Common Interview Questions & Answers

Wouldn’t it be great if you knew exactly what questions a hiring manager

would be asking you in your next job interview?

We can’t read minds, unfortunately, but we’ll give you the next best thing: a
list of more than 40 of the most commonly asked interview questions, along
with advice for answering them all.

While we don’t recommend having a canned response for every interview

question (in fact, please don’t), we do recommend spending some time
getting comfortable with what you might be asked, what hiring managers
are really looking for in your responses, and what it takes to show that
you’re the right person for the job.

Consider this list your interview question and answer study guide.

1. Tell Me About Yourself.

2. How Did You Hear About This Position?
3. Why Do You Want to Work at This Company?
4. Why Do You Want This Job?
5. Why Should We Hire You?
6. What Can You Bring to the Company?
7. What Are Your Greatest Strengths?
8. What Do You Consider to Be Your Weaknesses?
9. What Is Your Greatest Professional Achievement?
10. Tell Me About a Challenge or Conflict You’ve Faced at Work or
during college, and How You Dealt with It.
11. Tell Me About a Time You Demonstrated Leadership Skills.
12. What’s a Time You Disagreed With a Decision That Was Made at
Work?
13. Tell Me About a Time You Made a Mistake.
14. Tell Me About a Time You Failed.
15. Why Are You Leaving Your Current Job?
16. Why Were You Fired?
17. Why Was There a Gap in Your Education/Employment?
18. Can You Explain Why You Changed Career Paths?
19. What are your salary expectations?
20. What Do You Like Least About Your Job?
21. What Are You Looking for in a New Position?
22. What Type of Work Environment Do You Prefer?
23. What’s Your Work Style?
24. What’s Your Management Style?
25. How Would Your Boss and Coworkers Describe You?
26. How Do You Deal With Pressure or Stressful Situations?
27. What Do You Like to Do Outside of Work?
28. Are You Planning on Having Children?
29. How Do You Prioritize Your Work?
30. What Are You Passionate About?
31. What Motivates You?
32. What Are Your Pet Peeves?
33. How Do You Like to Be Managed?
34. Do You Consider Yourself Successful?
35. Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?
36. How Do You Plan to Achieve Your Career Goals?
37. What’s Your Dream Job?
38. What Other Companies Are You Interviewing With?
39. What Makes You Unique?
40. What Should I Know That’s Not on Your Resume?
41. What Would Your First 30, 60, or 90 Days Look Like in This
Role?
42. What Are Your Salary Expectations?
43. What Do You Think We Could Do Better or Differently?
44. When Can You Start?
45. Are You Willing to Relocate?
46. Sell Me This Pen.
47. Is There Anything Else You’d Like Us to Know?
48. Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
Classic Questions
These frequently asked questions touch on the essentials hiring managers
want to know about every candidate: who you are, why you’re a fit for the
job, and what you’re good at. You may not be asked exactly these questions
in exactly these words, but if you have answers in mind for them, you’ll be
prepared for just about anything the interviewer throws your way.

1. Tell Me About Yourself.

This question seems simple, so many people fail to prepare for it, but it’s
crucial. Here's the deal: Don’t give your complete history. Instead, give a
pitch—one that’s concise and compelling and that shows exactly why you’re
the right fit for the job. It is recommended to use a present, past, future
formula. Talk a little bit about your current role (including the scope and
perhaps one big accomplishment), then give some background as to how
you got there and experience you have that’s relevant. Finally, segue into
why you want—and would be perfect for—this role.

2. Did You Hear About This Position?

Another seemingly innocuous interview question, this is actually a perfect
opportunity to stand out and show your passion for and connection to the
company. For example, if you found out about the gig through a friend or
professional contact, name-drop that person, then share why you were so
excited about the job. If you discovered the company through an event or
article, share that. Even if you found the listing through a random job
board, share what, specifically, caught your eye about the role.

3. Why Do You Want to Work at This

Company?
Beware of generic answers! If what you say can apply to a whole slew of
other companies, or if your response makes you sound like every other
candidate, you’re missing an opportunity to stand out. Recommended one of
four strategies: Do your research and point to something that makes the
company unique that really appeals to you; talk about how you’ve watched
the company grow and change since you first heard of it; focus on the
organization’s opportunities for future growth and how you can contribute
to it; or share what’s gotten you excited from your interactions with
employees so far. Whichever route you choose, make sure to be specific.
And if you can’t figure out why you’d want to work at the company you’re
interviewing with by the time you’re well into the hiring process? It might
be a red flag telling you that this position is not the right fit.

4. Why Do You Want This Job?

Again, companies want to hire people who are passionate about the job, so
you should have a great answer about why you want the position. (And if
you don’t? You probably should apply elsewhere.) First, identify a couple of
key factors that make the role a great fit for you (e.g., “I love customer
support because I love the constant human interaction and the satisfaction
that comes from helping someone solve a problem”), then share why you
love the company (e.g., “I’ve always been passionate about education, and I
think you’re doing great things, so I want to be a part of it”).

5. Why Should We Hire You?

This interview question seems forward (not to mention intimidating!), but if
you’re asked it, you’re in luck: There’s no better setup for you to sell
yourself and your skills to the hiring manager. Your job here is to craft an
answer that covers three things: that you can not only do the work, but also
deliver great results; that you’ll really fit in with the team and culture; and
that you’d be a better hire than any of the other candidates.

6. What Can You Bring to the Company?

When interviewers ask this question, they don’t just want to hear about
your background. They want to see that you understand what problems and
challenges they’re facing as a company or department as well as how you’ll
fit into the existing organization. Read the job description closely, do your
research on the company, and make sure you pay attention in your early
round interviews to understand any issues you’re being hired to solve. Then,
the key is to connect your skills and experiences to what the company needs
and share an example that shows how you’ve done similar or transferable
work in the past.
7. What Are Your Greatest Strengths?
Here’s an opening to talk about something that makes you great—and a
great fit for this role. When you’re answering this question, think quality,
not quantity. In other words, don’t rattle off a list of adjectives. Instead, pick
one or a few (depending on the question) specific qualities that are relevant
to this position and illustrate them with examples. Stories are always more
memorable than generalizations. And if there’s something you were hoping
to mention because it makes you a great candidate, but you haven’t had a
chance yet, this would be the perfect time.

8. What Do You Consider to Be Your

Weaknesses?
What your interviewer is really trying to do with this question—beyond
identifying any major red flags—is to gauge your self-awareness and
honesty. So, “I can’t meet a deadline to save my life” is not an option—but
neither is “Nothing! I’m perfect!” Strike a balance by thinking of something
that you struggle with but that you’re working to improve. For example,
maybe you’ve never been strong at public speaking, but you’ve recently
volunteered to run meetings to help you get more comfortable when
addressing a crowd.

9. What Is Your Greatest Professional

Achievement?
Nothing says “hire me” better than a track record of achieving amazing
results in past jobs, so don’t be shy when answering this interview question!
A great way to do so is by using the STAR method: situation, task, action,
results. Set up the situation and the task that you were required to
complete to provide the interviewer with background context (e.g., “In my
last job as a junior analyst, it was my role to manage the invoicing
process”), then describe what you did (the action) and what you achieved
(the result): “In one month, I streamlined the process, which saved my
group 10 person-hours each month and reduced errors on invoices by 25%.”
10. Tell Me About a Challenge or Conflict
You’ve Faced at Work or college and How You
Dealt With It.
You’re probably not eager to talk about conflicts you’ve had at work during
a job interview. But if you’re asked directly, don’t pretend you’ve never had
one. Be honest about a difficult situation you’ve faced (but without going
into the kind of detail you’d share venting to a friend). “Most people who
ask are only looking for evidence that you’re willing to face these kinds of
issues head-on and make a sincere attempt at coming to a resolution,”
Stay calm and professional as you tell the story (and answer any follow-up
questions), spend more time talking about the resolution than the conflict,
and mention what you’d do differently next time to show “you’re open to
learning from tough experiences.”

11. Tell Me About a Time You Demonstrated

Leadership Skills.
You don’t have to have a fancy title to act like a leader or demonstrate
leadership skills. Think about a time when you headed up a project, took the
initiative to propose an alternate process, or helped motivate your team to
get something done. Then use the STAR method to tell your interviewer a
story, giving enough detail to paint a picture (but not so much that you start
rambling) and making sure you spell out the result. In other words, be clear
about why you’re telling this particular story and connect all the dots for the
interviewer.

12. What’s a Time You Disagreed With a

Decision That Was Made at Work?
The ideal anecdote here is one where you handled a disagreement
professionally and learned something from the experience. Pay attention to
how you start and end your response. To open, make a short statement to
frame the rest of your answer, one that nods at the ultimate takeaway or the
reason you’re telling this story. For example: “I learned early on in my
professional career that it’s fine to disagree if you can back up your
hunches with data.” And to close strong, you can either give a one-sentence
summary of your answer (“In short…”) or talk briefly about how what you
learned or gained from this experience would help you in the role you’re
interviewing for.