Applying and interviewing

Interview questions

Traditional questions

Traditional questions focus on topics such as your career goals, leadership, teamwork and professionalism. There is no "right" answer to these questions. Instead, employers are more interested in your overall work style and ability to communicate.

Tips for answering common traditional interview questions:

 

  • Respond by sharing information about your professional present, past and future.
  • Highlight your education, professional experiences, most important qualities and a brief statement explaining why you want to work for that company.

 

  • Provide specific examples to showcase your strengths.
  • The response should showcase your top skills and strengths that relate to the job. Consider sharing two strengths and one weakness.
  • Be honest in describing an area that you want to improve and describe how you are working to improve it. Leave a more positive impression by describing your weakness as an area of growth.

 

  • If you want to continue growing with the organization, share that you plan to improve your skills.
  • The interviewer wants to know if you are ambitious and whether you think about your long-term goals. If you do not know your goals moving forward, highlight the skills you want to gain regardless of where you are employed.

 

  • Share what you know about the organization.
  • This question reveals how much you know about the organization. Research the organization in advance and prepare a response tailored to the organization! Familiarize yourself with the company's vision, mission, social media platforms and initiatives.

 

  • Always share the positive attributes of your previous employment, even if it was not always a positive experience.
  • It is normal for people to move to new positions and organizations throughout their career. In your response to this question, consider how moving from one position to another helped your professional growth.

Behavior-based questions

Behavioral questions are designed to determine your future behavior given specific experiences from your past. Consider answering these questions using the STAR method.
 

Tips for answering common traditional interview questions:

 

  • The interviewer’s goal is to understand your decision-making process.
  • What factors did you consider when making the decision? What alternatives did you consider? Did you consider additional timelines, deadlines, quality, budget, etc.?

 

  • The interviewer is trying to measure your initiative and professionalism.
  • What were the expectations that were given? What actions did you take to exceed those expectations? What were the results of you going above the expectations?

 

  • Identify a story to share - focus on the facts, listening skills and your takeaway.
  • Focus on the resolution and your role in effectively managing the situation. Make sure to focus on the positive resolution of this difficult situation or experience

Technical questions

Depending on the job, employers will want to know if you have the specific skills that are required to complete certain job tasks. When responding to a technical question, employers are evaluating your logic and problem solving skills. When answering these questions, share your thought process and demonstrate how you arrive at your answer.

Examples of technical questions:

  • What is your experience in operating tools to assess the security of IT networks?
  • What is the capacity of human brain memory?
     

Questions to ask your interviewer

It is important to create 3-5 questions to ask at the end of your interview. This is your chance to ask questions that cannot be answered through the job description or by searching the organization’s website.

Avoid questions that are based on the presumption of being offered the position too early in the interview process (i.e. "what is the salary range for this position?”). Questions of this nature can be asked after the preliminary interviews if they have not been addressed by the employer already.

Examples questions to asks:

  • What do you enjoy about your position or the company?
  • What have been some major contributions made by individuals who have held this job previously?
  • What are some challenges that this role may face?
  • Based on your experience with the company, what have you seen in terms of opportunities for advancement in this functional area?
  • Could you tell me about the people with whom I would be working? What types of positions do they hold?
  • How would you characterize the culture of this organization?