Mastering Interview Questions: Strategies, Qualities, and Examples

1. Mastering Interview Questions Lecture 17

2. Interviews • What are interviewers looking for? • How to prepare • How to act during • Verbal • Non Verbal • How to finish and follow up

3. Interviews • More interview strategies • More qualities interviewers are looking for • Typical questions and good answers

4. Interviews • A typical interview question is open ended • This means that the response is entirely up to you • This means there are no right and wrong answers, only good and bad ones

5. Interviews • When choosing your response, be sure to target it for the specific job/school • To be able to tell a good answer from a bad one, we must look at some qualities that interviewers are looking for

6. Interviews • We will talk about the qualities, what question the interviewer is asking, and some examples we could use to show these qualities

7. Interviews • Leadership • How good of a leader is this person? • Examples: • During a school project • During an out of school activity • During family problems

8. Interviews • Teamwork • Can this person be a good team member? • Examples • During a school project • On a sports team • On a out of school project

9. Interviews • Adaptability • Can this person handle new situations? • Examples • Moving to a new town • Starting a new job • Starting school

10. Interviews • Learning • How fast can this person learn new skills? • Examples • New computer skill at school • New instrument/sport • New language

11. Interviews • Risk taking • Is this person willing to try something new? • Examples: • Try a new activity • Move to a new place • Learn a new language

12. Interviews • Creativity • Does this person have original ideas? • Examples: • School projects • Movies/websites/music you made

13. Interviews • Strengths • What is this person’s best quality? • Examples: • Team work • Leadership • Language, etc.

14. Interviews • Weaknesses • Where can this person improve? • Examples • Teamwork • Organization • Focus

15. Interviews • Morals • Does this person make good and moral choices? • Example • Difficult decision at school • Difficult decision with family

16. Interviews • Ambition • What are this person’s dreams/goals? • Examples: • Goals you set and reached • Goals you set and have not reached yet

17. Interviews • Education • Did this person receive a strong education? • Examples • Class work • Teachers • Class Projects

18. Interviews • Communication Skills • How well can this person communicate? • Examples • Class discussions • Class work

19. Interviews • Prepare for the interview by thinking of times and situations, where you showed each of these qualities • Be ready to tell these stories to your interviewer

20. Interviews • Remember to be specific and remember to try and do the following things with your answer

21. Interviews • A specific situation • The tasks that needed to be done • The action you took • The results i.e. what happened

22. Interviews • Also, remember the difference between targeted and general answers • Target your answers for the specific job/school/scholarship

23. Interviews • We will now look at some typical interview questions and some good answers • These answers are not to be copied, they are merely examples

24. Interviews • “Tell me a little bit about yourself” • Talk about your current school or work situation. • Mention one or two strengths and/or activities

25. Interviews • “I am a sophomore business student at Huang Huai University, in the central Henan province. I have been studying English for 10 years and feel better about my language now than I ever have. I am very happy at school and in my free time I enjoy playing basketball and designing websites.”

26. Interviews • “What has been your greatest accomplishment at school?” • Use this question to show: • Leadership • Teamwork • Creativity • Risk taking

27. Interviews • “In my business communications class, we had to give oral presentations in English. I was very nervous about speaking in public in English. I think I practiced my speech 100 times. I finally did it and my teacher loved it. Now I have no trouble speaking in public.”

28. Interviews • “What is your greatest strength?” • Don’t pick just one. Mention 3 or four of your best qualities. • Try to include ones from the list mentioned before

29. Interviews • “I’m a good leader and I’m also great at being a member of a team. I’m also a risk taker and I would say that my greatest strength is my ability to adapt to new situations.”

30. Interviews • “What is your greatest weakness?” • Don’t lie! • Say a weakness you have or had, and say how you worked to fix it

31. Interviews • “I used to have problems being organized, but to fix this, I bought myself a daily planner. I now make to-do lists every day and write all my plans in this planner. This has helped me to keep track of all of my responsibilities.”

32. Interviews • “How was the transition from High School to University? What troubles did you face?” • Use this question to show: • Adaptability • Risk taking • Learning

33. Interviews • “I had a difficult time adapting to living with roommates. We had some different personalities, and sometimes it was hard for me to concentrate. By talking to my roommates about what problems I had with them, we were able to learn to adapt to each other’s schedules and lifestyle.”

34. Interviews • “How do you handle difficult situations?” • Use this question to show: • Communication skills • Adaptability • Learning

35. Interviews • “When I started learning from an English teacher, I was having lots of trouble understanding. I was not receiving good grades, so I met with my teacher several times for extra help. This taught me the benefits of handling situations in this way and the importance of getting to know my teachers.”

36. Interviews • “If I were to ask your professors to describe you, what would they say?” • To answer this question, it will be useful to talk to a professor before your interview • Be honest! Say what they would say.

37. Interviews • “My professors would say that I`m a very hard worker and a natural leader. They would probably also say something about my sense of humor and my ability to work in any kind of situation.”

38. Interviews • “Give me an example of a time you had to make an important decision. How did you make the decision? How does it affect you today? “ • Use this question to show: • Adaptability • Risk taking

39. Interviews • “One of the most difficult decisions I had to make was going to school far from home. My parents wanted me to stay near them, but I am glad that I left because I now feel more independent and prepared for life after university.”

40. Interviews • “Why do you want this job/scholarship?” • Use this question to show: • Goals • Education

41. Interviews • “I want to study at your school because I feel I need to spend time in an English speaking country to achieve my goal of becoming completely fluent and being able to work a job in English. Your program is one that interests me for many reasons...”

42. Interviews • “Why are you the best person for this job/scholarship?” • Use this question to show • Leadership Adaptability • Strengths Education • Goals

43. Interviews • “I am the best person because I can handle new situations. My education has prepared me well for the UK school system, and I think I will be a positive addition to the students at your school.”

44. Interviews • Remember, a good answer will have: • A specific situation • The tasks that needed to be done • The action you took • The results i.e. what happened

45. Interviews • These are just examples. The interviewer will ask many similar questions. • Be prepared for anything!

46. Interviews • Knowing what questions to expect is necessary to be well prepared • Being able to adapt your stories to whatever question is being asked is the most important thing!

47. Interviews • http://www.quintcareers.com/interview_question_database/college_student_behavioral_questions.html • http://www.collegegrad.com/jobsearch/Mastering-the-Interview/Fifty-Standard-Interview-Questions/

48. Interviews • More interview questions: • http://www.quintcareers.com/interview_question_database/college_student_behavioral_questions.html • http://www.aie.org/College/Jobs/Interviews/interviewquestions.cfm