published September 12, 2011 01:51:09 EDTYou have the best credentials, a well packaged resume and the right skills for the job at hand. But along with that, you must know how to confidently answer basic job interview questions for you to land the position you are vying for.
The easiest to prepare for are the general exploratory set of questions since it may be hard to anticipate for the behavioral and situational ones. So it is always a good career advice to rehearse and find a way to promote yourself when answering.
Below you may find the most common exploratory questions being asked:
1. Tell me about yourself.
This is your chance to create the best impression so maintain eye contact and practice speaking confidently. Here’s a career advice to make you a shoe in, tell some key areas in your career that specifically targets the job criteria and give an impression that part of your career plan is being in that position.
2. Tell me what you consider as your strengths and weaknesses
Thread carefully here since you may put yourself in a situation that will leave uncertainty in the interviewer’s mind. So make sure that the weaknesses you mention can be viewed as strengths as well. Or if ever there is a weakness, make sure that you have something to counteract it.
For example, you are fussy about the tiniest detail can be seen as a weakness as it may entail delays in projects. Say that “Although I may be seen as fussy and nitpick on everything, I save the company more money and time since being too meticulous has led to a better resolution to a situation.
3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Of course companies would want to protect themselves from frequent turn over and would want someone to stay on longer than a year. This is more for the company’s benefit in assuring that you will not leave in a matter of months. One career advice for questions like this would be to say that in five years you have moved up the corporate ladder or that you have already shared your skills/learned a lot by taking in more responsibilities.
4. Why do you want to have this position?
It can be that you want to challenge yourself or this is your area of expertise. It can run the gamut of how you are meant to have this job or that you just want a fresh start.
5. So what do you think about our company?
This would entail basic research to discern how much you want to be part of the company. The more you know, the more interested you seem to be to the interviewer.
There are other common questions you can practice on, the more you practice the more confident you’d be. Just learn to do your homework and that position will be yours.
