Hiring and—by extension—interviewing continue to evolve, and those wishing to advance the scope of their careers must evolve right along with them.
Companies are constantly compiling different interview questions in their never-ending quest to find and hire the best candidates for their open positions. Consequently, it’s in your best interests to be as prepared as possible for the questions that are posed during a face-to-face interview.
One trend that has developed recently is that of the straightforward interview question. In other words, company officials are asking rather bold questions, as much to gauge your reaction to the questions as to assess your answers to them.
With that in mind, below are four straightforward interview questions that you should be prepared to answer:
- “Why do you want to work here?” Your response to this question will take more thought than you might suspect. That’s because it’s not a question you can answer on the spot or “off the cuff” . . . which, of course, is why it’s being asked.
- “Describe a past project that was a failure.” That’s right, a failure and NOT a success. To your potential new employer, how you handle failure is just as important as how you handle success.
- “Describe a major challenge that you conquered during the past 12 months.” Companies want to know that first, you’re being challenged on a consistent basis, and second, that you’re overcoming those challenges more often than not.
- “Why should we hire you and not another candidate?” Once again, this is a very bold question, one to which you’ll need to give much thought. It makes sense, though. After all, you’re there to convince company officials that YOU are the best person for the position, aren’t you?
It’s difficult to be prepared for every possible interview question. However, it’s important to be prepared for the ones that could mean the difference between receiving an offer of employment . . . or never hearing from the company again.
Formulate your answers to the four questions listed above, and you’ll increase your chances of enjoying interview success.