Interview Questions: All You Need To Know About Job Interview Questions

By Annette Lewis

Job Interview Questions come in many shapes and forms and can be phrased in a multitude of ways.

In this article we talk through six common types of interview questions and provide samples of each:

Behavioral Interview Questions
Competency Based Interview Questions
Personality Based Questions
Technical Interview Questions
Stress Based Interview Questions
Resume Based Interview Questions

Behavioral Interview Questions

Also called Situational, these are used as a tool to discover how your past performance in a previous role may contribute to the job being recruited for. The interviewer will ask open-ended questions relating to your behavior in past or hypothetical situations and will try to match your answers to pre-set requirements of the role.

Sample Behavioral Interview Questions:

Give me an example of a difficult situation you faced with an employee, and tell me how you resolved it.

Tell us about a recent success you had when making a presentation. How did you prepare and what was the outcome?

Competency Based Interview Questions

The word competency is widely used in business environments and refers to the skills that are necessary to achieve a good performance level in the job. Every job will have a set of key competencies, some of which are essential and others desired and all are required to do the job properly. In preparation the experienced interviewer will draw up a list of 3-4 questions relating to each competency and directed towards discovering if the candidate has the skills necessary for the job.

Sample Competency Based Interview Questions:

Give me an example of an important goal you achieved and how you delivered it.

Describe the most difficult project you were involved with and the obstacles you overcame.

Personality Based Questions

These questions are designed to find out more about the candidate and help the interviewer decide if they will fit with the culture of the organization. Bearing in mind that many direct personal questions such as, Are you married? and How old are you? are illegal, the interviewer will phrase the questions carefully such as ‘Tell me more about you’, ‘How would you describe your personality?’, ‘What do you like to do outside of work?’

Sample Personality Based Interview Questions:

Tell me about yourself

What are your weaknesses?

Technical Interview Questions

This type of questioning will be direct and designed to find out your level of proficiency with a particular piece of equipment, software or system. They may be used in financial, accounting and legal interviews to check your ability and understanding of rules, regulations and methodologies.

Sample Technical Interview Questions:

What steps do you take when planning for a project?

What software would you use to complete ______ task?

Stress Based Interview Questions

These are questions which put the candidate in an uncomfortable position and may be awkward to answer. They may focus on a potentially negative aspect of experience or difficult career period, for example, ‘Why were you made redundant?’, ‘Why has it taken you so long to find a job?’ and they will be designed to see how the candidate copes under pressure.

Sample Stress Based Interview Questions:

Why should we give you the job?

Tell me about a mistake you made and what were the consequences?

Resume Based Interview Questions

You will of course be asked questions specifically related to your achievements. The interviewer may choose to use a leading questioning style or a direct question and examples include:

Sample Resume Based Interview Questions:

What did you deliver during your time with ____________?

I see you worked with ___________. Please tell me more about that role and its responsibilities.

For model answers to over 2,300 job interview questions including 500 behavioral questions click here.

How to Succeed in Your Next Job Interview

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About the Author

Annette Lewis is an accredited interviewer and has recruited for many organizations within Healthcare, Education, Customer Services and Banking

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