Tough Interview Questions – Part 2

Last week we talked about preparing for your interview as a foundation to the questions you may be asked and those that you should ask of your potential employer. Let’s take a deeper look at how to answer a few of the most common Behavioral Based interview questions:

Q: Tell Me About Yourself

A: Don’t give your life story. Instead, focus on your most recent position and how what you did relates to the job you are applying for. Be sure to reiterate your selling points and share a success story, especially one that is aligned with one of the organizations top pain points. Provide an insight to your personality and why they should hire you.

Q: What Are Your Strengths?

A: Pick your best attributes related to the job. For example, how knowledge you are in computer skills, sales strategies or perhaps some of your transferable skills such as being able to solve problems creatively or your ability to work with people easily.

Q: What Are Your Weaknesses?

A: For this question, talk about something you need to improve upon or recently fixed such as time management or a skill you lacked or how you are too hard on yourself. Then describe how you improved your weakness. For example, you took a class or training seminar, set reminders to keep you on task or accepted that everything didn’t have to be perfect to deliver quality.

Q: Why Should We Hire You?

A: Here is a great place to highlight your strengths and address key points potential employers are looking for and how you can solve their “pain points.” Begin by explaining what you believe the employer is looking for, and how you fulfill that need.

Once the interviewer has completed their questions, often they will ask if you have any questions you would like to ask. This is critical and you should never say you do not have any. Rather, have 3-5 questions prepared and ones that are targeted to that specific employer. Questions you might consider could be:

• What is the biggest challenge someone in this job faces on a daily (or specific time frame) basis?
• What can you tell me about this job that isn’t in the job description?
• What does a typical workday for this position look like?

If interviewing is an area that strikes fear in you, we offer preparation services to help you gain confidence, craft compelling answers and leave a last impression. If this sounds like something you would like to learn more about, contact us today!