The trick questions in a job interview

Question n ° 1: Why are you interested in this position?

It’s all about “motivation” and it’s never easy to put feelings into words.

In fact, when you’re asked this question, the recruiter wants to know:

If you are suited for this job.
If you can succeed in the missions that we will entrust to you
If you plan on the long term within this company.

To answer this question correctly, you must show your desire to join the team. The reasons can be multiple: you share the values of the company; the proposed missions stimulate you…

You should also emphasize that you have mastered all the skills required for the job.

Your response must be constructed and solid. You should avoid responses like:

“The missions you are proposing are interesting”.
“I need this job.”
” I need money”
“I need to take care…”

The answer should be detailed and not focused solely on your personal needs if you do not want to be disqualified immediately.

Question n ° 2: Why are you the best candidate for this position?

This question often arises at the end of the course. To answer this question, you will have to put yourself forward and re-emphasize your motivation.

Showing that you have identified the difficulties of the position and starting to look for solutions to remedy them is also a good way to stand out.

By answering this question, you will have to show recruiters that you will be able to help solve their problems or take up great challenges.

Question n ° 3: What are your strengths?

Once again, this is the time to value you and put yourself forward. You will be able to talk about the skills you have acquired during your previous experiences that are related to the position.

You could say e.g.

“Today, I have been managing the compliance department for 6 years. I will therefore be able to accompany you without any problem on the most complex money laundering subjects. I have a perfect command of the subject and will be up and running quickly. ”

The idea is to show that you can meet the needs of the business. And to be more impactful, I invite you to prepare examples. This will allow you to be more persuasive with the recruiter.

Question n ° 4: What are your flaws?

It’s a question you get asked very often in interviews and that you hate. This doesn’t have much interest for you?

But nothing to do. Recruiters keep asking it.

So? How to respond?

Obviously, what should not be done is to give false defects.

If you give flaws in the style

“I’m too a perfectionist.”

“I work too much, I don’t know how to stop.”

The company is not fooled. She knows you’re saying that so as not to penalize yourself.

However, what she wants, on the contrary, is that you show that:

You know how to take a step back,
You are able to identify your strengths as well as your weaknesses,
You are able today to overcome or correct them.

So, to answer this question, it is better to prioritize honesty.

Warning! Once again, do not say anything and give a fault that could eliminate you.

But, you can give real flaws that are not related to the job.

To inspire you, I encourage you to download my guide with the 120 admirable faults in maintenance.

So, ideally, you can choose:

A defect that you had in the past but which is resolved.
A defect that you are correcting.

Precisely, if you have difficulty answering this question,

I recommend that you read this article “What faults cited in an interview” which details my method for correctly answering this question.

Question n ° 5: Why did you leave your last job?

This is a question that can really make you uncomfortable or throw you off and even lose your means. You should not be made to say things that you will regret later.

So the first thing you need to keep in mind is obviously never to speak badly about your former employer. It was the worst thing you could do because you have to know that recruiters stand together.

If you say bad things about your former recruiter today, it means you go speak badly about your next employer tomorrow.

In any case, the recruiter may have a lot of a priori on your application. So you don’t have to do that at all.

Why is the recruiter asking you this question?

There are several reasons :

He wants to make sure that you are not left to earn more.
He wants to know if you are a stable person who knows how to invest for the long term. Recruitment is expensive and he doesn’t want you to resign within a year.
He also wants to make sure that you don’t have relationship difficulties and that you are not a complicated person to manage.

To deal with this trick question, you need to project yourself into the future and create a diversion. Focus on what the job can offer you and what you

did not in your old job.

In short, if answering this question is very embarrassing for you, that your last experience went badly, I invite you to read my article: “Why did you leave your last job?”. You will find very specific advice on how to successfully answer this question.

Question n ° 6: Tell me about your greatest achievement.

By asking you this question, the company wants to know how you cope with challenges. The idea is to prepare examples that explain step by step how you have handled things.

To do this, I recommend that you use the STAR method to answer these types of questions.

If you do not know this method, I invite you to read my article which deals with this subject: the STAR Method.

In a nutshell, this method can be broken down into four steps.

S for context situations
T for task or mission
A for the actions you have put in place
R for the results you have obtained.

Question n ° 7: Tell me about your biggest failure

For this question, you can also use the star method to talk about your failure and explain a bit about what happened.

Ideally, choose a failure that you had at the start of your job or at the beginning of your career and show that you know how to take a step back.

There is nothing more disturbing than a candidate who has not experienced failure. The company does not want to find itself facing a confused candidate, who will not know how to react to the slightest difficulty.

And showing that you’ve had failures before, lets you show the company that you’ve grown.

Question n ° 8: What is your salary expectation?

This is a question that we ask you very often in interviews.

The idea is to answer this question as late as possible and above all, to do everything to be able to let the recruiter speak first.

If you are asked at the start of the process, try saying:

“I suggest you discuss this subject. Once I’m a little more about the position and the challenges ahead. Either way, I know we’ll be able to come to an agreement. ”

If you want to know how to define your salary expectations and when is the best time to talk about it, I invite you to read this article: “What are your salary expectations?”

Question n ° 9: Do you have any questions?

This is obviously a question that happens very often. At the end of the interview,

You know, I told you before, you should never answer: “no,

I have no questions. ”

You have to come up with questions. So prepare questions in advance to show that you are motivated, that you are interested in this position, and that you project yourself into the company.

Asking questions at the end of the interview is also a good way to check that this company is right for you. And it is important to verify it.

If you want to have ideas for relevant questions to ask at the end of the interview, I invite you to read my article “Do you have questions.”

Question n ° 10: Introduce yourself

This is without a doubt the most difficult question. In the Academy job interview, a whole module is dedicated to the development of this response. You have to spend time if you want to build a powerful speech and this is in 99% of cases the first question you will be asked.

And it’s important, very important to start a good interview to make a good first impression. Capturing the recruiter’s attention from the first minutes of the conversation will change everything for you.

If you show the recruiter that you are capable of having a constructed speech and that you have confidence in yourself, you will immediately set yourself apart from other candidates.

Through this presentation, the idea is to say who you are, to highlight your strengths in relation to the recruiter’s needs, and to show your motivation.

It sounds simple like that. But having a fluid speech, which makes you want, which is punchy, it takes time and practice.

So prepare this question well.