INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Interview questions can be extremely varied and some recruiters can be very creative; however they all tend to revolve around the same themes. You will find below a comprehensive range of interview questions commonly asked at interviews across all industries. These are designed to help you both in terms of your interview skills, for which we have professional coaching, and further, to hone your interview techniques to perform at your best during interview.

Read the interview questions below first and then consider how well equipped you are to answer them in an interview situation to have the best chance of securing your future role:

Interview Questions 1-10

1. Tell me about yourself
2. Take me through your CV / Application Form
3. What made you choose this career?
4. Why are you applying for this post?
5. Why do you want to leave your current post?
6. Why do you want to work for our organisation?
7. What do you know about our organisation?
8. How have you prepared for this interview?
9. What will you do if we don't offer you this position?
10. What can you bring to this company?

Interview Questions 11-20

11. What do you think that our company can bring you?
12. What makes you think that you are the best candidate for this post?
13. How can you help us develop?
14. What makes you tick in life?
15. How do you see yourself in 5 / 10 years' time?
16. How have you planned your career?
17. What are you most/least proud of?
18. If you had to start your career all over again, what would you change?
19. Looking back at your career (or training), what do you feel went well and what could be improved?
20. What makes you a good communicator?

Interview Questions 21-30

21. How would you describe your communication skills?
22. What is your management experience?
23. How do you manage an underperforming colleague?
24. How do you manage upwards?
25. What is the difference between management and leadership?
26. What makes you a good leader?
27. How would you describe your leadership skills
28. Do you prefer to work on your own or as part of team?
29. Who do you regard as your role model?
30. If you had to invite three famous people (alive or dead) for dinner, who would you choose and why?

Interview Questions 31-40

31. How do you make sure that your team is up to scratch?
32. What makes you a good team player?
33. What makes a good team?
34. What are your main strengths?
35. Give us three adjectives that describe you best?
36. How would colleagues describe you?
37. What you like written in your obituary?
38. What is your main weakness?
39. How can you convince me that I can trust you? 
40. What qualities do you have that would make you a good lawyer/teacher/manager/etc?

Interview Questions 41-50

41. How do you measure success?
42. How do your managers motivate you?
43. What skills do you need to develop most?
44. What is the biggest mistake that you have made?
45. How do you handle stress?
46. How do you handle pressure?
47. What is the biggest decision that you have ever had to make?
48. How do you motivate your colleagues?
49. Tell us about your worst colleague/manager?
50. What is your approach to resolving conflict?

Interview Questions 51-60

51. Describe an instance when your work was criticised.
52. What do you think about being mentored?
53. How would you handle a situation where you mentor recommended an approach that you disagreed with?
54. Tell us how you influence colleagues?
55. Tell us how you would manage a conflict with a third-party provider, quoting your experience.
56. What is the riskiest thing you've ever done?
57. What makes you angry?
58. Do you ever lose your temper?
59. How do you cope with criticism?
60. Tell us about your hobbies

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ASKING FOR EXAMPLES 1-10

Give us an example of a situation where... / Tell us about a time when...

1. your communication skills made a difference to a situation.
2. you had to resolve a conflict with a colleague
3. you dealt with a difficult client
4. you played a key role in a team
5. you showed strong leadership
6. you took initiative
7. you set and achieved a goal
8. you improved the way things were typically done on the job
9. you improved the performance of your work unit
10. you have maximised or improved the use of resources beyond your own work unit to achieve improved results

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ASKING FOR EXAMPLES 11-21

11. you changed your priorities to meet others' expectations
12. you altered your own behaviour to fit the situation
13. you had to change your point of view or your plans to take into account new information or changing priorities.
14. you identified a challenge or opportunity based on your industry knowledge, and developed a strategy to respond to it
15. you created a strategy to achieve a longer term objective
16. you used your business knowledge to understand a specific business situation
17. you provided service to a patient/stakeholder beyond their expectations
18. you had to deal with a patient/stakeholder service issue
19. you acted as an advocate for your stakeholder’s needs
20. there was some organisational resistance to be overcome

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ASKING FOR EXAMPLES 21-30

21. you had to bring a difficult person on board
22. your communication skills did not succeed in getting something done
23. you were successful in getting people to work together effectively
24. you were a member (not a leader) of a team, and a conflict arose within the team
25. you provided negative feedback to someone about their performance
26. you recognized that a member of your team had a performance difficulty/deficiency
27. you went through a series of steps to influence an individual or a group on an important issue
28. you needed to influence different stakeholders with differing perspectives
29. you inspired others to meet a common goal.
30. you helped your organisation become more efficient

Now visit our page on Interview Skills and Interview Techniques to see how we can help you. You'll also find our page on competency based interview questions critical to preparing for your interiew.