The interview questions I want to go through today are ones you can prepare for. I ask you to prepare a lot, the reason for this is because I know that if you are able to answer these kinds of questions, have some reference points to be able to go back to then these interviews are going to feel much more like an enjoyable experience. It also means that you’ll be able to feel connected and participate in the interview, I am so confident that everyone can do really well in interviews and if you feel good then you’re going to show the great parts of who you are and what you can bring to the business.

1. What would you do if unsure how to do a task that you have been given to do?

Run or ignore it? No, what the hiring manager wants to know is what are your problem solving skills like? Are you able to take initiative and work as part of a team and find someone who can help you to solve the problem? Interviewers just love to hear about how you can positively frame a problem problem and fix it. You can use an example of when you have done this before too. Give a real life scenario to help them realise that you have experience doing this and feel confident to be able to work independently.

2. Why were you fired?

Make sure if you were made redundant that they realise the distinction. I really want you to feel unashamed of things that have happened in the past. You may have been made redundant but there shouldn’t be any stigma around that happening to you. Especially at the moment, we know that so many people have lost their jobs because of this pandemic.

3. What didn’t you enjoy about your last job?

Ok, tread really carefully with this one. There isn’t an easy way to answer especially if you’re moving from one Assistant job to another Assistant job for example. I would suggest some real time preparing for this. Just keep it simple and to the point. You’re never going to win if you moan about the business, the company or the specific people in the business. They may even know them, it’s a small world out there so steer clear of specifics. Use sentence starters such as ‘I was frustrated about…’ or ‘I had challenges around…’ so that you can speak about this in the past tense.

4. What are your weaknesses?

Ugh, everyone hates this question and it isn’t easy to answer. Don’t say perfectionism, its a rubbish answer and not worth saying. What you must demonstrate is that you’re self aware, ready for growth and open to it too. No one is perfect at their job, just tell the truth without giving away too much. Don’t fear this question though, you’re an expert in you so you can say that you’re not too great at x but that you have improved or that you’re finding strategies to change that. Start the answer with ‘I’ve had to train myself to…’ or ‘I quickly realised that I had to learn…’ Use historical situations that you overcame.

5. Tell me about a challenging situation that you overcame at work?

People love asking these these types of questions and what you have to try to do is to be able to think of an example of a situation where you had an issue and you found a suitable solution that was beneficial to the business. For example, when I joined the business I found the stationary ordering really unfocussed and so I found one supplier to supply all our stationary which led to a reduction in spend’. It doesn’t have to be something huge, it certainly doesn’t have to be a save the day kind of example, just make sure its relevant to the work that you do and that you had a favourable outcome.