When interviewing, your goal is to convince the hiring manager that you are the perfect candidate they've been seeking. Below are some popular mock interview questions and how to answer them.
Q1. Why do you want to work for us?
-Because we have bills right? Besides the obvious, why choose this company over the many other ones offering the same position? Does this company offer growth? Do you stand with their mission statement/moral values? Think of it this way…if you’re a nurse and 3 different hospitals was hiring for your position, with the same pay, what hospital would you choose and why?
Q2. Tell us about yourself.
-This isn’t #ThrowbackThursday…HR does not care to hear about your birth through present day. Basically they would like to know things about you that would benefit the company. You can start with personal then transition into professional. For example, Alice is interviewing for a childcare aide position. She can talk about how she grew up the oldest of 5 siblings then transition into professional with key strengths that’s needed in her field like compassion and patience. The personal information she shared showed how she is very responsible having been the oldest of 5. Also, this indirectly points out how she’s basically “been in this field of work” all of her life. Bottom line: Make sure everything you share will somehow connect to the position you’re applying for.
Q3. What are your strengths?
-Before we start stroking our egos, lets go back to the job description posting you’re interviewing for. Ideally it’s good to keep the list to 3-5 attributes. Those attributes should go hand in hand with the position you’re applying for. For instance Alice the childcare aide, if hired, would be working with 10 five-year olds. Her strengths could include her patience. One child is enough to drive someone up a wall so highlighting that strength would be a good one.
Q4. What are your weaknesses?
-Chocolate, potato chips, cheesecake. No? It's hard to answer a question like this to the hiring manager without them looking at you as an incompetent employer. The key is to turn every “negative” into a “positive”. First thing, never use the term weakness in your answer. Second, show how what some may see as a weakness as a strength. Lets’s go back to Alice and check out her answer:
Interviewer: :"What's a weakness of yours?"
Alice: “I would say taking my “work” home with me is a challenge I've always had. Recently, I had a child leave early because she was running a fever. That whole weekend I wondered if she was okay.”
-This “weakness” is still shown in a positive light. This shows her compassion for her children which is a strength
Q5. Why are you leaving your job?
Take a deep breath. This is not a conversation with a friend and although we may want to vent, it’s imperative that you stay positive!!!!! This is not the time to talk about a horrible boss ,catty co-workers, or low pay. Bad mouthing another company will put a bad taste in this hiring manger's mouth. Focus on YOU. You can talk about wanting growth. How you’ve accomplished x,y,z with your past company and ready for your next challenge. You could state how you love this company’s culture and values and how they are aligned with yours. Leaving a current job doesn’t always mean you left because things went sour. You may want to leave to bloom even brighter.
The next set of questions you may get are “tell-me” questions. These are questions that require you to tell the hiring manager scenarios that you’ve encountered in the workplace. To answer these questions its of great advantage to use the “P.A.R.” guidelines to answer tell-me questions.
PAR stands for Problem.Action.Result.
Problem-What was the problem at hand?
Action-What action(s) did you take to tackle the problem?
Result-What happened as a result for your action?
Answering tell-me questions in this format will help you ace an interview. Now let’s see it action with Alice the childcare aide.
Interviewer-"Tell me a time where you witnessed a co-worker breaking the rules and what did you do."
Alice: "At ABC daycare we received 30 minute lunch breaks. My one co-worker I noticed was taking 45 minute lunch breaks. After I witnessed her take the 45 minute break, I went to her privately and asked her did she know about the company’s policy of 30 minute lunch breaks. She said she didn’t and thanked me for telling her. The very next day she did it again. I approached her again,privately, and explained to her when she takes those extra minutes it’s leaving the children to be attended by only one aide instead of 2 and if she does it again I would have no choice but to go to our manager and inform her about the situation. There were no more problems after that."
Lets break Alice's response down:
Problem-Alice’s coworker breaking the rules by taking longer lunches.
Action-Approaching her co-worker privately to address the situation and informing her that she will take this management if need be.
Result-Co-worker started taking 30 minute lunch breaks in accordance to company policy.
Some other popular “tell-me” questions:
-Tell me a time when you had to make a difficult decision at work.
-Tell me a time when you had a difficult customer and how you handled it.
-Tell me a time when you made a mistake and how did you fix it.
-Tell me a time when you worked effectively in a team.
-Tell me a time when you had to deal with a conflict on your team.
Breaking down questions into par-format shows clearly how you handle situations. Always, always, always keep your answers positive even if the result was a negative. For example, if the result was that Alice’s coworker was terminated, Alice can conclude that even though her co-worker ended up terminated, the care of the children they assist was priority.
One of the last questions you may get asked is if you have any for them. You should. Having questions for the hiring manager shows your interest in the job/company. It’s important to have 4-5 questions because most of them may be answered during the interview. Some example questions you could ask:
-How long have you been working here and what do you love about this company?
-What gets you most excited about the company's future?
-What are the most immediate projects that need to be addressed?
-What are the biggest challenges that someone in this position would face?
-Are there opportunities for advancement or professional development?
-Where have successful employees previously in this position progressed to in this company?
-What are the most important things you’d like to see accomplished in the first 90 days on the job?
Every single interview will be different. The only constant is your confidence. The fact you beat out hundreds, maybe even thousands, of applicants shows that there's a great interest in hiring you. Wow them with an awesome interview to seal the deal.
Q1. Why do you want to work for us?
-Because we have bills right? Besides the obvious, why choose this company over the many other ones offering the same position? Does this company offer growth? Do you stand with their mission statement/moral values? Think of it this way…if you’re a nurse and 3 different hospitals was hiring for your position, with the same pay, what hospital would you choose and why?
Q2. Tell us about yourself.
-This isn’t #ThrowbackThursday…HR does not care to hear about your birth through present day. Basically they would like to know things about you that would benefit the company. You can start with personal then transition into professional. For example, Alice is interviewing for a childcare aide position. She can talk about how she grew up the oldest of 5 siblings then transition into professional with key strengths that’s needed in her field like compassion and patience. The personal information she shared showed how she is very responsible having been the oldest of 5. Also, this indirectly points out how she’s basically “been in this field of work” all of her life. Bottom line: Make sure everything you share will somehow connect to the position you’re applying for.
Q3. What are your strengths?
-Before we start stroking our egos, lets go back to the job description posting you’re interviewing for. Ideally it’s good to keep the list to 3-5 attributes. Those attributes should go hand in hand with the position you’re applying for. For instance Alice the childcare aide, if hired, would be working with 10 five-year olds. Her strengths could include her patience. One child is enough to drive someone up a wall so highlighting that strength would be a good one.
Q4. What are your weaknesses?
-Chocolate, potato chips, cheesecake. No? It's hard to answer a question like this to the hiring manager without them looking at you as an incompetent employer. The key is to turn every “negative” into a “positive”. First thing, never use the term weakness in your answer. Second, show how what some may see as a weakness as a strength. Lets’s go back to Alice and check out her answer:
Interviewer: :"What's a weakness of yours?"
Alice: “I would say taking my “work” home with me is a challenge I've always had. Recently, I had a child leave early because she was running a fever. That whole weekend I wondered if she was okay.”
-This “weakness” is still shown in a positive light. This shows her compassion for her children which is a strength
Q5. Why are you leaving your job?
Take a deep breath. This is not a conversation with a friend and although we may want to vent, it’s imperative that you stay positive!!!!! This is not the time to talk about a horrible boss ,catty co-workers, or low pay. Bad mouthing another company will put a bad taste in this hiring manger's mouth. Focus on YOU. You can talk about wanting growth. How you’ve accomplished x,y,z with your past company and ready for your next challenge. You could state how you love this company’s culture and values and how they are aligned with yours. Leaving a current job doesn’t always mean you left because things went sour. You may want to leave to bloom even brighter.
The next set of questions you may get are “tell-me” questions. These are questions that require you to tell the hiring manager scenarios that you’ve encountered in the workplace. To answer these questions its of great advantage to use the “P.A.R.” guidelines to answer tell-me questions.
PAR stands for Problem.Action.Result.
Problem-What was the problem at hand?
Action-What action(s) did you take to tackle the problem?
Result-What happened as a result for your action?
Answering tell-me questions in this format will help you ace an interview. Now let’s see it action with Alice the childcare aide.
Interviewer-"Tell me a time where you witnessed a co-worker breaking the rules and what did you do."
Alice: "At ABC daycare we received 30 minute lunch breaks. My one co-worker I noticed was taking 45 minute lunch breaks. After I witnessed her take the 45 minute break, I went to her privately and asked her did she know about the company’s policy of 30 minute lunch breaks. She said she didn’t and thanked me for telling her. The very next day she did it again. I approached her again,privately, and explained to her when she takes those extra minutes it’s leaving the children to be attended by only one aide instead of 2 and if she does it again I would have no choice but to go to our manager and inform her about the situation. There were no more problems after that."
Lets break Alice's response down:
Problem-Alice’s coworker breaking the rules by taking longer lunches.
Action-Approaching her co-worker privately to address the situation and informing her that she will take this management if need be.
Result-Co-worker started taking 30 minute lunch breaks in accordance to company policy.
Some other popular “tell-me” questions:
-Tell me a time when you had to make a difficult decision at work.
-Tell me a time when you had a difficult customer and how you handled it.
-Tell me a time when you made a mistake and how did you fix it.
-Tell me a time when you worked effectively in a team.
-Tell me a time when you had to deal with a conflict on your team.
Breaking down questions into par-format shows clearly how you handle situations. Always, always, always keep your answers positive even if the result was a negative. For example, if the result was that Alice’s coworker was terminated, Alice can conclude that even though her co-worker ended up terminated, the care of the children they assist was priority.
One of the last questions you may get asked is if you have any for them. You should. Having questions for the hiring manager shows your interest in the job/company. It’s important to have 4-5 questions because most of them may be answered during the interview. Some example questions you could ask:
-How long have you been working here and what do you love about this company?
-What gets you most excited about the company's future?
-What are the most immediate projects that need to be addressed?
-What are the biggest challenges that someone in this position would face?
-Are there opportunities for advancement or professional development?
-Where have successful employees previously in this position progressed to in this company?
-What are the most important things you’d like to see accomplished in the first 90 days on the job?
Every single interview will be different. The only constant is your confidence. The fact you beat out hundreds, maybe even thousands, of applicants shows that there's a great interest in hiring you. Wow them with an awesome interview to seal the deal.
Don't forget to check out Shon's Six Steps to a perfect interview!!!!!
"One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.”
-Arthur Ashe