Dec 16, 2008

101 Popular Interview Questions

101 Popular Interview Questions

  1. What do you know about our company?
  2. Who are our competitors? What are our products? Who are our customers?
  3. Why have you applied for this particular position?
  4. How did you learn of the vacancy?
  5. What are your salary/wage expectations?
  6. Tell me about the issues in the general press that relate to the industry/vocation for which you are applying.
  7. Tell me about yourself.
  8. What is your attitude towards unions in a workplace?
  9. What is your current salary or remuneration package?
  10. Why do/did you want to leave your current/last job?
  11. What do you think determines a person's progress within a company?
  12. Why should we hire you?
  13. Have you ever made a mistake at work?
  14. What irritates you the most in the workplace/with colleagues?
  15. Have you ever been dismissed/ or disciplined? Why?
  16. Why do you think you might like to work for our company?
  17. Are you looking for a permanent or temporary position with the company?
  18. How many days leave/sickness have you had in the last year? Why?
  19. Do you prefer any particular geographic location? Why? Are you prepared to re-locate?
  20. Would you be prepared to travel nationally/abroad? Are you prepared to go where the company sends you?
  21. Are you married? If so, does your partner work? Do you have children? Do you have a mortgage?
  22. If crèche facilities were available would you want to apply to use them?
  23. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  24. What would you like to be doing and earning in 5 years time?
  25. What are your most redeeming qualities?
  26. Our company and staff like working to systems. Training our staff to become experts in these systems has been one of the reasons for our success. We don't leave anything to chance and we even have a system for answering the phone that we will teach you. How do you feel about this?
  27. What are your hobbies or interests?
  28. What did you like/dislike about your previous employer?
  29. What did you like/dislike about your previous manager?
  30. If we phoned your previous employer/manager, what would they tell us about you?
  31. If you were given a task to do but didn't how to go about it, what would you do?
  32. If you lack experience, what do you have to offer?
  33. How would manage poor performance?
  34. What do you understand about a disciplinary procedure? How is it generally applied?
  35. What characteristics do you think an employer looks for in an employee?
  36. For what sort of a company would you like to work?
  37. How many jobs have you applied for in the last three months? How many interviews have your attended? For what types of positions have you applied? Why?
  38. What kind of work interests you?
  39. Which five words most describe you?
  40. What sort of things frustrated you in your last job?
  41. Do you work best on your own or in a team?
  42. Can you get recommendations from previous employers? Can we see them?
  43. Which jobs have you enjoyed the most /least? Why?
  44. What personal characteristics are necessary for success in your chosen field?
  45. What is 15*15?
  46. In your opinion, what are the most important factors in running a business?
  47. What types of people seem to rub you the wrong way?
  48. What types of books do you read?
  49. Does your spouse work?
  50. Tell me about your home life?
  51. Do you drive? If so, what type of car and what colour?
  52. Which companies have you worked for in the past. How did you get the positions?
  53. Tell me about your IT skills?
  54. What are your best friends’ occupations?
  55. To what extent do you drink alcohol? Smoke?
  56. Have you ever had any serious illness or injury? How many days absence have you had in the last year?
  57. Which of your parents had the most profound influence on you? Why?
  58. Explain your choice of subjects at school/college/university.
  59. Do you have any major financial debts?
  60. Your CV indicates that you did poorly in your exams (degree, college exams, and secondary school exams). Why?
  61. Can you tell me about your biggest failures and how you dealt with them?
  62. Are you prepared to work: at weekends or on statutory holidays? Or rotating shift patterns including nights? Give me examples of when you have had to do this.
  63. What is the most significant impact you've made at your organisation in the last year?
  64. How do you feel about working overtime?
  65. Do you prefer regular hours?
  66. What motivates you?
  67. Describe self-improvements you’d like to make in the workplace.
  68. Aren't you a bit old (or over-qualified) for this position?
  69. How have you improved yourself in the last year?
  70. Can you tell me about a time when you did work and tasks above and beyond the call of duty?
  71. Do you often suggest improvements to your supervisor/manager? Give me some examples.
  72. How do you cope with your ideas not being implemented, especially when you know they would be worthwhile?
  73. Give me some examples demonstrating you can work under pressure.
  74. What projects and activities have you or your team undertaken and seen through that were your idea?
  75. Which was your most challenging project? What difficulties did you meet? How did you overcome them?
  76. How do you take criticism?
  77. What supervisory or leadership roles have you held?
  78. Have you any unspent convictions?
  79. You have 2 minutes. Think of as many uses for a paper clip as you can in that time.
  80. What is the 5th letter of the alphabet? How many ping-pong balls fit into a Volkswagen? If you had to choose an actor (or actress) which would you be and why?
  81. You have five minutes to tell me why you should have the job.
  82. Why were you out of work for so long?
  83. Why have you changed jobs so many times in the past?
  84. Why are you interested in a position with our company?
  85. What steps have you taken to be more successful in your career?
  86. Tell me about a time you became angry at work.
  87. Where/how do you vent your frustrations at work?
  88. Tell me about a poor performing team that you were a member off.
  89. What would you do if a member of a group you were a part of wasn't pulling their weight?
  90. Give examples of charity work you have done.
  91. What degree of autonomy would you like in the job?
  92. Give examples of when you had to work as part of a team. Why is teamwork important?
  93. Tell me about unpopular decisions you have made in the past.
  94. How can you contribute to the success of this company?
  95. Give examples of when you had to work with a multi-cultural team.
  96. What were your duties in your last employment?
  97. Give me some KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and trends you would expect to see within a successful business. Name some characteristics of a good business.
  98. If you were running this or another business, what changes would you make? Why?
  99. If you had to dismiss 30 people, how would you decide whom to let go?
  100. How do you feel about working for a line manager who is much younger than you?
  101. Which position in our company do you aspire to?

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