Common Interview Questions

The top 10 “Most Common” Interview Questions

Job Interviews. Hearing these two words can give chills to any job candidate. Many people have trouble going through the job interview process because of their anxiety or the fear of saying the wrong thing. More pressure is added to this process as it’s the most crucial step of any recruitment process and paints your personality for the recruiters as to how you answer the interview questions, through which they decide whether to hire you or not. 

We can ease things for you by helping you prepare for the Most Common to Most Unusual Interview questions that might be asked during a job interview. We referred to a survey done on 500 career experts for these interview questions and how the recruiters expect the candidates to answer them.

The statistics for it are shown below: 

Statistics of Common Interview Questions | Receptix

Source: Zety

The top 10 “Most Common” interview questions (according to the survey)

  • The most favorite question: Tell me about yourself.

This question is an all-time favorite for recruiters and one of the essential ones too, as this question helps them to understand you as a person and get to know you better. 

  • Tell me about a challenge or conflict you faced at work and how did you deal with it?
  • What are your greatest strengths?
  • How did you hear about this position?
  • What are your greatest weaknesses?
  • Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership skills.
  • Why are you leaving your current position?
  • Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
  • What type of work environment do you prefer?
  •  How would your boss and coworkers describe you?

 

These 10 questions have something in common, which will help us understand the strategy of the interviewers and hence, how they expect the candidates to respond. 

 

Analysis on the Approach of Interviewers

One thing that is common among all these 10 questions is that they are open-ended questions, and require explanation and examples unlike the close-ended questions which can be answered in one or two words. 

This shows that the recruiters expect candidates to follow the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action and Result); wherein the candidates are advised to explain and give examples to justify their answer. 

Even for close-ended questions, the candidates should try to give examples and explain the reasoning. 

 

As we have understood the approach behind the common question, it’s time to move to the unusual questions.

Most Unusual Questions in an Interview

Unusual Interview Questions | Receptix

Source: Zety

The questions do sound odd and weird to ask, but that is the purpose of the interviewers, to startle the candidates and catch them at surprise. These types of interview questions are asked to see if you choose to benefit yourself, your team or the organization. 

They also analyze how creative the candidates are with the answers.    

The approach for these types of interview questions is to give a witty answer that ends up showing your support for teamwork and consideration for the organization

Given below are some of the best examples for unusual interview questions, go ahead and practice answering them:  

  • If you were a coin in a blender how would you get out?
  • If you were a god what would you do?
  • What is the best way to tell whether a fridge light really shuts off when you close it?
  • You’ve been given an elephant. You can’t give it away or sell it. What would you do with the elephant?
  • Can you explain Carbon-14 dating to me? (for a receptionist job in a construction company)

Conclusion

Now that we have analyzed the different approaches and questions asked by the interviewers during a job interview, it doesn’t look so scary. 

The main aim of a recruiter is to get to know you enough to see how you use your skills to use for the organization and how it benefits the employers. They also check if you would choose your team and the organization or yourself in critical situations. All these factors lead them to decide if you have the right attitude for the organization. 

So, instead of being terrified of the job interview process, break it down to these two approaches and formulate your answers accordingly.  

All the best!

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