Common Interview Questions Asked at an Interview, Roo Resumes, ANZ

I have so many of our valued clients each day ask me how to answers job interview questions and whilst we do send our clients various templates as part of our Roo Resumes Packages for them to read, use and practice on before an interview I thought it may be worthwhile running over a few of the key questions you will more than likely be asked at interview and how to tackle them. 

“Tell Me about Yourself”

So, the first question you’re probably going to get in an interview is, “Tell me about yourself.” Now, this is not an invitation to recite your entire life story or even to go bullet by bullet through your entire career profile and professional resume. Instead, it’s probably your first and best chance to pitch the hiring manager on why you’re the right one for this great role. 

A formula I really think is a great tool to use for this particular interview question is called the Present-Past-Future formula. So, first you start with the present—where you are right now. Then, move into the past—a little bit about the experiences you’ve had and the skills you gained at the previous position. Finally, finish with the future—why you are really excited for this particular opportunity. Let me give you an example below.

 If someone asked, “tell me about yourself,” you could possibly say the following;

“Well, I’m currently an account executive at Roo Resumes, where I handle our top performing clients. Before that, I worked at a Professional Recruitment Consultancy where I was on three different major National Accounts for a portfolio of clients in the ICT sector. Whilst I really enjoyed the work that I did, I’d love the chance to dig in much deeper with one specific ICT company, which is why I’m so excited about this opportunity with ICT Professional Services Center.” 

Remember throughout your answer to focus on the experiences and skills that are going to be most relevant for the hiring manager when they’re thinking about this particular position and this company. And ultimately, don’t be afraid to relax a little bit, tell stories and anecdotes—the hiring manager already has your resume, so they also want to know a little more about you. Be specific with your answer and try not to waffle on for ten minutes. You will only bore the Manager and you want to have their attention during the delivery of this answer. 

“Where do you see yourself in the next Five Years?”

What they are really asking you is do you actually care about our work and what we do? 

Hiring staff is such a massive investment, and interviewers believe, as you would expect, that someone genuinely interested in the businesses work will be the better hire. So, what the hiring Manager really wants to know is whether this particular job and company is part of your career path, or whether you’ll be jumping ship in a year once you land your “real” dream job. 

So how should you answer? If the position you’re interviewing for is on the track to your goals, share that, plus give some specifics. For example, if you’re interviewing for an account executive position an advertising firm, and you know your goal is to become an account supervisor, say that. And then add specifics about the sort of clients you hope to work with, which will help your answer sound genuine, not canned—and again show why this particular company will be a good fit. 

If the position isn’t necessarily a one-way ticket to your aspirations, the best approach is to be genuine, but to follow your answer up by connecting the dots between the specific duties in this role and your future goals. It’s OK to say that you’re not sure what the future holds, but that you see this experience playing an important role in helping you make that decision, or that you’re excited about the management or communications skills you’ll gain in this great role. Demonstrate either way that you want to learn and think they will add value to your current skills and experience. 

“What do you know about our Company?” 

Any interviewee can read the company’s “about” page on a website. So, when interviewers ask this, they aren't necessarily trying to gauge whether you understand the mission—they want to know whether you care about the cause of the mission.  

Start with one line that shows you understand the company's goals, aspirations and values using a couple key words and phrases from the website, but then go on to make it personal. Say, “I’m personally drawn to this mission because…” or “I really believe in this approach that you have because…” and share a personal example or two in your answer.  

“Why do you want this job?”

Like the tell me about yourself question, the question, “Why are you interested in this position?” is sure to come up in an interview with a company.  

Even if it doesn’t, if you want the job you should get this sentiment across regardless. So, really, there’s no way around figuring out how to string together a coherent thought about why this being in this position makes sense for you and why it also makes sense for the Company to hire you! 

Luckily, there’s actually a pretty simple way to go about answering this question effectively without having to go through every big moment or transition in your life and career that’s brought you to this interview. Here’s a smart framework for how you should structure your answer. 

Ensure you do express your enthusiasm for the company, team and culture 

First things first, this is an excellent opportunity for you to show off what you know about the company. You can talk all day about how excited you are about joining the team, but nothing will trump actually knowing a thing or two about the place you’re interviewing with. So, to prepare, research the business and select a few key factors to incorporate into your pitch for why you’re a good fit.  Say you’re interviewing for a small quantitative asset management company. The start of your answer might sound something like this; 

“The first thing that caught my eye when I saw the position posted was definitely that it was at EFG Advisers. I know that you build a lot of your tools in-house, the team is small, and that currently you run a variety of long- and short-term strategies in Australian equities markets using a unique and quantitative business approach.” 

It’s always impressive when a candidate knows a thing or two about what goes on at the company. And the best thing about this is you rarely have to go beyond reviewing the company website or having a quick conversation with a current or past employee to learn enough to sound like you’ve been following the company for a while. 

Marry your skills and current experiences with the role that is on offer! 

Next, you want to be able to demonstrate why you are the best hire for the role. There are two ways you can do this; you can either focus more on your experiences and what you’ve done before that brings you to this point in your career or your skills, which should be especially helpful if you’re pivoting positions or industries. 

Try to pinpoint what the main part of the role entails, plus a couple of the “desired skills” in the job description, and make sure you speak to that. Follow up your introduction to how excited you are about the company with why you’re a good fit. 

"The part that really spoke to me about this position was the chance to combine both the programming skills I gained from being a senior software engineer and my knack for quantitative analysis in a position that actively allows me to communicate and engage with my growing interest in investing and portfolio management." 

Do not forget to keep it short. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to talk about how you got your skills or relevant stories throughout the interview. 

Connect the role to your career plans and career aspirations 

Finally, you want to show that the position makes sense for where you’re going in your career. Ideally, you won’t give the impression that you’re just using the position as a stepping stone. Show that you’ll be around for the long-haul and your interviewer will feel more comfortable investing in you. You could try this example; 

"I’ve been interested in switching to ICT Sales for a while now and have been actively managing my own personal portfolio for a few years. Joining your current team makes sense to me because I think it’s one of the few places where I’ll still be able to use my core IT technical skills and spend my day thinking about project delivery. I’m really excited to learn more and see how I’ll be able to contribute the firm."

Trust me, if you can learn to string these three components together, and you have a response that will impress on three fronts: your knowledge and enthusiasm for the company, your relevant skills, and your general fit with the position. Plus, this three step framework has the added benefit of not stopping the flow of the conversation the way going through your entire life story would. 

Do you have Any Questions for us? 

Basically they need to know you are still interested and have listened. When I was a Practice Manager in the Recruitment industry before my role at Roo Resumes I used to tell all my clients attending interviews that they needed to have at least 5-6 pocket questions in their mind before they walk into an interview. This way even if some are answered during the course of the interview you still have some left to ask at the end of the interview. 

This will require some quick thinking on your feet. As you’re going along in the interview, be thinking which key areas—job duties, company culture, the team you’ll be working with—haven’t been covered yet, so you can target your questions there.  

You can also prepare ahead of time by thinking of more non-traditional questions, or ask questions targeted to the interviewer herself, which probably won’t be covered in the interview. 

I have listed some below for you to look at. What do you like most about working here? What attracted you to work for this team when you started with the business? What do you think are the current strategic challenges and changes facing the team right now and how could you see me helping you with this? What are your biggest headaches? What advice would you give to someone starting in this great role? Never ask about money and also never say you have no questions as you may as well have just said you really are not that interested or bothered about the job at all. 

Remember, there’s no right answer to an interview question. However, by continually thinking about what an interviewer is really after, you can go a long way in showing her why you’re the right fit for the role available. I hope you have found this useful and can implement these tips and advice into your next face-to-face interview. 

If you would like any help with re-writing your current Professional Resume, optimizing your Linked In Profiles or job application Cover Letters, useful templates and career advice, then please do not hesitate to contact the team at Roo Resumes ANZ today.  

Visit our website and place an order today at www.rooresumes.com 

Good Luck!