How to Pass Any Interview: How-to for Candidates

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Are you looking for a job and want to know what’s waiting for you in a meeting room or at a Zoom call? 

The ITExpert professionals are ready to reveal what types of interviews are there, and why it’s a good idea to get ready for any of them!

1. Traditional Structured Interview

This is the simplest and most widespread interview. Recruiters ask standard questions on education and experience to find out their background, competencies, financial expectations, strengths and weaknesses. 

Companies have a list of questions and already prepared answers for each of them. Candidate’s answers are matched with these “templates”. Finally, they choose the person whose answers are closer to the ideal ones.

The questions commonly cover:

• Education,
• Professional experience,
• Hard skills on a chosen expertise,
• Soft skills: sociability, teamwork, leadership, etc.

This is the best option for trainee and junior specialists who don’t have a large portfolio and success cases so far. Traditional interviews cause less stress, as everyone knows their biography and is not required to solve complex tasks on the spot.

How to Answer These Questions?

As a candidate, you can easily prepare for this kind of interview, as the questions are standard.

You might have come across formal and standard questions, for example: “Could you please tell us more about your professional background?” So, you should be ready to tell the same things in most interviews.

Also, there might be a bit tricky questions aimed at finding out how much the candidate knows his topic. For example: “How can you explain a certain technology or method in simple terms to a non-tech person?”

Still, these interviews don’t give recruiters a chance to see if one truly possesses the skills they mention. That’s why be ready to answer additional questions from the list below:

2. Projective Interviewing

This method helps recruiters reveal one’s personality traits, social skills, and behavioral models. These are questions about imaginary situations for which candidates should describe possible actions. Projective interviews are great, as they give people a chance to tell more about themselves (everyone likes a personalized approach) and show their soft skills.

You might have come across some projective questions at interviews:

• Why do conflicts at work arise?
• What does make people successful?
• Does any person need to build a career?

How to Answer These Questions?

Sometimes, people don’t know how to respond to such vague questions. They don’t even realize why recruiters ask them, as they are not connected to the professional skills and experience. 

So, if a recruiter asks you projective questions, you can note that you’re not aware of what others think but have your own point of view on that. Then express your viewpoint. Also, you can present a couple of alternative points to demonstrate your awareness and versatility.

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3. Behavioral Interviews

As its name says, this type of interview is supposed to reveal the candidate’s behavior in various situations. Recruiters ask specific questions on how you used to cope with complex tasks and communication with colleagues/clients at your former job. This helps HR managers assess whether you, as a candidate, will achieve success at a new place.

The questions on behavior might sound like:

• What were the usual tasks at your previous job and how did you deal with them?
• Why did you consider the chosen solution the best?
• Were there some obstacles and what helped you overcome them?
• Are you happy with the result now? What would you change considering your current expertise?

How to Answer These Questions?

The greatest thing about this method is that you can show the best of your hard and soft skills. Tell recruiters about your success cases including your contribution, teamwork, tools, and hacks. This part can position a company for your candidacy.

If not prepared well, these questions may cause trouble for job seekers. Also, if you cheat in your portfolio, all lies will become visible.

So, be specific and honest, prepare for these questions and think over the noteworthy details. Recruiters can spot both your weaknesses together with strengths.

4. Case Interviewing

This type may be confused with telling about your success cases, but that was our previous point. Case interviewing implies considering an imaginary issue for which you should find a solution on the spot.

This type of interviewing is often used for positions involving work with the budget and customers.

Although questions are custom and often can’t be predicted, here are few examples:

• How would you respond to a series of unreasonable negative feedback from a client who wasn’t supposed to be upset with the service?
• What would you do if unpleasant information leaked to the media, although is this true?
• You have a limited budget for two important needs. What will you save on?
• What would you do if your manager’s actions could harm the company’s reputation? Would you tell the leadership about that?

How to Answer These Questions?

As in the previous case, you can show your professionalism by finding a creative way out of that imaginary crisis. Also, you may demonstrate strong conflict-solving skills. Should these skills be high-level, the company will prefer your candidacy. 

Still, not all of us possess enough flexibility to find the best solution in a couple of minutes. If you are fast and creative enough, you’ll succeed. If you feel that you can’t cope with the task, tell the interviewer that you need 5 minutes more to analyze the situation or better prepare for the meeting. 

All in all, if you are applying for a CFO vacancy, there will be a handful of questions connected to financial issues. If you are going to be hired as a PR manager, be ready to solve cases of reputational issues.

5. Quick Questions

This is the usual case for developers when recruiters or HR managers want to check one’s smartness. These exercises for the brain are aimed at proving your logic and acumen.

Here are some examples of such witty questions:

• How many metro wagons are there in Kyiv metro?
• How is the number of crimes and churches in cities related?
• How many red cars are there in Berlin?
• Why are sewer manholes round?

How to Answer These Questions?

If you answer tricky questions quickly and creatively, you will get more points to the possibility of hiring. Recruiters see the train of thought and can decide whether the person can find reasonable decisions even in unexpected weird situations.

Also, if a position implies working with innovative solutions and creative spheres, you can show your creativity and sense of humor from the best perspective.

Be friendly and don’t refuse to answer these questions. Treat them as fun and be friendly — your future offer depends on that! ?

Key Takeaways

No matter whether you solve a complex imaginary case or answer a funny question during an interview, focus on your thoughts. Don’t start thinking of how your future employer will interpret the answers.

Be honest, be sincere, be yourself! Finally, if you are hired, you will have to perform everything you showed at a meeting.

And don’t forget to ask recruiters your questions about your future job, responsibilities, and employer! ?