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Wednesday, 9 July 2014

Interview Frequently Asked Questions

	Interview Frequently Asked Questions

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Tell me about yourself.
What are your team-player qualities? Give examples.
Of the courses you have had at college which courses have you enjoyed the most?
What is your GPA? How do you feel about it? Does it reflect your abilities?
How have your educational and work experiences prepared you for this position?
What work experiences have been most valuable to you and why?
What have the experiences on your resume taught you about managing and working with people?
Of the hobbies and interests listed on your resume what is your favourite and tell me why?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
What goals have you set for yourself? How are you planning to achieve them?
To what do you owe your present success?
Why should I hire you?
What makes you think you can handle this position?
What is your most significant accomplishment to date?
Why do you want to work here?
Describe a leadership role of yours and tell why you committed your time to it.
In a particular leadership role you had, what was your greatest challenge?
Give me an example of an idea that has come to you and what you did with it?
Give me an example of a problem you solved and the process you used?
Give me an example of the most creative project that you have worked on.
Tell me about a project you initiated?
Describe the project or situation that best demonstrates your analytical abilities?
Since attending college, what is the toughest decision that you have had to make?
Tell me about your most difficult decision and how did you go about making it?
What types of situations put you under pressure, and how do you deal with pressure?
Give me a situation in which you failed, and how you handled it?
Why are you interested in our organization?
What type of position are you seeking?
Where do you think your interest in this career comes from?
What industry besides this one are you looking into?
Why have you chosen this particular profession?
What interests you about this job?
What challenges are you looking for in a position?
What can you contribute to this company?
What motivates you?
What turns you off?
If I asked the people who know you well to describe you, what three words would they use?
If I asked the people who know you for one reason why I shouldn't hire you what would they say?
When you take on a project do you like to attack the project in a group of individually?
Describe the type of manager you prefer.
Tell me about a team project of which you are particularly proud and your contribution?
Describe a situation where you had to work with someone who was difficult, how did you handle it?
What type of work environment appeals to you most?
With which other companies are you interviewing?
What characteristics do you think are important for this position?
Why do you feel that this company will be a career for you rather than a job?
Name two management skills that you think you have?
What characteristics are most important in a good manager? How have you displayed one of them?
Why did you choose this college and how did you arrive at this decision?
What factors did you consider in choosing your major?
Describe how your favourite course has contributed your career interests?
Since you have been at college, what is it that you are proudest of?
How have you changed personally since starting college?
What has been your greatest challenge?
If you could change a decision you made while at college what would you change and why?
Why did you choose the campus involvements you did? What did you gain? What did you contribute?

Resume Tips

Curriculum Vitae:

an outline of a person's educational and professional history, usually prepared for job applications (L, lit.: the course of one's life).

A CV is the most flexible and convenient way to make applications. It can convey your personal details in the way that presents you in the best possible light and can be used to make multiple applications to employers in a specific career area.

Information should a CV include?

Personal details
Normally these would be your name, address, date of birth (although with age discrimination laws now in force this isn't essential), telephone number and email.

Education and qualifications
Your degree subject and university, plus A levels and GCSEs or equivalents. Mention grades unless poor!

Work experience
* Use action words such as developed, planned and organized
* Even work in a shop, bar or restaurant will involve working in a team, providing a quality service to customers, and dealing tactful with complaints. Don't mention the routine, non-people tasks (cleaning the tables) unless you are applying for a casual summer job in a restaurant or similar.
* Try to relate the skills to the job. A finance job will involve numeracy, analytical and problem solving skills so focus on these whereas for a marketing role you would place a bit more more emphasis on persuading and negotiating skills.

Interests and achievements
* Keep this section short and to the point.
* Bullets can be used to separate interests into different types: sporting, creative etc.
* Don't use the old boring cliches here: "socialising with friends".
* Don't put too many passive, solitary hobbies (reading, watching TV, stamp collecting) or you may be perceived as lacking people skills.
* Show a range of interests to avoid coming across as narrow : if everything centres around sport they may wonder if you could hold a conversation with a client who wasn't interested in sport.
* Hobbies that are a little out of the ordinary can help you to stand out from the crowd: skydiving or mountaineering can show a sense of wanting to stretch yourself and an ability to rely on yourself in demanding situations
* Any interests relevant to the job are worth mentioning: current affairs if you wish to be a journalist, a fantasy share portfolio such as Bullbearings if you want to work in finance.
* Any evidence of leadership is important to mention: captain or coach of a sports team, course representative, chair of a student society, scout leader.
* Anything showing evidence of employability skills such as teamworking, organising, planning, persuading, negotiating etc.

Skills
* The usual ones to mention are languages (good conversational French, basic Spanish), computing (e.g. "good working knowledge of MS Access and Excel, plus basic web page design skills" and driving ("full current clean driving licence").
* If you are a mature candidate or have lots of relevant skills to offer, a skills-based CV may work for you

Referees
* Normally two referees are sufficient: one academic (perhaps your tutor or a project supervisor) and one from an employer (perhaps your last part-time or summer job). See our page on Choosing and Using Referees for more help with this.

Top tips to pass your aptitude test

Top 15 tips to pass your aptitude test

· Practice Aptitude tests online. It’s more than likely you’ll sit your aptitude test on a computer so get used to practicing them online.

· Get all the right tools. Ensure you have a good calculator, lots of rough paper, a few pens and a watch. Get used to practicing with all these essentials so you’re used to using them when it comes to your real assessment.

· Practice as many aptitude tests as you can before sitting your assessment. The more questions you practice the more confident you will be and the more types of questions you will have seen.

· Ask the assessor for information on the type of test you’ll be sitting. You have the right to ask what sort of aptitude test you’ll be expected to sit, how long it will be and where you’ll have to sit it (it might be at home or at an assessment centre).

· Make sure you’re in a comfortable environment when you practice your aptitude tests. Don’t sit them just before going out or when you’re going to be disturbed. It’s important to give them your full attention both when practicing and when taking your real assessment.

· Take the practice test offered by the assessor if possible. Before sitting aptitude tests you’ll often be given practice questions to have a go at. They’re normally called worked example, have a go at those to get a flavour for the type of questions you’ll be given.

· Don’t get a friend to sit your aptitude test for you. If you’re asked to sit an aptitude test at home you may be asked to sit one when you go for interview so it’s no good trying to cheat the system. Also these tests are for your benefit as much as your prospective employer you both need to be comfortable your skills are up to the required standard to do the job you’re applying for.

· Read any guidance provided before sitting your assessment. Make sure you make a note of how much time you have and roughly how long you should be spending on each question.

· Don’t get bogged down on a question. If you get stuck, don’t let the clock run down, move on, you might find the next question easier and you’ll pick up more marks by moving on.

· Move on. If you think a question is going to take a really long time, flag it and if possible come back to it. Some questions can be really time consuming and you may be better off coming back to it.

· Don’t guess wildly. Your aptitude test score will be made up of a combination of speed and accuracy. It’s important not to haphazardly guess to try and finish all the questions. Work carefully and as quickly as you can. The more questions you practice the quicker you will get.

· Spend a few seconds familiarising yourself with the graph/table/pie chart you’re presented with before launching into the question. Make a mental note of what the labelling on the axis and the title so you have an idea of what information you have been provided with.

· Get used to working on paper. The quickest way to do your calculations is on a piece of paper. We recommend using a big A4 sheet as you’ll have enough room to do your workings. Leave yourself plenty of space so you’re not cramming your workings into the corner.

· Request feedback on your performance from your assessor. Find out how many questions you got right and where you could improve.

· Use a good calculator. Don’t use your phone or a very small calculator. Make sure you are familiar with the calculator you’re using and comfortable with where all the buttons are. The quicker you are with your calculator the higher you will score.