Tell me about yourself.

Category :: Interview Questions For Freshers

Why should I hire you?

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Why do you want to work at our company?

What is the difference between confidence and over confidence?

What is the difference between hard work and smart work?

How do you feel about working nights and weekends?

Can you work under pressure?

Are you willing to relocate or travel?

What are your goals?

What motivates you to do good job?

What makes you angry?

Give me an example of your creativity.

How long would you expect to work for us if hired?

Are not you overqualified for this position?

Describe your ideal company, location and job.

What are your career options right now?

Explain how would be an asset to this organization?

What are your outside interests?

Would you lie for the company?

Who has inspired you in your life and why?

What was the toughest decision you ever had to make?

Have you considered starting your own business?

How do you define success and how do you measure up to your own definition?

If you won $10 million lottery, would you still work?

Tell me something about our company.

How much salary do you expect?

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

On a scale of one to ten, rate me as an interviewer.

Do you have any questions for me?

1.

Category :: HR Interview Questions For Experienced

Why did you resign from your previous job?

Why have you been out of work so long?

Why have you had so many jobs?

Tell me about a situation when your work was criticized.

Could you have done better in your last job?

Tell me about the most boring job you have ever had.

May I contact your present employer for a reference?

How many hours a week do you normally work?

What was the toughest challenge you have ever faced?

Have you been absent from work more than a few days in any previous position?

What changes would you make if you came on board?

What would you say to your boss if he is crazy about an idea, but you think it stinks?

How could you have improved your career progress?

Tell me honestly about the strong points and weak points of your boss (company, management team, etc.)

Looking back on your last position, have you done your best work?

Why should I hire you from the outside when I could promote someone from within?

How do you feel about reporting to a younger person?

Looking back, what would you do differently in your life?

Why are not you earning more money at this stage of your career

ersonal Interview Questions with Answers - Part 1

Tell me something about your self. Why does this role interest you? Or why have you applied for this job? Why do you think should we take you for this job? What motivates you at work? Why do you want to leave your present job or why did you leave your last job? Read answer

Personal Interview Questions with Answers - Part 2

What is your greatest strength? What is your greatest weakness? What is your greatest achievement? Are you ambitious? Read answer

Personal Interview Questions with Answers - Part 3

What qualities would you look for, if you were recruiting someone for this position? Are you speaking to some other companies? Or how is your job search going on? Which companies are you talking to? Are you ready to relocate? You have stayed for a long time with your last company-Why? You have switched many jobs-why? Read answer

Personal Interview Questions with Answers - Part 4

What was your biggest mistake? Why havent you got a job yet? You do not have all the experience we are seeking for this position. Why do you want to quit your present job? Have you ever made a mistake at work? How did you rectify it? What major problems did you face in your last role? Read answer

Personal Interview Questions with Answers - Part 5

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? How do you feel about doing repetitive work? How did you manage to attend this interview during your working hours? Would you like to work in a team or on your own? Has your career developed as you had liked? Read answer

Personal Interview Questions with Answers - Part 6

Has your career developed as you had liked? What would you do if your team ceased to perform? Would you take up this job if we offered it to you? Your expected salary?

What will you do if you are offered a job with a salary higher than this? Do you want to ask us something about the company? Read answer

15 common job interview questions Quick tips to answer the personal interview questions

As you go for a personal interview, always expect the question Tell us something about yourself. Go prepared to answer it. Understand the requirements of the role properly and keep your answer ready for Why does this role interest you? To judge your stability in the personal interview, the interviewer might ask a direct question like Why do you think should we take you? Go prepared to answer it. Prepare your answer to the question the interviewer might ask about your strengths and weaknesses in the interview. Take the word weaknesses as liberally as possible. Analyze the qualities that you required to achieve something big. Talk your latest achievement in the interview. When asked about mistakes, mention the one from long past. Never approach the interviewer as a Job Beggar. Go as a Problem Solver. Answer in positive when you are asked if you are speaking to some other companies for your job search. Show your flexible attitude during the personal interview. This can be done by being open to relocation. If you have stayed in your last job for too long or have switched the jobs very frequently, have an answer ready to the queries that might appear during the personal interview. Demonstrate the keenness to learn if you do not have all the required experience. Never talk bad about your last jobs or employers. Sound ambitious but stable. Sound like a team player but be open to take the autonomous responsibilities. Dont jump on the salary in the initial part of the interview. Let the interviewer take it out first. Study about the company before you go for the interview. Ask intelligent questions when give a chance to ask questions to interviewers. Stay confident, composed and calm during the interview.

When you are called for a personal interview, many types of questions spring across your mind, specially if you are an unexperienced job seeker. Here are some tips on answering the most frequently asked questions in a personal interview :

Tell me something about your self.

Go prepared for this question, as this is the most frequently asked question in the interview. Answer it covering your work experience, educational qualifications and a little information about your family background. Try to focus on key areas of your work while talking about your professional experience. This is an open ended question and can help you in taking the interview in which ever direction you want it to go. You should know where to put a full stop to provoke the desired question from the interviewer.

Why does this role interest you? Or why have you applied for this job?

Keep the focus of the answer to this question on your skills, experience and personal qualities. Link the job requirement to your skills rather than talking about the challenges, career and progression. Why do you think should we take you for this job?

Don't panic if you are asked this question. Make sure that you have understood the job profile well before you go for the interview. Relate your qualifications and work experience with the job requirements. If there are any new things that you are expected to perform in the new job, say that you are always open to learn the new things and take up the new challenges.

What motivates you at work?

You can say that competition and new challenges motivate you at work.

Why do you want to leave your present job or why did you leave your last job?
The reasons for switching the job could be numerous. The best answer to offer for this question is to say, for better prospects. Now they can ask you another question, what do you mean by better prospects? To this you can say, better prospects in terms of experience, and exposure. If you have been made redundant, put your words across very carefully. Your wrong words can give an impression that only you were the one whose position was made redundant, which hardly might be the case. May be you can say something like, Over last 8 months a lot of restructuring was going on in the company and 40 positions became surplus. One of them was mine but I have learnt a lot during my tenure at XYZ company and I am sure I can add a lot of value to a position like the we are discussing about.

What is your greatest strength?

Interpret this question as, what is your greatest relevant strength? Or Why should we hire you? Tell them a strength that they want to buy. For this you will need to properly understand the job profile and keep your answer ready. For example, if the job needs you to have convincing answers ready for the any type customers questions, you can sell your presence of mind or if you are required to change you sector or industry you can offer your adaptability as an answer. It is important to keep ready at least 2 examples of the mentioned strength. What is your greatest weakness?

Interpret this question as, why shouldnt we hire you? There 3 ways to tackle this question. Judge the situation and use one of them. First way: Use your sense of humour. If the interview is proceeding in the light way and you have built up a good rapport with the interviewer, you can get out of it by saying Icecream. Accompany it with a right body language.

Second Way: If you have to answer this question seriously, give a weakness which doesnt relate to the job under discussion. For example, you can say, I have been using a camera since childhood but I still dont know how to mend it. If it is spoiled, I will need to take it to an expert. Third way: Understand the requirement of the role under discussion and say that others accuse you of having that weakness but you think that it is important for your work. For example, if the job needs a detailed study and leaving a single step might need you to re-run the whole process say that My colleagues accuse me of having a too much eye for detail but I have experienced that to do this work you need to go into details rather than cutting corners. I have worked with people following a shorter route and doing the whole exercise again, which I would not prefer to do.

What is your greatest achievement?

The underlying agenda is to know what personal qualities were required to achieve it. Dont go back too far to answer this question as this might give an impression that you have not achieved anything since then. Find a relevant answer in the recent past for this question. If you are a fresher and have been a topper of your college or university, you can say that during the interview.

Are you ambitious?

You can say that I am very ambitious in the way that I dont like to get to get a feeling of stagnancy. I want that I should always be getting new experiences and learning new things

What qualities would you look for, if you were recruiting someone for this position?
To answer this question, you need to analyze the requirements of the job profile before appearing for the interview. The answer to this question would estimate your understanding of the role under discussion.

Are you speaking to some other companies? Or how is your job search going on?
This question gives you an opportunity to let the interviewer know that other companies are also interested in hiring you and gives you leverage while negotiating the salary. You can say, Yes, I am in the final round of discussion with two other companies. Approach the interviewer as a Problem Solver and not as a Job Beggar.

Which companies are you talking to?

You can maintain your integrity by refusing to disclose the names. You can simply say, they havent notified these openings so I believe they would not like their names to be revealed. At times, taking the competitors names might increase your chances of being hires. Analyze the situation and answer accordingly.

 Are you ready to relocate?

You can say, for a right position and right company relocation should not be a problem. Do not close the discussion at the earlier stage by saying No.

You have stayed for a long time with your last company-Why?
Staying with the same company for too long may be considered as the candidate being un-ambitious. While answering this question you can say, Yes, I preferred to stay with them all this while because I was regularly adding value to my experience there and I was growing as a professional.

You have switched many jobs-why?

Too much job hopping gives an impression that the candidate is unstable and unreliable but you can put this query to ease by saying that you switched jobs to broaden your experience.

I got involved with student activities to overcome my debilitating shyness. Receiving these awardssignified that I had accomplished a transition from dragging myself to participate to feelingenergized by it. Receiving the SWE Web Site Award Without training in web design, I competed against not only the other student sections, butprofessional sections around the nation. Despite competing with more HTML-experienced people, Ibrought this award to my section. After getting so much from SWE, I was able to give somethingback.Earning the highest grade in an organic chemistry class of ~200 peopleI worked very hard for this grade and loved the subject, so it was a great feeling to see that the hardwork paid off.

12. Which subjects have you enjoyed studying the most and why?
I have enjoyed hydrology, fluids, solid & hazardous waste management, water and wastewater treatment, and oceanography because I love water and environmental topics.Calculus and linear algebra excite me because I love logic.I enjoyed the writing and analysis in economic history.Business law thrilled me because I have a strong interest in legal matters.

13. Which subjects did you dislike and why?

Introductory soil elicited little interest in me, most likely because the professor was inexperienced,the book was ineffective, and I had little spare time that semester to look into other resources.

14. Do you have plans to continue your education?

Yes, but not immediately. I plan to continue part time with either an MBA or an environmentalengineering masters, depending on which will be more beneficial to my work.

15. How would a professor who knows you well describe you? One who does not know youwell?
A professor who knows me well would likely describe my personal qualities: sweet, down-to-earth,smart, hardworking, and conscientious.As specific examples of those who did not know me well, my soils professor and soils teachingassistant each considered me smart and respectful, and both thought that I must have enjoyed theclass a lot, due to my performance.

16. Given the chance, how would you alter your education?
Knowing now what I like the most, I would have used my electives for extra math and psychologyclasses, since I tend to be wellrounded enough that a variety of classes are unnecessary; mypersonal reading is diverse enough. I have found that mathematics and psychology are helpful to allcareer and life paths.

17. Which part-time job did you enjoy the most and why?
Working for PM Environmental was most enjoyable to me, since I felt like I was significantlycontributing to the company, and I enjoyed learning on my own.

18. Interests:
Some of my interests include dogs, hiking, snow-shoeing, water sports, writing, reading (especiallyCharles Dickens' novels), skiing, drawing, crafts, and computers.

19. What are your strengths?

My strongest strength is the ability to teach myself difficult material, regardless of the subject (withthe exception of theater and drawing blood from dogs, which I have no talent for). Additionally, Ihave always excelled verbally and look forward to writing opportunities.

20. What are your weaknesses?

I tend to try to do too many things, leaving little time for myself. I have worked on balancing myself for the last several months. I am also working on improving my public speaking skills.

21. What sort of serious problems have you experienced, and how have you handled them?
My apartment building burned down at the end of January during one of my semesters at MSU.Before the fire got too bad, I was able to rescue my pets and the neighbor's dog, as well as mytextbooks and backpack, but I lost most of my mementos and possessions. While the firemen werepreparing their hoses, I drove to school (with the animals in the car) to meet my lab partners, whowere waiting for me. I explained the situation, emailed my professors, and rushed back to theapartment.Fortunately, I had renter's insurance. I missed about a week of school to deal with the insurancematters and find a new place to live. In order to salvage my grades and sanity, I dropped a courseand honored my existing student group and research commitments. Staying active socially andkeeping myself wellrounded were the best healing tools for me. Within a few weeks, I was caughtup and had recovered reasonably from the loss of sentimental items.

22. Do you or have you in the past experimented with illegal drugs?
No. My only addictions are caffeine and sugar.

23. Would you be willing to take a drug test?

Of course.

24. Do you drink alcohol socially?

No, but I enjoy Shirley Temples quite a bit.

25. If you had your whole life to live over, what would you do differently and why?
I was always good in math, but I wish that I would have focused on math more. I feel thatmathematics can lead one anywhere, and is the basis of most disciplines.On a personal level, I would have ensured that, despite pre-teen angst and insecurity, I would havebeen nice to everyone, even on especially bad days.

26. Which is more important to you, your salary or your job?

Salary is important, but I couldn't stay with a job that brought me misery when I could supportmyself doing something else; hence, my job is more important.

27. What have you found to be the biggest source of motivation in your life?
Taking advantage of my strengths so that they are not wasted. Since nobody is lucky enough to bestrong in every area, I think it is important to make good use of one's strengths.

28. What sorts of things cause you stress, and how do you deal with them?
Lack of organization throws me off. To deal with this, I come up with some kind of system toorganize things, even if it is only in my head, in the case when chaos is desirable.

29. What is your definition of success?

Being a good person by improving the quality of the lives of others, whether it be through work,doing sweet things, improving

the environment/community, taking care of one's family, etc.Superficially, I tend to measure success by level of education and abilities within one's career;however, I try to remind myself of the things that are more important.

30. What qualities should a successful supervisor possess in regard to job requirements andthose who report to him/her?
A successful supervisor should be able to tactfully give criticism, guide, motivate, encourage andfoster a positive work environment.

31. How would you develop team spirit among the people that you supervise?
My experience in student groups has taught me that people work best when their friends(teammates) are counting on them to do well; therefore, I believe that bonding motivates people. Iwould also foster team pride by promoting our team's assets.

32. Do you like to work independently or as a team?

I like to work independently towards a team goal.

33. What kind of work environment do you like the best?

I enjoy working with friendly co-workers who can share a laugh while working hard andoverachieving.

34. How would you resolve conflicts with employees, coworkers, and supervisors?
If possible, I would refresh my memory on what I've learned about conflict communication, and thenI would discuss things, honestly and tactfully. I am a big fan of kind sincerity and honesty, as well ashumility (when appropriate).

35. In what ways have you learned from your mistakes?

Upon getting myself overwhelmed with involvement in too many projects, I changed my approach.When possible, I now start with less than I can handle and add more only as time allows, and insmall increments.

36. In what areas do you need to improve your skills?

I would like to improve my public speaking skill