Chances are you won’t know the exact general interview questions to expect.
When you don’t know something, the best strategy is to move forward, giving yourself the best opportunity to succeed, even with the unknown.
Thankfully, most general interview questions are the easiest of the questions asked by hiring managers and recruiters.
These questions are broad and somewhat universal from one job role to the next. Questions such as these are well established and popular with today’s interviewers.
When faced with one of these questions, scan your resume for talking points. If you haven’t optimized your resume, look into a highly-endorsed resume writing service to help.
Job interview questions typically fall into one of these categories:
- Behavioral (how you behaved within a certain situation, or on the flip side, resolved unprofessional behaviors from a co-worker or boss)
- Situational (how you identified and resolved a certain situation)
- Stress (this is when the interviewer intentionally puts stress on the job candidate to learn how he/she handles certain pressures, such as constant interruptions or a loud meeting environment)
The delivery of job interviews continues to change, shifting heavily to pre-screening phone and cloud-based video interviewing tools such as Microsoft Teams, Webex, GoToMeeting, Google Meet, and Zoom.
There are also less-known, live video alternatives, such as InterviewStream.com.
Broad interview questions are generally:
- Why questions (e.g., why did you take a step back with…)
- Yes/no questions (e.g., did you enjoy working for…)
- Open-ended questions (e.g., tell me more about…)
You can anticipate general topics (e.g., financials, staffing, purchasing) that will be covered and prepare accordingly.
The biggest advantage for you when answering universal interview questions is to answer them with the job interviewer in mind.
Let’s say the hiring manager asks you about the size of P&Ls you’ve managed in recent years.
Knowing the company is a $10M manufacturer, you could answer something like:
“I’ve managed manufacturers with P&Ls as low as $8M and up to $12M.”
For this same manufacturing employer that asks about your software experience, you could answer with:
“I have exceptional knowledge of SAP software, including SAP MM and SAP EWM.”
List of General Job Interview Questions Broken Down by Job Role
The following are common interview questions you can use as a starting point as your practice for your next upcoming job interview:
GENERAL
- Why are you interested in this position? Why us?
- Tell me a little about yourself.
- How will your experience from the past 12 months help you in this job?
- Tell me what you know about our company and services.
- How would you rate your communication skills?
CAREER GOALS/EXPECTATIONS
- What are your long-term career goals?
- What are the most important rewards you expect to gain with us?
- Have you generated any new ideas or suggestions in your previous jobs?
- Have you ever done more than was required?
- In what kind of work environment are you most comfortable?
SOFTWARE/TECHNICAL
- What computer skills do you have?
- What new software and platforms have you started working with in recent years?
- Describe how you’ve gone about learning a new technical task.
DATA/BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (BI)
- Tell us more about some of the data-driven decisions you’ve made in recent months.
- How has data has changed transparency with your last employer?
PROBLEM-SOLVING
- Tell me about a situation where you encountered a problem and developed a remedy to fix it. What was the problem? What was your approach to solving the problem? What was the result?
- What was the greatest challenge you’ve faced in a previous position?
- We all make decisions that turn out to be mistakes. Describe a work decision you made that you wish you could do-over.
- Tell us about your greatest weakness.
- Why should we hire you over someone with the same skills?
- What do you consider to be your three greatest work achievements?
- Describe a time when you were in a high-pressure situation. How did you react?
TEAM
- How do feel about working as part of a team?
- Do you enjoy working in groups or independently?
- How do you deal with conflict?
- Explain a time when you encountered a conflict with a co-worker. How did you handle it? What was the outcome?
- Detail a time when you had to deal with a frustrating person. What did the person do that was frustrating? How did you resolve the difficulty? How did the person react?
PROJECT
- Have you not finished a project or assignment on time? Why the delay?
- How do you organize your typical day? Give examples.
- Describe a situation that required you to be detail-oriented.
- Describe a time you faced a demanding project or an emergency deadline. How did you handle that?
PRESENTATION
- Specify a time when you needed to make a presentation to a group of people. How did you prepare? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a presentation you did on a topic that was new to you that didn’t go well. What happened? How did you handle it?
MISC/CLOSE OF INTERVIEW
- Why should we hire you over someone with the same skills?
- What do you want me to remember about you when you leave?
- Do you have any questions for me?
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