COMMON INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR GRADUATES The following interview questions and suggested answers have been written by the Thames Valley University careers service. You will notice that the questions fall into groups relating to: your studies, your career goals, your knowledge of your potential employer and your personality and interests. Consider how you might answer the questions while you read them Questions about your course/degree 1. How did you come to choose your degree/discipline? 2. Why did you come to this university/college? 3. What do you like most/least about your subject? 4. What class of degree do you anticipate gaining? Why? 5. How will your studies relate to your work? 6. Have your studies been funded? 7. Tell me about any project work you have undertaken. 8. What is your strongest/weakest subject? Why? 9. What have you contributed to the university/college? 10. What have you enjoyed most at university/college? 11. How does the approach to your subject at this college differ from that of other establishments? 12. What recent developments in your discipline have taken your interest recently? Career Questions 13. Tell me about your career aspirations. . 14. Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years time? 15. What attracted you to this industry/sector? 16. How will your studies support your career? 17. What are you looking for in a career? 18. Describe your ideal employer. 19. What are you looking for in a job? 20. What plans do you have to gain further qualifications? Why are you interested in management? 22. Tell me something about your ambitions Potential Employer Questions 23. Why did you apply to us? 24. How much do you know about our organization? 25. Do you know anyone who works for us? 26. What aspect of your training are you looking forward to most? 27. Why should we select you? 28. What do you think you have to offer? 29. Where are you prepared to work? 30. What do you suppose are the main problems and opportunities facing our organization /industry /sector at this time? 31. Given your career plans, how long will you stay with our organization?
Questions about your personality and interests 32. How would you describe yourself? Can you give me some examples from your life to support your statements? 33. How would your friends describe you? 34. How would your tutor describe you? 35. What are your strengths? 36. What are your weaknesses? 37. What do you look for in a good manager? What sort of manager do you think you will make? 38. What are your interests outside your studies? 39. How do you spend your spare time? 40. How do you spend your vacations? 41. What newspaper do you read? Why? 42. What have you read recently that has taken your interest? 43. What does most of your disposable income go on? 44. How have your interests changed since coming up to university? 45. What motivates you? 46. Tell me about any of your sporting activities? 47. Beside your degree, what else do you feel you have gained from university? 48. In what societies are you active? 49. What positions of responsibility do you hold/have you held? 50. Apart from your studies, what will you remember most about your university days?
STUDENT GUIDE TO INTERVIEW ANSWERS Interviewers all have their own styles. Some ask easy questions, others deliberately try to catch you out. Here is a list of questions which some previous graduates found difficult for one reason or another. We have added our tips to aid your replies. Describe a difficult problem you?ve had to deal with Use a problem that had a positive result or led to an achievement where possible. If not, demonstrate how you have learnt from the experience of solving this problem. Break it down stage by stage and analyze the steps you took to solve the problem. Try to highlight skills used that are relevant to the job in question. What interests you most about this job? Don't fall into the trap of being too honest. If the reduced fare travel and free gym is your incentive to apply, don't reveal it! Refer to aspects of the job specification and use your knowledge of the company's achievements and developments. Tell me about yourself This may be an attempt to help you relax at the beginning of an interview and to chat to your interviewer. Don't be tempted to waffle. If in doubt, ask which particular aspect of you they require information about. Emphasize points relevant to the job. If running out of
steam, or if the interviewers eyes glaze over, ask for feedback. Do they want to know more about any aspect of your life in particular? Do you prefer working alone or with others? The question is usually asked to find out whether you are a team player or not. Determine whether or not you need to work on your own as part of the job before you decide how to bias your reply. Answer accordingly, e.g. 'I'm quite happy working alone when necessary and work well without supervision. However, I love to work in a group; so much more gets achieved when people pull together'. Explain your role as a team member Again used to explore your ability to work as part of a team and your understanding of the ways in which a healthy team functions, e.g. clear communication and incentives, motivation, goal setting etc. You must ensure that you clarify your role in any team projects not just refer to the work of the whole group How old are you? Are you married? Do you plan to have children? (i) These questions are grouped together as they are all examples of possible discriminatory questions. It is unusual to get asked these types of questions in interviews with large (usually equal opportunities) employers, but you may still come across them in interviews with small companies.
(ii) Employers are not allowed to discriminate against any person on the basis of gender or race, but it is hard to tell what makes a question illegal. Employment discrimination is difficult to pinpoint and even harder to litigate. Your best bet is to seek expert advice, for example, at your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
(iii) If you really want the job, you may choose to answer the question. If you do, use positive examples of your skills and experience to overcome any possible prejudice.
(iv) Finally, you may decide to challenge the employer's right to ask these questions by asking how these questions are relevant to the job or stating that the question has no relevance to your ability to do the job. This approach runs the risk of offending your interviewer, but on the other hand do you really want to work for an organization that exhibits such, at best outdated, and at worst discriminatory, selection criteria? Can you work under pressure? You will need to use examples showing that you were still able to work efficiently, delivering a quality service and meeting deadlines in any kind of pressurized environment. What is your greatest weakness? Honesty is not always the best policy. Make sure that the weakness you refer to is not the
most important requirement for this particular post. Select an attribute that could also be construed as a positive quality where possible. For example, I can be rather too meticulous or a perfectionist. Turn negative traits into positive: I used to hate administrative duties, but I identified this as a problem area and now perform administrative tasks satisfactorily. What kind of decisions are most difficult for you. Ensure that the difficulties in making decisions are clearly identified as belonging to your taskmaster, not to you. For example, I have problems making decisions when I have inadequate information or it is not clear what my priorities should be or what resources are at my disposal, etc. What personal characteristics are necessary in your field? Choose characteristics relevant to the job. Refer to your assessment of the job description and job specification. What is your greatest strength? Pick strengths that are likely to interest your employer and will be relevant to the job. What interests you least about this job? Never reply with reference to a major part of the work. Select something you know to be a very minor and insignificant part of the job description. What kind of people do you like to work with? Your answer to this may depend on your knowledge of the makeup of the workforce of the company. Will you be working with a young, dynamic team, for example? If in doubt, opt for a cautious reply and point out that you like working with all types of people and have done on several occasions. Give examples of times when you have done this. What kind of people do you find it difficult to work with? Answer as before. Why do you want to work here? This is your chance to reveal all the insights you have into the company based upon the research you did in your interview preparation. Remember those company brochures, web pages, report from the Financial Times, conversations with friends who work there etc? Tell your employers what you've learned and why the company/job appeals to you. What kind of experience do you have for this job? Make your experience concise and relevant to the job. You can draw on experience front all aspects of your life. Clarify areas of relevant transferable skills. What would you like to be doing five years from now? This question is often an attempt to cheek whether you have any ambition and a desire to
remain within the company. Remember though that some ambition is a good thing but certain employers can be alarmed by too much ambition and get the impression that you would leave the company if a better offer came along or, worse, be after their own job and be too difficult to handle. What are your salary expectations? Try to weigh up what you would like to get with a realistic assessment of what the company is likely to give. Then, strike a balance. This is a very difficult issue to address and you need to consider the amount of money you can afford to live on, in addition to researching the 'going rate'. What are your outstanding qualities? This is your chance to re-emphasize all those attributes you have which are particularly relevant to the job in question.