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Q. What are your career goals for the next five years?[ top ]
Having short term and long-term career goals is very important. Not only it helps you during the interview but also helps you work towards what you want to do for living. Career goals must be realistic, achievable and well defined.

Example:
"I like to seek for more management opportunities that could utilize my current team leadership and technical skills and experience in the software development areas."

Q. What makes you better than other candidates for this job? [ top ]
This is another chance to highlight your strengths. Do not say you are better than others because they are not as good as you. The best answer would be to give an example of the project or work that you have performed or learned in the past and is one of the key requirements for this job.

Example:
"I can not speak for other candidates. However, I would be a good fit for this position if you are looking for a person who could quickly start playing an important role in your financial data warehouse project. I have successfully completed many data warehouse projects and have developed skills that could help you complete this project within given deadlines."

Q. How did your education help to prepare for this job? [ top ]
This question is mostly asked to recent graduates. Employers would like to know how much you know and have skills and course work experience if any to perform the job. This is your chance to let the employer know about the skills and course work experience that you have gained toward your degree. You can mention your final project work, interaction and coordination with other team members.

Example:
"I graduated with Computer Science as my major. My courses included learning of various computer languages such as C++, Visual Basic, JAVA, Perl etc. Part of each courses required to work on a successful project that provided me an opportunity to gain practical experience on those languages and prepared me to work on the job like this."

Q. What do you particularly like about your present job? [ top ]
Employers like to hire candidates who enjoy their work. Make a list of 2-3 things that you like the most about your current job. Also, be prepared for a question like, what you dislike about your present job?

Example:
"As a sales manager, I like the excitement and challenges at my present job. I enjoy the way I have to be creative, competitive and bring the best out of me to close every deal."

Q. Do you prefer working with others or by yourself? [ top ]
This is a very important question. Most employers like to make sure that you would fit well with others in a team or in the organization. Make sure that your answer does not provide any negative view on either of the options. You may also want to give an example where you have worked by yourself and in a team.

Example:
"I like to interact with people and that was a successful factor in my team projects that I have worked. I very well understand the commitment and dependencies working as a team member to complete the task within the given deadlines. I have not had an opportunity to work by myself. However, considering my work experience and organizational skills I would be able to work by myself without any difficulties."

Q. Describe a situation where you had to work under pressure and the way you handled it. [ top ]
The stress and the pressure are key factors in the employee turnover. Most if not all jobs have some amount of stress and pressure involved. Employers are always working to find ways to reduce stress at work. Describe one situation where you had to work under stress or pressure and how you were able to successfully handle it.

Example:
"As a network administrator, I was always working on a fire drill. I was responsible to support 200 users and 12 servers for different applications at my previous job. I developed a system that helped me prioritize my tasks and provided me a clear to-do list."

Q. Are you willing to relocate? [ top ]
Be honest. If you cannot relocate for some reason, please give a valid reason. It is also a good idea to ask a follow-up question if you are not willing to relocate. The follow-up question would give you information about the company whether it is planning to move somewhere else in near future.

Example 1:
"Unfortunately, I will not be able to relocate due to other family obligations. Are you planning to move anytime soon?"

Example 2:
"Yes, I am open to relocation. If I may ask, where are you planning to move?"

Q. Are you willing to travel? [ top ]
Again be honest. If you cannot travel for some reason, please give a valid reason. Here also, a follow-up question would be very helpful.

Example 1:
"Currently, I am going to College three days a week. So, I will not be able to travel for the next 6 to 8 months until it is over. How significant is travel for this job?"

Example 2:
"Yes, I am willing to travel. It will be a great opportunity for me to learn about different places and people. How often do I have to be on the road and for how long?"