Are you wondering what questions you might be asked in your next interview? If you’re ready to secure your next job offer, tune in because today, you’ll learn how to answer the most commonly asked interview questions.

Don’t forget to grab your interview guide cheat sheet. It contains exact responses to popular interview questions that you can tailor and use in your next interview.

If we’ve never met before, I’m Heather Austin from ProfessorAustin.com and The Career Club on Facebook and I share simple solutions to help you build a business or launch a career you love.

Interview Guide Cheat Sheet

Your step-by-step guide to answering the most popular interview questions!

When it comes to job interviews, most employers have a set of designated questions they’ll ask. Whether you agree with the effectiveness of these questions is a different story.

Nonetheless, preparing your responses to these common questions ahead of time will give you more confidence, help your interview go more smoothly and hopefully secure you a job offer.

And here’s the cool thing, I have a separate video for each of these question that goes into more detail. I’ll link each video up below.

Here’s the key to doing well with any interview question… develop a compelling story around each questions that shows some type of quantifiable result

So let’s jump into it!

1. Tell me about yourself

The interviewer is asking this question to get a sense of your personality and to see if you’re a good fit for the position.

The “tell me about yourself” interview question will potentially be the first question you’re asked in an the interview as a way to get the ball rolling.

The key to doing well is to tell a captivating story about your professional life. Not your personal life.

Organize your story into key parts. Start with where you are now in your career. Then move into how you got to where you are and why you passionate about the position.

Round this question off by mentioning why you’re applying for the position and how it relates to your goals and aspirations.

2. Why should we hire you?

Interviewers ask this question because they want to know what sets you apart from everyone else. What makes you unique and special compared to everyone else they’re interviewing?

To properly answer this question, you need to fully understand the company’s pain points and be able to communicate how you can help them solve these pain points.

To find out what problems the company is facing, thoroughly review the job posting for key items that will signal why the company is hiring for this position in the first place.

Then, match up your skills, expertise and accomplishments with those key items and develop your response.

3. What are your weaknesses?

Interviews ask this question because they want to gauge your personality and character. They want to understand your self-awareness.

Pick a few common, reasonable weaknesses you’re comfortable mentioning that don’t directly correlate with the position you are applying for.

Then discuss the weakness and what you’ve done to overcome it. The key to doing well with this question is to keep it positive, in the past and be honest.

4. What are your strengths?

The reason this question is asked is because the interviewer wants to see if your strengths and accomplishments align with the position.

This question might seem fairly easy, but it’s actually a little more complex than you think.

To do well with this question, pick a few of your strengths that go hand-in-hand with the qualifications, skills or experience required for the position.

For example, if the position requires someone with great analytical skills, think back to a situation that shows your analytical skills in action.

For example, you would start with something like, “one of my strengths is the ability to analyze data…” then go into a story that shows how you accomplished this.

5. Why do you want to work here?

This question is asked because the interviewer wants greater insight into what your goals and intentions are.

Before your interview, list the reasons why you want to work for the company and what about the company or position inspires you.

The key to doing well with this question is to show that you understand the company and the position. Be specific with your response.

You don’t want to say something like… “I want to work here because I need money” or “I want to work here because I need a job.”

Rather, develop an answer that shows you will be a valuable contribution to the company.

Bonus: Behavioral interview question

Chances are, you’ll be asked a behavioral interview question. A behavioral interview question is something like: “give me an example of…”, “describe a situation where…”, or “tell me about a time when…”

Interviewers ask these questions to evaluate your past problem solving experience. This helps them determine how you will solve problems in the future.

The key to doing well here, and I mentioned this earlier, is to tell a compelling story. An easy way to structure your story is using the STAR method.

The S stands for situation and the T stands for task. This is the beginning of your story. This is where you’ll describe the event or challenge you faced.

A stands for Action. This is the middle of your story. Describe the action steps you took to solve the problem.

R stands for result. This is the end of your story. Explain the result you achieved from solving the problem.

Interview Guide Cheat Sheet

Your step-by-step guide to answering the most popular interview questions!