INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Frequently Asked Questions Include:

Tell me about yourself
A standard answer can be prepared for this question but make sure you don’t sound like you’re reading a script. Give details of your degree, relevant work experience, extra curricular activities you were interested in at uni or outside of that including hobbies, your range of skills and link those details to the position being applied for.

What have been your achievements to date?
Be careful not to limit your achievements to one area (e.g. “my degree”) but draw from your entire experiences be they from surviving a shark attack whilst travelling or reaching a football final or satisfying your extreme ironing addiction. Make yourself stand out by being unique – but avoid being too extreme! Choose achievements that relate to the skills required for the job.

Tell me where you have faced a difficult situation and how you have overcome it?
A lot of recruitment is thinking on your feet hence the question! The interviewer wants to find out here what you perceive to be ‘difficult’, and how you deal with pressurised situations. Describe how you identified the problem and the solution and how you put that solution into practice. End on a positive stating what you learnt about yourself from that experience.

What are your strengths?
Back up your answers with examples. Don’t just say ‘I’m confident’ but ‘From all my acting I’ve developed a confidence from performing in front of over 700 people which I feel would be invaluable in this role because…’
Try to make it relevant to Recruitment/Sales.

What are your weaknesses?
This question should be seen as an opportunity to sell yourself by describing a weakness that is no longer one!
An example is having high expectations of yourself which can be seen as a weakness if you are harder on yourself, but on the flip side, is something that could also motivate and drive you.
Be careful to choose a weakness that has been turned into strength or that you can demonstrate how you are working on it.
Also, point out the obvious and say you haven’t worked in recruitment or that you might not have solid sales experience but essentially have attributes that are going to make you fabulous at it!

Why did you leave your last place of work?
Avoid being overly-critical and personal. Being negative creates a bad ‘vibe’ in the interview and may make you look petty and bitter. A company wants to employ a positive person.

Other questions include:
Why do you want to join our company?
What qualities do you have to offer this company?
What do you know about the role?
Detail successes you achieved in previous roles?
What were your targets?
What were you achieving? Can you prove this?
What did you do when you were struggling in your last role?
What motivates you?
What do you like about the role/company?
Why this sector?

As mentioned always justify your answers. One tip is to imagine a parrot on your shoulder asking “so what” after each of your answers to make sure you are linking your answers to the vacancy at hand.