JOB INTERVIEW 101

QUESTIONS ASKED WITH EXPECTED ANSWERS

Prepared by: timespade.com
 INTRODUCTION

By the interview stage, the recruiters are aware of who you are, or atleast,
have a decent idea about the same from the limited reading of your resume.

All you need to do now is confirm that you are the same person that they (or
their colleagues) shortlisted with the requisite skill-set, work experience and
personality, required for the particular position.

For this first guide, we have selected HR questions and answers which apply
to all professions. We would soon be releasing industry-specific questions
and answers, based on our interaction with various recruiters.

Do share your inputs with us :)

HOW NOT TO ANSWER

Q: Have you ever missed a deadline at [xyz organization]?

Answer 1: No/ Never.

While to-the-point answers work great, it is important to understand as to

why the recruiter has asked the particular question. To err is human, and
recruiters' understand the same. They want to see whether you can firstly,
admit the same (many people avoid doing so, which shows a lack of self-
awareness at best, and at worst, dishonesty) and then share as to what
you have done to prevent such instances in the future. And if you have
never missed a deadline, they would definitely want to know as to what
you did, to manage the incredible feat. Just don't stop with a simple no.

Answer 2: Yes, I have. [Then, mentions the situation and reason] However,
I assure you that the same won't happen again.

While the start was great with the admission and description, there is no
need to make an empty statement that you won't repeat the same. This
only shows that you are trying to impress the recruiter just for the sake of it,
and that is not a good sign. As highlighted above, if you mention the
corrective steps taken to avoid such instances, that would be enough.

For example, if you missed the deadline due to some other commitment,
you can simply mention as to how you have started organizing the same
using sticky notes or any calendar app with timely notifications.

Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?

Answer 1. From a young age, I’ve always been excited about [xyz field]. If I
go back to my school days, [shares his story in great details ] and..

Well, you have lost the recruiter's interest, right at the start. Story-telling is
effective, but you need to understand when to use the same. By going into
your background in details, you will find the recruiter interrupting your
answer abruptly, in most cases, and will either ask you to be precise or
throw another question at you.
If you really need to share your history, you should first answer their
question in one-line. Then explain the relevant part of your background as
precisely as possible, and end by sharing as to how it relates to future plan
shared at the very start. Check any good food video, for reference :)
Answer 2: Moving up the corporate ladder/ running this place/ working
for myself/ sitting in your chair.

You shouldn't be saying these to a recruiter. You can be honest, while still
saying what they want to hear. Think about where this position could
realistically take you and how it aligns with your broader professional
goals. For example, you can say that, "I am really excited about this
position at [xyz organization] because in five years, I would like to be seen
as a domain expert in [xyz sector], exposing me to a lot of opportunities."
Or you could say that the job would give you an amazing opportunity to
work with great managers, which would help you in developing into a
great manager yourself. And that is something which excites you.

Tell me about your most notable achievement at your

Q: previous company.

Answer: While I worked at Logitech, I increased their turnover by 300%.

For example, if you were working as the senior manager of the company,
you cannot expect the recruiters to believe the aforementioned answer. If
what you are saying is true, you'd still be working for them or would be
asking them for an extremely high compensation or position, which is not
the case, 99% of the time. You might have got nervous when they asked
for your "most notable" achievement" and decided to play around with
the fact to present the possible version of yourself. But they would dig and
dig and dig until the true story unravels.

Having said that, there may be some nugget of truth behind it. Maybe, you
ran a few successful campaign(s) for a particular line of laptop accessories
and produced the said results. Or maybe you were part of a team that did
something nationwide. Make sure to present the complete story, along
with the measurable result. That would be pretty convincing in itself.

Tell me about a time when you were a part of a

Q: successful team. 

Answer: My university football team (followed by silence).

This leads to so many questions running through the recruiter’s head.

What was your role in the team? How do you know it was successful? Why
was it successful? You see what I mean. Firstly, your answers are
explaining nothing about your skills. Neither is there an attempt to show
parallels as to how the recruiter can expect them to perform well in the
job. Trying to direct the answers out of the candidate is tedious and
frustrating. No recruiter would want the same.
QUESTIONS & EXPECTED ANSWERS

Q: Tell me about yourself.

This question is often asked to break the ice between you and the
interviewer before getting down to business. While most people don't
prepare well for this question, it can be your biggest opportunity to make
a great first impression. Your answer and how you answer would result in
a positive or negative bias created towards you. A good rule of thumb is to
describe who you are in 2-3 words followed by your professional
summary. Then make a quick reference to your biggest achievement and
end the same with what you love to do when you are not slogging away. If
your work experience is limited or you are currently studying, focus on
your specialization area, what you have enjoyed the most and how they
link to the job you are applying for.

Let's take an example: "I am a Python developer with 1.5 years of

experience. Till date, I have worked on more than 10 web applications,
with an average Net Promoter Score of 85+. One of the web apps
developed and maintained by me, for hello.com, receives an average daily
traffic of 20.4k users. While I am not working, I like to contribute to open-
source projects and engage in some serious gaming."

What makes you interested in this position at our 

Q: company?

First things first, you need to demonstrate that you have done your
homework for the position. Mention as to how you came to know about
the position and that it seemed to be a good fit when you went through
the Job Description. Post-this, mention that you went through the
company's website and scanned through the profiles of some current
employees in a similar position, and found that your skills and interests
align with the company's expectation.

Talk about how the company has built or is aiming to develop a particular
product or to achieve a specific target, why it excites you and how your
skills make you confident of creating a difference in the same.
Q: What makes you different from the other candidates?

This is an interesting yet common question. It is apparent that you would

not be having much information about the other candidates. The logic
behind asking the same is to know as to what have you done to date,
which will make the recruiter hire you over another candidate with similar
or slightly better work experience or academic background. To answer the
question, you need to have a clear understanding of who the perfect
candidate for the job would be (based on your research) and how closely
you represent him/her.

You might want to say something like, “While I can’t comment on the other
candidates, what I can say is that my prior experience in increasing sales
of HP's laserjet printers in Hyderabad by 35% y.o.y.,  would allow me to
produce a similar result for the company's printer division in Bangalore."

You don't have any direct experience in this area, are

Q: you sure you can do this job?

The very premise behind this question is that the recruiter is apprehensive
as to your competency for the position. The most effective way to make
them mentally open to your counter for lack of required work experience
is by whole-heartedly agreeing with their assessment, right at the start.

This will catch them off guard because most candidates try to provide
weak excuses to justify that they worked in similar areas in the past. Now
that the tides are in your favour, identify the key skills that are required for
the role, and show as to how you possess the same by providing instances
of solving parallel challenges in your previous company or college. This
would send the message that while the job or industry might change, your
ability to deliver consistently using your particular skill-set won’t. 

What are 3 positive things your former/ current boss

Q: would say about you?

This question is just another way to know you strengths, i.e. your areas of
expertise. However, this particular format, is intended to put added
pressure on you by playing the 'anything you say will be verified by your
boss' card. Do not get rattled!

Provide a sharp, to-the-point answer. Mention your top 3 areas of

expertise and provide an example or two which back up your claim.
Q: What are your weaknesses?

This question usually follows the one where you are asked about your
strengths. To deny having any, demonstrates to a lack of self-awareness,
Providing clichéd responses, on the other hand, such as I like to work too
hard or I like to over-deliver or that I am a perfectionist, only shows that
you are hiding the bodies somewhere, i.e. you are not willing to be
transparent with the recruiter. We all have weaknesses and at some
instance, must have thought of a way to correct the same. The closer you
are to the truth, the higher will be your chances of nailing this question.
And always make it a point to describe the corrective measures to be a
work-in-progress. If it is already or substantially solved, it is no longer a
weakness worth mentioning. 

For example, you might find it hard to take criticism. Thus, you can share
the same and then say that you are actively trying to separate positive
criticism from the negative ones. Mention that you are trying to embrace
such feedback and learn from it.

Q: If you were an animal, what would you be?

This one is asked to judge your personality and can come in many forms
such as, if you were a vegetable, if you were a plant, etc. To have an
answer for the same, you should first note down all your personality
traits. Then, use the job description and the company's norms to shortlist
the qualities the job requires.

For example, you are applying for a business development position at a

company known for playing the long-game and tactfully closing high-value
defense deals. If you mention "Bull" as your spirit animal to show
aggressiveness to drive sales, you will surely send a warning signal to the
recruiter. However, if you replace your answer with "Wolf", a strategic
predator, you are most likely to come out successful.

Tell me about a bad experience with your previous/

Q: current employer.

This is a much-loved question of all recruiters. They want to see whether

you will end up personally attacking your employer.

The safest thing to do is pick up a situation that you believe wouldn’t be

an issue in the prospective organization. Your focus should be on the
eventual positives and leanings, rather than the negatives.
Q: What did you like best about your previous/ current job?

When you are mentioning as to what you liked about your last or current
job, you would ideally want to focus on those points, which will benefit the
interviewing company, directly or indirectly. 

For example,
 you can say " What I liked about my last job was the excellent
on-the-job, LinkedIn marketing training, in addition to the offline
marketing we did for acquiring clients. Given the fact that LinkedIn has
become one of the top channels for B2B sales today, I feel that my skills
will help me succeed here if selected to join your company."

Under which circumstances do you think working on a

Q: team is preferable to working alone?

Here, the recruiter is looking to learn more about how you accommodate
opposing viewpoints. This question is more likely to be asked when you sit
for interviews for managerial positions where you would be tempted to
take unilateral decisions, based on your experiences.

While answering, you should highlight your ability to receive ideas from
others, listen to each team member's viewpoint carefully, and lead the
group to the idea(s) that are the strongest based on clear reasoning.

Q: How would you improve our product or service?

This question is raised primarily to test your knowledge of the company,

its competitors and the industry in general. For knowing about the
company in details, go through its website, news publications featuring it
and social media posts on them (to understand how people perceive the
company and its offerings). You can obtain information about the
company's competitors and the industry in many of the aforementioned
publications along with business news website/ blogs. This will help you
come up with suggestions to improve the company's product or service.
Don't worry about the solution being completely feasible or correct. As
long as recruiters feel that you have done your research and find your
proposition reasonable, recruiters will be convinced.

However, If the company in question has just started its activities or is

super secretive about the same or both, you can say that you would need
to first interact with its customers, understand the company’s strength
and weaknesses and then address the common concerns to improve the
company’s offering. 
 What problem did you face in your last role and how did
Q: you go about solving the same?

While selecting a problem, keep in mind that it should be similar to a

problem you could potentially face at your new job. One way to identify
the same and find similarities with your previous problem, is to think
about common challenges for a firm of its size or in their particular
industry. On successfully doing so, present the context of the problem,
mention when and why it needed to be solved, and how you solved it.
Make sure to quantify the positive result, using the relevant Key
Performance Indicator (KPI).

To take an example: Your current/ previous company was being forced to

pay a high price to local suppliers for procuring components. You went
ahead and sourced the components of the same specifications from China
via online B2B sites such as Alibaba, resulting in a cost reduction of 34%.

What do you do when you find yourself stressed out at

Q: work?

Workplace stress is an issue for everyone. When faced with such a

question, don't pretend to be immune to it. Start off by describing as to
how you avoid stress in the first place through planning and time
management. But acknowledge that there are instances when you are
bound to take the heat. Then share as to how you try to stay calm or, at
the very least, control your response to the situation.

You can say that in such instances, you refrain from making any
immediate decision. You take a short break from work, divert your mind
elsewhere and then look at the situation from a different perspective,
once you return. 
PLANNING TO JOIN A STARTUP?

Q: What are your career goals over the next 3 to 5 years?

We have looked at a similar answer earlier. But startups know it better

than anyone else that millennials are leaving their employers twice as fast
compared to their earlier generations. With enough evidence in front of
them that an average employee would only stay with them for about 3
years, you needn’t pretend that you plan to retire with them.

Be bold and admit that you treat the job as the start of your career, with
your ultimate aim being so and so. In the next few years, you plan to learn
in-depth about the particular industry and add significant value alongside
to the startup, so that you can reach closer to your aim.

Q: Why do you do what you do?

Startups are risky, but if and when they grow, they grow like crazy. This
question is really about the interviewer getting to know you, your
background, and what drives you, to satisfy themselves that you can
contribute to their startup's culture.

Thus, make sure to showcase your crazy passion towards the cause, which
will help you keep chipping away till the startup reaches its inflection
point. Your story should be sufficiently back up your claim.

If you’re given one million dollars every year for the

Q: rest of your life, what would you do?

This shows what you really want from life. Make sure that you show
the happiness of reaching that fictitious income level, but also show
the desire to grow way more than any defined level.

Just like the startup, the sky is expected to be the limit for you. 
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