28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Dedication
To Sarah, for seeing a young boy who had potential.

To Eury, who chased a scared 25 year old down New Cross High Street
and convinced him he could write.

To Jasmine and Danielle, for being intelligent, beautiful, strong,

powerful women who I couldn’t have completed this book without.

To you, for believing in yourself, never giving up and investing in your

future.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Contents
4. How to use this book to prepare for your interview
5. How to download the 28 Question worksheets
9. How are we qualified to give you advice on interviews?
13. When we talk about interviews this is what we mean
14. When you get an interview, how much time should you spend doing
what?
16. What questions are they going to ask me?
18. Exactly how to research interview questions for any company
23. Writing great interview answers
26. What are motivational and competency questions REALLY?!
29. The Secret Sauce: The STAR technique hacked
35. The 28 Questions
36. How to prepare scripts for the 28 questions in the MINIMUM TIME
37. Q1: A Perfect Personal Introduction
42. Q2: Why this company?
47. Q3: Why this role?
54. Q4: Why you?
58. Q5: Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict?
62. Q6: Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team?
67. Q7: Describe a situation where you influenced or motivated people?
72. Q8: Describe a situation when you led a team?
77. Q9: Tell me about a time when you creatively solved a problem?
81. Q10: What has been your greatest achievement?
85. Q11: What do you expect to be doing in five years?
89. Q12: What are your strengths?
93. Q13: What are your weaknesses?
97. Q14: How would you describe yourself?
102. Q15: What makes you the right person for the job?
106. Q16: Give me an example of a time when you failed to hit a
deadline?
110. Q17: Tell me about a time when you built up a relationship with
someone?
114. Q18: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with multiple
tasks?
119. Q19: Tell me about yourself?

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

124. Q20: Tell me about a time you had to handle a stressful or

pressurised situation?
129. Q21: Describe a difficult situation you had to overcome?
134. Q22: Give me an example of a time you showed initiative?
139. Q23: Tell me about a time you solved a problem in a new/innovative
way?
144. Q24: Give me an example when you had to manage your time and
prioritise tasks?
149. Q25: What do you think you need to be, to be successful in this
job?
153. Q26: What has been your biggest setback?
156. Q27: Why did you choose your University and what factors
influenced your decision?
159. Q28: Why did you choose your degree subject?
161. Practise, practise, practise
163. A Final Note

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How to use this book to prepare for your

interview

This book can help you prepare as quickly as possible to give you the
best chance of passing your interview.

Chances are if you’re reading this book, you don’t have a lot of time.

The last thing you want is more work to do.

You want to start preparing your scripts NOW, and start practising.

Look. A coloured box…

Throughout this book you will see pretty coloured boxes. Besides being
pretty, they are also useful. Here is what they mean.

Blue boxes are TIPS, they are useful. You should read them

Green boxes are worksheets you can download. Click on the

DOWNLOAD button to get the worksheet.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How to download the worksheets

Step 1

Open up the worksheet and click onto the file button in the top left
corner.

Step 2

If you want to download the worksheet as a word document, click on the

‘download' button in the file menu and then click on ‘microsoft word’ this
will then download the worksheet onto your device so you can use it.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Step 3

If you want to use the worksheet as a google docs you need to click onto
‘Make a Copy’ button on the file menu

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Step 4

You then need to rename the document. We would suggest renaming it

the title of the worksheet so you don’t forget what it is

Step 5

The google document will then open on your device and you will be able
to access and edit the document so you can fill in the answer boxes for
yourself.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Where did you get your answers from…

All the answers in this book come from clients who successfully
passed their interviews. These are winning answers.

Sometimes you will see identifying names and events changed to things
like ABC, DEF, GHI, JKL or just XXX.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How are we qualified to give you advice on

interviews?

Since 2013 I have personally coached over 900 students and

professionals into jobs of the world’s biggest companies like:

I have:

● Provided interview coaching since 2013.

● Helped prepare clients for over 2,000 interviews.
● Delivered around 8,000+ hours of 1 to 1 interview coaching.
● Made the Job Ready English “Pass The Interview” Series which
has been watched over 700,000 times on Youtube.
● Produced interview courses on Podia, Udemy and Skillshare which
have been taken by 5,311 students as of April 2022.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

This book contains the best lessons and step by step instructions
that I have to share to help you pass your next interview.

Which has helped hundreds of students and professionals get jobs.

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28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How this book works

We cover everything you need to know and do, from getting the
interview to passing it.

Here’s the stages you’re going to go through when you get an interview.

You wonder what questions they are going to ask you

⬇️
You research the questions

⬇️
You prepare scripts for the “WHY?” questions

⬇️
You prepare your STAR stories

⬇️
Match your stories to competency questions

⬇️
You practise

⬇️
You crush your next interview

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

When we talk about interviews, this is what we

mean…

This book will help for 90%+ of regular interviews that include
motivational and competency style questions.

We’ll also help you to research what other questions don’t get asked.

This book isn’t designed to help for interviews with:

● Brainteasers.
● Technical Questions.
● Strength Based Questions.
● Situational Judgement Test Questions.
● Consulting Style Case Study Questions.

Need more interview resources, help and courses?

Check out our 50+ online courses by clicking here.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

When you get an interview: How much time

should I spend doing what?

Tech Republic reported that 86% of 1st round interviews for top
companies are by video.

The average time to prepare and submit for your interview is 5

days. This isn’t a lot of time in between studies, work, family, friends and
God forbid an actual social life.

There are only three things you need to do:

1. Research the questions.

2. Prepare your scripts.
3. Practise your answers.

For best performance you want to split your time like this:

● Research (10%)
● Scripts (40%)
● Practise (50%)

Let me explain.

Most people will spend 70-80% of their time researching the questions
and writing their scripts.

Then the day before, or the day of the interview they have a mad dash to
remember 30 pages worth of scripts, and feel their brain melt.

This is wrong.

It all boils down to this.

What do you do most during an interview?

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Speaking.

So, you can imagine how researching and writing scripts doesn’t really
help as much as practising would.

You want to practise speaking your answers out loud as much as

possible.

Ideally.

If you had 5 days to prepare.

● Day 1 and 2 are spent researching and getting your scripts done.
● Days 3 to 5 you will be practising your answers as you move from
a full script you read out loud to bullet points and maybe even no
script at all (more on this later)

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

What questions are they going to ask me?

You thought as soon as you got an interview.

Then, imagine the thousand of questions you could get asked.

And then, obsess about getting asked the ONE QUESTION that you
didn’t prepare for.

Cue, spending hours online and writing scripts for every question you
can find on the internet.

This is wrong.

Here’s why…

You WILL get asked a question that you didn’t prepare for.

You can’t stop that.

Questions change all the time, and your research is only as good as
your sources.

And your sources are random people on the internet.

There is a better way.

Where it doesn’t actually matter what questions you get asked.

Is there a smooth way to do this that isn’t boring?

Yes.

By preparing STAR stories and answers to the 28 Most Common

Questions, you will always have something to say whatever the
question.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

You’re going to build a reserve of stories based on your experience that

you can use to answer most questions.

90% of interview questions will be a mixture of motivational (Why

you? Why this role? Why this company?) and competency questions
(Tell me a time when you worked in a team/ lead a team/ resolved a
conflict and so on)

The other 10% you can find in your research.

So, the majority of your preparation for ALL your interviews boils down to
28 questions.

We’ve seen this work with clients time and time again, and it means you
just do the work and the research once, and then every interview after
you have 80% of your preparation done.

You could prepare for more questions.

But, it won’t make much more difference than just preparing for these 28
questions (plus the 10% of weird and wonderful technical, strength,
situational judgement and other questions you come across in your
research)

This book is a manual with:

● Step by step instructions.

● Understanding why you’re being asked each question.
● Sample answers for each question to see what a good answer
looks like.
● A worksheet you can fill in (just click the link and download the
worksheet) for every question and your STAR stories so you never
have to worry about being asked a question you don’t know.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How do you research what questions you

might get asked: Finding the most asked
questions and the 10% you’ve never seen

We are constantly looking for the most common questions that our
clients might get asked at any job interview they have coming up.

The best way to do this is to search for people's experiences of recent

interviews with that company.

We use a website called Glassdoor to do this regularly.

Here is a 5 Step guide to research common questions for most

companies (for smaller companies you will need to rely on the 28
Questions alone, as they may have no other candidates who have
written about them on Glassdoor)

Step One

Go to Glassdoor and search the name of the company you have a job
interview for in the search bar. Make sure you click on companies in the
drop down bar and put in your location.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Step Two

You are then going to be shown a list of the companies. Click onto the
correct company you have the job interview for.

Step Three

Once you have gone onto the company's profile on Glassdoor, you will
want to click on the interview section.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Step Four

You will be sent to the page where other people have written about their
experiences of their interviews.

You will want to search for interviews in your country (for example-
England) and then you are going to want to sort the experiences by the
most recent.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Step Five

Read through the experiences so you can find out more about the
interview process and learn what interview questions they got asked.

Make note of these questions in a document and then these are the
questions you can practice for.

We tend to mark questions that have been asked multiple times with an
“X”

By the end of the process you will have 2 lists of questions.

List 1: Common questions (these have more than one X) which have
been asked numerous times and are therefore more likely to come up

List 2: Questions that have been asked once

TIP: Only read interview experiences from the last 6 months as often
companies will change how they do interviews each year so you don’t
want to prepare for old questions you are not likely to be asked.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

FAQ

What if there are no questions/ the companies too small?

Rely on the 28 questions.

Chances are pretty good that the interview will be a mixture of

motivational + competency questions.

What if there are loads of questions?

Concentrate on the 10 questions that repeat the most.

Why only prepare for 10 questions?

Most interviews are 6 - 8 questions long.

You’re unlikely to get asked more than 10 questions and you can use
your STAR stories to fill in the answers for any questions that you don’t
know.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

We Need Answers for these Questions: Writing

Interview Answers and Scripts

Now you have a list of questions.

You need to write some great answers.

Let’s talk about how to write great scripts.

This includes:

➔ How long the answers in the scripts should be.

➔ How long you should talk for.
➔ What to include.

How long should the answers in scripts be?

100 words a minute.

If you have to answer for 3 minutes, your script should be 300 words.

2 minutes, 200 words.

You get the idea.

Why 100 words?

I’ve listened to, timed and measured speaking speeds for hundreds of
clients and I found that 100-125 words in a minute is the sweet spot
for speaking pace.

Less than 100 words and it’s a bit slow.

More than 125 words and you start to:

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

● Rush.
● Gasp for air.
● Swallow a lot.
● Get a dry mouth.
● Fall over your words.
● Leave no pauses in between sentences.

Speaking slower than 100 words is fine. You might just talk slowly, but
you’ll be easy to understand.

Speaking faster than 125 words is not. People will struggle to

understand you, and you will probably end up making more mistakes.

TIP: We tend to find a good sweet spot for script length is 150-200
words

How long should you speak for?

You should speak for around 1 minute 50 seconds or less.

Let me explain.

Most interview questions give you 2 minutes to answer.

Sometimes you get 90 seconds, and even rarer still 2.5, 3 minutes or
more to answer

That's why we suggest you stick to 200 words per answer.

Some interviews may give you more time, some less. We find 2
minutes tends to work for most companies.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

TIP: You always want to run under time by at least 10 seconds. That’s
why we said 1 minute 50 seconds or less and not the full 2 minutes.

Plus it’s ok to not talk for the full time. Video interview software
will just cut out the silence.

What to include in your scripts

You want to make sure you are using strong examples when writing your
scripts.

You don’t want to be talking about how you helped a family member out.
It is good to have a bunch of stories which reflect on your experiences to
refer to when writing scripts.

We call these STAR stories.

Most of your questions will be competency based (also known as

behavioural questions) for these we would use the STAR technique,
which we talk about later.

In our experience, the vast majority of interviews (80%+) will JUST be

competency and motivation questions.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

What are Motivational and Competency

Questions REALLY?!

What are Motivation Questions?

(Definition) Motivation: A reason or reasons for acting or behaving

in a way.

Example: I am motivated to eat cake , because it tastes so damn

good. To hell with the calories.

When we answer motivation questions, we give CLEAR reasons for why

we want to do this job, work at this company, and why we think we are
the right person to do that.

Remember, you are one of hundreds of applicants, so you need to

clearly set yourself apart from your competition to get noticed.

You will ALWAYS be asked motivational questions in an interview as this

is a way for the interviewer to assess:

● Why do you feel you are the right person for the job?
● Why do you want to work at the company?
● Why do you want to work in that job?

Basically, have you bothered to do any research at all, before coming to

the interview. Or did you just end up with an interview by accident (and
have no idea what you’re doing)

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

What are Competency Questions?

(Definition) Competence: The ability to do something successfully

or efficiently.

You can expect to come across competency questions in almost ALL

your interviews.

Competency-based interviews (also known as structured, behavioural, or

situational interviews) are designed to test one or more skills or
competencies.

The interviewer has a list of set questions (each focusing on a specific

skill), and your answers will be compared to the skills that they want for
the job.

Employers wants someone with teamwork skills

⬇️
They ask you “Tell me about a time you worked in a team?”

They want real life examples where you have used that skill or
competence in the past.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Key competencies (skills) regularly sought after by

employers include:

➔ Flexibility
➔ Teamwork
➔ Leadership
➔ Adaptability
➔ Organisation
➔ Decisiveness
➔ Independence
➔ Communication
➔ Problem Solving
➔ Conflict Resolution
➔ Commercial Awareness

Competency questions normally start like this:

● Tell me about a time…

● When have you…

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

The STAR Technique

The STAR technique is the best way to answer competency interview

questions and is the style we teach our clients to use.

We answer questions by giving a specific Situation, Task, Action, and

Result of the situation you are describing.

Describe the Situation and when it took place

Explain the Task and what were you doing

Give details about the Action you took to get a result

What Result did you get?

Here’s an example of the STAR technique in action:

Question

Describe a situation where you worked as part of a team - Teamwork

Situation (10%)

During my postgraduate studies at Dundee University, I was put into a

team of four for our asset management module

Task (15%)

Between us we had to choose a company and carry out a financial

analysis using Excel, and then present the Strengths and Weaknesses
of that company. As well as using a mathematical model to show
whether we believed it would be a good investment or not. We chose
Apple.

Action (70%)

As I didn’t have a background in Finance, and had only just started my

studies, I deferred the leadership to one of my classmates. While they

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

discussed giving out tasks, I suggested we should each do something

which plays to our strengths. Two of our team would carry out a
financial analysis of Apple. 1 would create the model based on the
analysis. Then I would put the presentation together in PowerPoint
and lead the presentation. We have a heavy workload and several
times we were falling behind, so I would call each member and see if
they needed help or if there was anything I could do. I helped to
coordinate communication and resolve any differences between the
team.

Result (5%)

Our presentation went well, and we received a high grade from our tutor
who was impressed with the depth of our analysis

Notice two things.

First,the items in bold for the ACTION, are things we would say to
show that we are good at teamwork:

1. We should each do something which plays to our strengths

(Knowing yourself)
2. Put the presentation together in PowerPoint and lead the
presentation (Doing your work to help the team)
3. Call each member (Communication)
4. See if they needed help (Being helpful)
5. To coordinate communication and resolve any differences
(Conflict resolution)

We’ll do this for every competency question.

It’s actually pretty easy.

We list ideas for the skills that you need to include in the worksheet for
each question.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Second, the percentages.

We love systems. Breaking down STAR into numbers makes it really

easy to write out your answer:

● Situation (10%) = Where were you and when was this

● Task (15%) = What were you asked to do
● Action (70%) = What did you do (This is the MOST IMPORTANT
part)
● Result (5%) = What happened/ What did you achieve?

These are rough percentages.

The big idea is that the majority of your answer is based around
your ACTIONS.

Save hours of writing scripts with STAR Stories

STAR stories are our secret weapon that we have used with hundreds of
clients over thousands of interviews.

They tap into our basic nature of wanting to, and enjoying listening to
stories.

We can use stories in interviews.

By selectively choosing stories that make us look good, we can reuse

them over and over for different questions.

Here’s an example from one of our clients of the 4 STAR stories he

picked (the competency questions/skills he could answer are in
brackets) :

● German presentation (creativity, thinking differently,

influence/motivate, showing initiative, new and innovate, failed to
hit a deadline)
● Jam company (motivation, determination)
● Trading (preparation, multitasking, combating rushing

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

weakness, stressful situation, managing time)

● Economics presentation (management, conflict resolution,
overcame problem, influence/motivate, leadership, difficult
problem)

He has 4 stories that he can use to answer questions for 19

different skills.

This means that we only have to prepare 5-6 stories, rather than 10+,20
or more different answers to questions.

STAR stories are awesome because you have so much less to

remember and end up talking about examples you would use anyway to
make yourself look good.

If you get a question that doesn’t have a suitable story. Write a new
one. But of course not all stories are appropriate for interviews. So
how do we choose what stories to tell?

Read on.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How to pick your STAR Stories

Picking your STAR stories are going to form the basis of your interview
answers.

Here are some tips for finding the best examples for your STAR stories:

● The best examples are from work, and the worst are from your
personal life. Why? Because you are interviewing for a job, not
telling a story at a house part. So there is an order in terms of
where your stories should come from, as seen below:

● Start with the stories that put you in the best light. The kind of
things you’d love telling your friends and family about.
● All your examples should have positive results.
● Choose 5-6 examples which you can clearly explain. Pick
examples you feel confident and happy talking about i.e. If you are
not comfortable talking about work, then talk about volunteering.
● Once finished, pick one negative example. You may get asked
a question, which is based around you making a mistake, missing
a deadline or having to change what you did. Choose an example

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

where this has happened and then you put in the right course of
action to correct that mistake. For example, perhaps you missed a
deadline for a piece of coursework, and then next time you got
more organised, drank less (ish) and actually scheduled time to
study and ended up doing really well on the next piece of work.

WORKSHEET: Download your worksheet by clicking

HERE

That's enough explaining.

The rest of this book contains worksheets, sample answers and

systematic instructions for writing your scripts in the fastest time possible
for the 28 most common interview questions.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

The 28 Questions

1. Introduce Yourself
2. Why this Company?
3. Why this Role?
4. Why You?
5. Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict?
6. Describe a situation where you worked as a team?
7. Describe a situation in which you influenced or motivated people?
8. Describe a time when you led a team?
9. Tell me about a time when you creatively solved a problem?
10. What has been your greatest achievement?
11. What do you expect to be doing in five years?
12. What are your strengths?
13. What are your weaknesses?
14. How would you describe yourself?
15. What makes you the right person for this job?
16. Give me an example of a time when you failed to hit a
deadline?
17. Tell me about a time when you built up a relationship with
someone?
18. Tell me about a time you had to deal with multiple tasks?
19. Tell me about yourself?
20. Tell me about a time you had to handle a stressful or
pressurised situation?
21. Describe a difficult problem you had to overcome?
22. Give me an example of a time you showed initiative?
23. Tell me about a time you solved a problem in a new or
innovative way?
24. Give me an example of when you had to manage your time and
prioritise tasks?
25. What do you think you need to be to be successful in this job?
26. What was your biggest setback?
27. Why did you choose your university and what factors influenced
your decision?
28. Why did you choose your degree subject?

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

How to prepare your scripts for the 28 Most

Common Questions in the minimum time.

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE. Have you picked your STAR stories? If not,
go back and do that. This is going to make your life soooo much easier.

You don’t need to answer ALL of these questions. Be selective

based on the time that you have.

We STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you DO ANSWER questions 1-4.

These are the motivational questions that will come OVER and OVER
again (the exception is Question 2: Why this company? , there is no
need to answer this if you don’t have a company interview you are
waiting for)

Pick and choose from the other 24 questions. Which are all
structured like this:

● Variations of the question. Other ways this question could get

asked
● Why am I being asked this? Understand the reason behind the
question
● What is the interviewer actually asking? Understand the
common sense behind the question
● What’s the best way to answer this? The skills and the method
we would suggest you use
● 3 Example Answers. Examples you can use to model your
answer (Don’t just be lazy and copy them)

The Outcome?

You should have a story and an understanding of how to answer any of

these questions.

You’ll be prepared for 90% of the questions you’re to get asked in any
interview that is mainly motivational and competency based.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

1. Personal Introduction

Variations of this question

● Tell me about yourself?

● Can you tell me a bit about yourself please

What is it?

A good personal introduction sets the stage for your whole interview.

This will probably be the first question you get asked in most interviews,
as the interviewer wants to hear about you in your own words, rather
than just off of a CV.

It’s really a chance to sell yourself in 2 minutes or less and make a great
first impression.

What should it contain?

1. Introduction
2. Academic background
3. What job you want and why
4. Work experience/ Volunteering/ Clubs
5. Interests and Hobbies

What is the interviewer asking?

This is an opportunity for the employer to find out more about you. They
will be looking for how confident you are and what experience you have.
This is where the interviewer will start to form an opinion on you so you
need to make a good impression.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

We always get new clients to prepare a personal introduction first.

It’s the quickest way to learn how to sell yourself and run through your
experience and skills.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

1. Name and what you are doing currently

Hi, my name is Susan, and I am currently studying a postgraduate

degree in Biochemistry at Dundee University

2. Quick blurb about your background.

I'm originally from China and studied Chemistry at Nanjing University

where I finished 3rd in my class. I won several scholarships for my
academic results

3. What do you want to do next? Why?

I’m keen to work in a Pharmaceutical company like GSK, because I want

to be at the cutting edge of research and develop my skills for designing
and testing new drugs. Plus, I think drug design is a great way to help so
many people improve their health.

4. Work Experience? Clubs and Societies?

I interned at two large Chinese drug manufacturers, though mainly

working in Sales and Marketing to help companies’ brands and sell their
products straight to market. This was a great opportunity for me to learn
how big pharma works and talk directly with clients. Also, I learnt how to
work and communicate as a member of a large team. During my time in
China I was part of our local dance team, we won several awards in
competition at our school.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

5. Anything else? Interests/Hobbies

I have played badminton since I was a young girl. I enjoy the exercise
and the adrenaline, as well as the competitive nature of the sport. I feel
regular exercise helps me to stay focused on my studies. I also play the
guzheng which is an ancient Chinese plucking instrument. I am a Grade
8.

Example 2

1. Name and what you are doing currently

Hi, my name is Joe. I am currently a student at Oxford Brookes

University. I am studying a MSc in Psychology.

2. Quick blurb about your background.

I come from Germany, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in

Science and got a 2:1. I also have a master’s degree in marketing
management and a master's degree in Finance.

3. What do you want to do next? Why?

I would like to work in a consulting firm like Deloitte because I feel

motivated to be part of the change and help businesses make a positive
impact in the environment while being profitable. Furthermore, I will
assist in developing more sustainable business strategies that will not
only help clients, but also future generations.

4. Work Experience? Clubs and Societies?

I have more than 6 years of experience in marketing and consulting. I

started my own business in Germany, I developed the brand identity of
the business and conducted marketing campaigns to promote my
product. I secured many sales through social media campaigns. This

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was a great opportunity for me to provide an exclusive product that

people identified with, and also helped me develop my leadership skills.

5. Anything else? Interests/Hobbies.

I am in the local Gymnastics team and enjoy running. Exercise improves

my energy levels, and helps me to stay focused. I also have a passion
for photography, I particularly like taking photos of nature around the
world.

Example 3

1. Name and what you are doing currently

Hi I am George and I am currently studying my BSc IT with Business at

Canterbury Christchurch University.

2. Quick blurb about your background.

I am originally from India where i grew up and completed an

apprenticeship with a local ICT firm

3. What do you want to do next? Why?

I would love to work in BT’s ICT apartment as they are the biggest
internet provider in the UK with around 9.2 million customers. I want to
have the opportunity to learn new skills to help me excel in my career
and BT will offer me this opportunity with the opportunities to work with
specialists in different departments.

4. Work Experience? Clubs and Societies?

When I was in India I completed an apprenticeship in ICT with a local

technology company. During this time I learnt how to help customers
with different queries and worked with a small team to keep large Indian

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

companies running. I am currently the society leader of my Universities

coding club and I am also a member of the ICT and Business society.

5. Anything else? Interests/Hobbies.

I have a big interest in sports and I am currently part of the university's

football team. In my spare time I like to build PC’s for friends and I also
am a big film lover.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

FAQ

● What if I don’t have any work experience?

No problem, friend.

Just write about your other experience.

You’ve got no experience? Time to go and get some. Volunteer. Join a

club. Get out of your bedroom…

● What if I don’t know what company and role I want to do?

Then just leave this off :)

2. Why This Company?

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Variations of this question

● Why do you want to work for us?

● Why would you choose us over our competitors?

Why am I being asked this?

The company doesn't want to be employing people who have no interest

in the company or the job role.

This is the company's way to find out how much you have researched
into the company and if you actually care about where you are going to
work.

What is the interviewer actually asking?

Loads of people will have applied to the company. But honestly very few
will really know about the company and what it does.

Let’s say you work for Sony, you want anyone that applies to have spent
at least a little time learning about the company and what they do.

Most candidates will give vague and general answers about the
company like “it’s big and famous” or “ they have lots of opportunities”

Let’s be honest, we’ve all applied for tonnes of jobs in a day, got an
interview and literally had no idea who that company is.

What’s the best way to answer this?

You want to be the person that has spent a bit of time. No more than 15
minutes realistically just learning some unique facts about the company.

So, you can clearly show that you care enough to do your homework.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Choose 2-6 unique facts about that company.

Or as few/many facts to make the time limit above.

Here’s some ideas for the types of facts you can use.

Types of Facts

● Financials: Profit, Loss, Revenue, %age up/down vs last year,

Buying other companies, selling parts of the business, certain
divisions that did better than others
● Clients: Famous clients
● Key events: Products, Projects, Policies,
● Awards: Industry, Community, In the UK or abroad
● Unique Language: Google, Facebook, Apple, Core Values,
Ideals, Mission Statement
● White Papers: Research, Being cited in the news, Consulting
Papers
● History: What are they famous for?
● Industry News: Innovations, projects and ideas that have shaped
the industry

TIP

Pick facts that mean something to you

E.g. Accenture’s 2050 goal to have 0 carbon emissions really

resonated with me because I am passionate about the environment.

Otherwise you’ll just end up with a load of facts that sounds like a
shopping list.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

FAQ

● I can’t find any facts about the company?

Really?

On the WHOLE of Google… you can’t find ANYTHING about the

company.

Sure. Check the “Google News” tab. Read their about page their blogs
and news. Look for other mentions of the company in Google search.
Check their social media.

Our experience is that even the smallest company has some sort of
digital footprint.

● Are some facts better than others?

Not really. Personally, we prefer different types of facts, and also try to
choose some facts that mean something to you. Like the environment, or
charities or the fact that they save polar bears (which would be
awesome)

That way you can relate the fact to your feelings or something which is
meaningful to you. Plus, it makes your answer a bit more interesting,
rather than just reading out a shopping list of facts.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

For over 30 years, Capita has provided innovative technology solutions

to various clients from the government to businesses. From the start,

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Capita is driven by the core values of being open and ingenious, making
it a market leader with a market capitalization of over £600m and £4
billion annual revenue. The scale of the business is impressive, with
more than 60,000 employees and operations around the world. At
Capita, I would have the chance to work on a wide range of exciting
projects.

Example 2

EDF Energy is one of the largest and crucial integrated energy

companies in the UK, offering electric power and energy cost-saving
solutions to clients in renewable and innovative ways. Since EDF Energy
was founded in 2002, it focuses on creating a cleaner, low-carbon future.
EDF Energy has been successful, including nuclear power plant builds
with China General Nuclear Corporation and plans to double its
renewables capacity in the next decade. Besides, EDF came second out
of 40 energy companies when ranked for customer service by the
Citizens Advice Bureau (July-September 2019), and its Trustpilot score
is 4.3/5.

Example 3

Sage is the UK's second largest technology company. It is also the

world's third-largest supplier of enterprise resource planning software
and has 6.1 million customers worldwide. It has its Presence in Over 20
countries with sustainable jobs for over 11,000 colleagues. Moreover, it's
Listed in FTSE100 at London Stock Exchange and pays a dividend of
186m in the year 2020. Sage has commendable values which I
absolutely believe in. I am eager to be a part of Sage because since the
impact of Covid-19, Sage is accelerating the shift to the cloud and is well
positioned to capture these future growth opportunities. As result in 2020
subscription revenues grew by 21% to almost £1.14bn. Sage has also
launched two new innovations of AutoEntry and CakeHR. Its strategic
plan is really where I can contribute and I am excited to be part of. I am
very intrigued about sage investing itself in innovation and has created

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Sage AI Labs, a focused AI/ML development team. Above all Sage has
been named as the UKs best place to work in the year 2022.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

3. Why this role?

Variations of this question

● What attracted you to this role?

● Why did this role stand out to you?

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Why am I being asked this?

Have done your homework and researched the role?

Make sure you find out as much as possible about the role by:

● Reading the job description

● Seeing what skills are needed
● Research into people’s past experiences of the role

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is where you need to impress the interviewer to show you are
different to the 100’s of other candidates.

Basically, are you just here by chance, or do you actually want to do this
job and know what you will be doing.

The interviewer will want to see that you have read and understood the
job description so make sure you have.

So we need to understand the job description by:

1. Copy and pasting your job description into a document

2. Highlighting 2 key areas

a) Responsibilities - What you will do
b) Skills - The abilities you need to do those responsibilities

3. Picking 2-3 responsibilities and 2-3 skills that you feel

confident about talking about in your answer. Either because
you know what they are, or you think you can easily talk about
them. You can choose more or less depending on how long you
have to answer this question.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

4. Explaining what you would do in the job role (responsibilities)

and how you would do it (skills) and, where possible, why you can
do that (Provide proof - "I can be an astronaut here because I
went to the moon.")

What’s the best way to answer this?

Think of this question in 2 parts.

● Part 1 "What will you do?"

● Part 2 "Why would you be good at doing that?"

Preparing your answer for these 2 parts goes like this:

1. What would you do? You can find this out from the job
description. It will list some of your responsibilities so all you need
to do is pull them out and reuse them in your answer. If the job
description for the role you are applying for is not very detailed.
Then Google the job role and find a job description for the same
role at another company that provides more information.

2. Why are you good at it? This is where you list the skills you think
you will need for the role. If you are struggling to think of skills type
in the job role on the website https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ , then
it will come up with a list of skills that are needed for this role.

TIP

Remember you want to stand out so make sure you give examples of
how you could use these skills in the role because you don’t want to be
boring and just list the skills….. That's what everyone else will do

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Steps to finding information from a job description

● Step 1: Find the job you have applied for and either download or
search for the job description.
● Step 2: Read through the job description thoroughly.
● Step 3: Find the section which explains the roles and
responsibilities you will be doing.
● Step 4: Take this list and use it to start forming your answer.

Example

This is from a live job at Legal & General

Some examples of day to day activities could include:

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Steps to the list of skills you want to include in your answer:

● Step 1: Go to https://www.prospects.ac.uk/
● Step 2: In the search bar type in the job role.
● Step 3: Select the correct profile
● Step 4: Find the skills section on the page and copy the list

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Step 5: Include some of these skills in your answer but remember to

include examples of when you have used these skills before.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Working in Operations, I would focus on a function, such as clearing or

settling transactions, managing documentation, customer service,
compliance, accounting and potentially risk management. I could be
responsible for working on initiatives to enhance settlement processes or
ensuring that the information in an organisation's profit and loss (P&L)
accounts is correct or that risks are being reported accurately. More
importantly, I will have the chance to work in several different areas of
operations, through which I can get a fantastic amount of exposure and
variation. This will allow me to understand various types of work
available, e.g., process-driven or project management roles.

Example 2

I am interested in healthcare technology, which plays an increasingly

significant part in our society. Healthcare technologies simplify the
experiences of patients and enhance the work efficiency of healthcare
providers. After completing the due diligence for pharmaceutical
companies during a banking internship, I realised the importance of
improving data accessibility in the healthcare industry. COVID-19 has
revealed the pressure NHS faces, and the situation is more serious in
developing countries like China, where hospitals are already overloaded.
The ABC programme attracts me with opportunities to use technology to
improve efficiency in the healthcare industry, alleviate resource
shortfalls, and build on expertise in the healthcare technology sector.

Example 3

I am highly interested in the e-commerce market, which plays an

increasingly significant part in our economy. While physical retail stores
have been declining, e-commerce companies are transforming
consumers' shopping and living styles worldwide. The fast growth and
globalisation of e-commerce businesses bring various risks from a
logistic and privacy perspective. These challenges make operation
planning more significant and exciting in this industry. The data analyst
programme at ABC is attractive, with opportunities to learn from an
e-commerce leader, gain valuable insights in global distribution, build on

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

ABC's data analysis expertise and use that data to inform business
decisions.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

4. Why you?

Variations of this question

● Why should we choose you?

● Why are you the best candidate for this role?

Why am I being asked this?

Basically, what skills and experience make you different from everyone
else?

The answer to this can be very similar to Question 3: Why do you want
to do this job?

What is the interviewer asking?

The interviewer wants to know why you are right for the role which
means…… IT'S TIME TO BRAG

That's right this is where you want to talk about what you can bring to the
role and why you would be great for the company.

This is also your chance to talk about any extra special things you might
have achieved you need to impress the interviewer.

Use some more of the skills you found when researching the job role
and make sure to include examples. It's your time to shine.

What’s the best way to answer this?

Take the skills and then give brief examples…

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Skill What’s a brief example

Communication In my last role when I worked as
part of a team I took the time to
communicate with every team
member to make sure they knew
what to do.

Organisation To make sure I am organised and

get everything completed, I like to
make lists. When I was working
on a big project I wrote down all
the tasks that needed to be
completed with the deadlines and
then created a schedule that I
could follow.

Conflict Resolution When I was at university there

was a group project that needed
to be completed. Two of my
teammates didn’t get along. I
suggested that we all went for
lunch so they could discuss their
differences and so that we can
work effectively to complete the
project.

Problem Solving In my previous role we had a big

struggle with storing all our stock.
I decided to create a plan for our
storage area so that we could fit
all the stock in and get to
everything we needed.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

3 Example Answers

Example 1

With three years' working experience in accounting covering accounts

payable and accounts receivable and four years' experience at ABC as
an XYZ, I have excellent attention to details, great experience with
dealing with corporate clients, and can work to tight deadlines and
submit exceptional work while working on multiple projects with different
teams. My work experience means I have great communication skills,
both written and verbally, and can think critically to find the right
answers. Plus, I am highly proficient in Microsoft Excel, SAP, and Oracle
Financials, which I used for several years in my previous roles.

Example 2

I am confident that my strengths in quantitative analysis and my

experiences in strategy development make me the right candidate for
this position. At ABC, I studied millions of data points on the XYZ
automobile market using data mining and econometric tools. Based on
my findings, I proposed effective business strategies to shift the target
client group to younger car owners. Last year at DEF, I developed
proficiency with combining market research and client fundamentals to
create optimal development strategies for clients. On top of these, my
study and internship experiences in both GHI and JKL familiarised me
with both business environments. These transferable skills will enable
me to fit into the international, challenging, and innovative working
environment at MNO.

Example 3

I am applying for the ABC placement as my major is DEF which perfectly

fits the vacancy. I am also studying GHI and JKL, which helped build my
commercial awareness and customer insights to match the placement.
Additionally, the group work in my market research and digital marketing

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

modules enabled my teamwork and relevant marketing techniques such

as comScore. I am a self-disciplined, and multitasking person, as the
situation always requires. For example, I had to study, lead my society,
and apply for my placement at the same time. Meanwhile, different types
of deadlines like essays, presentations and exams strengthened my
ability. Outside my school life, I love travelling, cooking, and exercising,
and most of all, I am passionate about marketing and reading and
learning all I can.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

5. Tell me about a time when you resolved a conflict?

Variations of this question

● How do you deal with conflict?

● Have you ever dealt with a conflict at work?
● Explain a time you handled disagreements when working in a
team?

Why am I being asked this?

Let's be honest we have all been in an argument or conflict before. But

this question is looking at how you solved it (peacefully, we hope…)

What is the interviewer actually asking?

The likelihood is you will be working on a project with other team

members and there will be disagreements as people will have different
opinions and personalities.

The interviewer wants to know how you would deal with this.

After all, they don’t want to employ someone who will make the conflict
worse.

Or Hulk smashes someone in the face…

What’s the best way to answer this?

Try to use these skills, as that’s what the interviewer will be looking for:

● Empathy. I sat and listened to both sides of the disagreement and

emphasised with all people involved.
● Patience. I was patient with the process of asking the people in
the disagreement to work things out with each other.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

● Negotiation. I helped the two partners to negotiate terms for a

joint contract.
● Communication. I communicated with everyone involved so
nobody missed any important information.
● Resolution. We were able to solve the conflict so we could finish
what we had started.

3 Example Answers:

Example 1

Situation: In 2017 I was a Senior Business Development Manager at a

multinational company.
Task: There were two franchise partners who were having a conflict over
the rights to sell our product to an academic institution which was
located between their locations. As part of my role I was tasked with
resolving their conflict. My job was to give them insight and make them
do business together rather than fighting one another.
Action: Firstly, to get them both more comfortable I set up a meeting at
a casual location. Then made a point of letting them know that the
conflict was creating a negative impression of the company with existing
clients and losing us business.
Also if the conflict could not be resolved then the academic institution
would be handled directly by our corporate office or outsourced
elsewhere.
During the meeting I made a point of getting them to understand how
helping each other with a joint agreement would benefit them both.
They both had different problems and skill sets. Partner A was struggling
to find good teachers for their most popular courses and Partner B was
great at attracting teachers, but being new they had very few clients,
funds or basic business knowledge. In the end I got them to sign a joint
contract to share this business.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Result: As a result both partners agreed and between them grew their
businesses by 35%, plus with a better relationship they worked together
more closely on other projects and helped each other win business.

Example 2

Situation: While doing my master’s degree, I was put into a group of

four for one of my modules.

Task: For the task we were required to undertake an industry analysis

and present the findings via a group presentation. As a team we had to
conduct a PESTEL analysis and describe the main contemporary
marketing issues currently facing in the chosen industry. I realised one of
the team members wasn’t very happy about my other classmate, but I
didn’t know exactly why.

Action: As I knew we had to work together to get a high mark, I decided

to ask my team mate why she was so upset. She mentioned she had
worked with this person in a different module, and he hadn't done his
part in the project. I suggested we should divide the tasks, so everyone
is sure what we are supposed to do. I asked everybody for their part
after a couple of days and helped prepare the final presentation. To
practice for the presentation, I contacted every team member and kindly
asked them to put their feelings behind and try to work together as a
team.

Result: Our presentation and final report went well, our tutor was very
happy with the creativity of our presentation.

Example 3

Situation: In my previous job, my team got into a discussion about the

quarterly budgets that needed to be allocated.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Task: An argument started about which department should receive what

part of the budget.

Action: During the meeting, I saw the team split up in two sides. Both
sides thought they were right and tried to convince the other side of their
choices. In my experience, conflicts usually arise due to differences in
priorities, whether it be internal or external.

It was my responsibility to prevent this minor conflict from escalating into

a large one. As it often goes, the way things were said influenced the
discussion negatively, and the substantiation of priorities was not clear to
the other side. Both sides of the team made assumptions of why the
other side felt a certain way. I mediated the conflict to understand their
differences by asking specific questions to both sides to get a feeling of
where their train of thought came from.

Result: Within 15 minutes, both sides were able to remove a large part
of the tension and started working on a constructive solution because
they understood each other’s logic behind their choices.’

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

6. Describe a situation where you worked as part of a team

Variations of this question

● What makes a good team?

● What skills would you bring to the team?
● Tell us about a time you showed strong teamwork skills

Why am I being asked this?

Almost every job you go for is going to involve working with other people.

People you may or may not get on with.

Showing that you are good at teamwork is crucial to demonstrate to an

employer that you don’t just have the potential to be good for the
company and the job but also you’re going to be able to play nice with
the people around you.

What is the interviewer actually asking?

The interviewer will want to employ someone who can work well in a
team as this will be a major part of the role.

So you need to show that you can be great in a team, give an example
of when you’ve done it before.

You don’t want to be that grumpy person who nobody likes being in a
team with!

What’s the best way to answer this?

Here’s a big list of skills which make up good teamwork.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

You don’t need to include them all, but 3 or 4 will make for a great
answer.

● Organising and Planning Skills. Being organised is essential to

getting tasks done. This also means that you can balance your
workload, say no if you need to and meet multiple deadlines.
● Decision Making. Being able to make decisions means you can
move forward. This can also mean getting all the information that
you need and asking for help when needed.
● Problem-Solving. Task-focused people are often great at
problem-solving, especially if the problem relates to the task. This
could be using innovative ideas to solve problems.
● Communication Skills. Working hard to ensure that the group
communicates well, helping to make sure that there are no
misunderstandings or unexpressed difficulties between team
members. Or 3 people working on the same thing.
● Feedback Skills. Giving and receiving feedback well is essential
in any team-working situation. Being able to give clear and
effective feedback to others is vital to keep the group process
running effectively, and to plan.
● Conflict resolution. You must recognise that there may be
situations when you need to deal with difficult people or situations,
or even resolve a conflict.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: In 2017, I worked as an Operations Manager at a food

processing factory in Indonesia. My manager asked that I assemble a
team to identify how we could cut costs in the factory.

Task: There were a limited number of ways to cut costs. Reduce the
quality or price of the raw materials. Reduce the number of staff or look

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

at automation. Or increase the number of goods we sell, allowing us to

order larger quantities of packaging.

Action: I knew I needed help, so I assembled a team of 4, including

myself. Which were the production manager, our food scientist, and the
head of buying. In our first meeting, I asked for their thoughts. There
were lots of heated discussions, so I told them to prepare a report of
their savings proposals and come back in 3 days. I spent that time
speaking to as many workers as I could and getting their
opinions. As well as asking IT for an explanation of our rising costs. I
also was careful to assure the staff that no one's job was at risk.
Our food scientist called late one night, worried that he wouldn't finish in
time. I reassured him on the phone and said I would help in any way I
could. Each team member presented their proposal at our meeting,
coinciding with my conversations with the factory workers. We were
wasting a lot of raw materials which could be reused if caught
hygienically. This would require extra equipment but no other changes. I
compiled a final report based on our findings.

Result: My boss was happy with our final report. She invested in the
machinery, and we saved 4% on our running costs.

Example 2

Situation: During my time working at a multinational company,I oversaw

22 franchise partners and their team.

Task: We had asked the partner teams to arrange presentations with

academic institutions where we could market our products prior to my
visit. Before one visit, a partner informed me that the academic institution
suggested that students would be more interested if the presentation
was given in their native language.

Action: India is a very diverse country with 112 languages spoken

across the country. I was not comfortable with giving the presentation in

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

that language. So, I had to team with my Partner and share the
presentation with him to make it work.
We both met early in the morning and practised the presentation before
to discuss our parts and make sure we create the most impact. so, we
decided that I would do the introduction of the company and products,
though my opening line would be in the student’s native language to
break the ice and add some humour to it. After that I will introduce my
partner, we would speak in our native language and discuss the benefits,
training structure, to try to build a relationship with students and give us
a good brand image as well as taking questions from the audience .

Result: The presentation went really well and we had a large number of
students enrol and made a profit of £2500.

Example 3

Situation: Working as a consultant, I was in charge of organising an

important event for one of our clients. The purpose of the event was to
introduce a 2-year leadership and management programme to the CEO
of the company, the managers, and the participants that were going to
be part of the programme.

Task: We were a team of 4 people, 2 coaches, one speaker and me. As

a team, we had to prepare all the material with the activities that were
going to be implemented during the event.

Action: One week before the event we started checking we had

everything ready for the big day (printouts of the activities, the
presentation slides and the event schedule). However, I realised that two
people in the team had a lot of questions as to what they had to do and
questions about the programme. As we had a final meeting with the
client before the event, and the coaches were not ready, I suggested we

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

meet on the weekend. I kindly asked them to read the material I had
prepared with all the information about the event and answered any
questions they had. Based on my feedback, the coaches adapted some
of the activities. In the meantime, I worked on the presentation design
and the content with the speaker. It took us half a day to have everything
ready before meeting with the client.

Result: As a result, the client was happy and trusted in our experience
to organise and conduct the event.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

7. Describe a situation in which you influenced or

motivated people

Variations of this question

● How do you motivate others?

● How do you persuade others to adopt your ideas?
● Tell me about a situation where you motivated a colleague?

Why am I being asked this?

Often we need to find the right words and actions to get people to do
things they don’t want.

Influencing or motivating others is an important stepping stone to

becoming a leader.

Often, it’s really just as simple as being clear in how you communicate.

What is the interviewer actually asking?

The interviewer wants to make sure you have a positive attitude and can
pass that on to others.

You are going to be meeting many new people in your role and you are
going to need to be able to motivate them.

This is also an important skill if you will be working with clients or

customers. This is important in many roles that will involve client work
from audit to sales.

What’s the best way to answer this?

Here’s a few ways you can motivate others or yourself.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

● Doing the work you said you would do.

● Being able to admit when you're wrong.
● Helping people when they are stressed.
● Allowing people to solve their own problems.
● Noticing what other people do and appreciating them.
● Trying to lead by example rather than just telling people what to
do.
● Giving people the freedom to do their work the best way they know
how.
● Being open when you talk, easy to talk to and able to listen to
others.
● Focusing on the lessons that can be learnt from others' mistakes
when they make them.

3 Example Answers:

Example 1

Situation: A time when I have influenced or motivated people was when

I used volunteer for a local organisation in 2016 in India

Task: I was part of a 3 month campaign to eradicate child labour in local

factories. We were divided into groups and I was made the leader of my
group. It was my responsibility to manage my group as we went door to
door collecting donations and trying to reach the organisations target of
at least 1 sign up a day

Action: To get to someone to even open the door was a big task and
then to make them listen to us and donate was difficult. We created
many innovative ways to influence people to talk to us and donate.
Firstly, convincing the gatekeeper of various residential buildings that we
were not frauds and we're here for a good cause. After influencing them
you get a chance to influence a customer. One volunteer normally

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pitches to 300- 500 people a day. There are 3 things that you can
influence or motivate an individual to do: one is to donate your money,
second is to show somebody who can donate or third they can become
a volunteer. What I found is that I also need to influence my team to stay
motivated and on task as they were struggling to sell. I suggested
different funny ways to sell to customers. Like offering a bag of sweets,
an honourable mention to the team or telling jokes at the door

Result: As a result my team sold the most for the organisation through
our innovative ways of selling.

Example 2

Situation: While working as a Consultant in Barcelona, every 3 or 4

months we had new interns coming in to work with us. My supervisor
asked me to work on a new project and include the two interns.

Task: My task involved doing a benchmarking report for one of our

clients and presenting the results. I divided the task in 2 parts and
scheduled a meeting with the two interns. I explained to them what the
project was about and what they needed to do.

Action: Our client had invented an environmentally friendly bowl for

eating food out of, and we noticed that this was a trend in Barcelona for
people moving towards these types of products. We decided to do a
benchmark study for similar products in the market. I asked the interns to
create a comparative table and specify the difference between the
client’s bowl and one of its competitors. As it was their first week, I
noticed they were a bit nervous. I made sure they understood
everything. I asked them if they had previous working experience, this
gave me an idea of who was best suited to complete other tasks in
future projects. I told them they could ask me questions in case they had
doubts. After they submitted their work, I checked it and then recognized
the quality and acknowledged them for their effort

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Result: I finished the report and I started to work on the presentation

which also went well. My supervisor was happy with the result, and the
two interns were grateful for the experience

Example 3

Situation: Back in 2020 I was working in the sales department of a

branch of Curry’s which sells electrical goods

Task: I was a new force in the company, younger than anyone else, and
everyone expected me to follow the processes the sales team already
had in place. The process was good for a large company but I realised
that what would make me stand out to the team is really knowing their
products.

Action: Every evening after work I would set myself the task of reading
about all the products in a particular category. For example one day it
could be headphones, another day it was Ultra HD TV’s. The process
wasn’t that time consuming, about half an hour after work. But over the
days and weeks it meant that when customers wanted advice about
what product to choose, I could understand their needs better and offer
them the exact product they were looking for. As my results improved
week by week, team members and then my manager asked me what I
was doing. When I shared about my evening learning sessions they
were so impressed that they asked to run weekly meetings where I
would talk about new products and what interested me

Result: The team loved my mini product demo sessions and have
continued to do these weekly meetings even after I left.

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Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

8. Describe a time when you led a team

Variations of this question

● When have you led a team successfully?

● What skills do you need to be a good team leader?
● Why is it important to be a great team leader?

Why am I being asked this?

All employers hire people with the hope that one day some of them will
stay long enough to become leaders within that firm.

Somebody who can contribute to growing the company and leading their
own team.

What is the interviewer actually asking?

The interviewer wants to see what leadership qualities you would bring
or what experience you already have.

Remember as a good team leader you want to involve everyone, make

sure there is a clear plan set and be there to solve any issues that might
occur.

What’s the best way to answer this?

The skills below are popular skills that the interviewer will be looking for,
so try to include them in your answer

● Communication- As the leader you will need to communicate

clearly with all team members in many different ways. Everyone
needs to know what they're doing, and in return you need to speak

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to each member of the team, to know if you are getting closer to

the result that you want.

● Motivation- You will need to inspire your team members to go the

extra mile. You can do this by building your employees self-esteem
with recognition and rewards or by giving the team members new
responsibilities to show they are progressing well.

● Positivity- To make sure your team is working to the best of their

ability you want to have a positive work relationship with them so
they feel part of the team and included. You want to create an
environment where people look forward to coming into work.

● Trustworthiness- Employees need to be able to feel comfortable

coming to their manager or leader with questions and concerns. It
is important for you to demonstrate your integrity – employees will
only trust leaders they respect. By being open and honest, you will
encourage the same sort of honesty in your employees.

● Responsibility- A leader is responsible for both the successes

and failures of their team. Therefore, you need to be willing to
accept blame when something does not go correctly. If your
employees see their leader pointing fingers and blaming others,
they will lose respect for you. Accept mistakes and failures, and
then devise clear solutions for improvement.

● Commitment- It is important for leaders to follow through with

what they agree to do. You should be willing to put in the extra
hours to complete an assignment; employees will see this
commitment and follow your example. Leaders need to be flexible,
accepting whatever changes come their way. Employees will
appreciate your ability to accept changes in stride and creatively
problem solve.

3 Example Answers

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Example 1

Situation: In 2017, I was the leader for an entire region working at a

multinational company.
Task: I managed several teams. I was responsible for leading the entire
Western India team, which included 22 franchise partners in that region.
Everyone was dealing with different issues and requirements at different
phases of their businesses. My role was to assist them in growing and
staying in business.
Action: One situation which was very different and has stayed with me
is one of the franchises was not getting enough sales for a long time. He
believed that both he, and our brand had a great reputation. Customers
should come to him without him needing to do any type of marketing
activity.
I convinced him to change his mindset by:
● Making him understand that he needed to create a pipeline
● He should put 10% of his time into Marketing over the next month
● I convinced him to hand out leaflets and then get another member
of staff to do online marketing
● Getting him out to institutions and also putting an advert out in the
local newspaper
Result: As a result I managed to keep the region at the top of the
quarterly sales leader board for 2 quarters and made it one of the most
profitable regions in the country, by nearly doubling the growth.

Example 2

Situation: In my role as a Marketing Assistant, I was asked by my

supervisor to work with a team of three and create a couple of marketing
campaigns to increase sales, and design activities to promote the brand
in the Dominican market.

Task: We had 3 days to come up with a proposal and present our

suggestions.

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Action: I requested a meeting with the team and proposed to make a

draft and write down all the ideas we had in mind. After that, I suggested
we should start working on what we are best at to save us some time.

As I knew 2 team members had previous experience organising

promotional events, I delegated the task to look for a nice place in the
city where we could do a tasting event and present our product. I asked
my other colleague to do some research on our competitors and
evaluate their communication plan.

In the meantime, I started working on the marketing campaign. At the

end of the day, I presented what I had done to my team and asked them
to do the same. I encouraged them to provide me with some feedback.
We made all the necessary changes and worked on the final
presentation.

Result: The presentation went well and my supervisor was happy with
the work we had done.

Example 3

Situation: In my previous job, where we ran behind on a new

company-wide system upgrade that was going to fix issues we had with
our online orders. The delay in implementation took longer than
expected and caught us off guard.

Task: We had the holidays coming up, which counts for almost 25% of
our annual revenue. My team had to work double shifts to process all
orders, and the outlook was that this was needed until the system
upgrade was placed. This led to people being stressed and overworked,
which caused the team morale to drop. As the team manager, it was my
responsibility to get the team performance back to normal.

Action: I gathered the team to discuss the situation. I expressed my

appreciation for their effort during this challenging situation for the
department and company in general. During our meeting, I called upon

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their assistance to find a way for the team to work more efficiently,
including myself, for however long the system update was not
implemented yet. I actively participated in the group’s brainstorming
session and encouraged the team members to talk freely and discuss
options. After an hour, we created a shortlist of options on which we
voted. I created teams of two within the team to investigate further how
we could implement the discussed options.

Result: The reaction of the team to this approach was very positive.
These solutions saved us valuable time and energy. One of the ideas
was to bring in temporary workers that could be trained on the job by the
current team members for as long as the update was not implemented.
This ultimately led to us hitting our revenue targets for the holiday
season.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

9. Tell me about a time when you creatively solved a

problem?

Variations of this question

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● Why is it important to use your initiative when problem solving?

● When have you thought of a new creative solution to a problem?

Why am I being asked this?

Most people can do something when they have been asked to do it, or
shown what to do. Being able to creatively solve a problem means using
additional resources or intelligence to bear on the problem. That’s where
the creativity comes from.

What is the interviewer actually asking?

The interviewer will want to see how you find new and interesting ways
to solve a problem which might have not been thought of before and yet
you still get a result.

You will have times where you are faced with a problem and there is no
obvious solution. That’s time to think on your feet and come up with an
answer.

What’s the best way to answer this?

Here are a couple of suggestions to form your answer.

Ask problems as questions- When you rephrase problems and

challenges as open-ended questions with multiple possibilities, it's easier
to come up with solutions.

These are questions like:

“How can I solve this?”

“What could I do?”
“Why am I being asked to do this?”

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Asking these types of questions generates lots of rich information, while

asking closed questions tends to prompt short answers, such as
confirmations or disagreements.

A closed question gives a “Yes/No” answer.

Instead of asking “What can I do?” you ask “Can I do X?” and the
answer becomes a yes or no.

Focus on "Yes, and" rather than "No, but.”- Language matters when
you're generating information and ideas. "Yes, and" encourages people
to expand their thoughts, which is necessary during certain stages of
Creative problem solving. Using the word "but" will mean you are not
definitely sure.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: I started my own t-shirt business in March 2021 and I had to

regularly buy material to fulfil orders, as well as finding new techniques
to offer better quality t-shirts.

Task: My responsibilities included: Regularly posting on social media (3

times a week), Conducting Facebook campaigns, and learning
everything about the production process, as I stamped the t-shirts
myself. However, for a while the cotton t-shirts I wanted were not
available in the city as they were imported from the US, so it would take
weeks before getting my order. I started receiving orders from new
clients, but I didn’t have the material to stamp the t-shirts.

Action: I did my research and contacted a company in the US that offers

the opportunity to download your designs and share them on social
media. They fulfil the orders you might get through your webpage. They
handle order production, shipping, and customer support. The only
downside is that the cost of the t-shirt increased as they had to be
delivered from the US to the Dominican Republic which is where I’ve

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been promoting my brand. Nevertheless, this was a temporary solution

until I was able to get the material I needed to stamp the t-shirts myself.

Result: In our first month of business, 7 new clients were willing to pay
for the cost of t-shirts and they were happy with the service and the
quality of the product.

Example 2

Situation: In my previous job, I worked as a Risk Analyst at one of the

largest banks in Malaysia

Task: One of my job responsibilities was to create awareness around

the risk culture in our company.

Action: The enterprise risk department was responsible for creating

awareness in the organisation on the importance of risk management.
This was a new incentive spearheaded by the Chief Risk Officer and I
was tasked with the job of implementing his vision. I brainstormed some
ideas and eventually came up with several ideas. First, I created a
bi-monthly newsletter called Risk Digest that was sent out to the whole
firm. The newsletter touched on risk management issues and news that
was relevant to the industry. I also conducted presentations twice a year
for the organisation to provide a learning platform for the employees.
Lastly, a quiz on risk management was organised every year to gauge
how well the staff knew our risk management policies. To incentivise the
employees, cash prizes were given out to the top three highest scores.

Result: The feedback I received regarding these initiatives were highly

encouraging and there was a 90% participation rate for the yearly quiz.

Example 3

Situation: In my current position as a business development manager,

I’m responsible for a team of five and was tasked with identifying new

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business opportunities and maintaining relationships with existing

clients.

Task: Last year, a client approached me who was looking for an

additional service in our software that we did not yet provide at the time.
For me, this was a great opportunity because it was a request for a new
product on top of our current service that came from a client.

Action: I told our client that we did not offer that service at the time but
that we could develop it fairly quickly. I asked them how they used our
product and how the new service in our software would benefit them in
order to get a better understanding of their request and help them
improve their business. After that, I contacted our development
department, and we made a plan to develop the service within the next
couple of months.

I presented the plan to our client and discussed that they could use the
service for free on a trial basis to help us finetune the software. This
allowed us to test the new features with an actual user of the product to
get it ready to launch in the market.

Result: The client was impressed by our efforts in order to satisfy them
and happily agreed with our solution. We were able to develop the new
feature within three months and made it available for other clients after
six months. For our team, this was a great achievement that did not only
help satisfy an important client but also generated additional turnover.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

10. What has been your greatest achievement?

Variations of this question

● What are you most proud of?

● What is the best thing you have accomplished?

Why am I being asked this?

If you could only pick one event, or one story to tell someone to really
sum up what you’re all about as a person. What would it be?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is a way for the interviewer to see if you take pride in yourself, and
what’s one story or event that you would share to sum up what you
stand for as a person.

Everyone will have something they are proud of! Whether it's winning a
sporting event or getting a scholarship. When we take pride in something
it shows we care and work hard and this is what a company wants out of
their employees.

What’s the best way to answer this?

Be true to yourself.

Don’t give an answer that you think people want to hear.

This doesn’t have to be work related, some examples that I have really
loved in the past are:

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● Getting a poem published.

● Moving to the UK.
● Leaving a job .
● Getting a black belt in martial arts.
● Painting again.
● Learning another language.
● Solving a really hard problem.
● Having kids.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: Back in 2017, I had just finished boarding school and came to
Mumbai. There was a state level 5km sea swimming event taking place
4 Months later which I wanted to participate in.

Task: As I finished my boarding school I also had to leave my swimming

coach. As in any sport a coach is a very important guide for you.
Although I had his support through phone calls this wasn't enough as I
was preparing for the first time without his help. And most importantly he
couldn’t watch me swimming in the pool.

Action: Then a day before the competition there was a practice 3km
swim and the tide was high, and it kept on pushing me off course and I
ended swimming in a C Shape back to the shore. At that moment I really
felt alone and wanted expert guidance. I listened to other coaches in
Mumbai and spoke to my coach. Learning the method to swim straight to
the shore. Moreover, the situation got worse just before the competition
while they were taking us to the starting point in a boat. I started to vomit
because of the motion of the boat. Which made me feel weak and
hopeless. At that moment I felt my inner strength. My inner voice tells me
“you are not giving up at the start point” and to just swim to the best of
your abilities and reach the shore.

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Result: In the end that resilience helped me to win the championship

and changed the way I think of myself forever.

Example 2

Situation: Last year I decided to start my own business selling scented

candles. I knew it was a big challenge and a lot of responsibility, but I
was willing to give it a try

Task: I looked at my competitors to see their most commented on posts

and to get ideas that I could use in my own posts. I would post every
day, and it took me about an hour to create the post. I took professional
photos to make my brand profile look better. I also learnt everything
about the production process for making great scented candles, and
sourced a great supplier which was offering smells that were not
commonly available. The only downside was that my budget was limited,
so I had to be efficient when investing my money.

Action: I started by defining the target audience, the candles I was

going to offer and finally developing the identity of the brand. I also
invested in all the equipment I needed for the candle making process:
the heating machine, the wax, candle holders, wicks and scents. After
all that, I started to create content in different social media channels.

Result: After conducting a couple of Facebook campaigns, I managed to

secure 13 sales via Instagram. My candle brand taught me to be more
creative, ambitious and to plan more strategically, so this is something
I’m very proud of.

Example 3

Situation: I think the greatest achievement I have so far is getting a fully

paid scholarship by the Nigerian government to study Accounting and

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Finance in the University of Manchester worth £100,000. This included

tuition fees, living costs and my A Levels education.

Task: It has always been my dream to pursue a university education in

the UK and I was determined to get the scholarship because I know I am
capable.

Action: Throughout my secondary school years, I knew I needed high

grades to be considered for the scholarship. Students must obtain at
least 10As in the secondary school examination. It was a very
competitive programme, so I made sure I worked hard to obtain the
grades needed to be awarded this scholarship. I obtained 12As in the
exam and I was accepted into the programme after three interviews.

Result: I was so proud to be offered the scholarship as I worked hard for

it, and I was the only person to win it from my district in a class of 55.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

11. What do you expect to be doing in five years?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

Nobody wants to employ someone who is going to leave in a year's time

so the main thing to include in your answer is….. “I will still be working
with this company.”

The interviewer will want to know how you want to progress through the
company.

For example you might start on a graduate consultant program but in 5

years time you could be the manager of a consulting team in their
company.

They are looking for you to answer the following questions:

● How committed are you to this career and this company?

● How much do you understand about the career path ahead of
you?
● How driven are you?

Tips for answering the question ‘Where do you expect to be in

five years’ time?’

Tip 1: Research into the company’s culture, as it will clarify your

understanding of the personal qualities the organisation is looking for.

Tip 2: Use this question to show you understand the key competences
needed to be effective in the role you’re applying for and to progress in
the organisation.

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Tip 3: If you are likely to need to undertake a professional qualification

to progress, show that you understand the work that will be involved,
and how long it will take.

How not to reply to the interview question, ‘Where do you expect to

be in five years’ time?’

The following answers are best avoided:

● ‘Doing your job!’

● ‘Working somewhere else!’
● ‘Starting my own business.’
● ‘Moving home and doing something else.’
● ‘No idea – I haven’t thought that far ahead!’

3 Example Answers

Example 1

In five years, I see myself as an industry expert where others can come
to me for ideas, advice, and strategies, potentially taking on a
management role.

In my previous jobs, I’ve had amazing managers that guided, so this is

something I aim to achieve. I would also like to have the opportunity to
lead a team and lead a project I’m passionate about. For instance, while
working as a Consultant, I had the chance to coordinate an important
project for the company, where I improved my project management
skills, and problem-solving skills, which is something I would like to
develop further.

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I would also love to expand my knowledge through training and

educational opportunities that support my job and continue improving my
customer service skills that allow me to provide clients with excellent
service.

Example 2

In 5 years time, I aim to build a solid foundation of Risk Management

and learn the ropes. I want to learn as much as possible about Risk
Management and am open to learning from all the sections in the
department if possible.

In 5 years’ time, I would envision myself picking up a specialism and be

a specialist in my particular field of Risk. I would like to take on more
responsibilities and feel challenged in my role. This could be a middle
management role and I think given the timeframe I would have gained
the skills necessary to excel in the role during my career.

Example 3

It’s only been two years since I graduated and began working, but I’d say
that my goal in five years is to see significant growth in my sales skills.
One of my longer-term career goals is to be involved in sales training
and mentoring, maybe as a Manager or corporate trainer, but I know the
first step is to master the day-to-day work.

So in the next five years, I look forward to continuing to build my sales

skills, both in-person and over the phone, and continuing on my current
career path as a salesperson. I reviewed your job posting and it seems
like this position would offer some great challenges and learning
opportunities for someone relatively new in their sales career like myself.

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Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

12. What are your strengths?

Variations of this question

● What is your best strength?

● What strength do you have which will help you in this role?
● What is an important strength you have?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is another time for you to brag and show off….. BUT in a good way.

The interviewer will want to see what you can bring to the job and what
you do best.

But make sure you don’t lie as if you tell the interviewer you have great
IT skills and then you get asked to complete a task using the computer
and you struggle you are going to look like an idiot and will want the
ground to swallow you up.

Make sure to use examples to back up your strengths!

What’s the best way to answer this?

1. Make sure to read the job description thoroughly and identify the
key requirements. If there is a need for interaction with multiple
departments, you will want to explain that you have excellent
communication and interpersonal skills. If you’re going to be
working on your own with clients a lot of the time, you’ll want to
show that you can take the initiative, be independent and be calm.

2. Identify three key strengths and then match them to the

requirements and skills that are needed to carry out the job.

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TIP

If you have 2 minutes or less to answer this question then we would

pick to 1-2 key strengths, as any more will be too much to answer

3. Think quality, not quantity. Focus on a few key strengths and

explain these well. That will be much more memorable than just
randomly coming up with a list of strengths.

4. Aim to strike a balance between overconfidence and

underselling yourself. If you list too many strengths you risk
sounding arrogant.

5. Always have an example ready for each strength. A skill without a

concrete example means little to someone who doesn’t know you.
For example, if you mention excellent communication skills, you
could follow this up with how this helped you run multiple social
media platforms during your work experience.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Since I was young, I have always identified as being curious, resilient,

and proactive and have demonstrated this throughout my life.
Let me give an example of each of these 3 strengths
A time I was proactive was when I did my master's in business
administration which equipped me with some great business skills but
not enough for the rapidly changing times and the skill sets required for
the modern way of doing business. Which is why I chose to advance my
career and skill set by studying a master in fintech with business

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analytics. As the UK has the third largest capital investment of £524m in

UK fintech industries.
I demonstrated resilience just before a Judo tournament. I was carrying
a knee injury and felt sore on the day but I still went out and got 3rd
place, even when I felt in quite a lot of pain in the later rounds.
The time that showed I was very curious was during my master's degree
as I am not from any technical background, so I took the time to
self-study software like Python and complicated machine learning
algorithms to carry out my work and increase my skill set.

Example 2

Situation: I am disciplined in every project or task I undertake; I have

strong organisation skills and a good work ethic. While working as a
consultant I was constantly given new projects to work on.
Task: I was given the responsibility of coordinating a 2-year leadership
and management programme for one of our clients, as well as assisting
my supervisor with other clients' presentations and market research.
Action: As I had lots of tasks to do, I decided to create a realistic project
plan so I could organise my everyday work and meet deadlines. Firstly, I
made a to-do list with all the tasks I had to complete and specified my
responsibilities. Then, I set realistic deadlines and delegated tasks when
it was necessary. I also made sure I took breaks when I needed to. This
strategy not only helped me while working as a consultant, but it was
also helpful, when working as a Marketing Assistant and in my own
t-shirt business while organising my social media calendar.
Result: At the end, I finished my tasks, and most importantly, I made
sure I maintained the quality of my work. My supervisor was happy with
my work.

Example 3

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I have great attention to detail. I enjoy going through the little details in
everything I encounter in my daily life. I find that it is the little details that
matter the most and always aim to do things right the first time. For
example, my regular tasks at Tokio Marine involved me going through at
least 15,000 rows of data for each risk report that I wrote and I never
made a mistake.
My role as a fraud analyst requires me to have great attention to detail. I
must work quickly in an efficient way and be attentive to finding
fraudulent transactions on customer’s credit cards.
I am also a quick learner and can grasp new tasks fast. I am open
minded to new ideas and creative solutions. For instance, I suggested
the idea of organising an annual quiz on risk management to increase
awareness company-wide. I also recommended cash prizes for the
winners of the quiz to encourage employees’ participation.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

13. What are your weaknesses?

Variations of this question

● What is your biggest weakness?

● What is the strength you want to improve on?
● What strength have you recently made better?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

Everyone has weaknesses or at the very least, things about themself

that they want to improve.

The interviewer will want to see if you know your weakness and if you
can explain how you are trying to improve. The company is going to
want to see you constantly learning and growing and you can only do
this if you self evaluate what needs improving.

What’s the best way to answer this?

The best way to handle this question is to minimise the trait and
emphasise the positive. Select a trait and come up with a solution to
overcome your weakness. Stay away from personal qualities and
concentrate more on professional traits.

When forming your answer you want to make sure you show how you
learned from the weakness or how you are trying to improve them.

See the table below for some examples.

We want to talk about how you could pick any weakness, and then use it
as a lesson.

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Weakness What the How did you What did you

weakness improve the learn from this
caused weakness
Disorganised I missed the I got a diary and I learned to
deadline for my a calendar to prioritise tasks
work project. schedule tasks. and keep track
of all my tasks.

Critical I overthought I told myself to I learned that if I

my uni be kinder to am too critical it
assignment and myself and trust can jeopardise
was too critical my knowledge. my work.
and got a low
grade.

Delegating I struggled to The next project I can’t try to

Responsibility get all the tasks I delegated complete it all
on my projects tasks to other on my own as I
done as I gave teammates so will burn out or
myself too that it was all it might not be
much work. completed. done to the best
quality.

Some examples of weaknesses you might mention:

● Disorganised.
● Confidence issues.
● Being too critical of yourself.
● Attempting to please everyone.
● Being unfamiliar with the latest software.

Weaknesses to not mention

● Lateness.

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● Rudeness.
● Can’t take criticism.
● Not good at teamwork.
● Struggle with colleagues.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

I have had a difficult time delegating responsibility. For instance, while

working as a manager at a coffee shop, we had a high turnover of staff
and also constantly had new products being launched or special offers
that we were trying to sell depending on the time of the year.

Sometimes it could become frustrating training staff who would leave

after a week or two so I went through a phase of doing more and more
things myself, rather than asking someone else.

Of course, I ended up becoming ratty and angry and also getting pretty
stressed, until I realised that I could streamline the training process by
delegating it to a regular member of staff and making sure that our team
felt well supported so they were less likely to leave the job.

Example 2

I would say that I can be too direct. When I’m giving feedback to
colleagues I try to be very honest but I have learned that sometimes my
comments can come across as rude. I did a debrief after each project
and I realised that some team members felt I was being more critical
than constructive, which wasn’t my intention.I took part in a leadership
course where we talked about the best ways to provide feedback and
how we should tailor our communication style to different people and
situations. I’ve been working on applying all that I’ve learned and last
week a colleague came to thank me for some feedback on a recent
presentation. He said my comments had been really valuable.

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What I learnt is though honest feedback is good, not every likes this to
be done so directly. I can modify my style of communication depending
on who I am talking to and also take the time to explain my feedback one
to one when needed, putting emphasis on what we can learn and
improve on. Rather than coming across as someone who is just picking
out the mistakes that someone has made.

Example 3

I would say previously my biggest weakness was speaking to clients. My

previous jobs required me to give presentations in front of people to
relay information in a clear and concise manner. But this always involved
internal stakeholders and never people from outside the organisations. I
knew it was vital for me to improve this skill so I specifically looked for a
part time job during university that would allow me to talk to customers
directly. I started working as a fraud analyst in a telephony role in
Natwest in July and this gave me plenty of opportunities to upskill and
improve my communication skills. I have been in this job for more than
three months now and I am enjoying the work immensely. I now talk to
more than 30 customers a day during my shift and I am able to help
them deal with fraudulent transactions on their credit cards in a short
amount of time.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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14. How would you describe yourself?

Variations of this question

● How would your friends describe you?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

A good way to think about this question, is can you identify the skills you
need for the job, and then use some of those skills to describe yourself.
Like the examples below.

You want to describe in terms of what your employer is looking for.

So pick out the strengths and attractive qualities that they want that you
have…

Skills they want Time you used this Example

skill
Excellent Team project at uni. At Uni I had a group
communication, project with 3 other
interpersonal and teammates. To make
listening skills sure we all knew what
to do I set up an initial
meeting so we could
make a plan and
communicate
effectively.

The ability to New client in the firm. When I was at my

network and previous firm we had

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establish a new client join us. I

relationships with sent a welcoming
clients email to introduce
myself and then had
an in depth call with
the client to find out
more about them and
to form a relationship.

Research and Final Year In my Dissertation I

analytical skills Dissertation. looked at the
importance of
financial services for
small companies. I
researched what the
financial firms
services would offer
and then I went to a
small local business
and got the managers
to fill out a survey to
gather more research.

Things to include in your answer

I am passionate about my work- Every employer seeks to hire people

who enjoy their work, but the word “passion” evokes feelings of
dedication and loyalty. When someone is passionate about the work
they’re doing, they’re naturally committed to quality and positive
outcomes.

I am ambitious and driven- Ambition and drive are two qualities that
are essential to success and growth in many jobs. When an employer
hires an ambitious candidate, they can rest assured this new hire will
consistently seek ways to improve themselves and keep their eyes firmly
set on their next goal.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

I am highly organised- An organised candidate is a detail-oriented

candidate and someone an employer can trust to meet deadlines. This
quality is especially important as it helps to ensure the quality of projects
are achieved.

I’m a people-person- Some people are naturally outgoing,

conversational, and quickly find ways to feel at home in groups of
complete strangers. This attribute is especially helpful for professionals
in customer service and sales positions.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

I would say that I am confident and ambitious and have always tried to
have clear and simple goals that I work towards.

For example when I went to secondary school in China I knew that I

wanted to come to Cambridge University and study. That had always
been a dream of mine.
But to do that I would need really high grades not just to get in, but also
to give my parents the confidence that I would really put that education
to good use.

So, I would plan methodically, study hard and when I failed to reach my
goal through a particular grade or piece of work that I didn’t understand, I
would set aside the time to review and improve on what I had done. This
was incredibly demanding over the period of 5 years. I needed to be
disciplined and when my friends were going out, my favourite TV show
was on or there was a family event most weekends, I would say no if I
had to to get some work done.

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I am so grateful that I have the opportunities that I have now, but it’s
because I put the hard work in when I could to get to where I am now,
and that I think is a great quality to have at a world class company.

Example 2

I am currently reading a postgraduate degree in MBA specialising in

leadership practice at University. I am also working part time at a local
restaurant. Which means I am hard working and single minded.
I am keen to work in the financial industry such as financial
institutions/professional firms because I would like to utilise my risk
management, commercial awareness and attention to detail skills that I
have acquired over the years from both my academic and professional
careers in line with my technical and client facing skills.
In my previous roles as a risk analyst, my main responsibilities were
preparing risk reports in a timely manner, performing risk assessments
for different departments in the organisations and presenting this
information to the stakeholders in a clear and concise manner. My team
also oversaw the organisation’s internal capital adequacy assessment
process amounting to £180 million in average. As a result, I have
improved my time management, writing and communication skills.
I am fascinated by the Japanese language and its culture and have been
learning the language for over 5 years now. I obtained the N2 level in the
Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in 2018 which is equivalent
to a high school certificate of the language.

Example 3

I’m a creative thinker. I think it’s important to approach tasks and issues
from different angles, rather than just doing what has always been done.
By having an open mind and taking a different approach, I believe you
can find new and improved ways of doing things.

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As a manager, I like to foster this approach in my team too. It means

they feel comfortable suggesting and discussing new ideas, often
generating unusual and effective solutions as a result, which is great for
team morale and for the business.

I love learning new things and am always on the lookout for new
opportunities to develop and grow within my role, whether that’s learning
new skills, taking on a new project or collaborating with other
departments.

I’m a positive person who likes to excel at what I do, and I think the best
way to do that is to constantly challenge myself to learn as much as I
can and to perform to the best of my abilities every day.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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15. What makes you the right person for this job?

Variations of this question

● Why should we hire you?

● Why are you the best candidate for the job?
● Why are you the right fit for the position?
● What would you bring to the position?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is basically where you sell yourself. Include 4-5 top qualities you
possess which match the top skills needed for the job. You want to prove
to the interviewer that you are the perfect fit for this job.

ALWAYS know what makes you a strong candidate. Be prepared with a

concise summary of the top reasons to choose you.

The interviewer will want to see that you have read and understood the
job description so make sure you read it carefully and include
information from the job description in your answers.

TIP

This is pretty much the same structure and answer for WHY THIS
ROLE (Question 3)

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What’s the best way to answer this?

Use a similar format to your answer for the question “Why this Role?”

You can use www.prospects.ac.uk again to find the skills needed for
the job role and match up your qualities. Use the table below for some
examples

Skill Asked For Example of you using this skill

Teamwork During one of my units at
university we had to go and
explore a local business as a
team and write an evaluation. We
decided to split the tasks up to
make sure everything was
completed and then came
together a couple of days before
the deadline to put the evaluation
together.

Leadership When I was in my last job there

was a group of new apprentices
who joined. As I had been at the
company for over 2 years and had
done the apprenticeship i helped
the apprentices with starting in the
company and let them know they
could come and ask me any
questions.

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3 Example answers

Example 1

As a Conferencing Manager, I completely understand the importance of

communication and building positive relationships internally and
externally for the business. I’ve always been very good with
communicating news or important messages to my team, within the
business and externally, informing clients of any offers or events.
Externally I have built up a brilliant client base by promoting the services
of the business and networking so that the conference centre is used by
external clients and the business is successful. Over my three years in
the role, we now have 50% of our client’s booking conference rooms on
a regular weekly or monthly basis, 30% of our clients booking
conference rooms every few months for bigger events and others use
the facilities on an ad-hoc basis. This I believe is down to me, by
communicating and building positive relationships so that customers do
continue to carry out their business with us.

Example 2

I am motivated to perform well but also help others, regardless of the

position I am in, I do help others in the team or other departments. For
example, if I am in another office or site and the phone rings or
customers arrive, I will always see how I can help them or make sure
they are seen or someone calls them back. This helps me understand
more about other roles and services and also the customer feels that
they have been seen to straight away rather than waiting for a longer
length of time.

Example 3

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I read the job description before applying and it seems like

self-management is mentioned a lot. That’s one of my strengths and
something I’ve been working a lot to develop and improve recently. In my
last job, my boss only checked in with me once a week. Other than that,
his approach was to let me manage my work entirely. On top of that, I’ve
been doing the exact type of work that your role involves – in-person
sales – for two years. That’s why you should hire me for this role…
because not only do I have the technical experience, but I thrive in an
environment where I’m trusted to manage my own work. As a side note,
in my own time, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the subject of
productivity and self-management, so it’s something I’m personally
passionate about as well. I’ve looked up new productivity strategies and
read a few books on goal setting, and I’m excited to put that knowledge
to use.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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16. Give me an example of a time when you failed to hit a

deadline?

Variations of this question

● Tell me about a time where you delivered a project late.

● What do you do when you have two conflicting priorities and can
only deliver one on time?
● When was the last time you were unable to deliver within the
timeframe originally specified?
● What happens when you realise you will be unable to deliver by
the set deadline?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

All of us are going to make mistakes or miss deadlines because we are

human.

The interviewer wants to know when you have missed a deadline, what
caused it and how you did to fix the situation and prevent it from
happening again.

The interviewer will want to know:

● Do you take personal responsibility for failing to meet a deadline?

● Or is the blame entirely on others?
● What did you learn from this mistake to stop it happening again?

What’s the best way to answer this?

Your best approach is to talk about a specific situation where you missed
a deadline due to unforeseen or unplanned circumstances yet take
personal responsibility for the shortcoming and talk about what you are
doing to keep it from happening again in the future.

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We love examples from University as they are commonplace, and the

results of missing a deadline tend to be not that serious.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation : In the year 2020 I worked at Papa Johns as in store/ delivery

driver

Task: Once during the lockdown, we failed to deliver a pizza on time. In

general, we are given 20-30min for an order. From making the pizza to
delivering the order. Depending on the customer and their postcode.

Action: Because of the lockdown, the store was extremely busy that
day. As usual, we completed our deliveries one by one. So, I walked
inside the store after delivering an order when a colleague asked, "Could
you please do this delivery for me as I need to use loo.” I took the
package after checking the address on the ticket. When I returned from
the delivery, my manager began to scold me. He asked why I had given
the customer not just the wrong order, but an order that was meant for
someone else. I apologised as I realised that in my haste I hadn’t
checked to see if the pizzas in the delivery bag matched the ones on the
ticket. I made sure to get the new order ready and delivered as soon as
possible

Result: I accepted and apologised for my part of the mistake from the
whole situation and apologised to the customer for being late however
the customer thanked me and tipped me 5 pounds .

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Example 2

Situation: Working as a Sales and Marketing assistant, I was regularly

developing new activities to promote our brand in the Venezuelan
market.

Task: The alcohol industry is very competitive in the country. I was also
responsible for evaluating our competitors’ strategies, for example,
checking their promotional discounts, the events they organised, and
their price in the market. Also, I had to make sure our dealers were
selling our products for 5% less than our main competitor.

Action: My supervisor asked me to visit around 10 different dealers in

the city to make sure they were keeping their part of the deal.

Because of the workload that I had at the time, I was only able to visit
two of those dealers, but they were so large that I struggled to find all the
products and prices that I was looking for.

After two days my supervisor asked me for a review, but I didn’t have
one. He got upset because he needed the information to present it in the
weekly meeting with the team Manager.

I realised that this was something that I could have told him about two
days before instead of waiting for him to ask me, or even just asked for
help and say that I wouldn’t be able to visit all of the stores.

Result: I apologised for the mistake and assured him it would not
happen again.

Example 3

Situation: I was a volunteer during my undergraduate studies in

University of Glasgow in a student-run volunteering organisation called
Student Action Glasgow.

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Task: I was the project manager for one of the events and I was in
charge of helping the local area’s elderly population with their groceries
shopping. I came up with an idea to organise a fundraising event to
collect some donations for the pensioners.

Action: I thought of organising a charity bake sale for the fundraising

event. I gave myself a week’s time to come up with everything and this
included baking the treats, hiring a venue, designing and distributing
flyers and managing the funds for the event. I set up a timetable that I
followed closely and tried to do everything on top of balancing my
university commitments. Despite my best efforts, I did not manage to
meet the set timeline of a week to finish the setup of the charity bake
sale. I learnt that I had to set a more realistic goal and manage my
expectations accordingly. I also learnt that I needed to delegate tasks to
others to work efficiently. So, I delegated the tasks of marketing activities
to one team member and baking activities to another team member. I
completed the rest of the tasks and we managed to set up our booth
after two weeks of planning.

Result: The charity bake sale was a success and we raised a total of
£200 for the elderly.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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17. Tell me about a time when you built up a relationship

with someone?

Variations of the question

● When have you successfully built a positive relationship with a
client?
● When have you made a negative relationship into a positive
relationship?
● When have you made the time to build a relationship with
colleagues?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is an essential skill to have in most job roles.

I first introduced this question back in 2015 when PwC used to ask it in
all their interviews. As it was such a different question to what
candidates were used to.

The interviewer wants to know how you would go about working with a
new client or even a new team member. Make sure to include an
example of when you have done this before.

How do you build a relationship?

Client Relationship

➡️ ➡️
➡️
New Client Set up initial meeting Find out more about the client

➡️ ✅
and their needs Give the client solutions and ideas on how you can
help them Gain the trust of the client Relationship built

Colleague Relationship

➡️ ➡️
➡️
New colleague joins Introduce yourself Find out more about them
Show them round and tell them as much as you can to help them

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

➡️Explain to them that you will be there if they need any help or
advice➡️Offer to have your lunch break with them✅Relationship built.

What’s the best way to answer this?

There are several characteristics that make up good, healthy working

relationships. The interviewer will be listening out for these qualities so
make sure to include them in your answer with examples.

Trust – This is the foundation of every good relationship. When you trust
your team and colleagues, you form a powerful bond that helps you to
work and communicate more effectively. If you trust the people you work
with, you can be open and honest in your thoughts and actions, and you
don't have to waste time and energy "watching your back."

Mutual Respect – When you respect the people who you work with, you
value their input and ideas, and they value yours. Working together, you
can develop solutions based on your collective insight, wisdom, and
creativity.

Mindfulness – This means taking responsibility for your words and

actions. Those who are mindful, and don't let their own negative
emotions impact the people around them.

Welcoming Diversity – People with good relationships not only accept

diverse people and opinions, but they welcome them. For instance,
when your friends and colleagues offer different opinions from yours, you
take the time to consider what they have to say and factor their insights
into your decision-making.

Open Communication – We communicate all day, whether we're

sending emails or meeting face to face. The better and more effectively
you communicate with those around you, the richer your relationships
will be. All good relationships depend on open, honest communication.

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3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: In 2017 I was a sales executive, at a multinational company.

Task: As part of my role, I had to sign up new customers and maintain

relationships with the existing customers.

Action: Although I communicate with my colleagues about work on a

daily basis, my ways to maintain and build relationships with new
customers is to get to know them and build a relationship with them on a
personal level with a professional manner. I was given the list of
enquiries of potential clients from the corporate office and I was writing
them emails to organise meetings. Within a matter of 15 min I got a call
from a client. His first question was whether there was any help provided
for the teaching staff by the corporate office and he was very sceptical.

I arranged a meeting or lunch to get to know him better and connect on

some common ground which would really build trust with each other to
help the relationship. By speaking to him in his native language I was
able to build a strong relationship and I spent the time getting to know
that we share a similar sort of family background and cultural values.

Result: In the end he loved my personal touch and joined our

programme with his business. We enjoyed working with each other. And
started to make a profit within a couple of months. We maintained a
strong relationship during my time working with him.

Example 2

In my previous role, I worked closely with a team of four other lab

technicians. Within my first year of working there, I created a meaningful
bond with all of them. We quickly understood what role each of us had in
our team.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

For instance, I was the most detail-oriented person of us all. I was

always the person who double-checked our lab reports to make sure we
covered everything. Likewise, I was the one who made sure we were
following safety protocols. I found that by defining each of our strengths,
we were more productive as a team and got a lot of work done together.

I also took the time to get to know them, their families and remember
important moments in their life, and what they got up to in their personal
time. All of my colleagues were always happy and impressed when I
remembered these things. Also, once a month I would cook us all dinner
and have them round my house to socialise.

Example 3

I take great pride in my ability to develop relationships with the clients of

the organisations I work for. I do this by first seeking to understand the
customer and their needs. I ask many questions to qualify how my
organisation and I can deliver the products and services they need. I
also try to get to know the client on a personal level. I was recently
introduced to one of our newer customers and asked to help them
resolve a billing issue. I spent some time learning about their business
and the individual I was dealing with. This understanding allowed me to
quickly resolve the billing issue by modifying the way we invoiced them. I
then followed up with the client periodically to ensure the issue had been
resolved and the new invoicing system was meeting their needs.
Although it’s been over a year since the original issue occurred, I’m still
in touch with the client, and we speak frequently, sometimes not even
about business issues.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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18. Tell me about a time you had to deal with multiple

tasks?

Variations of the question

● When have you been at work and been given multiple tasks to
complete?
● How would you deal with having multiple tasks to complete by
yourself?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

It’s rare that we only ever have one thing to do at a time.

When we get multiple tasks, we automatically start to prioritise one for

the other. This is such an important skill at work when we generally have
lots of things to do and not enough time to do them.

The interviewer wants to know how you would cope with completing
multiple tasks at once.

Multitasking is important for working in a company as you might have

several different things to do in a day.

For example: Take 5 phone calls, complete 2 client plans and attend
a team meeting.

The interviewer will be interested to see how you make sure all the tasks
are complete and how you would prioritise and organise tasks to make
sure nothing is forgotten.

What’s the best way to answer this?

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Remember to be honest with your answers.

The question is: "Can you multitask? Or do you prefer to handle one
project at a time?"

You need to build on a past experience of multitasking to form your own

answer to the question. You can expect that multitasking may come up
in your job interview.

Methodically list out:

➡️ ➡️How you got it all done

➡️
What you had to do How you prioritised
The result at the end

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: I worked as a market analyst in a financial institution in

France in 2016 for four years. One of my main responsibilities was to
prepare monthly market reports to both senior management and board
committees.

Task: Every month, I had to write 2 market reports, each of which was
30 pages long, detailing the asset and liability commitments of the
organisation and the businesses that it owned and managed. I had to
juggle multiple deadlines at the same time on top of my daily work
responsibilities.

Action: I usually started out my work week planning out what tasks to do
and complete for the next five days. Besides writing the market reports I
also had to produce daily market reports, gather information from
different departments for the monthly reports and prepare the reports as

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a PPT. I set up a work schedule that I followed closely. This way I could
not only make sure that I was on track with my daily responsibilities but
also that I have some spare time to deal with unexpected work
commitments that may crop up during the week like making forecasts for
the Treasury department as well as time to edit and check the reports
before they were submitted to the board committees.

Result: During my whole time there, I never missed the deadline for the
submission of the reports and I was even praised by one of the board
directors for my accurate reporting.

Example 2

Situation: In August 2018 I was working at a global company as part of

their Marketing team.

Task: I received an email from the vice president of the company. He

asked me to organise the yearly conference with a list of team members.

Action: To begin, I had to split the task with the assigned team members
into numerous areas. These included the venue, hotel, food, logistics,
time schedule, guest speakers and budget. I took on the task of
arranging the venue, hotel, and logistics. It needed a significant amount
of communication, planning, and management. Because I had to take
care of roughly 800 individuals, I needed to figure out how people would
arrive from each franchise and when they wanted to board. Then
double-check the flight schedule and ask them again if it is feasible.
Then I had to manage and link the schedule with hotel rooms,
determining whether they would stay overnight or leave the same day,
as well as requesting the hotel administration to allocate in the following
manner. In addition, I had to organise the conference hall, including

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selecting the seating arrangement, contacting the A&V specialist, and

explaining the timetable to him given by my colleague.

Result: With help from my team and the organisation I put in place, the
Event was very successful and there were no problems at all on the
event day.

Example 3

Situation: During my time working as a Sales & Marketing assistant, I

was regularly conducting promotion events to promote our brand. I
remember one time I was responsible for organising a testing event
specifically for rum experts in an exclusive restaurant.

Task: I was in charge of the logistics, so everything that had to do with

booking the venue, decoration, creating the event planning timeline,
planning the meals with the restaurant, checking any food allowance
with the attendees and the transportation.

Action: In the event, I welcomed the attendants and answered any

questions they might have about the product: where the product was
made, when was the company established, the history of the product. At
the same time, I had to make sure the event was on time as we only
booked the venue for a couple of hours. I assisted the product manager
with his presentation and provided people with handouts to promote our
product.

Result: The event went well; we received positive feedback from the
attendees. They got interested in the product and asked where they
could purchase it.

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Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

19. Tell me about yourself?

Variations of the question

● Please Introduce yourself (Personal Introduction)

What is the interviewer actually asking?

TIP

This will be a variation on your Personal Introduction. Refer back to

Question 1.

The likelihood is you will not be asked to give a personal introduction

and then to talk about yourself as it's just a lot of repetition.

However as we mentioned before, the employer will want to find out

more about you. They will want to see what you can bring to the
company and what you believe your best assets are.

What’s the best way to answer this?

You can use your answer that you created for your personal introduction
using the following topics

➔ Introduction
➔ Academic background
➔ What job you want and why

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➔ Work experience/ Volunteering/ Clubs

➔ Interests and Hobbies

3 Example Answers

Example 1

1. Name and what you are doing currently

Hi, my name is Susan, and I am currently studying a postgraduate

degree in Biochemistry at Dundee University

2. Quick blurb about your background.

I'm originally from China and studied Chemistry at Nanjing University

where I finished 3rd in my class. I won several scholarships for my
academic results

3. What do you want to do next? Why?

I’m keen to work in a Pharmaceutical company like GSK, because I want

to be at the cutting edge of research and develop my skills for designing
and testing new drugs. Plus, I think drug design is a great way to help so
many people improve their health.

4. Work Experience? Clubs and Societies?

I interned at two large Chinese drug manufacturers, though mainly

working in Sales and Marketing to help companies’ brands and sell their
products straight to market. This was a great opportunity for me to learn
how big pharma works and talk directly with clients. Also, I learnt how to
work and communicate as a member of a large team. During my time in
China I was part of our local dance team, we won several awards in
competition at our school.

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5. Anything else? Interests/Hobbies

I have played badminton since I was a young girl. I enjoy the exercise
and the adrenaline, as well as the competitive nature of the sport. I feel
regular exercise helps me to stay focused on my studies. I also play the
guzheng which is an ancient Chinese plucking instrument. I am a Grade
8.

Example 2

1. Name and what you are doing currently

Hi, my name is Joe. I am currently a student at Oxford Brookes

University. I am studying a MSc in Psychology.

2. Quick blurb about your background.

I come from Germany, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in

Science and got a 2:1. I also have a master’s degree in marketing
management and a master's degree in Finance.

3. What do you want to do next? Why?

I would like to work in a consulting firm like Deloitte because I feel

motivated to be part of the change and help businesses make a positive
impact in the environment while being profitable. Furthermore, I will
assist in developing more sustainable business strategies that will not
only help clients, but also future generations.

4. Work Experience? Clubs and Societies?

I have more than 6 years of experience in marketing and consulting. I

started my own business in Germany, I developed the brand identity of
the business and conducted marketing campaigns to promote my
product. I secured many sales through social media campaigns. This

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was a great opportunity for me to provide an exclusive product that

people identified with, and also helped me develop my leadership skills.

5. Anything else? Interests/Hobbies.

I am in the local Gymnastics team and enjoy running. Exercise improves

my energy levels, and helps me to stay focused. I also have a passion
for photography, I particularly like taking photos of nature around the
world.

Example 3

1. Name and what you are doing currently

Hi I am George and I am currently studying my BSc IT with Business at

Canterbury Christchurch University.

2. Quick blurb about your background.

I am originally from India where i grew up and completed an

apprenticeship with a local ICT firm

3. What do you want to do next? Why?

I would love to work in BT’s ICT apartment as they are the biggest
internet provider in the UK with around 9.2 million customers. I want to
have the opportunity to learn new skills to help me excel in my career
and BT will offer me this opportunity with the opportunities to work with
specialists in different departments.

4. Work Experience? Clubs and Societies?

When I was in India I completed an apprenticeship in ICT with a local

technology company. During this time I learnt how to help customers
with different queries and worked with a small team to keep large Indian

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companies running. I am currently the society leader of my Universities

coding club and I am also a member of the ICT and Business society.

5. Anything else? Interests/Hobbies.

I have a big interest in sports and I am currently part of the university's

football team. In my spare time I like to build PC’s for friends and I also
am a big film lover.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

FAQ

● What if I don’t have any work experience?

No problem, friend.

Just write about your other experience.

You’ve got no experience? Time to go and get some. Volunteer. Join a

club. Get out of your bedroom…

● What if I don’t know what company and role I want to do?

Then just leave this off :)

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20. Tell me about a time you had to handle a stressful or

pressurised situation?

Variations of this question

● When have you been in a stressful situation at work?

● When have you successfully dealt with stress or pressure?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is something we all have to deal with. Especially in the workplace.

The interviewer wants to see how you will handle any stressful
situations.
Because they don’t want to hire someone who will crumble under the
pressure.
The interviewer will want to see how you got through the experience,
what you learned from the experience and what motivated you through
it.

For example…

Imagine if you had had a long and busy day at work with lots of phone
calls to take when your boss comes up to you and asks you to take on
another project. The deadline for the project is in two days!
What would you do?
Now you could just tell your boss you are too busy but that would show
you can’t handle the workload and the pressure.
OR

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You could take on the extra work and deal with the situation. You could
put in extra hours, plan your day to get all the tasks done or ask for help
from your colleagues.

The interviewer is going to want to see that you took on the challenge
and how you completed it without getting too overstressed.

What’s the best way to answer this?

First of all you need to think of the stressful situation you are going to
talk about.
See below for suggestions
➔ Low Salary.
➔ Unclear expectations.
➔ Not enough guidance.
➔ Excessive Workloads.
➔ Not enough opportunities to train.
➔ Not enough help from other colleagues.

Once you have your situation you need to think about the structure to
answer the question.
A Good Answer Structure
➡️ ➡️
➡️ ✅
Pressure Prioritise Work out how to simplify the situation
Complete or Ask for Help Result

3 Example Answers

Example 1

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Situation: I am currently working part time as a fraud analyst in one of

the biggest retail banks in the UK. It is a telephony role, and my job is to
help customers to deal with fraudulent usage on their credit cards.

Task: On one occasion, I received a call from a customer who was

clearly distraught by what had happened to her credit card. She started
to panic during the phone call and was really distressed at the fact that
some fraudsters might have gotten access to her account.

Action: Firstly, I knew that if I was in her shoes, I would also be upset at
the potential to lose a large sum of money to fraud. So, I knew that her
being upset had nothing to do with me. I started the conversation by
assuring her that I am here to solve any issues she may have with her
credit card. I remained calm throughout the telephone call and that put
her mind at ease, and she calmed down eventually. I also listened to her
concerns carefully while acting efficiently and quickly to keep her
account secure. I responded to her queries in a calm and confident
manner and managed to solve her issues. I also took the initiative to
advise her on what she can do to protect herself from scammers in the
future.

Result: By solving the customer’s problem swiftly, I managed to stop her

being defrauded out of £10,000.

Example 2

Situation: In 2013 I had finished my boarding school and came back

home for further studies.

Task: I was interested in doing an MBA. I took my +2 as part of my

curriculum. I had to give a presentation in front of the class of 120
students in English. Though I was good at English throughout schooling I

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still found it difficult to present in front of my classmates. There were 2

problems to overcome, one was my fluency in English and the second
one was stage fear.

Action: I practised my English every day and used it even if the other
person was speaking in our native language. I read aloud in front of the
mirror to practise. To help overcome my stage fright, I got a job where I
had to stand in a shopping mall with a mic and read a promotional script.
“It was a new bike launched by Honda” . The first day I did not do well
and my fear kicked in however throughout the rest of the week I got
better. What I learn is that you can do anything if you are willing to learn
and put yourself into uncomfortable situations.

Result: I did well in my class presentation because of all the practice I

put in and got an A grade. Later that month my tutor asked me to host a
cultural event taking place at college because she was so impressed
with how much my English had improved.

Example 3

Situation: While working as a Consultant, we were regularly competing

in business accelerator programmes, which are programmes that help
start-ups enterprises scale to a million euros a year in revenue in a
period of time. One time, the CEO of the company decided to participate
in a programme created by Aena, a state-owned company that manages
airports and heliports in Spain.

Task: We were a team of 4 working together as a team. We were

responsible for developing strategies to improve the communication with
aeroplane passengers.

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Action: We didn’t have much time to do it as we were also working on

other projects. However, the deadline to submit the proposal was
approaching. We decided to dedicate 2 days full time to focus on the
project. Each one of us had a different point to work on. I was
responsible for the presentation structure, so I had more than 100 slides
to look at and make them look easy to read. I had to put everything
together in 30 minutes because it took us longer to write the content.
Also, we were working remotely from home, so my teammates had to
send me their part through email which was taking longer because the
files were too big. I had a lot of pressure because missing the deadline
meant two lost days and I was responsible for putting everything
together.

Result: Finally, I managed to have everything ready just 5 minutes

before submitting our proposal in Aena’s webpage. We were all pleased
we were able to do such complex work in just two days.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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21. Describe a difficult problem you had to overcome?

Variations of this question

● What is the most difficult situation you have faced?

● Could you describe a difficult problem and how you dealt with it?

TIP

This question is very similar to ‘Tell me about a time you creatively

solved a problem?’ (Refer to Question 9)

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This question has a lot of similarities to question 9. It is all about how you
solve problems.

The interviewer is going to want to see what steps you take in making
sure you can overcome the situation.

A lot of the time it might involve other team members so the interviewer
will want to hear about how you worked with the team to come up with a
solution.

This is a problem-solving question that tests your critical thinking skills

and is looking for two pieces of information:

1. Your definition of difficulty.

2. How you handled the situation.

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This is a great question for showing that you are a creative and capable
problem solver.

What is classed as “difficult”?

Not everyone is going to find the same things difficult as we all have
different abilities. However here are some common difficult situations
you might have come across and can use as an example.

Time pressure- If you are under a time restraint it is going to put a lot of
pressure on getting the task done. This can be difficult to deal with. In
your example you want to talk about what you did to solve the time
pressure. For example: Doing overtime to get the tasks done.

A mistake has been made- If a mistake has been made this can put
you in a difficult situation. You will want to talk about what the mistake
was and how you went about fixing it. You should also mention what you
learnt from this so it doesn’t happen again. For example: A team
member forgot to complete the graphs for the presentation so the
night before we had to present I created all the graphs. From this
situation I learned to keep in regular contact with everyone to make
sure tasks are completed.

Missing information- If you are trying to complete a project and there is

information missing this can cause problems. If this is going to be the
example you use, make sure to include how you went about fixing this.
In this situation make sure you don’t push the blame onto the other
members as blaming others is not a good quality to have. For example:
When I was completing a report for my last job I was missing some
figures for my data analysis. I knew this was important information
to have so I contacted the data team to ask if they could send me
over the information I needed. They quickly got the data over and I
was able to complete the report in time.

What’s the best way to answer this?

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Your story should be one which puts you in a tough position where you
analysed and discussed the problem, reached a conclusion, and that
you came out on top and it was a win-win situation for the company.

1. Look back to a problem that you were faced with.

2. Define the problem, the expected outcome, and possible solutions.
3. Then talk about the people you had to work with and what was
expected of them and how you tied it all together to reach your
goal.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: In my previous job working in IT, I had to take over a troubled

project from a colleague who had quit.

Task: In my first meeting with the customer, he walked into the room
yelling. He was angry, because the software update that my colleague
had been managing was a month behind schedule.

Action: I didn’t interrupt him. I made notes of the issues he raised.

When he finished, I told him I was going to address all complaints. As I
asked him questions about each issue, he started to calm down while
giving me more information. I went over the specific actions I was
planning to take and get our top specialists working on the issues. I
made sure to frequently update the customer on my progress. What I
realised was that the customer had every right to be upset. The deadline
he had been given was far too optimistic for such a complicated project.
When I explained everything to the customer and what we were doing
step by step he was so relieved because he just wanted to know when
the update was happening so that he could coordinate other parts of his
business.

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Result: It took us one week to solve all the problems and get the project
back on track, but I was able to gain his trust back in our company. Also
the customer eventually apologised for his behaviour in our first meeting.

Example 2

Situation: Back when I was the customer support team leader, we had a
new client who was often very rude to my team.

Task: I decided to meet with him in person to understand him better and
hopefully create a more positive dynamic. My department only
communicated with customers by phone and email, but I thought more
was needed in this case.

Action: I wanted to use the face to face meeting to really get to know
our new client, and also understand why he came across as so rude.

From the moment I met him, he seemed very blunt and quite stressed,
but after 15 minutes he began to share that he had a new born baby who
was sick and was spending all his time either at work or in the hospital
taking care of his new baby and his wife.

I realised that he was rude because he was just stressed and tired and
feeling very low.

All I did was listen and sympathise with his situation and then explained
that in the future if he had any problems he could call me directly
because I understood his situation better and kept his confidence.

Result: He ended up apologising and after our meeting he was

considerably easier to service.

Example 3

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Situation: In my previous job, there was this time when a customer

wanted a new website built on a very tight schedule and with a limited
budget.

Task: I knew it was too risky. I turned down the work and respectfully
explained my reasoning to the customer.

Action: The customer was upset and hired another company for the job.
Sometime later, the customer called me. They had a lot of delays with
their project and realised that the schedule and budget combination was
unworkable. They should have allowed for a longer schedule or a larger
budget for that project.

The company had promised to deliver and then realised that they
couldn’t and had now stopped communicating with the customer.

I explained the situation and the reason why I had turned the project
down in the first place. That he would need probably double the budget
and the time to get the job done really well.

His reaction surprised me. He said that if he had known that from the
start he would have gladly paid us more to do the job.

Result: The customer told me that they wanted to work with us in the
future because they valued our judgement and appreciated the honest
feedback we had given.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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22. Give me an example of a time you showed initiative?

TIP

This question is very similar to ‘Tell me about a time you creatively

solved a problem?’ (Refer to Question 9)

Why am I being asked this?

Initiative is:

1. The ability to assess and initiate things independently.

2. Finding the best solution to something or making a task better
3. The power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.
4. An act or strategy intended to resolve a difficulty or improve a
situation; a fresh approach to something.

In a nutshell, initiative is trying to figure stuff out for yourself, without

having to wait to be told what to do or constantly asking others how to do
something which you could figure out yourself.

Even as a graduate, though your more experienced colleagues will give

you their time, often you will be left to figure things out for yourself and
use the resources at your disposal.

What is the interviewer actually asking?

The interviewer wants to see if you can use your brain to think of new
ideas or solutions.

Initiative is about finding the best solution to something or making a task

better

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What’s the best way to answer this?

Here are some ideas for what to include in your answer

● Are you a self-starter? Can you get things done without needing
further direction or supervision after you have been shown how
once?
● Are you capable of coming up with new ideas and thinking
creatively to solve problems?
● Can you work independently?
● Can you spot an opportunity or something that needs improving,
plan and carry it out?

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: In my previous job at Sainsbury’s working as a customer

Trading assistant I also had to work at the bakery 2-3 days a week.

Task: As a part of my job the routine was after you are finished with the
bakery you have to prepare all the ingredients for the next morning
according to the production plan. All the items are stored in a -30
degree walk in freezer and the freezer is full of boxes. Sometimes finding
an item is like finding a needle in a haystack. During the search your
hands get frozen, and ice starts to appear on your eyelashes plus you
are constantly lifting and moving heavy boxes.

Action: As my manager told me in general to put minimum effort and get

maximum output, I went to his office with a plan to minimise the stock
and inform him of my concerns. I told him that there are way too many
boxes in the freezer, I estimated 3 times what is needed. He immediately
agreed and said he was aware of the freezer being overstocked. I asked

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

him if it was okay if I ordered the stock for next week and gave him an
oral example of how I would estimate and help them reduce the stock in
the freezer and he would also save some money from the store's
budget. I prepared the estimate of 80 products and showed him my final
work. He was happy with it.

Result: Within 2 weeks half of the freezer was empty with just required
stock. My estimate and method were just right, and my colleagues were
really pleased because it meant less time standing in a freezer getting
ingredients ready for the next day.

Example 2

Situation: At the weekend I have a part time job picking and packing in
a local warehouse. I enjoy the job and like my team and have been there
the past 2 years.

Task: After completing my shift for the day, I discovered that one of my
colleagues did not come for his night shift.

Action: I knew that the remaining workers would struggle to handle the
incoming stock as we were already short staffed. I suggested to my
superior that I stay at work for three extra hours to help the workers on
the night shift because of the heavy workload. Even though I was worn
out from having completed an eight-hour shift, I still felt it was the right
thing to do.

My manager was concerned about my physical health, but he said it

would be a massive help as otherwise there would be seriously delays
with sending the stock out.

He offered to pay me double for the work, but more importantly many of
the people on the night shift are my friends and were really happy to
have me helping them.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Result: Taking such initiatives created great relationships with everyone

in the warehouse and created a stronger sense of team spirit.

Example 3

Situation: One summer holiday in between my studies I came back to

Taiwan and got an internship working at a small accountancy firm. I
noticed that we didn't have a good system for keeping track of client
work.

Task: Though the accountants were very organised in terms of the

technical work that they did, there was no system to log incoming
messages and work requests and outgoing project completions. Which
meant work ended up getting missed.

Action: First of all I asked to sit down with the Director at the end of my
first week at work and explained to him about what I thought the problem
was with work getting missed.

He confessed that he was aware of the problem, but all the accountants
were so busy doing client work that no one had the time to organise a
system.

I asked if I could spent the next week testing different project

management systems and also keeping a track of the incoming and
outgoing work that the company was dealing with.

Over the next week I observed over 20 requests that were either late,
not dealt with or simply forgotten about. I also made a document
outlining 5 cost effective and simple project management systems that
any of the accountants could use to log work, assign it to a client file and
also share it with their colleagues.

Result: The manager was very happy with what I had done and once I
implemented this system, my team members and clients were thrilled
that we had a more user-friendly system and better-looking interface.

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Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

23. Tell me about a time you solved a problem in a

new/innovative way?

Variations of the question

● When have you used initiative to solve a new problem?

● When have you successfully solved a problem in a new way in the
workplace?

TIP

This question is very similar to ‘Tell me about a time you creatively

solved a problem?’ (Refer to Question 9)

What is the interviewer actually asking?

Like we mentioned this question is very similar to to Question 9 ‘Tell me

about a time you creatively solved a problem’

The interviewer wants to know when you have taken charge to solve a
problem in a new or different way. This way they can see how you go
about solving problems without using other people's ideas.

What’s the best way to answer this?

First of all you need to find an example. You must make sure that it
reflects on how you came up with the new solution and how you went
about implementing it. Use the table below for some examples

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

What was the What solution did How did you

problem? you come up with? implement the
solution?
No filing system. Decided to create a Created the filing
filing system on system and then
Google Drive so produced a video to
everyone could teach all the staff how
access it. to use the filing
system.

Struggling to find Because we were a I took charge of social

new clients. new company we had media and reaching
not set up a social out to new clients and
media presence. I then my boss asked
took the time to create me to train up a new
a Facebook and employee in this role.
LinkedIn profile and
did a course on how
to promote our
product on social
media.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: In my previous job at Sainsbury’s working as a customer

Trading assistant I also had to work at the bakery 2-3 days a week.

Task: As a part of my job the routine was after you are finished with the
bakery you have to prepare all the ingredients for the next morning
according to the production plan. All the items are stored in a -30
degree walk in freezer and the freezer is full of boxes. Sometimes finding

140
 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

an item is like finding a needle in a haystack. During the search your

hands get frozen, and ice starts to appear on your eyelashes plus you
are constantly lifting and moving heavy boxes.

Action: As my manager told me in general to put minimum effort and get

maximum output, I went to his office with a plan to minimise the stock
and inform him of my concerns. I told him that there are way too many
boxes in the freezer, I estimated 3 times what is needed. He immediately
agreed and said he was aware of the freezer being overstocked. I asked
him if it was okay if I ordered the stock for next week and gave him an
oral example of how I would estimate and help them reduce the stock in
the freezer and he would also save some money from the store's
budget. I prepared the estimate of 80 products and showed him my final
work. He was happy with it.

Result: Within 2 weeks half of the freezer was empty with just required
stock. My estimate and method were just right, and my colleagues were
really pleased because it meant less time standing in a freezer getting
ingredients ready for the next day.

Example 2

Situation: At the weekend I have a part time job picking and packing in
a local warehouse. I enjoy the job and like my team and have been there
the past 2 years.

Task: After completing my shift for the day, I discovered that one of my
colleagues did not come for his night shift.

Action: I knew that the remaining workers would struggle to handle the
incoming stock as we were already short staffed. I suggested to my
superior that I stay at work for three extra hours to help the workers on
the night shift because of the heavy workload. Even though I was worn
out from having completed an eight-hour shift, I still felt it was the right
thing to do.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

My manager was concerned about my physical health, but he said it

would be a massive help as otherwise there would be serious delays
with sending the stock out.

He offered to pay me double for the work, but more importantly many of
the people on the night shift are my friends and were really happy to
have me helping them.

Result: Taking such initiatives created great relationships with everyone

in the warehouse and created a stronger sense of team spirit.

Example 3

Situation: One summer holiday in between my studies I came back to

Taiwan and got an internship working at a small accountancy firm. I
noticed that we didn't have a good system for keeping track of client
work.

Task: Though the accountants were very organised in terms of the

technical work that they did, there was no system to log incoming
messages and work requests and outgoing project completions. Which
meant work ended up getting missed.

Action: First of all I asked to sit down with the Director at the end of my
first week at work and explained to him about what I thought the problem
was with work getting missed.

He confessed that he was aware of the problem, but all the accountants
were so busy doing client work that no one had the time to organise a
system.

I asked if I could spend the next week testing different project

management systems and also keeping a track of the incoming and
outgoing work that the company was dealing with.

142
 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

Over the next week I observed over 20 requests that were either late,
not dealt with or simply forgotten about. I also made a document
outlining 5 cost effective and simple project management systems that
any of the accountants could use to log work, assign it to a client file and
also share it with their colleagues.

Result: The manager was very happy with what I had done and once I
implemented this system, my team members and clients were thrilled
that we had a more user-friendly system and better-looking interface.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

143
 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

24. Give me an example when you had to manage your

time and prioritise tasks?

Variations of the question

● Can you tell me about a time you were able to prioritise tasks on a
strict deadline?
● When have you used new ideas to manage your time and prioritise
tasks?

TIP

This question is very similar to ‘Tell me about a time you had to deal
with multiple tasks?’ (Question 18)

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This question will have a lot of similarities to the question ‘Tell me about
a time you had to deal with multiple tasks?’

The interviewer wants to know if you can deal with multiple tasks that
have different deadlines and how you would juggle all this.

You need to show that you are organised with planning and completing
tasks in time.

Most companies have a fast paced environment with multiple tasks

happening and you are going to be thrown into this.

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

The interviewer wants to see if you will struggle or keep calm and get the
tasks done.

What’s the best way to answer this?

You need to build on a past experience to form your own answer to the
question.

You should list out:

➡️
➡️ ➡️ ✅
What the situation was Why did you have to manage your time/ tasks
How did you prioritise? How you get it all done The result at the
end

Some ideas to think about for your answer are:

● How do you use time management?

● How do you plan your tasks and prioritise them?
● What targets do you set for doing bigger projects?

3 Example Answers

Example 1

Situation: In 2017 I was a franchise manager, at a national fast food

company.

Task: I had to help develop 22 franchises, So I had to make sure I am

giving time to all the partners and prioritising my task that needs to be
done.

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Action: After my induction and training I was given my task and target
and told my progress would be reviewed at a meeting in 3 months’ time.
There were 22 franchises and some of them almost took 1 day of
travelling to visit them. I sent my introductory email to all partners, had a
telephone conversation and later fixed a meeting with all the partners. I
visited all the Franchises and evaluated the business.

From my visits I created a standardised list. Each of the restaurants may

be doing some things well and others badly. But across the 22 stores, I
had a checklist of what an “ideal franchise restaurant” would do and how
it would operate.

Which meant I could then share this information across all the
restaurants and give them clear guidance and actions to take based
upon what another store was doing.

Result: By the end of first quarter I had helped our 22 franchises almost
double in growth.

Example 2

Situation: I worked as a market analyst in a financial institution in

France in 2016 for four years. One of my main responsibilities was to
prepare monthly market reports to both senior management and board
committees.

Task: Every month, I had to write 2 market reports, each of which was
30 pages long, detailing the asset and liability commitments of the
organisation and the businesses that it owned and managed. I had to
juggle multiple deadlines at the same time on top of my daily work
responsibilities.

Action: I usually started out my work week planning out what tasks to do
and complete for the next five days. Besides writing the market reports I
also had to produce daily market reports, gather information from

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different departments for the monthly reports and prepare the reports as
a PPT. I set up a work schedule that I followed closely. This way I could
not only make sure that I was on track with my daily responsibilities but
also that I have some spare time to deal with unexpected work
commitments that may crop up during the week like making forecasts for
the Treasury department as well as time to edit and check the reports
before they were submitted to the board committees.

Result: During my whole time there, I never missed the deadline for the
submission of the reports and I was even praised by one of the board
directors for my accurate reporting.

Example 3

Situation: In August 2018 I was working at a global company as part of

their Marketing team.

Task: I received an email from the vice president of the company. He

asked me to organise the yearly conference with a list of team members.

Action: To begin, I had to split the task with the assigned team members
into numerous areas. These included the venue, hotel, food, logistics,
time schedule, guest speakers and budget. I took on the task of
arranging the venue, hotel, and logistics. It needed a significant amount
of communication, planning, and management. Because I had to take
care of roughly 800 individuals, I needed to figure out how people would
arrive from each franchise and when they wanted to board. Then
double-check the flight schedule and ask them again if it is feasible.
Then I had to manage and link the schedule with hotel rooms,
determining whether they would stay overnight or leave the same day,
as well as requesting the hotel administration to allocate in the following
manner. In addition, I had to organise the conference hall, including

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selecting the seating arrangement, contacting the A&V specialist, and

explaining the timetable to him given by my colleague.

Result: With help from my team and the organisation I put in place, the
Event was very successful and there were no problems at all on the
event day.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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25. What do you think you need to be, to be successful in

this job?

What is the interviewer asking?

The interviewer wants to know what skills and experience you think you
need for the role.

Everything you need to answer this question is going to be on the job

description for the role.

If the job description is not very helpful you can:

- Look for the same job but at a different company that gives you a
better outline of the skills, experience and responsibilities
- Use www.prospects.ac.uk and look up the job role

What are the key skills they are really looking for?

Here are a few examples to give you an idea of the skills you’d want to
mention.

Job Most important skills for the

role
IT Consultant ● Teamwork skills
● Confident decision making
● Presentation skills
● Excellent relationship skills
● Ability to learn quickly and
effectively

Software Engineer ● Logical and analytical

approach
● Technical competency
● Commercial Awareness

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● Attention to detail
● Awareness on new and
current issues

Financial risk analyst ● Good research skills

● Great written and oral
communication skills
● Planning and organisation
● Respect and integrity to the
company and clients
● Commercial awareness

Environmental Consultant ● Communication and

presentation skills
● Organisation and great time
management
● Project management skills
● Commercial awareness and
business knowledge
● IT skills

Internal Auditor ● Analytical thinking

● Resilience under pressure
● Work independently and as
part of a team confidently
● Ability to adapt to changes
● High levels of integrity

What’s the best way to answer this?

As a starting point, refer to the competencies in the job description, and

prepare concrete examples that show you have the skills and work
experience required.

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If you can come up with information that helps to quantify your

contribution and impact, it will help you convince the employer that
you’re the right graduate for their scheme or job opportunity.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

As a result of successfully finishing my master's in Fintech with business

analytics and master's in business administration, I already have the
necessary skills and knowledge.

Modules such as AI & ML, Predictive Analysis, Business Analytics, Big

Data, and Financial Decision Making, have helped me become an expert
in this area. In addition, I have more than three years of work experience
in both multinational and start-up organisations, which can also add
commercial value to the organisation As a result I am an asset to the
company.

Additionally, I consider myself to be Organised, a good negotiator, a

great communicator and I am keen and enthusiastic to use my Data
Science and Management experience to thrive in a large company and
provide great solutions to clients.

Example 2

In the Business Graduate Programme, I would work within a team

environment understanding the importance of collaboration and tackling
the different challenges with a focus on customer service. Additionally, I
would identify learning opportunities within the 18-month rotational
including the areas of Marketing, Sales and Supply Planning, Customer
and Network Support and Social Media and Business Operations. This

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role needs strong problem-solving skills, project management skills, the

ability to be flexible, and strong customer orientation. This could lead me
to develop my skills further by getting a PRINCE2 project management
qualification.

I have previous experience working as a Consultant in a Spanish

consultancy firm, and over 4 years working in Marketing; conducting
market research, developing, and assisting with promotional activities
such as organising events and conducting campaigns. Furthermore, I
have experience dealing with international clients, and excellent
attention to detail. I plan strategically, which enables me to work on
different projects at the same time to a high standard. Thus, my work
experience has allowed me to develop problem solving skills, and to
establish and maintain an excellent relationship with clients. Having
worked for international organisations I have developed cultural
awareness, which enables me to communicate with people more
effectively.

Example 3

I will do well in this job because I have the prerequisite skills and a
proven track record of succeeding in this field. I saw on the job
description that this role requires project management and daily
interaction with clients. Those were key parts of my previous role and
that’s why I’m confident I can do well in this position.
As an example, in my final month at my previous job, I handled an
average of 20 client emails per day, while managing 5 client projects.
And in that month, I completed 100% of these projects on-time to keep
our clients happy.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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26. What has been your biggest setback?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This question is really asking for a bit of honesty and vulnerability.

We have all had setbacks where we didn’t quite get what set out to do.

You don’t need to reveal your deepest darkest secret, but it could be
something as simple as failing one of your modules or as big as getting
cancer and recovering.

This is a perfect time to dig a bit deeper beneath “playing the interview
game” and try to think of a true and honest answer which shows that you
are a resilient person and what you can do when you get knocked down.

What’s the best way to answer this?

3 Example Answers

Example 1

I used to work for a big international company. Unfortunately, they had to

make some budget cuts, and that meant that redundancies were made. I
was one of the people to be made redundant.

At the time, it knocked my confidence, and I wasn’t sure how to handle

the situation as there wasn’t another position similar to my previous job
available. But, I decided to retrain and eventually qualified as an

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accountant. Since then, I have worked for [insert company] and have
carried on learning. By stepping back and reevaluating what I wanted to
do after I lost my job, it meant that I was able to learn a completely new
skill and discover a career which I really enjoy.

Example 2

When I worked as a consultant, I was part of a team organising a

project. Unfortunately, there were issues within the project, which meant
that things took longer than we had planned. To overcome this, I asked
my manager to allow us an extra member of staff to become part of the
team to enable the work to be completed.

By doing this, we were able to speed up the completion of the project

and were able to finish ahead of our deadline. By asking for an extra
staff member, it initially felt as though I was admitting defeat and saying
that we couldn’t complete the project. But afterwards, I realised that I
was actually just understanding the limits of my team. By having an extra
person, it meant that everyone was able to complete their own personal
tasks without feeling overwhelmed, and that meant that it was actually
finished to a higher standard overall."

Example 3

Last semester, I had two weeks to work on a big assignment. Since the
due date seemed so far away, I put off starting it for a few days. That
was a big mistake. I ended up having to do two weeks’ worth of work in
four days while also trying to find time to study for exams and
presentations in other classes. My final grade on the project was a low
C, plus I failed a test for another course.

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Though I got a passing grade, I know I could have done much better if I
had managed my time more wisely. The experience taught me about the
consequences of procrastination. Since then, I try to devote enough time
to each of my assignments. Now I can take my time and do my best on
all of my projects.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

27. Why did you choose your university and what factors
influenced your decision?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This is less of an interview question and more of a conversation.

Essentially they are just curious and understanding what drove you to
choose your University.

Was it:

● The cost.
● The facilities.
● The location.
● The community.
● Your friends and family.
● The University rankings.
● Their expertise in your course subject.

What’s the best way to answer this?

To be honest, a heartfelt answer is always going to resonate more with
an interviewer than something too heavily thought out. Maybe you just
loved the city, or felt they had the best trips.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

The university has an excellent reputation for providing research-led

teaching. They are also known for their innovative approaches to
learning, and their focus on employability. Plus, I had the opportunity to
come to Oxford 3-4 years ago and at the time I also visited Brookes
Campus which I really liked. The town is full of history and I loved the

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feeling of the town. I wanted to experience the uni life of a British town
and I knew Oxford would be the best place for me.

Example 2

There are various factors behind why I chose the University of

Westminster.
Firstly when I decided to study my second masters, it was to really
advance myself, be very relevant with time. I have also wanted to make
sure that it's relevant to the field in which I had been studying.
Secondly , I had already made my mind to settle down in the UK so I
went online researching about what the current state of the country is in
terms of providing a Job and what its future looks like. During that time
there was a big political change happening that was Brexit. So I found
that the UK is heavily investing in Financial- Technology plus they also
required skilled workers to work for them and help support the country's
economy.
Thirdly, I applied at different universities which would give me the best
resources for my studies and my first preference was the university of
Westminster specifically because of its course content Like Al-ML, Block
chain, Banking Technology, Predictive analytics as well using tools like
Python, R , SPPS, SQL .
I found it intriguing and felt like it will keep me enthusiastic and motivated
forever. Though it was slightly new to me.

Example 3

There were quite a few Universities that I wanted to study Computer

Science at, but Warwick University really captured my attention.

I loved the fact that the campus was self contained and it had such great
facilities, while being a relatively modern University

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From using the Warwick Robot Maze environment to exploring the

enormous 720-acre modern campus and world-class facilities. Including
the exciting new Sports and Wellness Hub. I just felt like Warwick had
everything I needed.

Also there is some great night life on offer, with local cities like Coventry
and Birmingham and I was in a great location to go on and explore the
UK.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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 28 Most Most Common Interview Questions: Answered

28. Why did you choose your degree subject?

What is the interviewer actually asking?

This question can be part of a conversation, but also you should pay
close attention to your answer if you’re applying for a job which is quite
different from what you studied.

Most people change their mind about what they want to do for work after
they come out of University, so nothing to be concerned about. Again
this is just about learning your motivations and what drove you to
dedicate 3 or more years of your life to this subject.

What’s the best way to answer this?

As before, just be honest. If your subject is quite different from the job
you are applying for, then you might want to include the skills that you
have learnt and what you like about the job, and how that applies to your
course.

3 Example Answers

Example 1

I’ve always been interested in human behaviour, and this degree has
given me an insight to understand people’s motivations, perceptions and
helped me to understand different perspectives on why people react in a
certain way. These can be particularly helpful when managing a team
which is something I would like to do.

Also, while working as a consultant, I had the opportunity to work in a

team with 2 coaches and one psychologist, so I saw first-hand what type
of responsibilities psychologists get in a business environment. With my
teammates, I learnt a lot about how to be more effective at work, for

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instance, planning my tasks, I also improved my communication skills by

having to do presentations every two weeks. And this is something I see
myself doing in the future.

Example 2

I chose my degree subject becauseI really wanted to advance my skill in

the Field which I have already studied previously and I wanted to keep
up to date with the constant changes to the UK business market.

Technology plays a vital role in our day-to-day life and is being widely
used in all areas of life. I found it very intriguing to do my master in
Financial -Technology with Analytics and study subjects Like Al-ML,
Block chain, Banking Technology, Predictive analytics as well using tools
like Python, R , SPPS, SQL . which is very Futuristic. Moreover, the UK
government has heavily invested in this particular area and there is huge
demand by the employers for the following skillsets.

Example 3

I was drawn to finance while in college. A few of my brother's friends

work for Big Four consulting firms, and my brother works in banking, and
the type of work they talked about really appealed to me. However, it
wasn't until an internship after my second year that I began to develop a
highly specific interest in becoming a consultant in the financial advisory
sector. These consultants typically work on issues that address financial
capabilities, as well as quite often the analytical capabilities within an
organisation. I was assigned a mentor at that time who helped me
understand the field better, and at that point I began mapping out a
career plan, which has led me here.

Worksheet: Download your worksheet by clicking HERE

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Practise, Practise, Practise

How to practice your scripts

It is important to spend as much time as you can speaking your scripts

out loud. Although it is important to write your scripts out so you can
learn, it won't help you practise for interviews.

We suggest that you get used to saying your answers and recording it.
Once you have done this, listen back to your answers and note down a
couple of things you could do better. Repeat this 3 times for each
question.

You don’t need to repeat each question a hundred times.

We tend to find 3 repetitions of 3 times will help lodge the answer in your
brain and make it easy for you to refer to under pressure.

Remember, that during an interview you are going to nervous.

Much like a soldier being drilled before they go onto the battlefield.

You need to get a certain amount of repetitions in for each question, so

that you can remember during the interview.

Otherwise you’ll just have a brain fart and your mind will go blank

Need more help?

>>> Click here to find out more about

Job Ready English

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A Final Note

I’ve had the honour of preparing clients for thousands of interviews for
almost a decade.

I’ll give you the same pep talk I have given pretty much unchanged since
2013

Just remember:

● You are good enough.

● Practise hard and the interview will be easy.
● Every interview is just practise anyway.
● Have fun.
● Shine.

Good luck and thank you for letting us serve you.

Mike

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