Everyone needs to do a few job interviews in their lifetime. At Centennial College, we'll help connect you to a career, but that final step comes from you, including the interview itself.
You've probably learned a ton of advice about how to prepare for an interview, and there's more to be learned at our Career Centre. Here's something even more practical: A list of what you might be asked during that all-important interview.
An instructor helped me make this list during my postgraduate program at Centennial College (Corporate Communications and Public Relations) during the part of the program that was dedicated to helping me transition into a career -something most of our programs have, as a part of making the transition easier. It's one of the most valuable job-search tools I've ever come across, and something I've used a lot in my life.
How to use this list
If you've got a job interview coming up, have a look at these questions, and try and come up with an answer that you can memorize for each. Try to come up with different answers for each one. While you likely won't be asked these specific questions, the answers you put together can be applied to whatever comes up.
Be honest with those answers. While you want to emphasize your positive traits, lying about yourself will inevitably cause more problems than you need. Be sure to tailor your answers to the job you want, and the company you're trying to get into. Not all answers fit all interviews. One last tip: "Tell me about yourself" means an employer want to know about your education and work history, along with a little bit about your personal interests.
The 25 essential interview questions:
1. What is your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness?
2. How would you describe the pace at which you work?
3. How do you handle stress and pressure?
4. What motivates you?
5. Tell me about yourself.
6. Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem.
7. What are you passionate about?
8. What annoys or bothers you in the workplace?
9. What do people most often criticize about you?
10. Tell me about a time when you showed initiative and took the lead.
11. When was the last time you were angry? What happened?
12. Do you prefer to work independently or on a team? Why?
13. What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example.
14. What type of work environment do you prefer?
15. How do you evaluate success?
16. Tell me about a time when you had too many things to do and were required to prioritize your tasks.
17. If you know your boss is 100 per cent wrong about something, how do you handle it?
18. Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way.
19. Describe a difficult work situation and how you overcame it.
20. Describe a time when your workload was heavy and how you handled it.
21. What interests you about this job?
22. Why do you want this job?
23. Why are you the best person for the job?
24. Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.
25. What are your goals for the next three years?
By Anthony Geremia