Congratulations! You have successfully made your way through all the initial stages of the shortlisting – CV screening process. Now comes the most critical stage of your final selection process – Personal Interview. Here you cannot take any chance as everything completely depends on your individual performance, i.e., how you answer the common interview questions. The situation becomes even more challenging if you are a fresher and you are facing your first job interview. However, as interviews can be a bit intimidating for some of us, we are here with a list of most common interview questions and answers to help you out.
The Selection Process
The job selection process, especially in India, comprises of the following rounds.
- A written test
- A group discussion
- Personal interview with a panel
- Technical/Role-specific interview (this might take place before the personal interview sometimes)
- HR interview
Interview questions and answers about yourself
1. Tell me about yourself
Here you are definitely not going to tell the interviewer about your favorite dish, movie or actor! The interviewer asks this question to analyse how confident you are and how you present yourself. The best way to answer this common interview question is to tell the hiring manager about your education and family background. However, this should not look like your life’s story and you should quickly concentrate on sharing a bit about your strengths that build the platform for further discussion about your suitability for the job opening.
Bonus Tips:
- Don’t narrate what is already mentioned in your CV
- Focus more on talking about your achievements and learning
- Keep it short
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
About your Strengths: This is one of the most important fresher interview questions as the employer analysis your strengths for the job role and tries to understand the challenges you might face in the new job role. Therefore, be cautious about stating any of your strengths or weaknesses. The good idea is to share strengths that are related to the job. In the end, also saying that you are a quick learner adds value to your strengths.
About your weaknesses: It becomes critical when you have to share your weaknesses, that too, with your hiring manager. However, it is never recommended to say that you do not have any weakness as it makes you look arrogant. Therefore, choose a weakness that doesn’t impact your current job role. For example, you are afraid to sleep alone can be your weakness!
Bonus Tips:
- Never brag about the strengths and skills that you cannot justify.
- Always elaborate on your strengths and weaknesses with some quick examples.
3. What are your hobbies/What are you passionate about?
In your fresher interview questions, you can even expect some basic interview questions like what are your hobbies. Now if you think why the employer is interested in knowing about your hobbies, it is an important interview question. The interviewer tries to gauge about your personality, your energy level and how fit you can be for the company’s culture. Therefore, share something that adds value to your skills such as traveling and meeting people if you are appearing for a client-meeting role. Even sharing some generic hobbies such as some sports or reading reflect well on your activeness.
Bonus Tips:
- Avoid sharing hobbies that can give a bad impression such as gambling
- Sharing a mix of personal and professional interests shows you a balanced person in life.
4. Where do you see yourself five years from now?
As a first job interview, answering this interview question becomes difficult at times. Of course, at this stage, we are more concerned about our first year of the job and planning about 5 years seems daunting to many freshers. Don’t worry, here’s how you can ace this fresher interview question. The idea of asking this question is to check two things mainly. Firstly, your willingness to stay longer with the company, and secondly, how well planned you are about your career goals.
Bonus Tips:
- Never give the impression that you want this job just to gain experience and then you wish for something bigger in the near future.
- Keep your answer aligned with the current job role to show your interest in the company.
Interview questions and answers about the job
5. Why do you want this job?
You can confidently answer something like this:
“This job opening at your esteemed organization has the potential to give my personality a boost as well as give me sufficient opportunities to leverage most of my acquired skill sets – professionally as well as personally. It can bring out the best in me as this platform will let me show my potential. Also, I strongly believe, your organization can give me one of the best professional workplace environments to work to my full potential under the guidance of experienced professionals who work here. I am sure that once I join here, I will grow myself in my career as well as contribute to the organization’s overall growth as well.”
6. What motivates you to do a good job?
You can give a simple and straight forward answer something like this:
“Success is what motivates me to do a good job. Knowing the fact that my hard work and perseverance will help me achieve greater professional success is what keeps me going. For me, success is important both at a personal as well as at an organizational level. There might be instances of failure or stagnation but it does not demotivate me anyhow. On the other hand, I feel re-invigorated to perform even more. The taste of success after a failure is what keeps the fire going within me no matter what the circumstance.”
7. What software packages are you familiar with?
“I am proficient in Operating Systems like Windows 10 and Firefox. I am also familiar with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint from the Microsoft Office Suite.”
8. What do you know about our company?
It is one of the most important interview questions that is usually asked by a hiring manager at the beginning of the conversation to understand how much you are aware of the organization where you wish to work. Therefore, the best way to ace this interview question is to do proper research about the company, read online about the company’s latest updates, understand its business, and above all, read thoroughly the job description.
9. Why should we hire you?
With this tricky interview question and answer, the employer wants to see your ability to pitch your skills and convincing power. Moreover, this interview question is an opportunity to show the interviewer your willingness for the job. The best way to answer this fresher interview question is to talk about your skills and strengths that match the job role. You can even share some more examples of how you managed a few projects or important assignments in your college that reflect your strengths.
Bonus Tips:
- Share strengths and skills that are relevant for the job description, but keep it short.
- Wait and elaborate if the interviewer wants to know more about particular instances to validate your points.
10. What are your salary expectations?
As a fresh graduate, talking about your first salary is exciting, but a difficult job. The best way to answer this common interview question is to do some research in advance so that you can confidently take a reasonable range.
Bonus Tips:
- Never ask for either a too little or too high salary package as this might cost you the job at both ends.
- In case you still do not have any idea about a reasonable salary for the job role, you can simply answer to accept the package as per industry standards. This leaves much scope for the negotiation at the time of the final offer letter.
11. Do you have a question for us?
Most of the job interviews close at this basic interview question where the interviewer leaves scope for you to clear your doubts. Moreover, asking questions show that you are a confident and focused person who wants clarity for his/her job. Many fresh graduates hesitate to ask questions from the interviewer, but it is always recommended to ask some relevant questions.
Bonus Tips:
- Prepare a list of questions in advance that can help you get familiarize with the job role.
- Ask intelligent questions that show your curiosity to know more about the company, its policies, people, any specific skill you need to acquire for the given role, etc.
- Avoid asking irrelevant questions such as the duration of lunch hours, how often the company organizes parties, or how soon you will be promoted to the next level!
12. Can you handle work pressure?
Yes, I can handle work pressure well.
I enjoy working in a challenging environment, that I feel, brings best out of me. Also, I believe in prioritizing my responsibilities so I have a clear idea of what needs to be done when, and that eases pressure considerably. On a personal level, I manage stress by visiting the gym every evening. It’s a great stress reducer.
13. Are you an organized person?
Absolutely. I always keep a checklist of things to do and make sure that each item gets the attention it needs.
14. Are you willing to relocate or travel?
I am absolutely willing to relocate or travel. As a Fresher, the opportunity to relocate might be exciting. Answering that you are definitely willing to relocate will show that you want to do whatever is necessary to be a part of the company and team. A formal answer would be: “For the right opportunity I am definitely willing to relocate. I believe that this position and company is that opportunity.”
We hope that this compilation of some of the most frequently asked HR interview questions and answers will help you ace in your next HR interview round. Wish you all the best!
— Madhan G