INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS GUIDE

•Use “I”statements with action verbs and positive adjectives•Use polite modal verbs

© Caterina Mastroianni 2011

Asking about yourself

• Can you tell me a bit about yourself? • Can you tell me about your background and

experience?

How to begin talking about yourself• I arrived here (2) years ago and during this time, I

have been concentrating on (action)• As you can see from my resume, I am a qualified

(position), I have experience in (industry)• In the past (2) years, I have been working as a

(position)• In my previous job, I was responsible for (action)• I developed my skills and knowledge while I was

working at (company), studying the (course)• Now I’m ready and eager to work in (industry)

Asking about skills and qualities

• Why do you think you are suitable for this job?

• Why do you think we should employ you?• What have you got to offer us?• What makes you the ideal candidate for this

position?

How to describe skills and qualities• From the job description, you require someone who

can (duties)• I can (verb to describe skills)• In my studies/last job, I (skills to match duties)• I enjoyed/ I really liked (verbs- working, learning etc)• I’m really good at (highlight skill or knowledge)• I am a (adjectives) person• My colleagues said I was an (adjective) person to

work with.• So with my skills and knowledge, I am confident that

I can (summarise suitability)

Asking about examples

• Do you work well with others, as part of a team?

• Can you think of a time you resolved a problem?

• Can you give us an example of how you achieved your goal?

• How do you keep up to date with learning new technology?

How to explain an example• I was working on/ I was responsible for (a project

a task, a report etc)• I was working with (adjectives + nouns-a

motivated team of 5 people)• Use numbers (10% increase) • Give information (a report about the results of a

survey we conducted)• Explain situation (5 people who developed a new

website within 1 month)• Describe tasks (what did you do)• The result was (explain successes/achievements)

Use the STAR model to explain• Situation• Task• Action• Result“I was working with Housekeeping Services last year

with a motivated team of 5 people. We were responsible for cleaning 5 floors and I took the initiative to discuss priorities and timetabling at weekly meetings. So in the end we completed all of the tasks on time.”

Asking about strengths and weaknesses

• What are your strengths?• What is your greatest strength?• What do you believe are your key strengths?• What are your weaknesses?• What is your main weakness?• What do you believe are your weaknesses?

How to explain strengths

• I am (adjectives to describe qualities and verbs to describe skills)

• When I was working at (company), I had to (explain task/project)

• To do this, I (describe skills you used to complete the task)

• In the end, (explain result and/or feedback)

How to explain weaknesses

• I know that I could improve (knowledge or skill)• I need to learn more about (knowledge or skill)• For example, in my last job I had to (explain

situation)• So what I did was (explain how you learned

something new)• What I’m doing is (explain how you learning to

change your weak area)• I believe that I can (explain learning skills)

GOOD LUCK!

© Caterina Mastroianni 2011