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Common interview questions

2018-09-16

Job interviews can be a daunting, scary experience but you can ditch the nerves by preparing answers to popular interview questions before you head out the door.
We take a look at the different types of interview question you can expect to get and offer you advice on how to go about giving answers that will get you the job.

So, it’s interview preparation time. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything you have to do? Don’t panic! Take a breath and relax! We've broken it all down for you so it's easier to digest...
Interview questions fall into four main categories:
Questions about you
Questions about your work experience and knowledge
Questions about why you want THIS job
Competency-based questions
As long as you prepare for each TYPE of question, you should be fine if they throw in any surprise difficult interview questions! (And that DOES happen!).

Interview questions about you
What? These are usually the opening questions – but you can expect ‘you based’ questions to crop up throughout your interview, especially if it’s a first interview.
Why? These questions are designed just to find out a bit more about you: your personality, your experience, your knowledge and, of course, your personality. After all, nobody wants to work with someone who they won’t get on with. It’s as important as your experience. You must market yourself!

See how to market yourself for more details
Example interview questions about you

Interview questions about your work experience and knowledge
What? This is where it gets a bit more involved as the interviewer tries to find out more about you. These usually form the bulk of any first job interview. Second job interviews are slightly different…
Why? These are designed to dig a little deeper and find out if you have the skills needed to actually DO the job. Is your work experience a good fit? Do you have the right knowledge to fit right in or will they need to train you?
Example interview questions about your work experience and knowledge

Interview questions about why you want THIS job
What? Great, so they must like you to be asking you these questions. They want to know if YOU like THEM. A good sign!
Why? These questions are designed to see if you’re serious about this job; after all, there’s nothing worse to an employer than having to re-advertise a job because the person they offered it to has got cold feet!
Example interview questions about why you want THIS job

Competency-based interview questions
What? Uh-oh! Here come the tricky questions. These are the ones that will get you really thinking.
Why? These questions are designed to see if you can back up what you’ve been saying. Often used in second interviews, they want you to explain how you’d handle different work situations, using examples from your past experience.