60 Toughest Interview Questions

Question 1

Tell me about yourself.

Answer 1

Start with the present and tell why you are well qualified for the position - and if you wish to add more, mention personal traits you want them to know about (professional, detail-oriented, strong verbal and written skills, etc.). Remember, the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking for.

Question 2

What are your greatest strengths?

Answer 2

Have a list prepared with a specific example or two chosen from your most recent and impressive achievements. This is a chance to brag, so make the list as numerous as your comfortable with.

Question 3

What are your greatest weaknesses?

Answer 3

BEWARE this is an eliminator question, so an “A” for honesty could be an “F” for the interview.

Obvious answer: Disguise a strength as a weakness.

Best answer: While acknowledge you’re flawed like everyone, assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that stands out as a weakness where THIS job is concerned.

Question 4

Tell me about the greatest mistake you ever made in your life.

Answer 4

Again, never confess a major blunder. Approach it similar to greatest weakness question.

Question 5

Why are you leaving (or did you leave) this most recent positions?

Answer 5

Never badmouth previous industry, company, board, boss, staff, etc.

Real reasons like more money, responsibility, growth, commute, etc. are best.

Question 6

Why should I hire you?

Answer 6

Walk through each of the position’s primary requirements as you understand them and follow each with a reason why you meet that requirement so well.

Question 7

Aren’t you overqualified for this position?

Answer 7

The employer may be concerned that you’ll grow dissatisfied and leave.

Use it as an opportunity to rearrange the interviewer’s thinking about this situation, seeing advantages instead of drawbacks.

Question 8

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Answer 8

Express desire for a long-term commitment and you believe that upon successful completion of assigned tasks that future opportunities will present themselves.

Question 9

Describe your ideal company, location, and job.

Answer 9

Describe a very close version of what this company is offering, being sure to make your answer believable with specific reasons why each quality of this opportunity is attractive to you.

Question 10

Why do you want to work at our company?

Answer 10

They want to know if you’ve done any homework about the firm. If you haven’t, you lose. If you did, you win big. Research sources: annual reports, corporate newsletter, contacts you know at the company or its suppliers, advertisements, articles, and company website.

Question 11

What are your career options right now?

Answer 11

They are trying to figure out how desperate you are.

Question 12

Why have you been out of work so long?

Answer 12

Emphasize factors which have prolonged your job search by your own choice.

Question 13

Tell me honestly about the strong points and weak points of your [former] boss/company/management team/etc.

Answer 13

Never be negative! Stress only the good points

Question 14

What good books have you read lately?

Answer 14

Ideally try to have a book closely related to your work/field and a recently published bestseller by a well-known author.

Question 15

Tell me about a situation when your work was criticized.

Answer 15

Begin by emphasizing the positive feedback you’ve gotten throughout your career and your performance reviews have been uniformly excellent.

Provide a recent criticism that is fairly trivial that is in no way essential to your performance.
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Question 16

What are your outside interests?

Answer 16

This is about balance and quality of life: you want to be well-rounded, not a workaholic.

Question 17

How do you feel about reporting to a younger person (minority, woman, etc)?

Answer 17

Best answer: You greatly admire a company that hires and promotes on merit, and you couldn’t agree more with that philosophy. The age/gender/race/etc. of the person you report to would certainly make no difference to you.

Question 18

On confidential matters…

Answer 18

Don’t reveal confidential information. The interviewer may press to see if you give in.

Question 19

Looking back, what would you do differently in your life?

Answer 19

Indicate that you are a person who sees the bright side of just about everything, and that in general, you wouldn’t change a thing.

Question 20

Could you have done better in your last job?

Answer 20

Never be negative.

The benefit of hindsight will always reveal something that could have been done better.

Question 21

Can you work under pressure?

Answer 21

Absolutely!…give example

Question 22

Who has inspired you in your life?

Answer 22

Have a few in mind - work-related when possible.

Question 23

What was the toughest decision you ever had to make?

Answer 23

Be prepared with a good example, explaining why the decision was difficult…the process you followed in reaching it…the courageous or effective way you carried it out…and the beneficial results. - again, work-related when possible.

Question 24

Tell me about the more boring job you’ve ever had.

Answer 24

Best answer: You have never allowed yourself to grow bored with a job, because there’s always a way to keep it interesting, including taking on tasks to help others when your work is finished.