The 40 Most Common Job Interview Questions

A list of the Forty Most Common Interview Questions is below, but keep in mind that many other interview questions will be derived from these forty. When thinking about how you should answer each question, always consider how you can segue into one of your Key Selling Points. Consider, too, arriving at each interview with a mental list of creative ideas about what you would do in the position if you were hired, which one human resources manager says, "is a great way to impress just about any employer."

Remember that tact and discretion are of utmost importance in any interview. A common, but tricky question some interviewers ask is, "What other companies are you considering?" Here, you'll want to be honest, without revealing too much information or indicating to the interviewer that any other job is more appealing than this one. Other questions that will require lots of diplomacy-and as little negativity as possible-include, "Why did you leave your last job?" and "What would you do differently if you were in charge of this company?"

Finally, keep in mind that your interviewer's questions may not automatically educe the kind of information she needs to know. In the end, it is up to you-the interviewee-to provide enough details about yourself and your work experience that will satisfy that ultimate question: "Why should we hire you?"

1. What are your career goals?

2. How have your career goals changed over time?

3. If offered this position, how long would you plan on staying with our company?

4. What's your understanding of the job?

5. What could you bring to this position and to this company?

6. Why do you think you are more qualified than other candidates for this position?

7. Why do you want to work at this company?

8. What salary are you expecting?

9. What would you do differently if you were in charge of this company?

10. Name one of your weaknesses.

11. Name one your strengths.

12. Which areas of your work are most often praised? 

13. Which areas of your work are most often criticized? 

14. How do you think your last boss would describe you? 

15. How do you think a colleague would describe you? 

16. How do you think a subordinate would describe you? 

17. Walk me through the important points on your resume.

18. Explain to me how your work experience is relevant to this position.

19. Why did you leave your last job?

20. What other companies are you considering? 

21. Tell me about your work style. 

22. Tell me what your ideal job would be like.

23. What criteria do you use for evaluating success?

24. Do you consider yourself a leader? What qualities make a good leader?

25. Tell me about a problem you've encountered on the job and how you dealt with it.

26. Tell me about a situation in which you failed to resolve a conflict. 

27. Tell me about an occasion when you acted on someone's suggestion.

28. Are you willing to travel for this job?

29. Are you willing to relocate for this job?

30. Describe a project that you're especially proud of. What was your role in this project?

31. Why did you choose your college major?

32. How do you spend your spare time?

33. How do you stay current or up-to-date in this industry?

34. Tell me about a time when you used your creativity to overcome a problem.

35. Which of your skills-technical or otherwise-has most helped you on the job?

36. What new skills have you learned or developed recently?

37. Have you made an oral or written presentation recently? Please describe it.

38. What else should I know about you? 

39. What questions do you have for me? 

40. Why should we hire you?

The dangers of driving when drunk

According to statistics, over 90% of all UK drivers consider that driving under the influence of alcohol is extremely dangerous, and recognize the dangers of driving when drunk. The problem with this statistic is that it means that over two million UK drivers must think that drunk driving is not dangerous. This could not be further from the truth, each year on British roads 3000 to 3500 people are killed in drink related accidents. 

Newspaper headlines commonly claim that the numbers are falling, although it is true that over the last few years the numbers have fallen, that is only compared to record highs. When you look at the first time the figure was recorded back in 1979 only 1600 people were killed, half of today’s figures. Therefore, it seems hard to argue that these are ‘good’ figures and numbers of deaths are going down.

The UK legal limit for driving with alcohol in your system is 80mg of alcohol to 100ml of blood. It does not necessarily follow that if you body has less than this limit you are safe to drive. In the US, many states have successfully prosecuted drivers who were below the legal limit but still deemed to be unfit to drive.

Even in the late 70’s if the police stopped a driver who was drunk, they often did not have breathalyzers available. And would also take an attitude of the driver was ‘not too drunk’ and let them walk the rest of the way home. That attitude has disappeared completely; police now always seek convictions for drivers who are even a tiny fraction over the limit.

If you choose to drink and drive the law now has stiff penalties, combined with a strong will to make an example of, not just some, but all offenders. Driving above the limit carries a 12 month ban, a £5,000 fine, and a sentence of up to six months in jail, and that is for the first offence. Anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to refuse a breath test faces the same penalties.

An endorsement on your license for a drink-driving is not removed for eleven years, that means for eleven years if the police pull you over they will almost certainly breathalyze you, on the basis that you have a history of ignoring the dangers of driving when drunk.

Insurance companies would rather take on a seventeen year old with a sports car than someone with a drink driving conviction as they consider the risk to be lower. This means premiums could be several times what you paid before the conviction. After a second offence, insurance is nearly impossible to obtain at any price.

Drunk drivers who killed someone else, used to often come under the careless driving laws, which carried a maximum penalty of a £2,500 fine. The new offence of causing death by careless driving, while under the influence of drink or drugs, is slightly stricter with a maximum disqualification of two years, and a fourteen year prison sentence.

Drinking and driving is now completely socially unacceptable, with not only the courts frowning on such behavior. Friends and neighbours can ostracize offenders, employers have no interest in taking on convicted drink drivers, and even if they do, their insurers will often block the employment. The days of casual drink driving are well and truly over with the vast majority of people recognizing the dangers of driving when drunk on British roads.

The Death Of The Muscle Car – My First Case

It happened back in the 70’s, but the evidence was still there. It was the case of the disappearing horsepower and this is what happened. 

In the era of the muscle car power was everything. It didn’t matter what it was, sports car, family car, pickup; it had the biggest V-8 possible stuffed under the hood. Cubic inches were king and advertised power was astronomical. These cars could kick sand in the windscreens of anything else on the road.

But then horsepower seemed to disappear overnight!

Take my favourite muscle car, the Ford Mustang. The macho models had V-8s, though meeker models came with an inline six. The biggest six had 200 cubic inches and 155 hp in 1969/70.

What did the V-8s punch out? The most powerful 351 gave 300 hp in 1970 and the 427 gave a massive 390 hp in 1968. But by 1973 the most powerful Mustang had a 351 V-8 with just 156 hp. Almost half what it had in 1970, and only one horsepower more than the 200 cu in six of 1970!  As for the Mustang II of 1974, we won’t even go there.

The story was similar with the other manufacturers. What was going on? It just didn’t add up. Could I trust the figures?

My detective mentor, Agatha Christie, taught me that when you’re solving a case you can’t trust anyone. Murderers do lie.  In this case it wasn’t murder though it was the death of the muscle car, and it wasn’t so much of an outright lie as not telling the whole truth. And outside forces were at play.

I had to dig deeper. I had to find the facts. Why would horsepower virtually halve?

It turned out there were a few reasons. Salesmanship was one.  Horsepower was everything so why not measure it in a salesman friendly way? Gross SAE horsepower was used. Power was measured at the flywheel with no power-hungry accessories attached. Only the bare essentials were used.

In 1972 SAE Net measurements were phased in. Power was still measured at the flywheel but all the accessories were installed including the full exhaust system, emission controls, all pumps and the alternator. SAE Net can’t be compared exactly to SAE Gross because there are just too many variations in measuring, but it is down around 80%. So power ratings dropped. In 1973 horsepower ratings went down again as power sapping emission controls were tightened.

Gross SAE horsepower had pushed the listed power up.  So did the advertised horsepower some car companies used. What’s wrong with a little rounding up of the numbers for the brochure? Surely that would help sales too.

All this horsepower galloping around got noticed and not just by young guys.

Safety legislators noticed, and so did insurance companies who started charging more for insurance. The word on the street is that in 1967 a young guy under 25 with a clean driving record would have paid $700 a year for GTO coverage. Ouch! Some car companies lowered their advertised horsepower ratings.

Muscles peaked in 1970, and by 1971 they were starting to get flabbier. Engines were being detuned and within another year bigger engines were being dropped. 

In 1973 many muscle cars were a shadow of their former selves. And they were finished off by the oil crisis of late ’73. Long lines at gas stations and soaring prices were a real shock, and so was a 55 mph national speed limit. Gas guzzlers were irresponsible, expensive and unwanted, it didn’t matter how much fun they were. 

So there you have it. I now knew what had happened to all that brute power. Some exaggeration had pushed listed horsepower up. A fairer, more accurate measuring system brought it down. Emission controls brought it down more, and soaring insurance costs made ground-thumping power too expensive to own. The oil crisis finished the muscle car off.  This case was solved.