Is the hiring process an unfortunate necessity? Most candidates start to sweat just thinking about it. How do I get ready? What will they inquire of me? What do I need to ask them? These are only a handful of the typical interviewee’s queries.
While we can’t guarantee that you’ll be ready for everything, we can provide you with information that will help the scales tip in your favor. To identify the most common interview questions, we polled more than 500 hiring-related experts.
We conducted inquiries regarding what the interviews expected the applicants to ask them. Additionally, we questioned them about their most bizarre and amazing questions and experiences since we wanted to explore the positive side of the interviews.
We didn’t, however, end there. We asked the same questions on their experiences as job hopefuls to more than 1000 workers to gain insight from both sides of the interview table. In “business jargon,” you could say that we conducted a 360-degree evaluation of the interview process.
So, continue reading to learn what to anticipate from your upcoming turn at the microphone.
How Would You Describe Yourself? Interviewer Favorites
According to conventional wisdom, failure to prepare is preparation for failure. But it might be difficult to decide what to bring to a job interview. There are several instructions on how to respond to interview questions, but there aren’t as many on what questions are most frequently asked.
Knowing which questions recruiters love offers you a great head start in your interview practice. So, we offered our responders a list of popular interview questions and asked if they regularly utilized them. Here’s what they told us.
Okay, so the title of this section gave you a huge hint. “Tell me about yourself” is, in fact, the interview question that is asked the most frequently. “Tell me about a struggle or conflict you experienced at work and how did you deal with it?” is asked immediately after this.
What job hopefuls told us closely paralleled this. They even reported a stronger validation of the most often asked questions if anything. Just look at the percentage of applicants who said the top five inquiries on our list were asked of them.
- Describe yourself? —94%
- Describe a challenge or dispute you had at work and how you handled it? —82%
- What are your best qualities? —91%
- How were you made aware of this position? —84%
- What are your biggest flaws? —80%
A sizable portion of job hopefuls also answered the other questions on the list.
What then do the most frequently asked questions share? What can they reveal about the methods used by recruiting managers during interviews? It is instantly clear that four of the top ten inquiries begin with the phrase “tell me about.” That demonstrates a crucial fact about the methods recruiters employ to learn more about you. An open-ended question is one that asks a person to “tell me about.”
In fact, most of the inquiries on that list are open-ended. Let me clarify what I mean by that. With a closed-ended question, your options are limited to yes/no or a select few. Your options are constrained. Do you feel at ease working remotely, for instance?
Contrarily, an open-ended question encourages you to elaborate on your response by providing tales, examples, and lists. Deeper insights are provided by responses to these queries. What, for instance, would your ideal employment entail?
That gives you the signal to respond to these inquiries when they are directed at you. Give specifics and instances. Extend and explain, even if the inquiry is more specific. Do not simply state that you prefer a certain style of work atmosphere; instead, explain why you feel this way and how it will benefit your productivity and contribution to your prospective company.
Situational interview questions are frequently used in “tell me about” inquiries. The interviewer wants to know how you handled yourself in a previous circumstance, and they will use your response to assess your knowledge and abilities.
It’s interesting to note that studies have shown that using these questions can measure a candidate’s skills very accurately. A very successful interview method is to ask a candidate what they have already done rather than what they would do. And happily, there is also a very powerful method for responding to these inquiries.
Using the problem-solution-benefit method is our recommendation. Format your responses as follows:
- Describe the issue you encountered
- Present your resolution to the interviewer.
- Describe how your employer profited from your solution.
Regarding the others, there are numerous effective responses available. The STAR approach is especially powerful (Situation, Task, Action, and Result).
However, an interview is not a one-way street. You must ask certain questions for yourself before determining the best answers.
Are There Any Questions You Have for Me?
To be completely honest, the query you just read belongs on the first list as well. In most job interviews, this question will be asked at the conclusion. No matter how well you answered the interviewer’s questions, you will still need to pose some inquiries. If you don’t, it appears that you aren’t really dedicated or interested.
But choosing what to ask might be a real challenge. As a result, we probed our respondents about their expectations. From a list of popular candidate questions, these are their top 10 selections.
Once more, practically all of them are open-ended. You won’t learn anything from the interviewer’s yes/no response, though. Therefore, make sure you give them the chance to go into detail.
And a single golden thread connects all ten of them. Demonstrating a genuine interest in the position and the company for which you are applying. Future improvement, training, and advancement are also given a lot of attention. Interviewers are looking for applicants who are committed, desire to advance professionally, and will help their business succeed in the future.
How well-informed were the candidates regarding the kinds of questions they ought to pose?
Here are the figures, once more focusing on the top five.
- Could you provide me with some samples of the projects I’d be working on? —55%
- What qualifications and qualifications do you seek in a candidate? —69%
- What are the projects that need to be completed the quickest? —49%
- How would a typical day be structured? —67%
- Do you anticipate that within the next six to twelve months, this position’s primary duties will change? —39%
Candidate awareness isn’t excellent, but it’s also not terrible, as you can see. Additionally, most candidates fail to ask two of the top five interview questions that recruiters prefer.
To avoid making the same error, we encourage you to take note of our list of the recruiters’ favorite questions and make sure you bring up a few of them towards the conclusion of the interview. Though you’re not required to reproduce them verbatim. The trick, as we’ve already mentioned, is to keep your questions open, exhibit attention, and concentrate on advancement. Making sure you give your potential employer the appropriate impression can assist.
However, interviews don’t always go as expected, and both candidates and interviewers occasionally throw a curveball or two.
What are the Extraordinary Interview Questions?
Most likely, you’ve already heard of a few of these. Even with the finest planning, the interviewer occasionally surprises you with a question that is out of the ordinary. We thus asked our respondents what the most unusual questions were that they asked prospective employees.
I will admit that as I reviewed the response information, I had a sneaking suspicion that a few of these comments were an attempt to troll us. It turns out that the phrase “chewing gum” is the name of a 1950s novelty tune, which The Muppets later performed.
It’s strange to inquire about someone’s romantic status. To test an interviewee’s reaction to the unexpected, some interviewers purposefully give the interviewee strange questions. Let’s face it, no one is going to prepare for those questions in advance. Even though they can seem trivial, they can have a use.
It would seem easier to just inquire about someone’s exercise routine to establish a relationship over shared interests or to determine whether you would fit in with physically active workplace culture.
Regarding the other two, they demonstrate to the interviewer your capacity to come up with original answers on the spot. When asked the age-old question, “What animal would you be? ” You might give a thoughtful response and highlight your advantages.
You may claim, for instance, that you’d be a honeybee because they cooperate to make the colony successful. That demonstrates your ability to work well with others, which is a quality that companies value highly. You’re welcome to use that response for yourself.
The superpower question also highly weighs your capacity to demonstrate your employability abilities, as one of our responders explained:
I asked potential applicants who they would be and why if they were a superhero. What benefits would they receive from that superhero’s abilities? I’m interested in hearing how they would respond and whether they would use their newfound abilities to help our company as a whole or just themselves. It’s used to evaluate how team-oriented they are.
Whatever you do, avoid using that question as a springboard to debate Iron Man vs. Thor’s advantages. Take a deep breath, think quickly, and utilize the question as an opportunity to position yourself as a desirable candidate, regardless of how strange the question may appear.
Speaking of candidates, does their experience match what the interviewers claimed regarding the use of unique questions? There was a pretty good match between what the interviewers reported and what the candidates reported being asked. They provided us with a couple more genuinely bizarre one-off examples as well. Here are just a few of the “best.”
- How would you escape from a blender if you were a coin?
- How can you determine if a refrigerator light truly turns off when you close it?
- An elephant has been gifted to you. It cannot be sold or given away. What would you do with the elephant?
Can you tell me more about Carbon-14 dating? (I had a job interview with a construction company to be a receptionist.)
Which beautifully takes us to this intriguing tidbit. Interview questions that are out of the ordinary may provide valuable information about the person asking them. One study found associations between the propensity to pose such brainteasers and narcissism and sadism. Yes, you read that correctly. Weird interview questions may reveal the interviewer’s unsettling personality flaws.
Nevertheless, coming up with unconventional interview questions might be a helpful strategy.
It’s not always about caving into the bizarre whims of the hiring manager. But it must be done correctly. Tim Soulo, CMO at Ahrefs, a market-leading digital marketing, and SEO suite, provided us with this superb example. As you can see, Tim chose an interesting question with the greatest of intentions.
That is both sharp and clever. It employs a situational methodology to gather genuinely beneficial information. However, it appears some interviewers wish to get revenge by posing unforeseen questions of their own, regardless of whether this strategy is well-intentioned or the result of a twisted and disturbed mind.
These examples have a high cringe factor. asking the interviewer to disparage their boss, inquiring about other people’s salaries, and asking personal questions about the interviewer’s family. All of these are utterly inappropriate.
The correct response to the question of vampires is, “Only the sparkly ones; other types of the undead are all right.” But in all seriousness, stick to pertinent queries like the ones we provided as examples in the preceding section.
Thought should be given to your interviewer regardless of your expertise as a candidate because they might have already experienced the unpleasantness you’re about to witness.
What are some of the Worst Interview Experiences: Nightmare on Recruitment Street
Finally, we questioned our brave respondents about their worst interview experiences. I’ve got some real doozies for you.
Some of this should go without saying; drinking, bad hygiene, racism, and showing up late are all blatantly unacceptable if you want to leave a good impression. How about the cat? Even while Mr. Snookum may help to demonstrate that you are the perfect candidate, not everyone enjoys cats. Therefore, you should leave him at home.
And not just interviewers are the target of this. Here are a few shocking things that candidates have told us.
I was only being interviewed because the interviewer had to. She told me during the interview that she intended to fill the position with a family member. In fact, she detailed everything to me, including their deep bond and other details. We didn’t talk about the job or me at all.
Conclusion
Even for seasoned experts, getting ready for an interview is a challenging undertaking. But planning is essential. You will experience a much-needed confidence boost because of having ready responses to some of the most frequent inquiries, which will enhance your performance.
Remember to ask questions as well. We offered you some excellent examples, but if you leave them open-ended and make sure they show sincere interest in the position and potential advancement, you’ll be OK.
Additionally, don’t be put off by challenging questions; instead, use them as an opportunity to promote yourself. Finally, try to make your own inquiries respectful and pertinent, and never combine recruiting with pets!