The ticking of your watch pounds in your ears as you sit up straight at the edge of your seat. A sleek, leather bound portfolio rests on the well-ironed slacks of the person to your left. “what good is that now?” Your mind asks. Your palm gets sweaty as somebody in a suit comes out of the interview room wearing a grimace. They call your name, and your bladder tells you that it’s time to go.
Sound familiar? Most college students can agree that getting interviewed sucks. If you’re worried that your next interview will flop, take note of these difficult interview questions.
6. What were some of your greatest obstacles in getting here today?
In the words of hannah montana, “nobody’s perfect. We live and we learn it.” That means, at some point or the other, we encounter failure. Cue the scary piano music. Challenges can be a good thing; when explaining the difficulties you’ve faced, be intentional and selective about the information you’re sharing.
“it’s hard to really know the fine line between sharing something you’ve encountered and sharing how you overcame that obstacle without becoming boastful,” says liu. Challenges and failure speak a lot about your work-ethic. Do you get discouraged? Or do you persist? As nalwanga says, “with questions about failure, i try to balance honesty about my failures and mistakes with how badass i am – i talk about how i failed and then how i overcame that failure, as well as what i took away from it and did differently when a similar situation happened.” Like many of the questions on this list, keep your response positive.
7. What are your salary expectations?
Most young people don’t want to struggle financially. Of course, you can’t go into an interview and demand a 6-figure pay (USD) for an entry-level position at a publishing house. Doing research on the company and the role will give you a good idea of what figure to say. The lazarus center advises students to take caution when asked about salaries and benefits during an interview. The center also recommends that if the employer brings up salary, give the range you’ve researched.
Here’s an example of a response:
“i understand that the expected range for this role falls between xxx to yyy, and because of my experience and skills i’d like to be at the higher end of the range.”
A range rather than a specific number makes you appear willing to negotiate and not money-hungry. Don’t give a number that’s too low because student loan debt is real.
8. How would a former co-worker describe you?
You’ve finished your interview and you smile. You hit it off well with the interviewer and you didn’t trip and fumble over your words. Congratulations. A couple of days go by and ring, ring. The employer gives you a call. No worries. Except, all the worries come crashing down. The employer tells you that they reached out to a couple of your former co-workers to verify some things you said during the interview. You’re caught red-handed. You didn’t lie about what your co-workers thought of you; you just didn’t expect them to describe you as lazy, immature and irresponsible. Yikes.
If you don’t like talking about yourself, think about how someone else might describe you. If you’re someone who does enjoy talking about themselves, be careful with how you answer this question. What you might perceive in yourself as “taking initiative,” someone else might read as controlling. Before your interview, ask your former co-workers to describe you. Pro tip: reach out to the people who liked you; they could be a potential reference in the future. Most of all, this question comes back to how well you know yourself. You want to leave a good impression, so keep your answer positive and honest.
9. Convince me you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations, and environments
Cue the photo of a racially diverse group. Just kidding. Diversity in the workplace shows up in different ways. This question deals with how well you respond to change. You may be applying for a position that requires you to communicate with clients from all around the world. Maybe your physical workplace changes a lot—perhaps you’re outside one day, inside the next, at a new location some days. Who knows? More importantly—can you keep up?
For a question like this, it’s okay to draw from personal experience. “skills are developed in many experiences: academics, extracurriculars, volunteer work, travels, growing up in another culture, being the first in one’s family to go to college, and more,” said schell. Talking about your experiences with people can be a great way to tackle this question. For example, if you have a student job with res-life, you can bring up how you’ve helped resolve roommate conflicts between students or plan house-bonding events. Giving specific examples will help you sound even more convincing.
10. Give me an example of a time you were able to communicate successfully with another person even when that individual might not have liked you (or vice versa)
At some point, we’ve all had to work with people we didn’t like. “most companies nowadays are community project based where many projects you encounter require you to work with others,” said liu. “the company wants someone who will put the company’s interest first, not their own emotions.” A question like this requires you to think about your communication and collaboration skills. “your response should emphasize your ability to prioritize your responsibilities,” said liu. Again, employers want to hire someone who will contribute to a peaceful, productive work environment.