INTERVIEW PRACTICE CARDS These interview practice cards are designed to help you practice and refine your interviewing skills for a variety of interviewing situations including informal interviews, formal interviews and behavioral interviewing. Each card offers a commonly asked interview question with space to capture your answer. Adjacent to each interview question is a note card offering more detail on the intent of the question, tips on how to frame your answer, or variations of the questions. QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND & SKILLS Tell me about yourself. Use your positioning statement, 30 second elevator pitch, focusing particularly on what you know the employer needs and selecting the most relevant information you have. The best way to respond to this type of request is to expand upon and tailor your positioning statement to match the needs of the hiring manager, line of business or organization. Tell me about your last job. Discuss the parts of your background that qualify you for this position. Discuss what you have done, stressing accomplishments, results and benefits to the organization. How does your background qualify you for this position? / Why would you be a good fit? / What aspects of your last job relate to this position? / Why are you interested in working for this company? / What contribution do you think you could make to this company? How would you describe your leadership style? Describe your leadership style and provide the interviewer with examples of the types of experiences you have had managing people. How does your background qualify you for this position? How have you successfully used your management skills in your most recent job?
What are your strengths? 1. 2. 3. The strengths question is an opportunity to present your skills and achievements. Make them as relevant as possible. What are three positive things your last boss would say about you? What strengths do you bring to this position? Why should I hire you? What are your weaknesses? 1. 2. 3. Reassure the interviewer that you have no weaknesses, but when answering, provide a weakness which from the company's point of view is not really a weakness at all. What are your three areas of opportunity? Describe the most serious criticism you have ever had from your boss? Describe a time when your biggest weakness at work kept you from reaching an important objective? Situation Obstacles Actions Results Describe the situation Describe the challenges you faced Describe the actions you took Describe the results you obtained and the benefits to your employer Describe a time when you didn t work as hard as you could have? Situation Obstacles Actions Results Describe the situation Describe the challenges you faced Describe the actions you took Describe the results you obtained and the benefits to your employer
QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR GOALS & OBJECTIVES What would your ideal career position be? The interviewer is exploring your interests, and/or values or motivation. Your statements about your career goals should be consistent with the open position and how organization normally operates. What would your ideal job look like? If you could begin your career over again, what would you do differently? Why should I hire you? Where would you like to be in three years? In five years? The interviewer is usually looking to see if your aspirations fit the realities of the organization. This question can also be a way of gauging your level of ambition. Suggest career paths that you know are realistic and reasonable for the organization. What are your 3-5 year goals? Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? Tell me about a time when you took the initiative to set career goals and objectives, and followed through? What important career goals did you set and reach on your last job? Career goals are often made to meet the expectations of a career management system. Tell me about a time when you took the initiative to set career goals and objectives, even though you were not directed by anyone to do so. Tell me about a time in your working history when you prioritized your career goals successfully.
QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION & TRAINING What formal education or training have you had? Questions about education and training are asked to determine if you have the knowledge it takes to do the job. Answers to these questions help the interviewer determine your intellectual capacity, your interest in learning, or whether your orientation is more practical or academic. Do you think you might be overqualified for this position? What was the most valuable course you took in the last year? You may wish to use an accomplishment story about your education or training and the role it played in a recent success. What was the last book you read? What did you gain from it? What course did you take that has been most influential to you to date? Why did you not go to college? If you do not have the level of formal education normally associated with the job, have an answer ready that demonstrates you have the skills and the experience to do the job. Or, use an accomplishment / SOAR story that describes how you held your own as a member of a more educated team. Tell me about a time when you were able to apply your education and training. Pick a technical problem you had to solve, give the details in it, and tell me about what you did to create the solution to that problem.
QUESTIONS ABOUT SENSITIVE ISSUES Why did you leave your most recent employer? This is the most common example of a potentially sensitive question that is both legal and legitimate for a hiring manager to ask. You should expect to hear it and respond to it using your exit statement. What did you most like and least like about your last job / employer? What is your overall impression of your current / last employer? What did you dislike about your previous job / position? What did you most like and least like about your most recent boss / manager? Describe your most ideal and least ideal manager. How do you like to be managed? If I spoke to your present / previous manager, what would that person name as your greatest strengths and weaknesses? What three adjectives would colleagues use to describe you? What would a supervisor need to do to get the most out of you?
Describe a time where you were not effective in managing a conflict at work. Pick an example from your current job that demonstrates your ability to deal with pressure. Give me an example of an incident when you had a serious disagreement with your boss. Have you ever been on a team where someone was not pulling their own weight? How did you handle it? Tell me about the most difficult co-worker /manager that you ve had to work with? What made it difficult and how did you handle it? Tell me about the most challenging problem you ve had to solve at work. Tell me about a time where you were not successful in adapting to change. Give me an example of a time when you used power / influence and it backfired.
ADDITIONAL COMMONLY ASKED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Tell me about a time when your ability to effectively prioritize made a real difference. What would you do if you were working for one manager and another manager told you to give priority to another project to be completed today? Describe your approach to building good working relationships. How would you describe your work style? Tell me about an accomplishment that you are truly proud of. Tell me about a time when you missed a deadline. Why did you miss it? How did you handle the situation? What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized? Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision? How did you handle it?
Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty. Tell me about a time when you were able to make an angry customer happy. Tell me about a time when you broke an important rule at work. Describe a time when good listening skills helped you overcome a serious communication problem at work. Give an example of a recent team decision and how you helped the team reach that decision. Tell me about a team problem that you were able to solve? Tell me about a time when you were faced with a lot of change at work. What was the situation and how did you handle it? Tell me about a time you initiated change. What was the idea and the outcome?