News How to answer typical job interview questions
How to answer typical job interview questions
Top tips for answering key job interview questions
Congratulations, you have got an interview!
Here are some tips to answer five typical interview questions.
- Tell me about yourself Keep positive. This is where you sell yourself and make yourself stand out. Say things that are relevant and informative about what kind of person you are and the background of your life. Things you can mention include: what qualifications you have (GCSEs, A-Levels), where you have worked before, what you desire in life, what skills you have gained through school or work.
- Strengths Relate the strengths to the job. You want to say examples that will set you apart from others. Before your interview see what skills are required and make a note of what you can bring to the role.
- Weaknesses You don’t want to be too negative with this answer. You want to say something that you know you’ll be able to improve on. Try to turn a negative into a positive and make the weakness a strength. For example, you could say ‘I put too much pressure on myself but that’s only because I want to do well and make sure everything is the best it can be.’ This is a weakness but it shows that you try your hardest in what you do.
- Why do you want this job? To answer this question, you want to do research on the company. Finding out what stands out about the company and reasons to work for them will help with your answers. Talking about the research you’ve found will show the interviewer that you care about the job since you took time to research them. You can also talk about your future and why this job may help you in a few years’ time.
- Describe a difficult work situation and how you overcame it The interviewer wants to know how you handle problematic situations. This could be stress of the workplace or a mistake that may have happened before. You need to show the interviewer that you can be mature and handle ‘awkward’ situations in a professional manner.
Practice typical questions and answers, dress appropriately, and, finally, be on time: good luck!
