Career Success Center

About Your Qualifications

Tell me about yourself.
How do you think a friend or someone who knows you well would describe you?
What do you think is your greatest weakness?
Can you summarize the contribution you would make to our organization?
Please tell me about the greatest professional assignment you’ve ever handled.
What accomplishment has given you the most satisfaction?
Tell me about your experiences at school.
What has been the most rewarding college experience?
Tell me about your most significant work experience.
How would those who have worked with you describe you?
Why are you the best candidate for this position?
Have you ever supervised anyone?

About Your Ability to Work in the Environment

Why are you interested in this job?
What do you know about us?
In what kind ofwork environment are you most comfortable?
What criteria are you using to evaluate the organization for which you hope to work?
Are you a team player?
How do you work under pressure?
How do you handle conflict?
What major problem have you encountered and how have you dealt with it?
How competitive are you?
What do you expect from your supervisor?
What qualities should a successful manager possess?
Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and those reporting to him or her.

About Your Career and Personal Choices

What are your long-range career goals? When and why did you establish these goals and how are you preparing yourselfto achieve them?
What are the most important rewards you expect in your business career?
What do you do in your spare time?
What kind ofsalary are you looking for?
Are you willing to relocate?

Hard Questions

Did you ever have a group leader or boss you disliked? Why did you dislike him/her?
How would someone who dislikes you describe you?
Talk about a group situation in which there were problems.How did you handle the situation and what was the outcome? What role did you play in the group? How could the group improve its performance?
Tell me about a time when you experienced a failure and how you reacted to it.
Tell me about a time when you were under considerable pressure to meet one or more goals.
Describe a situation where you had to resolve a problem at work and explain how you resolved it.
Give me an example ofhow you are a risk taker.
If you could have any job in the world,what would it be?
What motivates you?
Why do you want to work for us and not for our competitor?
Why should we hire you over everyone else we spoke to today?
What do you think is the most important/difficult ethical dilemma facing corporations today?
Give a one sentence positioning statement ofyourself.
How do you go about deciding what to do first when given a project?
Tell me about an experience you have had in a working environment (school,work,or community).
Describe a situation where you did not agree with something your boss asked you to do and how you resolved the problem.
Can you work under pressure?
What did you like/dislike about your last job?
What would you like to be doing five years from now?

The Stress Interview

Would you like to have your boss’s job?
See this pen I’m holding? Sell it to me.
Why should I hire an outsider when I could fill the job with someone inside the organization?
Why were you out ofwork for so long?
Describe a situation when your work or an idea was criticized.
Your application shows you have been with one organization a long time without any appreciable increase in rank or salary. Tell me about this. For Career Changers ? Why would you be interested in this kind ofwork?
How do you expect to get up to speed in all the areas which will be unfamiliar to you?

And, the Most-Dreaded Question, Tell Us about Yourself
This is also your greatest opportunity. You are likely to be asked this,so plan to use the open-ended nature ofthe question to your advantage. It is not necessary to answer autobiographically. You may choose to organize your thoughts around your interest in the job and why you are prepared to do it.

Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
The right answer is always yes, or you risk appearing uninterested. Prepare some questions in advance,but, above all,ask questions that show a response to what you have learned from the interviewers, and that are lively, rather than formulaic. Some examples include:

Advancement

Can you tell me how success in this position is measured?
What skills would I need to be successful in this position?
How do you encourage your employees to keep current with professional developments in the field?
Could you tell me about your training program? What are some ofthe typical career paths followed by others who have been in this position? What would be a realistic timeframe for advancement?
What are the opportunities for personal growth?
What is the retention rate ofpeople in the position for which I am interviewing?
Is it organizational policy to promote from within? What is the work history ofyour top management?

Responsibilities

Tell me about a typical day in this job.
Who would I work with most closely on a day-to-day basis?
How often can I expect to relocate during the initial years ofemployment with your organization?

Being New on the Job

What do you consider the most challenging aspect of this position for someone who is new to your organization?
What does the new [job title] need to accomplished in the next 6-12 months?
What qualities are you looking for in your new hires?
What are your expectations for new hires?
Could you describe a typical first assignment?
What are the most challenging facets ofthe position?

More about the Organization

Why is this position available?
What are your department’s major projects in the coming year?
What do you think are your organization’s greatest competitive strengths with clients?
What is the overall structure ofthe department where the position is located?
What is the work environment like?
What makes your organization different from its competitors?
What are your organizations strengths and weaknesses?
How would you describe your corporation’s personality and management style?
Why did you join the organization? Why have you stayed with the organization?

Welcome to the Real World:
For the most recent graduate,here are some tough questions specifically tailored to discover your business potential.

Why did you choose [school]?
What led you to major in_______?
What course have you liked the least? The most?
I’d be interested to hear about some things you learned in school that could be used on the job.
Do you think your grades adequately represent your abilities?
If you could do so,how would you plan your academic study differently? Why?
We have tried to hire people from your school/your major before,and they never seem to work out.What makes you different?
Have you ever had difficulties getting along with others? ? What problems do you see in your school? How would you go about correcting them? ? What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work?

By CESER, the Center for Employment Education and Research