Whichever side of the interview table you are sitting at, being prepared to ask or answer a wide range of questions about career, work and goals is essential to your success. We’ve come up with our own list of likely and useful questions to help you feel thoroughly prepared for your next interview, no matter which side of the table you’re on.
Goals – Career, Role and Organisation
- What’s your ideal company?
- What would be your ideal working environment?
- What style of management do you respond best to?
- What is your favourite aspect of your current or most recent role?
- What do you look for in terms of workplace culture?
- In what areas do you want to develop your knowledge and skills?
- What do you currently do to improve your knowledge and skills?
- What would be your long-term goals if you were to get this role?
- Where would you like to be five years from now in terms of your career?
Reality/Research – Accomplishments, Challenges and Knowledge
- If I were to ask your last supervisor to provide you additional training or exposure, what would he or she suggest?
- How do you handle a team member not contributing or pulling their weight?
- Can you share a time you received criticism and how you dealt with it?
- What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?
- What are your strengths?
- In what areas do you think you need to improve?
- Why are you leaving your present job?
- What do you know about this industry?
- What do you know about our company?
- What is your greatest success in your career so far?
Options – Improvements, Opportunities and Flexibility
- What are you looking for in terms of career development?
- How do you want to improve yourself in the next year?
- Are you willing to relocate or travel, if necessary, for this role?
- What salary are you seeking?
- If you were interviewing others for this position, what would you look for?
- How do you feel about managing a small/large and diverse team?
- What is one thing you would change about your current or most recent role?
- Describe how you would handle a situation in which you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could do so.
Win-Win – Speaks for Itself
- What attracted you to this company?
- Why should we hire you?
- Explain to me the difference between ‘good’ and ‘exceptional’.
- If I were to give you the salary you requested but let you write your job description for the next year, what would it say?
- What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
- What do you see yourself doing within the first 30 days of this job?
- What qualities do you have that will make you a good fit for this organisation?
- If selected for this position, can you describe your strategy for the first 90 days?
If you want to grow your team or your career, take some time to download your own copy of our G.R.O.W. interview questions in preparation. You may ask or be asked some of them or none, but isn’t it always best to be ready for whatever might be thrown at you in the interview room?
