Hey Friends!

For those of you on the mailing list, my system went super crazy and sent out an earlier, unfinished draft of this week’s post the other day. Disregard that one! 

Brash Jobs is back this week with the next step of the job-hunting process. You know what I’m talking about: the dreaded interview. This is where everything is make or break and you have to be on your tip-top game to get the job. The tension! The pressure!

How it might look:

How it might feel:

Relevant AND slightly comical!

Never fear! This is just the next step in your training montage to get the job you want.

*Cue Eye of the Tiger*

Forbes and Glassdoor have both written about the top 50 most asked interview questions, presented below. Be ready for any of these at the interview:

1. What are your strengths?
2. What are your weaknesses?
3. Why are you interested in working for [insert company name here]?
4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
5. Why do you want to leave your current company?
6. Why was there a gap in your employment between [insert date] and [insert date]?
7. What can you offer us that someone else can not?
8. What are three things your former manager would like you to improve on?
9. Are you willing to relocate?
10. Are you willing to travel?
11. Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of.
12. Tell me about a time you made a mistake.
13. What is your dream job?
14. How did you hear about this position?
15. What would you look to accomplish in the first 30 days/60 days/90 days on the job?
16. Discuss your resume.
17. Discuss your educational background.
18. Describe yourself.
19. Tell me how you handled a difficult situation.
20. Why should we hire you?
21. Why are you looking for a new job?
22. Would you work holidays/weekends?
23. How would you deal with an angry or irate customer?
24. What are your salary requirements?
25. Give a time when you went above and beyond the requirements for a project.
26. Who are our competitors?
27. What was your biggest failure?
28. What motivates you?
29. What’s your availability?
30. Who’s your mentor?
31. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss.
32. How do you handle pressure?
33. What is the name of our CEO?
34. What are your career goals?
35. What gets you up in the morning?
36. What would your direct reports say about you?
37. What were your bosses’ strengths/weaknesses?
38. If I called your boss right now and asked them what is an area that you could improve on, what would they say?
39. Are you a leader or a follower?
40. What was the last book you’ve read for fun?
41. What are your co-worker pet peeves?
42. What are your hobbies?
43. What is your favorite website?
44. What makes you uncomfortable?
45. What are some of your leadership experiences?
46. How would you fire someone?
47. What do you like the most and least about working in this industry?
48. Would you work 40+ hours a week?
49. What questions haven’t I asked you?
50. What questions do you have for me?

Think you’ve got these covered? Then I’ll leave you to try out the top 25 oddball questions! Think you’re about to panic? Forbes also has tips and tricks to ace the top ten questions!

I will leave most of these questions to you guys to answer for yourselves, but I’ll address specific ones you have a question – just post in the comments below or ask me on Facebook or Twitter! For help with questions 7, 14, 20, and 26, you can read my last post on prepping for the interview. Don’t forget my Instagram is pretty rad, too.

Justin Brasher, Brash Librarian