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What are the common types of job interview questions? How can you ace your next job interview? If these are questions on your mind, then look no further than this guide to accelerate your job interview practice today.
In this text, we review the different types of questions you may encounter during job interviews and provide super helpful tips you can use to prepare for and pass your next interview.
Our website provides scientifically validated practice video interview questions that can be used to practice and prepare for the recruitment and assessment process.
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Not sure if you should practice to prepare for job assessment exercises? More than half of all candidates are rejected at the first interview stage Fennell (2022).
Continue reading to get answers to these crucial questions regarding job assessment tests by employers for recruitment.
Before we dive in, let’s consider the different styles of interview questions you could encounter in your next interview.
Interview questions vary, depending on the role, the employer, or the industry. Whatever the case, they are geared towards knowing you better to determine your suitability for the role.
Here are the main styles of questions you are sure to encounter during interviews:
Closed Interview Questions
Closed interview questions are questions that can simply be answered with a straightforward “yes” or “no” without any need for further elaboration. Example: Have you worked in this role before?
Good to Know: While these questions don’t provide much useful insight into your skills, they are often used for informational purposes.
Open-ended Interview Questions
Open-ended interview questions are the opposite of closed interview questions. They require a thorough response and encourage further elaboration. Example: “Can you discuss a time when you had to multitask at work?
Good to Know: These questions are often seen as the best style of interview questions, as they allow you to talk more freely about your experiences and how you demonstrated your key skills.
Leading Interview Questions
Leading interview questions are designed to steer your response to a particular conclusion. They mostly come as closed questions but may sometimes require more details. Example: “Do you agree that this role requires teamwork?”
Good to Know: These are less common, as they can be unfair to some candidates that may not pick up on this more than others. These questions can also influence your answer to what you would not normally say.
Multiple Interview Questions
Multiple interview questions contain many questions which are parts of an overall question. For example, the recruiter may ask you: Give an example when you worked as part of a team; what was your role, and what were the challenges involved?
Good to Know: These can be difficult to answer, as you have to quickly understand and respond to each part of the question in a well-thought-out manner.
Now that we have covered the common styles of interview questions, let’s dive into the main types of interview questions you are sure to meet in your next interview.
Interview questions are inevitable in your application process, and they come in different forms. Employers use these questions to assess your skills, experience, and suitability for the role. It is important to know the different types of interview questions as you prepare for your interview.
These different types of interview questions include:
Let’s check out the different types of interview questions, starting with traditional interviews.
Traditional interviews typically involve a one-on-one or panel interaction between a candidate and the interviewer. The interviewer asks these questions to help them know the candidate better and determine the candidate’s suitability for the role.
Traditional interview questions mostly cover a range of topics, including the candidate’s skills, experience, and qualifications for the job. The interviewer may also ask questions based on the candidate’s resume to gain more insight into their suitability.
Here are some traditional interview question examples you could encounter in traditional interviews.
Watch this short video to discover a great way to answer the question, “Tell me about yourself.”
Having considered traditional interview questions, let’s take a look at behavioural interview questions.
Behavioural interview questions aim to understand how you may handle a hypothetical work-related scenario. Your responses to these questions give employers some insight into your traits and competencies to determine your suitability for the role.
Behavioral interview questions mostly begin with phrases like “How would you…” or “How do you…” Here are some examples:
Behavioral Interview Tip: Be honest when answering these questions. Your answer should demonstrate the key behaviour your employer is looking for, in line with the job description and company values.
That’s the gist of behavioural interviews. Let’s move on to competency-based interview questions and see what it involves.
Competency-based interview questions are job interview questions that attempt to evaluate your ability to handle specific work-related duties, using past experiences to predict future performance.
Check out this short video to find out what competencies mean and how employers use interview questions to assess them.
Some examples of competency-based interview questions are:
Competency-Based Interview Tip: Prepare ahead by reviewing the job description and the required key competencies. During the interview, ensure that you highlight your achievements in each competency area to demonstrate your suitability for the role.
Watch this short video to find out how to answer competency interview questions like a pro.
These are key details you should know about competency-based questions. For strength-based interview questions, here’s what you should know.
Strength-based interview questions are centred on your strengths and positive attributes rather than your competencies. Strength questions are designed to spot your skills, talents, and interests and evaluate how suitable you are for the job.
Here are some examples of strength questions you might be asked in a strength interview.
Strength-based Interview Tip: Seek opportunities to highlight your strengths and skills from the question. Be honest about your weaknesses and areas for improvement, presenting them positively by talking about the steps you are taking to overcome them.
That’s the gist for strength-based interviews. Let’s now move on to motivational interview questions to see what it involves.
Simply put, motivational questions in job interviews are aimed at assessing your level of enthusiasm and interest in the job. They may also review your interests and goals mentioned in your CV and cover letter.
Some examples of motivational interview questions include:
One popular motivational question is, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Check out our top tips to answer this question from this short video.
Having considered motivational interviews, let’s take a look at technical interview questions which you could encounter in your next interview, especially if you’re seeking a tech role.
Technical interviews offer questions designed to evaluate your knowledge and proficiency in a specific field or industry. Technical interviews are typically held for technical roles like software engineering or data analysis.
Technical interview questions can span a range of topics around specific roles, depending on the job requirements and the industry. Here’s a picture of what the questions look like:
Technical Interview Tip: Revise the basics ahead of the interview. Demonstrate your problem-solving skills by breaking down a problem into smaller parts and identifying a solution, explaining the logic behind your answer.
That’s all about technical interviews. Let’s move on to situational judgement interview questions, which are quite common in job interviews.
Situational interview questions are geared towards assessing your ability to make effective judgement in work-related situations. Situational judgement questions are typically used for roles that demand critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Situational judgement questions vary depending on the role and industry. Here is an example of a popular situational judgement question.
Example Situational Interview Question
Your colleague has been recently underperforming in their position, and you have been asked to give feedback on their performance by the team supervisor. What would you do?
Situational Interview Tip: Research the company’s culture and values and the job description to get a sense of the situations you may encounter. Practice answering hypothetical questions based on these situations.
That is all for situational judgement. Let’s move on to brain teasers, a unique type of interview question you may encounter in your next job interview.
Brain teasers are questions generally designed to test your problem-solving skills, ability to think on your feet, and creativity. They are often unexpected and may even be unrelated to the job or industry.
Brain teasers in interviews may take the form of riddles, paradoxes, or strange questions which may be unrelated to the job but quite exciting. Here are some examples:
Brain Teaser Interview Tip: Take a moment to consider the question and what’s being asked. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t know the answer right away. Apply your problem-solving skills to find a solution and explain your thought process as you answer.
These are the common types of interview questions you could encounter in your next interview. While most interviews are mostly done in person, some employers opt for video interviews.
Looking to practice interview questions for your next interview?
The types of interview questions you are likely to face often depend on the industry and company you are applying to.
Keep reading as we uncover some common types of interview questions from top industries.
Interview questions are usually tailored to the industry in which the company operates. This allows employers to assess the candidate’s competence and suitability for the role.
Read on as we cover popular interview questions used in the following top industries:
The finance industry is focused on the management of money, including investments, banking, and accounting. Job roles in this sector include investment banker, accountant, and financial analyst.
Some interview questions you may encounter in a finance role include:
These are common questions you could encounter while interviewing for a finance role. Here are 5 key competencies employers are looking for:
5 key competencies finance employers are looking for:
From finance, let’s check out questions from another top industry in the labour market: the technology industry.
The technology industry oversees the development and provision of technological products and services, hardware or software. Job roles include web developers, data analysts, software engineers, cybersecurity experts, etc.
Interviews questions asked in the technology industry employers include:
Having looked at some questions, here are key competencies tech employers are looking for:
The top competencies for tech employers are seeking include:
This is the gist for technology. Let’s take a look at healthcare, another big industry in the market.
The healthcare industry is centred on the provision of medical care to individuals and populations. Healthcare job roles include doctors, nurses, medical lab scientists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, etc.
Your healthcare interview questions may include some of the following:
These are some common questions you could encounter in an interview for a medical role. Here are key competencies healthcare employers are looking for:
The top competencies healthcare employers are seeking include:
From the healthcare industry, let’s check out interview questions in education, another big industry to which you can apply.
The education industry is concerned with the provision of educational services to students of all ages. Teachers, administrators, counsellors, and educational researchers are the most common roles in this industry.
Here are some education interview questions you could be asked in an interview for an education-related role:
As you consider your responses to these questions, here are competencies education employers are looking for:
The top competencies education employers are seeking include:
Discover what questions you may be asked in your interview. Practice the Essentials with GF and discover more potential interview questions you may be asked with our Question Identifier Tool (QIT).
Now that we’ve covered industry interview questions by some of the top sectors, let’s take a brief look at some top employers using interviews across these industries.
Here are some top employers that use interviews across various industries in the labour market.
Check out other top employers that conduct interviews for recruitment in our employer guides and learn tips to prepare and ace these interviews.
Some interview questions by top employers include:
No matter what kind of interview your employer wishes to conduct, here are some general and important tips that will help you pass any type of interview.
Take your interviewing skills to the next level and gain real interview experience to familiarise yourself with recording answers and improving your interview skills using our video interview practice platform today.
That’s the gist about the various types of interview questions employers ask. If you have other questions, here are the top questions other job aspirants are asking.
Here are some questions you might want to be careful with during an interview:
Here are 5 quick tips to impress your interviewer in a job interview.
You can start an interview by politely greeting the interviewer and thanking them for taking the time to meet with you. To introduce yourself, start with your past experience, then flow onto the current work and your future plans related to the role.
You should dress as decently as you possibly can while working in the role. Wear neutral colours if possible and avoid clothing with a political statement.
Do you want to pass your interview questions, first time? Sign up for tools offered by GF, the only assessment practice test experts that provide tests to over 150 UK universities and their students, and also across Asia and continental Europe. Go to GF now and select from the range of products we offer at no risk. We offer a comprehensive premium package including video interview practice tool and question identifier tool so that you are well aware of what questions you may face during your video interview. Buy with peace of mind without commitment to a full 100% money back guarantee if you do not pass your assessment tests*.
Do you want to pass your interview questions, first time? Sign up for tools offered by GF, the only assessment practice test experts that provide tests to over 150 UK universities and their students, and also across Asia and continental Europe.
Go to GF now and select from the range of products we offer at no risk. We offer a comprehensive premium package including video interview practice tool and question identifier tool so that you are well aware of what questions you may face during your video interview.
Buy with peace of mind without commitment to a full 100% money back guarantee if you do not pass your assessment tests*.
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