There’s a variety of questions you might be asked within an interview situation. The common ones you might come across would be an icebreaker question, so they might ask “Tell me a bit about yourself?” They might ask you questions about the position and your motivation for applying. They could ask situational or hypothetical questions so, what would you do if you were in a particular situation and how would you handle it? Sometimes they might also ask you questions about your self-awareness, so your strengths and weaknesses. They also often or most interviews often have behavioural questions. So these are questions that are formed around your experience and skills that matches the key selection criteria the employer is looking for. Key selection criteria are the skills and attributes that best fit the organisation and role you’re applying for. After behavioural questions, you usually come across closing questions so, “Is there anything else that you would like to tell the interviewer?” “Or do you have any questions for the interviewer yourself?”
How do I handle the ‘strengths’ and ‘weakness’ question?
With the ‘strengths’ question, it’s a chance to demonstrate to the employer that you’re confident in your skills and you have the ability to do the job. This question could come in the form of “Why do you think you’re the best candidate for the position?” Or directly, “What are your strengths?” Think of at least three strengths or reasons that match the key selection criteria and provide short examples of where you demonstrated them and then relate to why they’re important for the role and company.
With the ‘weaknesses’ question, one of the ways you might talk about this to the employer is to talk about a weakness that you’ve already corrected or a lesson that you have learned. State the weakness and then describe why it’s a weakness for you, then focus of the strategies you’ve put in place to improve. Make sure you avoid statements such as, “I would”, and focus on what you actually have done to improve this weakness. Some of the other tips you might use when talking about your weaknesses is make sure you’re honest and that you avoid using examples that give a bad impression or show that you’re trying to avoid the question such as, “I’m a perfectionist”, my favourite one is “I’m a chocoholic”, or my greatest weakness is that I don’t like to work with other people.
How can I answer behavioural questions?
So, behavioural questions are based on your past behaviour being a prediction of how you’re going to behave in the future. So, it’s really important that you are able to structure your response so you are answering the question the employer is asking. One of the methods you could use is the STAR technique. STAR stands for situation, tasks, actions, and results. An employer is looking for specific examples, so it’s good to focus on one experience or a time you have best demonstrated the skills they’re looking for. Try to vary your examples from different life experiences in your work, study and extra curricular activities. Some of the common examples of, or how you can predict a behavioural question is, you might be asked, “Tell me about a time when you have…”, or “Describe for me a time…”, or “Have you ever….”, and then they’ll proceed with the rest of the question.
Final Tips…
Okay, so my final tips would be, one of the ways you can predict the types of questions you might be asked is to carefully review the advertisement and position description, for the role, for the key selection criteria. Make sure that you’re actually answering the question. Some questions may have several different components to them. Hence it’s really important to structure your responses. Take your time to answer. If you can’t think of the answer on the spot, that’s okay. You can ask them, “Can I have a few moments to think about my response”. Always be honest in your responses, however, remember that your example reflect the type of person you are. Practice your technique in answering questions; cause even the most confident of candidates can get stuck on an unexpected question. And practice will enable you to learn how to cope in these situations. Finally, be confident in your examples; demonstrate a passion for the industry and a strong motivation to work for the company.
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