Prerequisites of an Ideal Interview

Q: Do you know the best way to calm your pre-interview jitters ?

A: Always practice answering the commonly asked interview questions so that you can appear as calm and cool as possible.

A thirty minutes long interview is enough for you to showcase all your experience, skills, ethics and affiliations – so make every minute count. Preparation by doing as much mock interviews as you can is the key to a great interview and with practice along with the following interview questions, you will be able to answer some of the most commonly asked questions with poise and great insight, which will make you appear knowledgeable, professional, and ideally, the best candidate for the job.

Keep in mind that interviewers tend to focus on open-ended questions , allowing you to elaborate with past experiences or details relevant to the topic. While that gate is left wide open for you to direct the conversation, keep in mind that your answers need to be focused and free of unnecessary tangents.

Every interview or interviewer is different. A good interviewer will try to find out as quickly and as effectively as possible whether you’re suitable for the position. At the same time, you should be trying to figure out whether the role is suitable for you.

You will need to give well researched and well thought-out answers. Put the time and effort in interview preparation beforehand, so that you can come up with a handy list of questions you’re likely to be asked. And being prepared for a question is a million times better than trying to scramble for an answer on the spot.

For you, in this article we’ve prepared a list of the most common interview questions , structured by category, and with explanations on how to answer such types of questions well. You are bound to encounter an honest number of such questions, so take a glance at each category and confirm you've got an honest answer ready for every. 

“Go through our article where you’d come to know the process on how recruiters shortlist candidates and how do they reject them? “

Every interview is not the same and sometimes an interviewer can put up some situation based questions which might be nerve-wracking for you. Therefore, here we have listed 8 situational interview questions for candidates that can be asked during any job interview.

Prerequisites of an Ideal Interview

1. Tell me something about yourself?
   
   

It is the first and the most prior question asked by an interviewer to a candidate. It is the question which can boost your first impression. 

So, to answer this question in the best way is to skip your personal information and tell the interviewer about your career path and how you ended up, applying for this job. You need not describe it in detail, but tell the interviewer in a way which can make him/her go crazy to know more about you.

2. What makes you switch for a different job?
   
   

This question might seem offensive, but this is the only way for interviewers to judge the candidates accordingly, whether they were fired from the previous job or just looking for any job or some other reasons. 

So, to answer it positively, a candidate has to think wisely about why he or she is looking for various job opportunities. Be prepared to answer with the positive reply.

3. What do you expect out of your co-workers?
   
   

This question is meant to understand how you work on a team and whether you’ll be the right cultural fit for the company. 

To prepare for this question, one has to make sure that he or she needs to research about the company goals and vision and other related things. Through this, you can always tell an interviewer the company’s ethics are like, by going through their social media sites or reading their reviews on various websites.

4. By giving a situation like if a co-worker confidentially tells you that she plans to take sick leave and actually taking a week’s vacation. What would you suggest and why?
   
   

If this kind of question is put up, be thoughtful and try to show an interviewer that you are the person who believes in conveying the truth instead of making up a false call. 

So, to convey the answer of this question you need to be like I would tell the co-worker that being dishonest isn't the best way, for it might lead to difficulties later. And doing such activity by taking this extra time will affect the productivity of work.

5. What would you do if the priorities on a project you were working on for quite some time changed suddenly? What will be the first step you will take towards it?
   
   

Firstly, I would like to notify the changes to all the team members involved in the project, and then will want to know the reason behind the changes and if there is a risk of priorities changing again in the near future. I would then conduct a meeting with everyone involved to come up with a new strategy to address the new priorities.

6. Why should we hire you?
   
   

When this type of a question is asked, make sure that the recruiter is willing to know what skills you have right now and what you’re going to bring to the team. To summarize the answer, the candidate should be specific about their work history and achievements and use numbers whenever possible. 

For example, a candidate should convey about how many years of experience he or she has or mention some achievements you made at your last company. The more particular you are about your skills and show how valuable of an employee you are, the better an image can be portrayed in front of the recruiters.

7. You are in a situation where you contradict with the way your supervisor says to handle a problem, what would you do?
   
   

Firstly, I would evaluate why I disagree with my supervisor and come up with the particular way that I think the situation should be handled. Also, I will consider having an in-person discussion about the problem with him and find a common ground by discussion.

8. Can you list out the steps that you would take to make an important decision on the job?
   
   

Yes, there are some questions that I would like to put up which is in favor to make a better decision for the company:

• How would the company benefit from this?
• What will be the positive and negative impacts this decision has on the company?
• How does it relate to the company’s values and beliefs?

Here are the top 55 most common mistakes candidates make to review so you can avoid making them.

So, here are some listed situational based interview questions & answers that a candidate can go through and prepare well for any job interview. Also, one can choose our interview preparation course to be prepared for such kinds of questions.

Commonly Asked Questions:

Most interviewers will ask similar types of questions, and it is important for every candidate to practice commonly asked interview questions. Many of the commonly asked questions will be about yourself, your strengths and attributes, your experience and your interests. 

You may not know the exact questions that the interviewer will ask you, but preparing answers for commonly-asked questions are often useful. The questions vary depending on the job level and industry you’re in, but it helps to practice answering the following questions in your mock interview:

• Why do you want to be a part of this company/institution?
  
  

A proper and detailed research on the company will help you answer this question effectively. Focus on what interests you the most about the position in your answer. Try to highlight all the positive career plans that fit in with their company's mission. Memorize their mission statement and express why you feel you would like to be a part of it. Try to avoid talking about benefits, salary and other topics that would be unrelated to the actual work you will be doing in your job. Be aware of your body language to ensure you are coming across enthusiastic to work at their company.

• What will your previous supervisor or co-workers say about you?
  
  

Stay positive with this answer and only highlight the great things your co-workers or supervisor would need to say. If someone said something particular about you that you remember, say it in quote form to make it more credible.

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  
  

When it comes to your strong traits, focus on your skills or accomplishments that align with what is needed in the job. When stating your weak characteristics, make sure to share what you’ve done to improve them

• Where would you like to see yourself five years from now?  Or “What are your career goals?
  
  

It may be tempting to mention that you simply aim to climb the company ladder and be a senior manager in five years’ time, but a more appealing answer would be about the talents that you simply want to develop or further improve over that point frame.

• How can you be a good fit in our organization/institution?
  
  

This is where your research about the organization will come in handy. Make sure to know a bit more about the company before the interview. Learn its mission and the culture. To answer the question, explain how your knowledge and skills are well-suited to what they’re looking for. During the interview, you can also say something about your career aspirations and share how you can contribute to achieving the company’s goals.

• Do you have any questions for us? 

This is your opportunity to ask well-researched questions , not only to know more about the company but also to show the interviewer that you did your homework and you’re genuinely interested in the job.

 “Here are some must know Interview tips to go through to crack the job interview.”

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Tricky Questions Asked

Interviewers often sprinkle a few tricky questions which might make candidates stumble during an interview. These questions can make or break an interview, so confirm that once you answer that you simply are being appropriate, professional and honest.

• What are your weaknesses?
  
  

Believe it or not, everyone has weaknesses and now is the time to downplay them as much as possible. This type of question often puts people in a difficult position to answer because if they try answer with complete honesty, they will sound self-deprecating and incompetent, but if they don't answer with enough honesty, they will appear fake. The best way to answer this question is to give a small flaw, something work-related, that you are working hard to improve and explain how you are working to remedy it.

• What salary range are you looking for?
  
  

Too many candidates are not prepared to answer this question and are often caught off-guard with such an unconventional question. The question can appear to be a lose-lose situation because aiming too high or too low can cost tons. Research the market rate for the job ahead of time and negotiate well for yourself.

 Though certain recruiting managers may differ on how to answer this question, the safest way to answer is to be confident and honest. If you must give a number, tell them what you think you are worth that's in the range of their payment. If they didn't think you were worth paying for, they wouldn't have asked you to come in.

 “Read things you must not miss out to say in an interview. Here’s the list of things you should say in an interview.”  

Sharing too much information isn't going to help you out in a Job Interview. In fact, sharing too much could cost you a job offer too.

Here is the list of top 24 things that you shouldn’t say during an interview

Behavioral Questions Asked

Some companies like better to ask behavioral questions rather than questions associated with skill. These are often the hardest questions to prepare for because they are so varied and depend on ethical choices in situations that you may or may not have had to deal with yet.

These questions could include:

• What assignment was too difficult for you? How did you resolve the issue?
  
• Case : If I were your supervisor and asked you to do something that you disagreed with, what would you do in this situation?
  
• Tell me a time where you had to deal with conflict on a job.
  
• What would you describe as your biggest failure and how did you learn from it?
  
  
  

Though these questions are not as fun because they highlight the not-so-pretty aspects of us and future employment, it is important for the hiring manager to understand how you handle a conflict. More and more employers are wanting to hire people with good interpersonal skills. By explaining a situation in which you overcame or handled the conflict correctly, you will be able to answer the question in a way that will detail your conflict-resolution skills with the hiring manager.

Unfortunately, there is no particular way to know what exactly you may be asked during an interview, but with preparation with our mock interview services you will be much more likely to land the job. If not so, try practicing interviewing with a family member or friend using the questions in this section and then ask your pseudo interviewer to come up with their own questions. Remember that even though you can’t know what will be asked, you can be prepared for any interview.

Always confirm that you simply have a couple of questions ready for the interviewer also. This shows that you have done your homework and are enthusiastic about the position. 

Preparing for the interview may be difficult at first, but by researching the company, rehearsing sample questions and performing mock interviews, you will be more prepared and confident. Preparation and confidence is a large portion of what the employers are looking for in candidates.

Need some tips on how to prepare for these questions? 

“Check out our article on How to Prepare for Mock Interviews!”