There are far too many job seekers who cling to questions in an interview as if they seem to come out of the blue. However, many of these questions could have been foreseen. Study this list of 10 questions and prepare your answers in advance, which will give you the confidence you need when the time comes to answer them.
1. Can you introduce yourself?
With this question, it is a question of assessing how the person structures their journey. It’s a preamble that also allows you to already know more about the candidate’s personality (talkative, reserved…) and their current state. A messy start can signify a strong state of stress. »Essential of the job interview, we also offer 4 examples of speeches to present to you and a Podcast to listen in which we give you 5 tips to talk about you to the recruiter and present you in the best way possible.
2. What do you know about us?
The candidate must have obtained information upstream via the Internet and social networks. We must feel that he has worked on his job interview and that he is looking to build a relationship of trust. Example: just like you I studied finance. Research must, therefore, be done on the company, but also, if possible, on the person who receives you. Try to find the 10 things to know about the business on the Internet.
3. Why do you want to leave your current position?
We test the candidate’s reliability with this question, for example, he starts to disparage his current or past employer, the interview is already on the wrong track… You always have to know how to stay positive, it is not because you are trying to give new impetus to your career that must speak negatively of the past. »Practice talking about your previous employer in advance to be comfortable on D-Day and think about the various reasons that make you want to change jobs and apply elsewhere.
4. What sparked your interest in this job offer
The recruiter will turn his question this way: Why apply with us? We don’t require candidates to know everything about the company. But we are looking for at least a match between the mission offer and the person’s motivation levers. The application must be consistent.
5. Tell me about a situation where
Where you managed to resolve a complex problem, where you managed to carry out a project until the end. Where you experienced a professional failure. A recruiter needs to imagine the candidate in given contexts, to know his results obtained but also the lessons which he could draw from positive or negative experiences (to read on this subject, our article How to transform failures into success lever?). It can be feedback experienced in a professional context as well as a personal one.
6. What results have you obtained in your previous experiences?
We are looking for the candidate’s experience based on concrete, quantified and quantifiable elements. Are these results in line with the requested objectives? How did he get them? We can thus measure its negotiation levers.
7. How do you organize your commercial prospecting?
We obviously adapt the questions to the profiles sought. For consultant positions, for example, we are looking for candidates with a commercial sense. This question allows us to better imagine the candidate in his daily professional life, hoping that he will take the opportunity to give us the facts.
8. Which negotiation are you most proud of?
Generally seeks to balance questions about difficult or failed situations with more positive questions, so that the candidate can maintain confidence and remain positive during the interview. It’s a question of balance.
9. What is the most constructive criticism we have been made of?
This is a question to measure the candidate’s perspective, recognizes them requited. We can thus see his ability to self-assess, his maturity.
10. If you could go back to the past, would you do certain things differently?
But it can break certain shells. As is often the case, there is no right or wrong answer, we just want to see if the person can learn from it.
11. What would you like to do once you are in office?
In this situation, it measures the candidate’s ability to have thought about his project and his candidacy. This is a question that allows recruiters to assess the projection ability of applicants.
12. How do you plan to interact with your new work environment?
You may not expect it, but you have to be prepared to answer this very concrete question, especially when you are a manager. We test the candidate’s collaborative spirit. His ability to adapt to a new environment, with new colleagues. .
13. What do you expect from your manager?
What do you expect from your manager? Another question that seems simple but which is not. Here, we assess the compatibility of the candidate with an ecosystem that he is likely to integrate. If the recruiter knows in advance that the candidate’s future manager is someone who likes to delegate effectively, for example, we will rather tend to look for candidates who seem to appreciate being able to work independently.
14. What are your areas of improvement?
This is a variation of the question on the qualities and defects of the candidate. Assess the candidate’s ability to take a step back from himself, his lucidity, by trying to detect constructive states of mind, honesty, and transparency.
15. What are your professional drivers?
It’s a question similar to what makes you get up in the morning? All responses are admissible if they are constructed. It can be compensation, precise objectives to be achieved, a taste for challenge, a fulfilling work environment, the moral values defended by the company. The answer will also allow us to give valuable information to the manager of the person recruited, to that he can better define his personality.
16. What are your salary claims?
The questions on remuneration allow, here too, to test the level of preparation and reflection of the candidate, recognizes. He must be able to properly assess what it is worth.
17. What is your availability?
It informs the recruiter from a very practical point of view and can also be used to judge the motivation of the candidate. If he spontaneously makes himself available for a new interview or a quick start, this is a good sign.
18. What are your hobbies?
Talking about what you like can help the candidate to relax. You can start from what you have entered in the Interests section of your CV.
19. Do you have any questions?
Often the last question, but not the least important. The candidate must have in return questions to ask the recruiter, assures the manager of Hays. Attention to boat questions: ask for example the turnover of the company while we have access to this information on the Internet. I appreciate more the questions of projection on his work environment, the size of the team, his seniority, etc.