After going on so many interviews, I feel like I can become an expert and tell others about all the interview environments I experienced during my job search. Many questions are the same, but how prepared are you? Are your answers good enough?

Don’t oversell yourself – stick to the facts and tell the story. Share insights gained and professional lessons learned when possible. Try to quantify/justify your statements with backup statements, like proof of your work and successful efforts. Check out these 15 pretty popular questions any interview will have.

It is important that you prepare yourself before an interview. Print these questions out, or write them out as part of your research/notes about the company you are interviewing with. I found myself 5 seconds after being asked a question…wondering HOW to answer that question! You don’t want to be that unprepared. Check out these questions and know how to answer them:

1. Tell me about your greatest accomplishment on the job.
2. Tell me about a difficult situation you encountered at work and how you overcame it.
3. Give me three adjectives you would use to describe yourself and examples of your work style to support them.
4. Give me three adjectives you would use to describe your weaknesses/areas for improvement and the reasons why you feel you need to work on these.
5. Tell me about a time where you were required to work with a difficult person (i.e. client, co-worker, manager, etc.). How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?
6. If you were given a task to complete in an unrealistic time frame, what would you do?
7. If someone came to you with an enthusiastic, yet unrealistic request, how would you handle it?
8. Why are you looking to leave your current position?
9. What do you want to get out of your next job?
10. Tell me about the best manager you ever had? Now tell me about the worst?
11. What are the three most valuable things you’ve learned while working in your current position?
12. What was the biggest mistake you’ve made on a job?
13. What do you feel makes you successful in your current role and why?
14. Do you prefer working alone or in teams? Give examples of how you have worked successfully both alone and in a team? What do you attribute your success to?
15. What skills are you looking to develop in your next job? Why?

There are other questions that are asked, but I found these to be the most popular and ones that sometimes I was just not prepared enough to answer.

Your Success is My Success,

Keith Lipke

I’m a careers and college recruiter, coach, public speaker and leader at The Career Closet. His passion is to educate, inspire, and give hope to young people who need it upon their search for the right career and college

Follow my Tweets and join me on Facebook!