TOP 30 Interview Questions and Answers from a Recruiters Playbook

Top 30 questions transcribed from my YouTube Video\

Hey everybody, Don Georgevich here with Job Interview Tools. Have you ever gone on a job interview where you felt like you gave all the right answers, felt like you did really well, but you didn’t get the job? I know; me too. It happens a lot to a lot of people.

Let me tell you what happened. You didn’t tell the hiring manager what they wanted to hear; it’s the single biggest reason.

You see, they have their own hiring guide that tells them specific content of what to look for in your answers. And if you don’t meet their guidelines, you’re out; it’s as simple as that.

So, what I’m going to do in this video; instead of telling you what to say, because that’s not what this video is about, we are going to dive deep into the top 30 interview questions. These are the most common interview questions that employers will ask you in a job interview. But I’m not going to tell you what to say. I’m going to tell you what they’re looking for. I’m going to tell you what a hiring manager or a recruiter or an employer is looking for in your answer.

And then all you have to do is take that information and craft your own responses based on your experience and you’ll have a totally natural, genuine answer that will just wow any employer.

Now, before we get started, I want to give you the secret combination to interview success. Write this down; it’s 7-38-55; that’s right. And you’re probably like, “Don, what the heck are you talking about? What are those numbers?” Well, I’m going to tell you. Those are the three elements of communicating in a job interview.

You see, most people don’t realize this, but your body is doing most of the communicating; that’s right. Your body, your posture is doing 55 percent of the communicating in a job interview.

38 percent is related to voice and tone. So, if you’ve got a monotone voice like this, you’re getting a zero there on the 38 percent. But if you beef up that voice and you talk real strong and you enunciate your words, then you’re delivering at a much higher level.

And then only 7 percent of your answer is related to the actual content. That’s right; only 7 percent.

So, write that down; 7-38-55. 7 percent related to content, 38 percent related to voice and tone that you use in an interview and then 55 percent is related to your body language.

So, you want to have good posture; you want to sit up straight you want to keep those shoulders back. When you when you get into that posture, that position, that just makes you feel more confident and then that makes your voice and your tone come out stronger and clearer. That’s how you succeed.

But I tell you, most people are so frightened when they go into a job interview that they just sit there like this and they talk like this and they have a real monotone voice. So, they get a 0 percent on the 38 of the tone and they get a 0 on the body language, 55 percent. So, an interviewer is only hearing the content and that’s only 7 percent of the answer.

I didn’t make this stuff up. This is science. This is totally science backed. Go look up the rule, 7-38-55 on the Internet. Get some more information on body language; that’s all I’m going to spend on it.

But what we’re going to do is we’re going to jump into the Top 30 Interview Questions right now and I’m going to tell you exactly what employers are looking for in your answers.

1. So, the first one we have here; tell me about yourself.

Now, this is one of the most common interview questions that’s used. It’s a good icebreaker question, but what an employer is looking for is they want to hear about your journey through your career. They want to hear what got you interested in what you’re doing.

So, if you’re in finance, they want to hear why you like finance, why you’re passionate about finance and where you’re going. If you’re in healthcare, they want to hear what you’re passionate about health care; maybe you like helping people, whatever. That’s what they want to hear.

So, you don’t want to just give them a whole bunch of blah blah blah about, “I’ve done this and I’ve done that.” Share your passion with them. Tell them what got you excited, when it got you excited and what you did about it and the journey you went through in your career to develop that passion. That’s the best way to answer; “Tell me about yourself” because that’s what they’re looking for in your answer.

2. This is this is a really popular one; why is there a gap on your résumé?

Well, a lot of people, maybe they got laid off, maybe they got fired, whatever, they quit their job. So, now they’ve got a 3 or 6-month gap on the résumé; sometimes more, 1 or 2 years isn’t all that uncommon.

So, what an employer wants to hear when they look at your résumé and like, “Well, Don, why do you have a 2-year gap on your résumé?” Let me tell you what they want to hear. They want to hear that you were doing something else to better yourself while you were looking for a job. They don’t want to just hear that, “Oh, well, you know, no one would hire me.”

They don’t want to hear your hard luck story. They don’t want to hear that you were taking care of a sick loved one. They don’t want to hear that the job market was just brutal and you couldn’t find anything.

They want to hear what you were doing to better yourself while you were searching for a job. So, maybe you went to some free seminars, maybe you did some trainings, maybe you read some books. But they want to hear that you were doing something to better yourself related to your career or your occupation instead of just sitting around and watching TV and eating potato chips.

3. What motivates you?

Now, the best way to get motivated is to get excited about something. So, if they ask you, “What motivate you, Don?” Tell them that when you’re passionate about something, that’s all it takes because you are all in. What an employer is looking for is what gets you excited about your work. Why are you excited?

So, the easiest way to answer this is to tell them,

“I’m so excited about the place I work because they have a clear vision of where they’re going and that’s what gets me motivated. When the company knows where they’re going and their values and their mission is aligned with me, I just get so excited about waking up every morning and getting out of bed and going to work because I’m going to a beautiful place with beautiful people with a clear vision and a mission of helping people or whatever our mission is…”

or whatever your mission is. That’s how you answer that question.

4. Why are you applying for this position?

Now, for a lot of people, they’ll be like, “Well, it’s because I need the money. Because I need the job.” Totally wrong answer.

What you want to do is find out what their core values are. You can do this from their website. Find out what their core values are, find out what their mission is and then align yourself to what they’re doing; that’s what they want to hear.

So, say for example, you’re applying to a company that’s in the recycling business. Let them know that you have a deep passion for turning the world into a beautiful place by cleaning up all the garbage that’s laying around by recycling.

Share with them your passion for a beautiful, green planet. Let them know that their values are aligned with your values. And that’s how you answer why you are applying for this position. It’s because you’re aligned with them.

5. Walk us through your résumé.

Now, they don’t want you to read your résumé, they don’t want you to look at and just read right through it. What they really want is just a recap of your experience.

So, the best place to start off with this is at the very beginning and start off with your education. And just say, “I went to such and such school. These are some of the things I did.”

And don’t spend a lot of time there; just briefly cover your school, cover some grades, maybe some clubs that you were in. And then talk about what you did after college; the next job that you had. And then any subsequent jobs all the way up to the present. That’s all. It’s a simple question. That’s all they want to hear.

But they don’t want you to read your résumé. So, you shouldn’t be looking at it while you’re answering this question. You should be able to do it from memory. I mean, it’s your résumé; right? It’s all about you. You should be able to just talk them through.

And you can even ask them, “Would you like me to start the beginning or the end?” or you can just tell them, “I’m going to start at the very beginning with college and then you can just follow along with me from there” and then just briefly walk them through. It shouldn’t take him more than a minute.

6. Why do you want to work here?

The key to answering this question is to align yourself with where this company is going. So, you have to find out. You might have to ask some questions, you might want to do some research on the company. And what are their values? What is their mission? Where are they going? What do they want to do? And you want to align yourself with where they’re going.

And by doing that, that will make you see them as someone who can contribute to their overall mission, their projects or whatever it is they’re trying to do; align yourself with them. That’s what they’re looking for in your answer.

7. Why are you the best person for the job?

Now, for most people, that’s going to hit them like a ton of bricks because they’re going to start second guessing themselves and they’re going to end up giving a subpar answer because they’re going to feel like that they’re not the best person.

But let me tell; you what an employer wants to hear is that you understand them. So, throughout the interview process, try to understand what their pains and their problems are and what they’re trying to do. So, when they ask you this question, you can relate that back to them and say,

“Well, Mr. Employer, I understand what you’re trying to do, I understand what your values are and these are a lot of the things that I’ve done. I know how to do this stuff very well, perhaps better than anyone; I don’t really know. But I’m very good at it. Here’s why.”

Give them some examples of the things that you’ve done before that are related to what they’re trying to do. That’s what they want to hear. That’s how you nail that question.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years now?

Now, this is a growth oriented question. So, if you just simply say,

“I see myself sitting around here for the next five years until I figure out what I want to do.”

That’s not what they want to hear. You want to align this question to where the company’s going. So, you have to understand where the company is going, what direction they’re headed in and then you talk about how you see yourself fitting in in their future. Just simple as that; not too hard.

9. What interests you about this position?

Don’t just tell them, “I’m interested in a job” or “I need the money.” Relate this to what the company is doing. What kind of projects are they doing? What kind of people are they helping? Whatever it is; what are their goals? What are their values?

Align yourself with what the company is doing. Do some research on the company; find out the kinds of things that they have been active in. I mean, maybe they’re just active in some charities, maybe they like to help out certain people.

You can say that I’m attracted to the kinds of things that you’re doing and here’s why. Don’t just say,

“I like what you guys are doing. I think you’re a great company.”

Tell them why. What excites you about this company? Why are you passionate? You can’t just say,

“Well, I read you guys are a great company. I think I’d like to work there”

Now, be more specific and tell them what really gets you excited about wanting to work there; wanting to contribute. Let them know that you can contribute in a lot of different ways that are going to help support them and where they’re going.

10. Why are you a good fit for this position?

What they want to hear now is they want you to talk about your past experiences, your past education, the kinds of things that you have done that are related to the kinds of things that they’re looking for.

So, you have to get a lot of information about the position, the job description, what they’re looking for and what the goals are for this position. And then use that back in your answer and say,

“Well, I know that you guys are trying to do this and that in this job and these are some of the things that I’ve done…”

and relate that back to what they want to do and say, “I can help you do that.”

Now, the question here is; why are you a good fit? Think about that for a minute. What makes what’s unique about you or the experiences that you have that makes you a perfect fit for this job versus someone else?

I mean, sure, you may be able to do it. Yeah, yeah, I can figure it out, but that’s not what they want to hear. They want to know what kinds of things that you have done that make you a good fit.

So, talk about those things; relate your past experiences back to what they’re looking for. It’s as simple as that.

11. Tell me about a time where you dealt with a tough challenge.

Now, this is a behavioral question. You want to answer this using the STAR format. You know, STAR (Situation, Task, Action and Results).

So, the first thing you want to do is talk about a situation that you had that you were experienced in where there was a challenge. And then you want to talk about the action that you took and what you did to solve this problem. And then you want to wrap that up with the result and tell them how it turned out.

So, you could relate this to anything, but this is a behavioral question and you want to use that specific STAR format of a situation that you worked in, a task, and how it all turned out.

So, basically, they want to hear about one of your past experiences where the chips were down, things were tough, it wasn’t working out and you had to come through, pull through, save the day, whatever it was. That’s how you answer that question.

Don’t just tell them how you would deal with a tough question or a tough challenge, but tell them how you have dealt with one; that’s what they want to hear.

12. Why should we hire you?

I guarantee you’re probably going to get asked this question, but it will most likely come near the end of the interview, after they’ve had a chance to build up some rapport and they’re actually thinking that you might be okay. So, why should we hire you?

Now, this is your chance to sell yourself. But you have to understand what they’re looking for. You have to understand all the pains and the problems that they’re experiencing or where they want to grow or what the mission is.

Then you want to relate that back to them. You want to relate back why you feel you are a good fit for them and why you’re going to help them. How are you going to help them grow?

I mean, that’s really what the question is; why should we hire you? Anyone can do the job; maybe. Why can you do it better? So, why should we pick you over these five other people?

Well, you don’t know what those other five people can do. So, you need to worry about you and what you can do and what makes you unique. So, try to pick out unique things about your experiences.

I used to do this too. When I would interview for jobs and they would ask me, “Why should we hire you, Don?” I’d say, “Well, because I can do this, this and this” which met their core objectives. And then there were some other things that I could do really well that weren’t necessarily a requirement, but they were a nice to have. And so, I’ll talk about those extra things too.

And so, I came through as a complete package; I just didn’t have what they were looking for, I had more than what they were looking for. So, it was like they were getting extra things for free. That’s how you answer that question.

13. What are your weaknesses?

This one breaks everybody. You don’t want to just go in there and tell them that you have a short temper or whatever. The best way to answer this question is to talk about a weakness that you had that you have already overcome and walk them through it.

There’s actually two ways you can answer this. You could talk about a weakness that isn’t related to the job and what you did to overcome it and that it’s not a weakness anymore. That way they can see progression. That’s what they really want in this answer. They want to see progression; you had a problem, you addressed it and now it’s not a problem anymore.

You can also pick a problem that is related to your work. Like maybe you’re in sales and maybe you kind of used to be nervous in front of customers and you’ve learned to overcome that and now you’re a top salesperson; that’s all they want to hear.

Just walk them through a problem you had, what you did to us to solve it and that it’s not a problem anymore.

14. Tell me about a time where you went above and beyond.

So, what they’re trying to get away from is you talking about your daily duties, because everybody likes to talk about what they do on a job. Well, going above and beyond is going above and beyond your daily duties.

So, don’t just give them some lame story about how you do your job. Again, this is another behavior question; situation, task, action and result.

Now, the situation and task; those are one and the same. So, it’s either situation or task, action and results. So, there’s three parts to that behavioral question.

So, you want to talk about a time where maybe things were going normal; everything was going fine on a project and then you got hit with something totally out of left field and totally unexpected. And maybe you had to do something, maybe you had to go communicate with a bunch of people that you didn’t normally have to do or maybe you had to fly somewhere or maybe you had to go out and give a presentation; whatever it was.

Talk about something extraordinary; something that you really had to go out and make a big difference or the project was going to fail; whatever it was. All right.

So, don’t talk about a job description or daily duty; talk about something extraordinary.

15. Tell me about a time when you reached a goal.

So, what they really want to hear is that you set goals. Most people don’t even set goals; they just kind of show up and they work.

So, talk about how you set goals, talk about your process that you use for setting goals and then tell them how you applied that process to a project or something and how you worked towards achieving that goal.

16. Why did you leave your last job?

Now, there’s probably a lot of reasons. I mean, maybe you got fired, maybe you got laid off, maybe you just couldn’t stand it there and you quit or maybe you just got bored there or maybe you outgrew it.

But one of the best reasons to explain why you left is that you were seeking greater challenges. That’s really what they want to hear. They don’t really want to hear that you got fired. But hey, if you were fired, just tell them; say it. “I was let go from my last job because maybe I wasn’t meeting my monthly quotas” or “maybe I just wasn’t delivering to the level they needed me to deliver at” or “maybe they just eliminated the position.”

But what the interviewer wants to hear is your reasons for transitioning from one job to the next. And ideally, what they’re looking for is that you’re growth minded and that you’re seeking more opportunities, greater responsibilities.

So, don’t lie about why you transition from one company. If you’re laid off, tell then you got laid off. If you got fired, you got fired. But ideally, what they want to hear is you know why you transition from one company to the next. And they’re hoping that you’d say something like,

“I kind of just outgrew it and I was looking for more responsibilities and I couldn’t get that over there and I had more opportunities over here.”

That’s what they want to hear.

17. “What are your strengths?” or “What are your greatest strengths?”

So, this is another great opportunity for you to share what makes you so unique. What are you really good at? Are you really good at leading? Are you good at designing? Are you good at managing people? You know, whatever it is. But key here is you want to tie it to what they’re looking for.

So, you probably have a lot of great strengths; many, many strengths (we all do), but you want to tie your strengths to what they’re looking for. So, take that job description and read it very, very carefully and get a good understanding of what they’re looking for and then try to fit yourself in there; like where can you really help out? Where can you help out the best? And those would be your greatest strengths.

Relate those back to them in the interview, but talking about things that they want to accomplish and why you are a good fit and why your past experiences have prepared you for this like no one else.

18. What are you most proud of?

Now, let me tell you what they don’t want to hear. They don’t want to hear that you’re a proud father of four children or anything like that.

What they want to hear is what did you proud about of the things that you have done; your contributions to maybe society, the past a place that you worked at. What are you most proud of? Where did you make a difference? What did you make a difference in someone’s life or on a project or on a goal? What specifically? Why are you proud? What have you done?

And being proud could just be simply,

“I’m so proud I achieved my Master’s Degree; I got it from Stanford. That’s just the highlight of my life.”

You know, whatever it is. And it doesn’t have to be super great; it’s just something that means a lot to you.

But keep it business related or career related and not so much family related, because they don’t really want to hear about how proud you are of a parent or that you just gave birth to a new child. I mean, that those are great; those are beautiful things. But that’s not what they’re looking for in the interview. So, keep it career minded.

19. Describe what you do in your current job.

Now, don’t give them a rundown of all your daily duties. Give them a rundown of the things you do that are related to what they’re looking for.

In some cases, maybe only 30 percent of what you do in your daily job is related to what they’re looking for someone to do in this job. So, just talk about that 30 percent or 50 or 10 or whatever the number is. But talk about what you do as it’s related to what they’re looking for. That’s what they want to hear in your answer.

20. What is your management style?

Now, they’re not going to ask this question of everybody; it’s a common question. But if you’re going in for a team lead position, project management or manager position, they’re going to ask you; what is your management style?

What they’re really testing for is; do you even have a style? Have you really managed enough people? Have you been managing long enough in your career that you actually have a style of management?

And whatever your style is it’s irrelevant. I mean, if you’re a micromanager or you’re a hands-off manager, you’re an open door manager or whatever it is. But be genuine in what makes you a good manager and why you manage this way and why you like to manage this way.

And give some examples. Talk them through some of your management exercises or some of you or your meetings and why you believe in your method of managing. And why it’s effective and why it works for you. That’s really what they want to hear.

They don’t really care what your actual style is, but they want to hear the depth of your experience. Because the people who have not managed before, they don’t have a management style.

So, if I’m interviewing a manager and I ask you, “What your management style?” and you’re like, “Well, I don’t know.” That just tells me you haven’t managed.

So, I want to hear what you’ve done, how you’ve done it and why you like it, why you manage that way and why you feel it’s effective.

21. Tell me about a mistake that you made.

Now, they don’t want to hear about a mistake that you made at home. You want to keep this career related and you don’t want to tell them that you accidentally put black toner in where the blue toner went in the copy machine.

Give them something to chew on. Give them a mistake where you made that you wish you wouldn’t have, but you know you screwed up and then what you did to solve it. What did you do to recover from that mistake?

Because people are going to make mistakes. We all make mistakes, I make mistakes, but how do you recover from your mistakes? Do you make mistakes and dump them on other people’s lap or do you take care of the problem? That’s what they want to hear.

So, walk them through a time where you screwed up and the heat was on, there was pressure and then walk them through what you did to recover from your mistake and that everything was okay.

But again, that’s a behavior question; situation or task, action and result. Walk them through just a quick little scenario of how you did that.

22. What are you passionate about?

Now, if you think about this, it is like, “Oh, man, I’m passionate about a lot of things.”

So, there’s a couple of different ways you can go. I’d like to line my answer with the company’s values, their goals, their mission, whatever it is and I like my passion to be consistent with theirs.

I might be passionate about other things too and that’s okay. But I should also be passionate about this company and what they’re trying to do.

And what this is this is doing is this is weeding out people; this is a question to weed out candidates who aren’t aligned with their company culture.

For example, let’s say you’re interviewing for a company that makes and sells pet supplies. If you’re not passionate about animals and kitty cats and bunnies and dogs, then you’re not aligned with this company’s values and they’re not going to be interested in you.

But if you go in there to a company that makes pet supplies and stuff and say,

“I just love animals. I have lots of animals. I have lots of kitty cats and dogs and I just love animals…”

Now, you’re aligning yourself with their culture and that’s what they’re looking for. Because when you’re passionate about what they do, you’re fundamentally aligned with the core values and that’s the kind of person they’re looking for in this job. Makes sense; right? That’s pretty easy.

23. What do you know about our company?

And you better know something. You should do some research on the company before you get there. I mean, unless it’s like a really big company like Amazon or Google or Microsoft, then it’s pretty easy to get some information about them.

But for a lot of us, we’re just interviewing for a smaller company that’s relatively unknown. So, you want to do some research. You want to research that company every which way.

Try to find articles that have been written about them; maybe magazines have done some write ups on them or just even local newspapers. But do your research and try to find out things that they’ve done or things that they’ve been recognized for.

Don’t just say, “Well, I hear you guys are really good at making shoes.” Go deeper than that. Find out that maybe they are a company that makes shoes, but maybe they also donated a thousand pairs to some homeless shelters and you found out about that. And so, then you can go in there and say,

“Well, I know you guys really care about people. And I know that you guys donated a thousand pairs of shoes to a homeless shelter in California. I think that’s a beautiful thing and that’s the kind of place that I want to be at; that really cares about society and other people.”

It’s how you answer that question.

24. How did you learn about this job?

Now, this one is pretty easy. You can say, “I found it online” or “A friend told me about it”; whatever. But that’s not really what they’re looking for.

What they want to know is what got you excited about it when you heard about it? So, maybe you were looking online and you saw they had a position there, but you read about it; you read the description, you read about the company and you’re like, “Wow, that excited me.” That’s what they want to hear; why you were excited about this position.

Whether you found it online, you heard it from a friend or you found that on the website; let him know what got you excited and passionate about it and that you just knew that you wanted to be a part of that job or that company and help and contribute towards their overall goals and mission.

That’s what they’re looking for. They don’t want to just hear, “Yeah, I found it online.” That’s what most people are going to do. You go into the interview and they’re like, “Well, Don, how did you find out about us?” “Well, I found it online.”

Oh that answer is dead; that’s a dud answer. Dig deeper, tell them where you found it,

“But I was passionate about it. I was excited about it. It got me excited and I couldn’t wait to apply.”

25. What are your salary requirements?

For whatever reason, this question freaks everyone out because they don’t want to give a number that’s too high in fear of falling out of consideration. They also don’t want to give a number that’s too low; they might think you’re too cheap. They want to find that midpoint, but they don’t know where to go.

So, there’s a couple things you can do. If it’s a fairly common type of job, you can use a website called salary.com and you can get an idea of what that position is paying in your geographical area. But chances are you already have a fair idea.

What I’d like to do; best way to answer “What kind of salary are you’re looking for?” is to simply give them a range. So, let’s say you were making $70 thousand before and you kind of think that maybe this position is in the 75 or 80 range or maybe it’s in the 65 range; I don’t know. Give them a range say,

“I’m looking anywhere between 65 and 85 thousand.”

That way, you’ve got a $20 thousand span where you kind of cover the low end (that’s like the least I’m willing to take) and then you have a high end that’s got some room that shows that you’re willing to accept something a little bit higher as well. That’s all there is to it.

But giving them a range that works for you; don’t sell yourself short. So, if this job only pays $50 thousand and you’re used to make an 80, I might say, “My range is between 65 and 85 thousand” or “70 and 90” and immediately you price yourself out of the range.

But what’s the point in continuing this job interview process if you know they’re only willing to pay 50 and you’re used to make an 80 and you’re not willing to take that?

You kind of have to balance that out as to where you want to be, but give them a range that usually spans about $20 thousand and that’s your safest bet.

26. How do you deal with pressure?

Now, this is a behavioral question somewhat in disguise. So, you want to talk about a situation that you had where there was pressure, where it was really tense and the action that you took to diffuse that pressure and then talk about the result and what happened.

Now, most people, when they get asked this question, “How do you deal with pressure?” They just say, “Well, you know…” and they kind of walk them through their own framework of how they deal with pressure. And that’s fine; that’s something you should do. Describe some of the first things that you do when you’re presented with a situation that kind of know came out of the blue and everything is really tense. But you want to follow that up with an example of how you have dealt with pressure before.

It’s a way that they could see you in action when you tell them a story, “Hey, I’m under pressure all the time. Here’s how I deal with it.” That’s what they really want to hear and how you have dealt with it. What have you done? Give us some proof. I mean, anybody can say they can handle pressure, but what I really want to hear is how you’ve done this before. Give me some examples. So, it’s sort of a behavioral question in disguise.

27. Are you open to relocating?

This one’s up to you. But what they’re really fishing for is are you willing to move if we hire you?

Now, if you’re like dead set against it; let’s say you live in Cleveland, Ohio, like I do. And if someone asked me, “Are you interested in relocating?” I’d be like,

“No, not at all. I’m not moving. I have I have too much here. I have family here. I have a house here, so I’m not interested to relocate.”

But for other people, maybe they’re a little bit younger and they don’t have any geographical commitments to where they’re at. So, they might say,

“Yeah, I’m open to relocation. What did you have in mind?”

So, you kind of put it back on them. You answer the question, but with a question. That way you can get a little bit more detail.

I mean, maybe they say, “Well, are you interested in relocating?” you’re like,

“Yeah. What do you have in mind?” and say, “Well, we do have an office up in Alaska that we’re looking for someone to fill.”

And if you’re from Florida, you might not want to go to Alaska.

So, get the details on what they mean by relocating. And if you’re not open to it, just say, “Not really; not at this time.” Be honest with them. But what they’re really doing is they’re just fishing to test your flexibility so that if they do offer you this position that there’s a place for you.

And maybe the office that you’re interviewing at, maybe they don’t have any openings right now. So, this office is interviewing for maybe one of their other offices across the country or in another country.

Another possibility is they may be planning for a future relocation. So, maybe they’re going to close their plant in Cleveland, Ohio, and they’re going to move it to San Diego California. But they’re not going to do that for two years, so they want to see if you’re interested in relocating. So, that’s why you want to just follow up and say, “What did you have in mind?”

28. What is your dream job?

Tell them what you love doing; what are you passionate about?

Now, if your dream job is totally different than what they’re looking for in this job, you might want to shift things over a little bit and align yourself with what they’re looking for.

But that’s the root of this question is they want to know what are you so passionate about that you want to be doing. And you just simply tell them; what gets you excited, where you want to be, why you want to be doing that.

And that’s really the root of the dream job question because the dream job has to come from here; inside your heart. It’s what makes you really excited. You love getting up every morning; you just can’t wait to do whatever it is.

And whether it’s work in an animal shelter, whether it’s work in a hospital, taking care of people; whatever it is that you’re passionate about and where you want to be; describe that back then.

Now, if what you want to be doing is completely different than what they want you to be doing, you might want to balance that out and think about it from their perspective. If you say,

“I want to be working in an animal shelter and helping animals and rescue dogs, but this is a company that builds medical devices…”

or whatever; I don’t know. You’re not aligned. You see how they’re kind of dissimilar.

So, try to align your passions with their mission and what they’re doing. That’s the key to answering that question.

29. Why are you changing careers?

So, all they’re really looking for is; what wasn’t fulfilling about your old career and what are you looking for in a new career that is going to fulfill you? It’s as simple as that. I mean, why else do people change careers? Because they’re getting tired of what they used to do; which means it’s not fulfilling for them anymore. It’s not getting them excited to wake up in the morning and go do whatever they do; lack of fulfillment. So, what is going to be fulfilling about this new job or this new career for you? It’s all I want to hear.

So, that’s the one key thing that most people miss. They just say,

“Well, I got tired of my old job. So, I’m looking for something new.

Now, you want to say;

“In my old job, I used to love doing _________”

Tell them what you loved about your old job.

“But after a while, it just wasn’t is engaging; it wasn’t as fulfilling anymore. It didn’t fill me up inside; it didn’t make me happy anymore. And working in that job, I’ve kind of realized that I have a new passion about __________.”

Whatever that is. And that should be what this new company is about and what they’re looking to hire for.

So, talk about the transition; what made you excited about your old job and then kind of how that faded away. Naturally, it’s just human nature for us to get tired of doing things. We want some variety in our life. So, we want to move into something new.

It’s best if you don’t talk about money. I don’t really like responses that say,

“Well, I wasn’t making a lot of money in my old job, so I thought I’d do this.”

Don’t make it about money. Make it about what’s in here; in your heart. What made you passionate about your old job and how that kind of just faded away, didn’t fill you up anymore, the variety wasn’t there anymore and so that’s why I’m looking to be over here in this new job and doing these new things because I’m excited about that.

And if you can, take that one step farther and say;

“I’ve even done some volunteer work in this area and it just fills me up inside every day and I just love doing this kind of stuff. And I’d really like to be doing it for you.”

30. Last question. And I made it the last one for a reason because this is most likely the last question they’re going to ask you and they’re going to say, “Hey, do you have any questions for us?

And that’s your opportunity to find out more about what the next steps are, where they’re going or whatever is important for you. Don’t just ask them questions to ask questions. Ask them questions that will help you determine whether this is a place that you want to be.

So, don’t just ask some stupid questions about their org chart or their finances or things that just don’t really matter. Ask them questions that’re going to help you make a decision about whether you want to work there.

That could be salary, that could be position, that could be training, that could be anything, that could be a certain project, that could be a certain location; whatever is important to you.

But some good common questions to ask are (one of my favorite ones is);

1. What is the next step; like where do we go from here?

It is like,

“I’m excited about this job. So, what are the next steps? Are you going to have second interviews? When can I expect to hear back from you?”

Stuff like that.

2. What would you expect me to accomplish in the next six months?

Now, this is a great question because it forces the interviewer to visualize you in the role. So, they have to think,

“Well, if he was working here for six months, what would we want him to do?”

It forces them to put you in the role, visualizes you and hopefully, they come back with a response and say, “Well, this was kind of what we see”.

Now, if they come back with anything else, that means they have some concerns or objections about you. So, then that’s your opportunity to keep selling yourself because they’re not sold on you right now. If they can’t visualize you in the role in six months, they’re not sold on you. Keep that in mind.

3. How long does your hiring process take?

So, this is just a way to gauge them on where they’re at. Is this going to take a week, three weeks, a month? And some companies do; some companies will take two months. You might be the first candidate and they might say,

“Well, we’re going to bring you back for three or four more interviews if we decide that we want to pursue you.”

So, it’s a fair question and you can ask it in a lot of different ways; you don’t have to ask it just like this. But only ask it if it’s important to you and they haven’t already revealed to you what your hiring process is. So, that’s one of the key things with any of these follow up questions.

Don’t ask questions where they’ve already indirectly answered them throughout the conversation of the interview.

4. What is the key to succeeding in this role?

It’s a great question. You’re basically saying,

“How can I be successful in this job?”

And they should just flat out tell you. But it’s a question that they want to hear because it shows that you are interested in being successful there. You are interested in helping them grow. You are interested in helping them achieve their goals. That’s what they want to hear.

5. What will the day-to-day routine be like?

Now, they may have already told you this; I don’t know. But it’s a fair question to ask just to get an idea of what they want.

Now, I’ve asked this question before. When I went on a job interview, I asked what the day-to-day routine was. And they said, “Well, we normally work about 10 to 11-hour days.” I said, “Really?” And I said, “What about 8-hour days?” They said, “No, we generally at least work 10 hours.” I said, “Do you get paid for that?” They said, “No, that’s just part of the pleasure of working here. You get to work a couple extra hours.”

And that was enough for me. I wasn’t interested in working 10 to 12-hour days for them. It was just my situation at the time. I couldn’t devote that kind of time.

But you can see how that question helped me understand about their culture and what they were looking for. And it’s a disqualifying question.

Remember, like I said,

“Only ask questions that are going to help you make a decision about whether you want to work there or not.”

So, for me, I want to know about what the day-to-day responsibilities are. If the day-to-day responsibilities are all this for eight to 12 hours a day, that doesn’t interest me. So, that disqualified that employer for me.

So, that’s what these questions are. All of these questions that you should ask should be interview questions back to them to either qualified this position or this company or disqualify them.

And if you’re just getting a whole bunch of “No, no, no” or whatever that are negatives for you, then you pretty much say,

“This is not a place that I want to be”

or

“This is a place that I want to be because they’re doing all the things that I want to be doing and I want to be a part of that.”

Either way, that’s up to you, but that’s how you ask those questions.

Alright, that is the Top 30 Job Interview Questions and what employers are looking for in your responses. Now, before your next interview, grab a copy of the Complete Interview Answer Guide.

This book has over 140 different questions in it that you can expect to get asked on any interview. I mean, I covered 30 questions that you might get asked; 10 or 15 of those might just depends on the interviewer. But this guide has over 140 questions in it.

It’s got over 40 behavioral questions in it, so I go a lot deeper into how to answer those behavioral questions using that STAR method that I mentioned in the video. We talk about a Situation or a Task and Action and the Result. This guide goes a lot deeper into that behavioral (that competency interview) process than I can in this video.

It also covers all of the interview questions you are likely to get asked. I’ve had some people who bought this book saying, “Don they asked me 80 to 90 percent of the questions from your guide.” I’ve even had employers buy my guide to use it as their hiring procedures guide to hire people.

Now, this book is an e-book. You can download it from jobinterviewtools.com; I’ll put the link below. It’s like 47 bucks. You can also get the hard copy; this physical version here. I’ll ship it out to you in the mail. That’s a different option. It also comes in audio and video. So, if you like to learn by downloading audio tracks to your iPod or whatever and listening to them or watching videos, I’ve got that as well.

This is the only job interview guide book on the market that comes in e-book, physical hard copy, audio and video. But more than anything, it’s going to give you a lot deeper insight into what employers are looking for and it’s going to give you a lot of sample answers.

So, I already told you what employers are looking for in this video, but this guide is going to tell you how to frame your answer. So, maybe you’re struggling, maybe you understand what employers are looking for and maybe you don’t know how to frame your answers in a way that they sound good and they sound attractive and they resonate with an employer. This guide is going to show you how to do that. It’s going to take it to the next level for you and just kind of lay it all out.

So, from the next interview you have, just reading this guide here; just for an hour or two before your interview is going to kind of connect all the dots for you and you’re just going to sound so much more confident, so much more connected with that employer in your next job interview. And they’re going to see a lot more from you than other employers have in your past interviews.

Because you’re probably here, watching this video today, because you’ve been on some job interviews and maybe they didn’t go well for you, maybe you’ve been on many interviews, maybe you’ve been interviewing for six months or a year and no one’s hired you yet and you’re really just getting depressed and it kind of hurts. I understand.

I mean, showing up for a job interview and when you keep going on interview after interview and they keep telling you, “No, no, no.” It kind of beats you down.

But a way to recover from that is to show up for an interview and be all you can be. Be your best. Be in the perfect state. Be in a perfect state of mind. Make sure you have done all of the work, all of your homework, all the preparation steps that you could possibly do to prepare for the interview. So, when you go in there, you’re delivering your very best and feel good about delivering your best. Take it to that level.

So, whether they hire you or not, you feel inside that you did your very best and nobody can take that away from you. Nobody. That’s how you win and that’s how you build.

So, every interview you go on; whether you get the job or not; learn something. Learn a little bit from each interview. So, if you fail four or five interviews, don’t let that be a reflection on you. Because employers, they’re fickle. Out of 10 employers, maybe three or four of them really had no interest in hiring you at all. And maybe that job was just set aside for someone else.

So, just because you didn’t get the offer, don’t let that be a reflection on your abilities, your skills, your experience, your passion. Because when you do; when you let those interviews reflect negatively on you, it beats you down. And it beats you down and it beats you down and then you don’t want to interview anymore. And then you just kind of show up and you just sit there and say, “Well, my name is Don and I’m here for a job interview.”

No, you have to be passionate for every interview you go on. Remember what we talked about in the beginning of this video? About the 7-38-55 rule? Body language; 55 percent. You need to be alive. You need to have good posture, sit up straight, use your arms when you talk; be alive.

And then 38 percent; voice, tone. Express yourself, enunciate your words. Don’t just sit there and talk like this; be alive.

And then, like I said, 7 percent is just content; just your words. So, you could take some pretty mediocre answers and breaking them up with your body language and your vocal tones and your inflection and even just the lamest answers will come alive and people would be excited about it because you’re up there, using your hands and your body and you’re presenting yourself and they get attracted to that.

I mean, who are you going to get attracted to; the person who sits there and talks like this or somebody who’s really full of life, breathing life into that room in exciting passionate ways. That’s how you succeed. That’s how you succeed in the interview.

That’s all I have for you today. I know this was a super long video; longer than I ever do, but I think it’s going to help you a lot. So, good luck on your next interview and I’ll see you in the next video. Bye now.

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