way to answer this question is to answer the question in a different way. Highlighting the points which differentiate you from others would also create a positive impact upon you.
Therefore, you need to highlight skills and capabilities that differentiate you from others which makes the interviewer to feel that “you are the best”. So undoubtedly, the best way to answer this question is to highlight your skills and impressively present your potentials and proficiencies. If any additional qualities make you the best person for the job, then you must say it. Passion, sincerity, regularity, punctuality and more such qualities might sound different from what is presented by others. You can even offer some examples in order to support your answer related to any specific quality or skill.
Are you a team player / how comfortable you are working with a team?
Almost every candidate says ‘YES’ as a response to this question. But if you want to stand out in the crowd then you must understand that a simple ‘yes/no’ is not enough answer to this question. You must present behavioral examples to support your answer. A good answer to this question would something be like, ‘yes, I am a good team player, and I’ve had ample opportunities to show my team spirit in my past work, school, university competitions and more.’ It would be great if you can support your answer with any current examples.
You are open to provide all the contributions to the team as a member of the team. If you once lead the team, you can include the difficulties you have faced leading the team and the ways you have implemented in solving the difficulties. If you were once a member of a team, you can mention the things you have done to bring unity in the team. You may also mention the responsibilities you have taken in absence of the team lead to head the team. Focus on your behavioral examples, teamwork, and openness to bring diversity in your answer. You must highlight the strength of an entire team rather just focusing on individual skills.
How your education has helped you prepare for your career?
The question might seem simple, but actually, it is a broad question with huge variations, and hence you must focus on your behavioral examples related to your educational background that particularly correlates to the needed competencies for the present career option. A good example of this is, ‘my education has helped me comprehend the fundamentals and also gain practical knowledge during the classes.’ Also, you can state the end-results of such situations that focus on your behavioral factors supporting the core competencies for your career. If you find the hiring manager is interested to know more, then you can provide even more examples.
Have you ever had a fight/conflict/trouble with your senior/team, member/colleague? How you resolved the problem?
If you would directly say a ‘no’ to the question, then the hiring manager would consider it a fake answer and would even try to dig the situation deeper. The interviewer, through this question, wants to know your behavioral reactions during a problematic situation and how efficient you are in solving such issues. For instance, if you say, ‘yes, I had conflict in the past, but they were small or not so major, then the answer would seem genuine. If you seriously had a minor conflict, then you can state it in your answer. To support the answer, you can even highlight that conflict helps to better understand the perspective of other member and in the end, you took a collaborative approach to work out the situation. Remember to focus your response on the working collaboration and behavioral process for solving the conflict.
How would your boss/senior describe you?
It is a reference or threat check question. This question directly implies that the interviewer wants to know the behavior and the quality of your work in the previous company. You must not wait for the interview to frame a specific answer and must prepare for an answer well in advance.
If the hiring manager is willing to deliver a positive response, then you may ask for a proof of recommendation. A wise way to answer such question, ‘I consider she would say I am the very energetic person that I am the result-oriented person and one of the finest people with whom she has never worked out. May I reveal her the letter of recommendation?’ So you must be prepared in advance with a letter of recommendations.
What is your great weakness?
Asking for your weakness is another tricky question to analyze you. Most of the career-related would inform you to select a strength and represent it as your weakness, like ‘I am workaholic or I am hardworking or more.’ But it is not the correct way to answer this question. Firstly presenting strength like a weakness is deceiving and secondly, it diverts from the point of asking the question. Telling about a weakness is not wrong but letting it be a weakness till the end is the real mistake. Do mention a weakness and also explain the problems you have faced because of it. The interviewer expects the ways used by you to tackle and overcome that particular weakness.
Therefore, select a weakness that you are actively working on to rectify or combat. For instance, you may state that you had trouble in the past with prioritizing things, but you are now working on it and have accomplished it to a great level. Moreover, you can also state that you have planned some steps to better prioritize things. If there is any handy plan in your hand or mobile, then you might even show it to the interviewer. Talking about a real weakness would not just make your answer unique, but would also help you to overcome it in real life.
If you had given the opportunity to change on thing in your life, then what it would be?
Such a question intends to know your focus on the core turning point in your life or any missed opportunity that you regret. Also, the interviewer also wants to know what you are still doing in order to win over that change. For instance, a good answer to this question could be, ‘Although, I am pretty much happy in my life, I wish I could focus much earlier on my career.’ This single answer makes the interviewer assume that you have really understood the importance of time which you have wasted in your previous years.
You can also state to ‘gain more experience in a field.’ This answer would make the interviewer assume that you are still striving to learn new things and gain perfection in the things which you already know. You can even provide examples for the same to prove your point much stronger.
What according to you are successful qualities of a manager or a team head?
While answering this question, you must focus on two words – vision and leadership. A leader always has to be visionary enough to understand the difficulties that the team or the company is going to face in the nearby future. The person who tackles problems which are going to arise in the future is considered to be more powerful than the one who solves problems facing in the present. Therefore it is important to mention this point in the interview which makes the interviewer assume that you are a person who just doesn’t live in the present but also thinks about the future.
Then you must focus on how such qualities have transformed your personal character or end results. An excellent sample to respond this question could be, ‘The core quality of a successful manager must be leadership, which is the ability to become the vision for the people who are on the team or working with you. The key qualities of a successful manager are to enhance his personal potential as well as to inspire other team members to work to their best level. The manager must also ensure that he works efficiently as a true leader. Just like any other answer, if you support this answer with examples then you’ll able to deliver a quality answer.
These responses are only examples, but you can review and rehearse them with real-life examples. Although there is no need for verbal rehearsal, still you can practice them to build your confidence. Such a response meant to alter your creativity and get you to think the perfect way to answer the extensive range of questions that you would face in the actual interview.
