8 Common Interview Questions
STAR Interview Response Method
Situation: Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. You must describe a
specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough
detail for the interviewer to understand. This situation can be from a previous job, from a volunteer experience, or
any relevant event.
Task: What goal were you working toward?
Action: Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail and keep the
focus on YOU. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Be careful that you don’t describe
what the team or group did when talking about a project, but what you actually did. Use the word “I,” not “we”
when describing actions.
Result: Describe the outcome of your actions and don’t be shy about taking credit for your behavior. What
happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? Make sure your answer contains
multiple positive results.
1. TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
• Education, Past Work Experience, Personal Experience (that is related to your work)
• Not random, anything that can give the employer a good impression about you.
• Concentrate on telling them about your work-related skills as opposed to your home life. They are not
interested in your home life.
Example:
“I grew up in Madrid and I studied accounting. I also worked for an accounting firm for about eight months, and I
really enjoy numbers, so maybe that’s the exact reason, I love to solve them. Solving them is so much fun and in my
spare time, I really like reading and also go out jogging only if the weather allows me too.”
2. WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS?
• How positive you think about yourself
• Again, focus on the person specification for the role you are applying for.
• Say something different that makes you stand out from the other job applicants. Give an example of why
you are better than the other applicants and try to make yourself RELATABLE and REAL!
Example:
“My strongest trait is attention to detail. I totally believe in planning and execution. In fact, even when I was in
college, I used to organize my week and many people have said that I am quite approachable, so I believe these are
my strengths.”
3. WHAT ARE YOUR WEAKNESSES?
• How to identify your weaknesses and how you can cover it up
• Displaying negatives but also covering it with positives.
• Anyone who tells the interview panel they have no weaknesses is telling porkies! We all have weaknesses.
• Don’t give a weakness that is one of the key requirements of the role. For example, if punctuality and good
timekeeping are important, don’t tell the panel you struggle getting out of bed in the morning!
Example:
1. “I think my weakness is that I am way too detail oriented. I try to accomplish everything, and I just want
everything to be perfect, but then I realize that I’m losing out on time, so maybe that makes me submitting these
projects pretty late. So I think that’s one of the weaknesses.”
2. “I do have one weakness, and that is I sometimes get slightly irritated when people don’t carry out their work to a
high standard. Because I set myself high standards, I expect others to have them too, and this is not always the case.
Although it can irritate me at times, I have learned to just focus on my own job and do it to a consistently high
