As a Hiring Manager I’ve asked most of these sample interview questions. And as a candidate I’ve also been asked many of them!

While it’s impossible to list every question that may be asked on an interview, there are many common questions that have a high probability of being asked on any given interview.

You should prepare and practice how your would answer these sample interview questions. Ideally, your answers should relate directly to the specific position for which you are interviewing. See more interview questions from Uptowork.

Common General Questions

• Tell me about yourself.
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Why do you want this job?
• Where would you like to be in your career five years from now?
• What attracted you to this company?
• Give examples of ideas you’ve had or implemented.
• How would you describe your work style?
• Tell me about a time where you had to deal with conflict on the job.
• What would be your ideal working situation?
• Why should we hire you?
• What did you like least about your last job?
• What do you think of your previous boss?
• Do you have any questions for me?
• What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
• What salary are you seeking?
• What do you know about this industry?
• What do you know about our company?
• Give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond the call of duty at work.
• What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?
• What’s the most difficult decision you’ve made in the last two years?
• Why are you leaving your present job?
• Give me an example of a time you did something wrong. How did you handle it?
• How would you go about establishing your credibility quickly with the team?
• What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?
• What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?

Common Sample Interview Questions for Managers

• What was the last project you headed up, and what was its outcome?
• Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback. How did you handle it?
• What is your management style?
• Give me an example of a personnel problem you had and how you handled it.
• How would your employees describe you?
• What kind of goals would you have in mind if you got this job?

Difficult Sample Interview Questions – Be Ready for These

If you’re very unlucky on your interview, you’ll come across one of these difficult sample interview questions. They are primarily designed to probe more about your character. They can also reveal how well you react to stressful and difficult questions, and if your answers are consistent to what you say in the rest of the interview.

As a Hiring Manager, I don’t normally use these types of questions, but if you go on enough interviews, you will very likely come across them or a version of them.

• What are three positive things your last boss would say about you? (answer the same as the question about your strengths – it’s really the same question).
• What negative thing would your last boss say about you? (answer the same as the question about your greatest weakness – it’s really the same question).
• List five words that describe your character.
• What is your greatest achievement outside of work?
• Give me an instance where you were able to make order out of chaos?
• What are three positive character traits you don’t have?
• General oddball, off the wall questions, such as: if you were an animal, which one would you want to be? Tell me how to tie my shoes, step-by-step. If you were a tree, what type would you want to be? Tell me one thing about yourself you wouldn’t want me to know?