Interview Prep Sheet:

Transcription

1 Interview Prep Sheet: The Top 30 Questions to Know Before Your Interview CAREERSIDEKICK. COM

2 R E A D Y T O I N T E R V I E W L I K E A P R O? Here's what you're going to get in this free report: The top 30 questions to know before your interview (including 15 behavioral questions) How to practice your answers without having to memorize anything A couple special bonuses and word-for-word examples to help you get hired even faster Why listen to me on this topic? Hey, Biron Clark here. I've been a Recruiter since 2012, and worked with hundreds of job seekers during this time. Here's who I ve recruited for: HBO, ebay, Pfizer, Etsy, Spotify, Birchbox, Refinery29, Johnson & Johnson, FanDuel, and over 40 other companies. Helping people get hired is what I'm passionate about, and it's what I do best. Let's get started...

3 T O P 1 5 T R A D I T I O N A L I N T E R V I E W Q U E S T I O N S 1. "Tell me about yourself" 2. " Why do you want this job?" 3. " Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" 4. " Why are you looking for a job?" 5. Why should we hire you? 6. " What's your greatest weakness?" 7. " What are your strengths?" 8. " How did you hear about this position?" 9. " How much money did you earn in your last job?" 10. " What are your salary requirements?" 11. " What would you accomplish in the first 30 days here?" 12. " What type of manager do you work best with?" 13. " What would your last boss say about you?" 14. " What motivates you?" 15. " Why did you choose this career?"

4 T O P 1 5 B E H A V I O R A L I N T E R V I E W Q U E S T I O N S 1. "Tell me about a time you faced a conflict on a team. How did you handle that?" 2. "Tell me about a time you failed. How did you deal with this situation?" 3. "Tell me about how you prioritize things" 4. "Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment" 5. "Describe a time when you were not satisfied with your performance. What happened? 6. "Describe a time you had to make a decision without all the information" 7. "Tell me about a long-term project you managed. How did you keep everything organized? 8. "Give me an example of an important goal you set in the past and how you reached it" 9. " Tell me a time you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision" 10. " Tell me about the first job you ever had. What did you do to learn the ropes?" 11. " Tell me about how you make decisions, with an example" 12. " Describe a crisis you faced at work. What was your role? How did you resolve it?" 13. " Describe a time when you were asked to do something you weren t trained to do. How did you adapt?" 14. " Describe a time you had to think on your feet to solve a problem" 15. " Give me an example of a time you had to explain something fairly complex to someone. How did you make sure they understood you?"

5 I M P O R T A N T : H O W T O P R A C T I C E Y O U R A N S W E R S You Do NOT Need to Memorize Answers One-By-One... When I was starting out in my career... I used to try to memorize tons of answers before my interview. The problem (other than wasting HOURS of my time), is it came out sounding very unnatural and rehearsed. And the answers got all jumbled up in my head and came out wrong in the heat of the moment. If you tried and felt the same way, you're NOT alone. Here's What I Recommend Instead: The best way I've found is practice answering common questions by writing down the 3-4 key points you want to hit. (not a word-for-word answer). Do it on a flashcard, a piece of paper, etc. Then practice giving your answer without looking at the paper, until you always hit the key points. This will help you save time preparing, and sound more natural. And if they ask something slightly different than what you prepared for, you'll still have a lot ideas of what to say. All you need to do now is come up with the right key points to mention, and practice...

6 B O N U S 1 : H O W T O A N S W E R " W H E R E D O Y O U S E E Y O U R S E L F I N 5 Y E A R S? " Don't let this question scare you. Here's why they ask this in your interview: They want to see if you've thought about your professional future They want to make sure you're ambitious and hard-working They want to make sure the job they're offering fits with your goals So, pick a work-related goal of where you d like to be 5 years from now, and make sure it s slightly challenging or ambitious. Nobody's going to tap you on the shoulder in 5 years and check if you hit these goals! You just need to say something that will make you sound motivated (but realistic). So show you've thought about this topic, sound ambitious and motivated, but be realistic. Also make sure your answer is related to their job. They won't hire you if their job doesn't seem to fit your goals and plans. Example Answer: I m glad you asked. One of the reasons that I applied to this job was your company s reputation for helping with its employees career growth and providing advancement opportunities. In the long term I see myself mastering the skills needed to do well in this role and then taking on more leadership responsibilities to continue growing my career here. I hope to become a manager later in my career.

7 B O N U S 2 : H O W T O A N S W E R " W H Y D O Y O U W A N T T H I S J O B? " Employers want to hear specific reasons why you're attracted to their job. Why? They don't want to hire someone who sounds desperate, or doesn't care what type of job they want, because that person won't work as hard to learn the position and contribute great work. So the interviewer wants to hire someone who's motivated to do this specific type of work, and has thought about their career and goals. To answer, mention specific, work-related reasons why their job and company interest you. Focus mostly on the job. Talk about your own career goals and how this job fits those goals. Sound excited about the opportunity to work for them. Example Answer: I ve been actively searching for jobs since graduating with my Nursing degree. I m interested in intensive care and emergency medicine and I ve seen your hospital mentioned as having one of the best ER s in the region. I thought the job description matched up well with my background, and saw some of my personal strengths mentioned, like multitasking and being able to thrive in a fast paced environment, so I d love to begin my career here.

8 B O N U S 3 : H O W T O A N S W E R A N Y B E H A V I O R A L Q U E S T I O N Now, you might be thinking... "Hang on, Biron! What about answering all those behavioral questions? You're just going to leave me on my own?" Not quite. Here's what I recommend. These questions can be stressful to answer, but the best way to keep your nerves under control is to follow a pre-planned answer formula. I recommend the S.T.A.R. method: Situation. Task. Action. Result. Use it every time you hear behavioral questions (questions starting with phrases like "tell me about a situation where you had to." First describe the situation. You need to paint a clear picture or the rest of your story won't make sense. When was this story? Who else was involved? What was the basic situation? Next, what was the task or challenge you had to overcome? What was the goal? Now, what action or strategy did you use? What steps did you choose to overcome the problem or achieve the goal, and why? Finally, the result. How did things turn out? And what did you learn from this experience that you continue to use? Employers love seeing that you're always trying to improve and learn from challenges. If you follow this method, you'll stay on-track with your answers and feel calmer. Remember to practice at home, though. Get very familiar with these 4 steps.

9 W H A T N O W? Hopefully this information has helped you know what to practice so you can feel more confident in your next interview. If you want more help, I recently created a Complete Guide to Job Interview Answers with proven answers to every question here, plus 100 more questions employers love to ask. It's also packed with my best interview preparation tips, insider tricks, mistakes to avoid and more tools to give you an unfair advantage in your interviews. And because you downloaded this report, I'm offering a temporary 50% discount here: GET YOUR COPY Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed this report. Good luck, CAREERSIDEKICK.COM