Common Interview Questions

What are your weaknesses?

This is a very common interview question for many jobs across industries. Most people feel Answering strengths is easy but weaknesses is difficult. If approached the right way this question will give you chance to build trust. You have 3 options/approaches to answer this question. 

1. Deny having any weaknesses. This approach is least common and surely not the way to go.

2. Spin a Weakness into a strength. Like, "I'm a perfectionist" or "I care too much"

Note - This is very common approach and some interviewers think you are not being honest. 

3. Give an honest answer (Recommended). Answer the question honestly without shooting yourself in the foot. 

E.g. My weakness is public speaking, I am working on it. Ofcourse make sure this is not the primary requirement of the job. 

This will take an assessment of your experiences, skills and traits. Summarize concisely: "I have a unique combination of strong technical skills, and the ability to build strong customer relationships. This allows me to use my knowledge and break down information to be more user-friendly."

Example:

"I have several awesome  achievements in my career. Probably the most awesome achievements were the delivery of the most recent version replace update to one of our core products for customer bills. This was a 1-year project and I was one of 9 team members. What made it more for me was that my role expanded from being one of the tech team individuals to taking the lead on building the mobile makings of the product. In order to deliver this aspect of the product, I pulled in 3 new project resources with new specific skills in each of the mobile technology floors we targeted and cross-trained all project resources to support each floor. In the last, our team delivered the product on time and have received numerous accolades, both external and internal. The mobile component was particularly  identified to be world class and distributed the product at its release. Our CEO spent time showing the mobile components to the industry and press and it has since met with superb  reviews. Would you like to see the Android version of the product?"

Why are they asking?

The interviewer wants to find out the following:

  -How committed are you to the career and the company
  -How much do you understand about the career path ahead of you
  -How passionate are you

Approach 
Research the job and the organization structure and relate your career plan and progression with the job posting and progression of the company.

Eg.
I would like to work hard and grow with the company to a respectable position with additional challenges and responsibilities and contributing to success of the company.

Please don't give these answers...
"Doing your Job"
"Working somewhere else"
"No idea"
"I haven’t thought that far ahead"
"Have a family"

The Best way to answer this question:

Be honest but stay positive.  Of course, your answer should be based on the real reason you left, but put a positive spin on it. That means, you should try to frame your honest answer in the most positive way possible.Do not lie, be truthful and honest but do not be harsh on a previous employer. So answer truthfully while at the same time NOT talking about the company or staff in a negative light. More info on why you left a job would help to give applicable suggestions. You TELL them why you left! .  Make it sound as positive as possible though. Put the reason you are no longer at your last job in your question. Unless you were laid off or the company had relocated you too far, just say "it's a career move." It's better not to go into the specifics. Always keep in mind that your  interviewer is looking for a positive, motivated, hard-working candidate. No potential employer wants to hear your gripe about a prior boss or talk poorly about a previous employer. She or he wants to hear about your potential as a superstar at the position you are seeking.

What are your strengths?

Purpose - The question is asked by the interviewer to understand your key selling point and get to know if it is relevant and helpful to handle the responsibilities that the person will handle if hired.

Note - All Most all Interviewers/Hiring people in management who assign tasks and responsibilities feel that a person is productive in work if his strength matches to the responsibilities of the role. So expect this question in most interviews. Also, be aware Strengths give clues on your interest.

Approach - Pick 2 or 3 strengths and give examples for each 1 to demonstrate how you used it in the previous job or in life. You can identify Some of your strengths from below list.
Continuous learning
Problem solving
Multi-tasking
Self learning
Flexible
Team Player
Hard working
Like Challenges
Quick Learner
Self Motivated
Communication, Oral and Written
Process Oriented
Analytical

Pre-work -Understand the job requirement in detail and get to know in advance what are the responsibilities the role you are applying and accordingly pick your strength that is relevant to the role. It would be advantageous to know the problems are issues the company is facing and what was the reason for the opening. You should be prepared for this question. It is one of the most commonly asked interview question.

E.g.: Communication and presentation - Communication and presentation is my strength.
In my previous job, I was given additional responsibilities to present and facilitate project status meetings with executive management and team building activities across departments.

The interviewer is listening for an answer that indicates you've given this some thought and are not sending out resumes just because there is an opening. For example, "I've selected key companies whose mission statements are in line with my values, where I know I could be excited about what the company does, and this company is very high on my list of desirable choices."

Describe your ideal job?

You should use this question to relate to the post you applied and give them the feel that this is close to your ideal job. So align your wonderful ideal job reasons to the responsibilities of the job posting. 

This is a question that you can use to add some humor or do a icebreaker like just joking that your ideal job is to work in a space station or would like to work in Hollywood but after a quick laugh give a realistic answer like my ideal job is where i get more responsibilities, enhance my skills and grow, and of-course you can add saying you would like to be part of a team where work is fun. If you want to go further, You might add at the end you heard good things about the work environment in the interviewing company.