17 ‘BRILLIANT ANSWERS’ to the MOST-ASKED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS!

When you answer this first question, use my S.E.A.T structure. Talk about your SKILLS, EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE, ACHIEVEMENTS and the TYPE OF PERSON YOU ARE. You can remember my SEAT structure for “tell me about yourself because you will be sitting on a SEAT at your interview…here is my example answer:

SKILLS: I am grateful for the opportunity to apply for this position. I am a hard-working, loyal, ambitious, collaborative team worker who takes the lead during challenges.

EXPERIENCE/EDUCATION: My educational qualifications and experience are an excellent match for the job description. I have experience working as a team, completing time-sensitive projects and delivering outstanding customer service.

ACHIEVEMENTS: I am a high achiever. For example, in my previous position, I was praised by my manager for being flexible in my job description, how I took care of company supplies and resources to help save money, and helped train new team members.

TYPE OF PERSON: If you hire me, I will act as a positive role model for your company, take ownership of my professional development and embrace change to ensure the business becomes a market leader.

“I am interested in this position for several reasons. The first reason is, having researched your company, I am confident I can build a long-term career here while collaborating alongside other like-minded professionals who want to do great things in their work. We spend a lot of time at work, and I would like that time to be spent producing work that makes a difference. I also want this job because this is an industry I am passionate about. My educational background and experience align perfectly with the job description and your workplace culture and company values mean I will be supported, and my ideas valued and trialed.”

“I am leaving my current job because I have reached my full potential and desire a fresh challenge. I am ready to push myself further and work for a forward-thinking organisation like yours where my skills, knowledge and experience will be fully utilised.

I have enjoyed working for my employer, and we have achieved many great things while I have been there. However, I am now ready to take on the next chapter of my career, which I hope will be for your company in this role.”

“My greatest strengths are an excellent match for the job description and person specification. I take the lead when problems occur instead of leaving them for others to deal with.

I am responsive. If you give me a task to complete, it will be done on time and to a good standard. I am a creative problem solver who analyses information and facts to achieve the best outcome for the team.

Finally, my strong collaboration skills are a testament to my commitment to the team’s success. I quickly fit into a team, act selflessly, and work hard to help my employer achieve their commercial and financial goals.”

“My weaknesses are public speaking and difficulty expressing NO to people. I don’t yet have any experience giving talks, but if there are any opportunities in this role for me to give a presentation to my team during projects, I would like to try.

I also struggle to say NO to people which sometimes means I take on too much work. I am aware of this weakness and am taking steps to be more mindful of assessing my capacity for additional work before committing.”

“I researched your company extensively before submitting my resume for this position. I looked at your website to learn about your products and services. Your best-selling products are (INSERT NAME OF PRODUCT), and your customer reviews are excellent.

A common theme with reviews is the quality of your products and excellent customer service. I learned your company values and got a basic understanding of your mission. I also followed you on social media and was impressed that you have won awards for innovation and are active in the local community.”

“In my previous position at [Insert Company], I managed projects from inception to completion, ensuring timely delivery and maintaining high standards of quality. This job role honed my ability to prioritise tasks, manage time efficiently, and help the company achieve its goals.

I also have experience in customer service, problem solving and helping launch new products. For example, my creativeness and social media skills resulted in an 11% increase in sales for the company’s best-selling products.

Overall, my blend of project and task completion, industry-specific expertise, and strong interpersonal skills make me confident in my ability to contribute effectively to your team.”

“Conflict has the potential to hinder a team’s progress. Therefore, I would take swift action to resolve it amicably. First, I would assess my words and actions to ensure I wasn’t the cause.

Second, I would meet privately with my co-worker to ascertain their views and establish the conflict’s cause. Finally, I would hold open and honest conversations with my co-worker to find a way forward that benefitted the team. After resolving the conflict, I would reflect and learn from the situation, so it did not reoccur.”

“I see myself working for you in this role, or having earned promotion to a higher level. In five years, I would have completed several training courses to enhance my skills, collaborated with different people on various projects, and be seen as a high-preforming, trustworthy and integral employee.

In five years, I would also see myself as someone who could be used by the company to help train and develop new employees whenever they join the team.”

“You should hire me because I am a trustworthy person who can be relied upon to carry out my work on time and to expected standards.

You should hire me because I am hungry to learn, want to be the best I can be, and will support my co-workers to achieve a common goal. Finally, you should hire me because I want long-term employment with your company. This means I can become an integral part of the company’s long-term success and you won’t have to readvertise the position for many years to come.”

“I handle stress and pressure at work by remaining calm, prioritising each task against the project or team’s objective, blocking out distractions and focusing on the goal.

When assessing my workload, I foresee problems and issues before planning accordingly. I also handle stress and pressure by accessing the skills and strengths of co-workers when I encounter problems. I believe that stress is an emotion I can control, and I never allow it to hinder my work performance.”

“I am comfortable working alone and as part of a team and can easily switch between the two. Working alone, I prioritise tasks and get on with what I need to do.

When working as a team, I focus on the team’s goal, establish what I can do to help achieve it, and support co-workers. If I had to choose between working independently or as part of a team, it would be working as a team.”

“My manager came into the office one day and said that another department within the business needed someone to help out for a few weeks to cover a staff shortage.

I decided to volunteer because I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn new skills and help out the organisation in its time of need. The fact that I had no idea what I would be doing didn’t concern me.

This was a chance to learn something new about how another department within the business operated.

The next day, I started to work in my new team, and I was required to deal with customer queries via telephone and email. Although the work was different to what I was used to, it was a great experience because it taught me the importance of always providing excellent customer service. Customer service is the bedrock of any successful organisation, and my work for that department just reaffirmed that belief.”

SITUATION: In my previous job, we had an ongoing problem with communication. Updates on project and task completion were becoming increasingly difficult as the company expanded.

TASK: I decided to find a simple solution to this issue.

ACTION: After researching online for the best workplace communication and productivity tools, I put together a short presentation on a tool called Evernote, which would empower managers and team members to keep everyone updated on task and project progression.

RESULT: After watching my presentation, my manager agreed to its implementation and within several weeks, Evernote became a fundamental part of our workplace productivity scheduling and task management.

“My weaknesses are public speaking and difficulty expressing NO to people. I don’t yet have any experience giving talks, but if there are any opportunities in this role for me to give a presentation to my team during projects, I would like to try.

I also struggle to say NO to people which sometimes means I take on too much work. I am aware of this weakness and am taking steps to be more mindful of assessing my capacity for additional work before committing.”

My first answer option is for people who can start work immediately and who don’t have to give notice in their current job. Here it is…

“I am ready start work immediately. I have studied the requirements of the job and my personal life is such that I am free to work the specified hours and some overtime if and when required.”

My second answer is for people who do have to serve a notice period in their current job. Here we go…

“I have a notice period to serve in my current job of (INSERT WEEKS’ NOTICE PERIOD) and can start immediately after. My employer may allow me to leave earlier if I am offered this position, and I would be happy to ask them if that is possible once I receive a job offer.”

“I would like to ask two questions, please. What is it the top-performing employees do in this company to be successful? And, can you tell me more about the team I would be a part of in this role. Thank you.”