Student Guide > Sample Interview Questions
Questions Frequently Asked in Interviews
1. Why did you choose to interview with our company?
2. Describe your ideal job.
3. What can you offer us?
4. Where do you want to be in five years? Ten years?
5. Did you work while going to school? In what positions?
6. What did you enjoy most (least) about your last employment?
7. What did you learn from these college experiences?
8. Why should we hire you rather than another candidate?
9. Why did you choose your college/major?
10. What do you consider to be your greatest strengths (weaknesses)?
11. Do you prefer to work under supervision, or on your own?
12. Why would you be successful working on a team?
13. Of which three accomplishments are you most proud?
14. What do you know about our company (product or services)?
15. Who are your role models?
16. Do your grades accurately reflect your ability?
17. Were you financially responsible for any portion of your college
education?
18. Have you worked under deadline pressure? When?
19. Are you able to work on several assignments at once?
20. Do you prefer large or small companies? Why?
21. How do you feel about working in a structured environment?
22. How do you feel about working overtime?
23. How do you feel about the possibility of relocation?
24. What problems have you solved in your previous positions?
25. Define success. Failure.
26. Have you ever spoken to a group of people? How large?
27. How do you organize your time?
28. What do you really want to do in life?
29. How do you plan to achieve your career goals?
30. Which is more important to you, the money or the type of job?
31. What motivates you to put forth your greatest efforts?
32. In what ways do you think you can make a contribution to our company?
33. Do you have plans for continued study? An advanced degree?
34. What major problem have you encountered and how did you deal with
it?
35. What qualities should a successful manager possess?
36. Tell me about your favorite (least favorite) job.
37. Tell me about your favorite (least favorite) boss.
38. If you were hiring a graduate for this position, what qualities
would you look for?
39. In addition to your educational and work experiences, what else
would you like us to know about in order to make an appropriate decision?
40. How did you finance your education?
41. How do you work under pressure? Give me an example.
42. If you could do so, how would you plan your academic studies differently?
Why?
43. What have you learned from extra-curricular activities?
44. Describe what you feel would be your ideal job.
45. Tell me about yourself.
46. What is your idea of how this industry works?
47. Why are you different from the other candidates we are speaking
with?
Hidden Agenda Questions
1. Describe a situation where your work or an idea was criticized.
2. Have you done the best work you are capable of doing?
3. What problems do you have getting along with others?
4. How long will you stay with this company?
5. Tell me about something you are not very proud of.
6. What are some of the things your supervisor did that you disliked?
7. What aspects of your job do you consider most critical?
8. How do you feel about your progress to date?
9. How do you organize and plan for major projects?
10. What can you do for us that someone else cannot do?
11. What would your references/boss/co-workers say about you?
12. What type of decisions did you make on your last job?
13. How do you handle tension/stress?
14. In your last job, what types of things did you spend most of your
time on?
Behavioral Interview Questions
1. Describe a creative/innovative idea that you produced which lead
to a significant contribution to the success of an activity or project.
2. Think of a situation where you distrusted a co-worker/supervisor,
resulting in tension between you. What steps did you take to improve
the relationship?
3. What was the most complex assignment you have had? What was your
role?
4. Provide an example of how you acquired a technical skill and converted
it into a practical application.
5. By providing examples, demonstrate that you can adapt to a wide
variety of people, situations, and/or environments.
6. Tell me about a suggestion you made to improve the way job processes/operations
worked. What was the result?
7. What are three effective leadership qualities you think are important?
How have you demonstrated these qualities in your past/current situation?
8. Give me a specific example of a time when you did not meet a deadline.
How did you handle the subsequent situation?
Source: Job Choices for Business & Liberal Arts Students, 48th
Edition, copyright 2005, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Questions To Ask Employers
1. Why is the job open? Is it due to growth, a promotion, or a termination?
1.1 How many people have held this position in the last few years?
Why?
2. Describe the organizational structure of the department/organization.
3. Where is the job located, what are the travel/ relocation requirements?
4. What would the first assignment be? After six months how would
the job change?
5. What are the realistic chances for growth on the job? What about
training?
6. What are the skills and attributes most needed to get ahead in
the company?
7. Who will be the company’s major competitor over the next
five years?
8. How long have you been with the company and what is it about the
company that keeps you here?
9. How regularly do performance evaluations occur, and what model
do they follow?
10. Is there a written job description, and may I see it?
11. Where are the opportunities for greatest growth within the company?
Questions Asked in Interviews by Category
Employers were surveyed and asked, "When interviewing new college
graduates for employment in your organization, what are your best,
favorite, or most often used questions?"
Some of these questions are listed below, categorized according to
the type of information they are seeking. Before you begin interviewing
for a career opportunity, you should review these questions, and be
prepared with appropriate answers.
Motivational Factors
Please tell me about yourself. Who or what had the greatest influence
on your life? How would you describe yourself? What are some of the
greatest personal challenges you have faced during your lifetime?
What are some of your personal goals, and have you achieved them?
What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
Skills and Abilities
What skills and abilities do you possess that will help make you successful
on today's job market? Please discuss some of your past leadership
roles and your accomplishments in them. Please describe a frustrating
experience from school or work, and tell me how you dealt with it.
How do you interact with people around you (i.e., leadership, communication,
socializing, etc.)?
Why should our organization hire you? For you, what are some of the
pros and cons of working on a team project? Have you ever supervised
someone in a similar position with another organization? How would
you describe your supervisory style? Who was the most difficult person
you have ever dealt with, and how did you respond?
How did you organize your time in school/work/ play? What are your
major strengths and weak-nesses? What personal factors do you consider
most important when evaluating yourself? In what organizational structure
do you function best? What organizational techniques do you use on
a daily basis to accomplish your academic, work, and social goals?
Please tell me about your communication skills, your personal skills
relevant to work experiences, and your problem-solving abilities.
Please describe your leadership style. What skills and/or special
qualities do you possess for this job that would make you stand out
from other candidates? How well do you work with others? What skills
and abilities do you bring to this job?
Please list three personal attributes that you would like to improve,
and tell me any efforts you have made to make improvements in these
areas?
What do you see as your greatest challenge when starting a new career?
How would your friends describe you? Who are two people you admire
and respect the most, and why? If you could create the perfect job
for yourself, what would you be doing? What is special about you that
you feel would make you an attractive candidate for our organization?
Career Goals and Objectives
What are your long-range goals and objectives? How are you preparing
to achieve them? What are your goals and aspirations for the next
three years? Five years? Ten years? What are your standards of success
for a job? Are you goal oriented?
Why do you think you would be good at this profession? What geographical
location interests you most when working? What is your timetable for
achievement of your current goals?
Do you prefer theoretical or practical problems? Please tell me five
things about yourself that would make you an asset to any organization
that hired you.
Extra-Curricular Activities
With what extra-curricular activities have you been involved? What
have been your greatest challenges for improvement of a campus organization?
What do you enjoy doing most? Please describe your most rewarding
college experiences. Please cite examples of the challenges you experienced
during your leadership positions with campus activities.
If you could relive your college experiences, what would you do differently?
What changes would you make in your overall campus life?
Academic Programs and Achievements
Why did you choose this major field of study? Why did you choose your
particular college or university? What were your favorite college
courses, those you liked most? Least? Why? What is your grade point
average? How do you feel about this? Should grades be used as an indicator
of future career potential when an organization is considering new
college graduates? What electives did you take outside of your major?
Why did you choose these courses? What was the most difficult aspect
of obtaining a college degree? What courses gave you the most difficulty?
If you could, what changes would you make in your school's academic
program?
Work Experience
What prior work experiences have you had? What were your accomplishments
in these prior work experiences? What were your most significant achievements?
What problems did you experience while on the job? What would your
last two employers say about you as an employee, either good or bad?
Can you tell me about your toughest job assignment? What experiences
did you have when meeting deadlines for project completion? Tell me
about a conflict situation, and how you resolved it.
What life experiences have given you the greatest reward? What one
experience proved to you that you would be a capable manager? Please
elaborate on one of the work experiences on your resume. Please tell
me about the duties/require-ments of your last job? What did you see
as your major strengths/weaknesses on this job?
Knowledge of the Position and Industry
Why do you want to work in the position you are seeking? What attracts
you to this industry? What are your expectations of the XYZ Corporation?
What do you know about our company? Why did you choose to interview
with our company?
Accomplishments and Achievements
In addition to your educational and professional experiences, what
else would you like us to know about you in order to make an appropriate
decision? Please tell me about some of the accomplishments you achieved
during college and which make you the proudest. How did you finance
your education?
Salary and Benefits
What starting salary do you expect as an employee? What company benefits
are most important to you? How do you feel about an income made up
totally of commissions? When comparing one company offer to another,
what factors will be important to you besides starting salary? How
important is starting salary to you when considering our company's
job offer?
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