| How Would You Describe Yourself? | Keep your answer mostly related to work and career. This is your chance to highlight your qualifications, good work habits, attributes, and achievements that make you a valuable employee. |
| What Was Your Greatest Accomplishment and How Did You Achieve It? | Briefly describe one to three work projects that made you proud or earned you pats on the back, promotions, pay raises, or other commendations. Focus more on achievement than reward. |
| What Is Your Biggest Weakness? | Everybody has weaknesses, but keep your answer work related. Try to point out a couple of weaknesses that the interviewer might see as strengths, such as sometimes being a little too meticulous about the quality of your work. For every weakness, offer a strength that compensates for it. |
| Why Do You Want To Change Jobs? | Avoid criticizing other employers and making statements such as, "I need more money." Instead, make generic statements such as, "It's a career move." It’s acceptable to discuss major problems within a company, or to share the fact that the company is being bought out or shut down. If this is the case, a safe answer is that you feel you can no longer make a contribution because of extensive changes at the company. |
| What Did You Like Or Dislike About Your Last Position? | This helps interviewers decide if you’re a good match for the position. Avoid admitting that you didn’t like working overtime or you had a conflict with the company’s management team. Instead, put a positive spin on your answer by saying you enjoy challenges and growth opportunities. |
| In What Ways Are You Qualified For This Position? | Focus on a few requirements of the job and how you can meet these requirements through your particular skills and experience. Highlight your interpersonal skills, management experience, technical skills, or personal success stories. |
| Describe Your Most Important Strengths. | Identify five strengths you feel are most in line with the position for which you’re interviewing and give a brief example of how you successfully applied that particular strength to a work situation. |
| What Is Your Ideal Work Environment? | Try and tailor your answer to the job. For example, if the job requires you to lock the lab doors and work alone, then indicate that you enjoy being a team player, but also enjoy working independently. |
| How Do You Handle Criticism? | Your answer should be along the following lines: "I think that it is important to get feedback on how I am performing so that I can improve any areas that my manager or supervisor highlights.” |
| How Do You Handle Pressure and Stress? | Everyone feels stress; the only difference is in the degree. A good answer may include exercising, relaxing with a good book, socializing with friends, or turning stress into productive energy. |
| Explain How You Overcame A Major Obstacle. | The interviewer is likely looking for an example of your problem-solving skills and the pride you show in solving it. Emphasize the skills you used to deal with it, such as organizational and interpersonal skills, perseverance, or diplomacy. |
| Where Do You See Yourself Five (Or Ten) Years From Now? | Don’t mention goals you know are most likely not attainable. Instead, focus on career-advancement goals that are in line with the job for which you are interviewing. It's not a good idea to tell your potential new boss that you'll be going after his or her job, but it's okay to mention that you'd like to earn a senior or management position. |
| What Qualifies You For This Job? | Highlight your skills, experience, education, and other qualifications, especially those that match the job description well. Avoid just repeating your resume. |
| Why Should We Hire You? | Point out your positive attributes related to this job. Take this opportunity to reveal your organizational skills, positive attitude, and confidence – traits that make you an ideal candidate for the position. Restate some of the key aspects of the job and describe how your qualification and their requirements match. |
