Interviews

Tell me about yourself

Opening questions at interview are a chance to ease you in and allow the interviewer to get to know you. The interviewer can get a summary of your experience and skills. Try to keep your answer focused and relevant and highlight related experience and achievements. 

Why have you applied for this position?

Show that you understand what the role entails and explain how your skills and experience make you suitable for the post. Be enthusiastic, talk about what appeals to you about the job.

Talk about your knowledge of the business and the industry. How does the role fit with your career aspirations and goals?

What qualities/skills do you have that make you right for the role?

Make the connection between what the job requires and your own skills and experience.

What do you think this job/placement will involve?

Show that you have done your research and understand what the position/area of work involves. Think in terms of:

• responsibilities
• accountability
• where the role fits into the organisation
• the type of clients you'll be working with, etc.

What would you find most challenging/difficult about the role?

Demonstrate an understanding of the position and what it entails. Be honest, but keep your answer positive. Explain how you would overcome any problems or issues.

Why have you decided to apply to us?

Explain that you have found out what the organisation does, that it is what you want to do and that you are capable of it. You could refer to:

• their product
• the company size
• geographical location
• contact you have had with employees at events such as recruitment fairs and/or employer presentations

See Guardian Careers and The Muse for more advice on answering the question 'why do you want to work here?'

In what way(s) do you think you can make a contribution to our company?

This is your chance to sell yourself and demonstrate how your key competences match the company’s needs. Mention any relevant achievements from your CV or application form. Highlight how your skills and knowledge would benefit the organisation.

What do you know about our business?

Make sure that you've researched the organisation before the interview. Try to focus on key facts such as:

• turnover
• size of workforce
• products/services
• recent press coverage
• clients they work with
• any key activities that interest you.

Don’t only use the company’s website to do your research. Newspapers, such as the Financial Times, can be useful for finding out more information. Think also about the impact any challenges/issues may have on the company and/or their clients. Our Sector-specific Information has useful links which may help with your research.

Tell me about a recent piece of news about the sector that interested you.

You may be asked about the current business climate, as employers are looking for people who are commercially aware. See LawCareers.net for trending commercial issues to know about in 2023.

A similar question might be, 'Tell me about a company which is doing particularly well/not so well at the moment and why is that?'

What interests you most about this job?

Having an interest in a career is important in motivating you to do it well. Employers will also be looking to see if you have analysed your own skills and matched these to the job. Your answer should demonstrate both your own self-awareness and your knowledge of the work. Try to show how the role matches your strengths with the skills and aptitudes required by the employer.

A similar question could be 'Why have you applied for this kind of work/career?'

Where do you see yourself in five years' time?

Have you thought ahead about where you are going and why? Employers don't expect goals to be rigidly defined although they do expect you to have some idea.

Research the sector to see what career progression you could realistically expect. Look at any graduate profiles on the company's website or search for relevant LinkedIn profiles for inspiration. You could also focus on skills you'd like to develop further in the future.

CareerMatch has some useful advice on answering this question.

Which other jobs/careers are you applying for?

Make sure that you demonstrate consistency in the types of job and organisations that you mention.

What are the most important rewards you expect in your career?

This question is exploring your values and self-awareness. Are you motivated by money, altruism, responsibility or something else?

What motivates you to give your greatest effort?

Try to relate what motivates you to the requirements and duties of the job you are applying for. Demonstrate that you are self-motivated and don’t always need an external push to get you started.

You could also be asked to give examples of things you have done where your own motivation was a significant factor.

Why did you choose to go to university?

You may also be asked how or why you chose a specific university or degree subject.

Questions such as these provide a good opportunity to emphasise your decision-making skills. Be specific about how you came to choose this particular subject and how it has worked out. Employers want to know that you can make reasoned, informed decisions.

Which aspect of your course do you like best/least? Why?

Show enthusiasm and a real interest in your subject. You could describe how you keep up to date with any developments etc.

If asked about what you like least about your course, be honest and provide a good reason, while staying positive.

Explain to me what your project is about.

The employer will want to know why you chose your project or dissertation, how you undertook it and what you got out of it. Read through your project/dissertation before the interview to refresh your memory.

If it was a group project, they will be interested in how you fitted into the team. This could include: what role you took, how you co-operated with the other members and how you dealt with any problems. Make sure you use ‘I’ rather than ‘we’ in your examples.

With individual projects, you could talk about working independently, research and problem solving.

Highlight any techniques you learnt that you may use in this role.

How has your university experience prepared you for this career?

Talk about the skills and knowledge gained from your degree. You could also discuss other university activities eg. representing your course on a committee.

Do you think that your grades are a good indication of your academic achievement?

Be positive and give examples of successes you have had on your course. Mention any other activities during your studies and focus on your skills. 

With hindsight, how could you have improved your progress on your degree course?

Demonstrate to the employer what you have learnt from your experience. Discuss what you would have done differently. Don’t blame others or the course itself.

What have you learnt from participation in extracurricular activities?

You could be asked questions like:

• Can you give me examples of positions of responsibility you have held at any time and what you have learnt from them?
• Have you done any voluntary work? Tell me about what you learnt from it.
• What skills have you developed during your previous work experience?
• What have your vacation jobs taught you?

For these types of questions, give specific examples to demonstrate skills you've developed, knowledge you've gained and self-awareness. Try to make your examples relevant to the job you are applying for.

Describe a situation where you successfully led a group.

Talk about teamwork, leadership, achievements and being goal orientated. Give specific examples of how you used these skills.

Remember, leadership involves a whole range of skills, including:

• planning
• decision-making
• persuading
• motivating
• listening
• co-ordinating

Have you had to deal with awkward people in the workplace? What did you do?

Pick a scenario where you dealt with the situation well and the outcome was positive.

Always give examples of what you did and how you diffused the situation. Use the STAR technique to describe the situation, the task, your actions, and the result.

Focus on your people skills, particularly listening and negotiating. Show how you balanced your approach between productivity and ensuring the individual felt listened to.

What kind of people do you find it difficult to work with?

Other questions could be about when your views differed from those of other team members. You may be asked to give an example of a situation where you found it difficult to communicate with someone.

The employer is looking for evidence that you are assertive, interpersonal and can negotiate. Focus on how you resolved any issues.

When discussing these situations, focus on your ability to resolve these successfully. Highlight what you learnt and how you saw the situations from other peoples' points of view. Demonstrate how you can strike a balance between being sensitive to the needs of others with an ability to be assertive if needed.

What have you done that shows initiative?

Give an example of when you have taken appropriate action unprompted by anyone else.

Describe a difficult problem you have had to deal with.

How did you handle the situation? You should demonstrate:

• analysis
• effective problem-solving and planning
• a successful outcome
• the ability to transfer learning to new situations

Give me an example of a time when you’ve exceeded expectations.

Use the STAR technique to structure your answer.

Describe a time when you’ve been under pressure to meet challenging deadlines.

Use the STAR technique to do this. Your situation could come from your academic experience, vacation work or extracurricular activities.

Why should we employ you for this job?

This question allows you to highlight your key skills and show the interviewer how they relate to the job.

What are your two greatest weaknesses?

Illustrate your self-awareness and be honest but show yourself in positive light. For example, you get frustrated when others don't pull their weight or you used to have problems with paperwork or time management. Give a real example that isn't essential to the role and show how you are taking steps to work on your weaknesses.

For more advice on answering this question, including what is your greatest strength, visit CareerMatch.

What is your greatest achievement?

Give an example of where you have overcome obstacles to achieve something you are proud of.

Don't worry if you don't have a lot of work experience, you can talk about achievements outside of work. Make sure you can relate them where possible to the job that you are applying for.

You could also be asked 'What two or three accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction? Why?'

In what kind of work environment are you most comfortable?

This is an opportunity to show your awareness of the organisation's working culture. Make sure that matches the environment that company has.

What is the biggest mistake you have made and what have you learnt from it?

Don’t spend too long talking about the mistake itself. Focus on the steps you took to rectify it and what you learned from it.

How would you describe yourself?

You may also be asked how you think a friend or lecturer who knows you well would describe you or what words your friends would use to describe you.

This is an opportunity to sell yourself and highlight the relevant skills you have. However, this also opens up the interview to other questions so be prepared to elaborate on what you say.

You may want to ask where you should start, eg with your personal life, academic life or work experience. The examples you give should stand out, be memorable, whilst also relating to the requirements for the job.

What makes you different from the other candidates I am interviewing today?

Show confidence in yourself (but not arrogance) and show how suitable you are to the job, for example:

'I am a team player, I take direction and have a desire to succeed. I like a challenge, my background demonstrates excellent problem-solving abilities and I always see a project through to the finish'.

Some graduate employers are introducing 'strength-based interviews' into their recruitment process. In these, the interviewer will focus on the things you love doing over the things you can do.

With strength-based questions, employers listen out for the speed the questions are answered and your tone of voice. We usually describe natural strengths most easily and enthusiastically.

It's more difficult to prepare for this type of interview in advance. However the following questions may help you start to think about your own strengths:

• What are you good at?
• What activities come naturally to you?
• How do you judge if you've had a good day?
• Tell me something you learnt last week.
• What energises you?
• What subjects do you most enjoy studying?
• What gets done first on your 'to do' list? What never gets done?
• Do you prefer to start tasks or finish them?
• What things did you really enjoy doing when you were younger?
• When would your friends and family say you are happiest?
• What does success mean to you?
• In your life, what have you done that you are most proud of? What made it significant for you and what did you learn from the experience?
• What are your greatest strengths? When do you use them at their best? Are there situations in which you overuse these strengths?

It's normal to be asked at the end of an interview if you have any questions. Sometimes the quality of your question(s) is used as part of the assessment process.

However, if you can't think of a good question, avoid asking one just for the sake of it or asking a very basic question which has already been covered.

Questions could come from your research, or be about training, responsibility, opportunities, mobility, etc. For example: 'I noticed that you've started working on X project. Is this something that I could get involved with?

Try not to ask questions where the answers can easily be found in the company brochure or on their website.

You could ask about:

• developments in the business
• what you could expect to do in the first six months
• how the department relates to the rest of the business
• how your performance in the role would be measured
• opportunities for progression within the company
• what the culture is like within the organisation
• what the interviewer’s own personal experience of working there is

Prospects has a list of 7 good questions to ask at an interview.

Guardian Careers have posted about asking questions in job interviews, with some useful examples.

Postgraduate study interviews

The focus is likely to be on your academic skills and interests. Interviews for postgraduate study can vary greatly between institutions and even departments. They tend to be more informal and there is no standard structure in terms of length, content and number of interviewers. For example, an interview for a taught Master's course is often less involved than a PhD.

Find further information on these websites:

• Postgraduate interview questions
• Masters Interviews: questions to expect and how to prepare
• PhD interview questions and answers

Medicine and dentistry courses

For information and tips on medical and dental school interviews, see Applying to medical school and Applying to dental school.

Teaching training courses

See Teacher Training Interviews to help you prepare.

Academic interviews

The following websites offer further information on academic interviews:

• academic job interviews
• commonly asked questions in academic interviews
• Academic interviews - includes an interview questions tool

See also the Careers Service reference book 'Moving on in your career - a guide for academic researchers and postgraduates', for help with preparing for difficult questions.

If you are being interviewed for a position as a lecturer or postdoctoral researcher, you may also be asked to deliver a lecture or presentation.

The following websites include example interview questions:

• Tricky interview questions - advice on how to respond to challenging interview questions
• Employer Hubs – independent profiles of several graduate employers, with overview of their selection procedures. Includes examples of interview questions and tips on how to answer them
• Examples of questions you may be asked about the job, the organisation, yourself. Also see Example questions and answers
• Graduate interview tips and techniques – see also example interview questions by sector
• Interview questions
• Guardian Careers - advice on common interview questions and how to answer them

Graduates First's Question Identifier Tool (QIT) assessment can help you identify likely questions that could come up in a competency-based interview. It is free for Newcastle University students and registered graduates. See below for details on how to access Graduates First.