What are the most common interview questions? Lindsey Stanberry at Refinery29.com in “31 Interview Questions You Should Know By Heart” features questions you’ll most likely encounter in a job interview. Of course, these are not the exact words an interviewer may use, but the spirit of the question is universal. What I like about Lindsey’s article is that she gives insight into each Q and A. She explains the intent behind the question and gives ideas on how to frame your response.

Job Interview Questions And Answers

I get so nervous before job interviews — sweaty palms, dry mouth, butterflies in my stomach. I don’t mean this in a braggy way, but how often do you get to sit down with someone and really talk about the projects you love or how you want to grow your career, except in an interview setting? Ultimately, being prepared is an easy way to ease the tension. Read more…

 

More Uses for the Most Common Interview Questions

Here’s Lindsey’s list without the slides:

• What is your personal mission statement?
• What do you do when you don’t know how to do a job you’re assigned?
• What do you do when you don’t know how to do a job you’re assigned?
• Why were you fired?
• Tell me about your greatest achievement.
• Why have you stayed in this job so long?
• Why have you changed jobs so many times?
• Where were you born?
• What did you like least about your last job?
• What do you think the main challenges of this job will be?
• Walk me through your work history.
• Why are you interested in the job?
• Why do you want to work here?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Tell me about a problem you faced at work and how you handled it.
• Why do you want to leave your current job?
• How would your boss and coworkers to describe you?
• What do you think we could do better?
• How do you like to work?
• How do you handle a situation where you disagree with your boss?
• What do you like to do outside of work?
• How do you handle high-pressure situations?
• What’s your management style?
• What’s the last book you read?
• What are your salary requirements?
• If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
• What is your five-year plan?
• What motivates you?
• Tell me about your leadership experience.
• Why are you working in this industry?
• Do you have any questions for us?
• What makes you stand out from other applicants?
• Is there anything you want to add that we didn’t cover.

What if you’re not job hunting? The questions are still useful. You can:

• Put together an answer to each question as a guide to reflect on your career and work life.
• Keep a document active and go back to it quarterly and update your responses. Updates will help you record your professional achievements.
• Reflect on questions that have no or weak responses. These may be areas for you to create a personal development plan.

One last use—hiring managers the list of most common interview questions is an excellent resource for you as well. Use some of the questions next time you’re looking for that excellent candidate. Simply restate the question to fit your style or company.

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]  Being prepared is an easy way to ease the tension. ~ Lindsey Stanberry[/social_quote]