Tips to Answer Commonly Asked Interview Questions Differently

The word “interview” has been associated with feelings of nervousness, stomach knots and anxiety for long. This is because when people narrate their interview encounters, we tend to get influenced by their views and opinions. There is no need to be jittery if you have prepared yourself well for the interview. And by “well”, I don’t mean answering in a conventional way. In order to crack any interview in a commendable way, you must stand out from other candidates and show your individuality.

So what are the commonly asked questions and what should be your approach towards answering them? Let’s take a look.

Tell us about yourself

“So tell me a little bit about yourself.” This is typically the first question asked to all the candidates. This question is not an invitation to reveal your entire work and life history. Before appearing for any interview, you must read about the roles you are supposed to fulfill for the position. Thereafter, you can write down the achievements and experiences that are relevant and compatible to that role. This will bring much clarity. The best way to go about answering this question is to highlight your past achievements and explain how they will aid in pursuing the current role.

How do you handle criticism?

Being open to criticism is very important if you want to have a prolonged and successful career. By asking this question, the interviewer probably wants to know how you react to disapprovals and feedbacks. During such times, you can talk about a past situation wherein you were given a constructive feedback by your manager and how you made improvements in that area. Highlighting something extremely negative can be a red flag here. So be careful and bring forth a point that brings across your weakness in a subtle way. As such, the interviewers are more interested in knowing how you react to such situations rather than finding out what you learnt from it.

Why do you want to leave your current job?

This is one of the most tricky questions to handle in an interview and requires you to be at your diplomatic best. Too much honesty or outright lie can take the job away from you. To answer this question, you need to understand that the interviewer is trying to gauge your attitude towards your work and your employers. You may be tempted to blurt out all the negative things about your previous job and company, but doing so will give the interviewer the impression that you will also bad mouth them in the same way if you leave their job and go somewhere else. So always think of positive reasons to leave a job - “I want faster career growth”, “I am looking for a more challenging role”, “I want to relocate”, “I want a career change”, “I want better work/life balance”, etc.

What do you know about our company?

A good employee is a face of the organization. Hence, he/she must know what the company is into. Before interviewing, go through the ‘About Us’ page and try to know about the mission and goals of the company. In the interview, you can share your knowledge about the organization and how you identify with their mission. This will create a good impression on your part and the interviewer will get to know how well you understand their goals.

Why should we hire you?

There might be many contenders for the position you are being interviewed for. In a situation like this, you have to prove yourself better than others. And the only way to make the interviewer believe in you is displaying a good amount of confidence. The pitch of your tone shouldn’t be too high or too low but just right. Make frequent eye contacts show your keenness to work with the company. Also speak about your strengths and how making you a part of their organization will make all the difference. And don’t forget to back your claims with actual work done or results obtained.   

It is not necessary for you to follow the approach prescribed above. You can have your own ways of answering questions. However, the above pointers will definitely help you to answer the interview questions with confidence.