Most interviews are won or lost on the same ten questions. The good news is that they're predictable: prepare them in advance, practise your answers out loud, and you arrive with an enormous advantage over whoever is improvising.
This guide collects 30 common interview questions, grouped by type, with the key idea for answering each. At the end you'll see how to practise them so you arrive ready.
How to structure any answer: the STAR method
Before the questions, a tool that solves nearly all the behavioural ones. STAR is a way to tell your achievements without rambling:
- Situation — the context in one sentence.
- Task — what responsibility was yours.
- Action — what you specifically did (60% of the answer goes here).
- Result — the impact, ideally with a number.
When a question starts with "Tell me about a time when…", answer in STAR. Structure your story, end with the result, and stop. It is the difference between sounding prepared and sounding nervous. For the full breakdown with a worked example, see the STAR method guide.
Opening questions
1. "Tell me about yourself"
Not your biography. A 60–90 second summary: who you are professionally, a couple of achievements relevant to this role, and why this opportunity interests you. Close by connecting to the job.
2. "Why do you want to work here?"
Show you did the research. Mention something concrete about the company — a product, a value, recent news — and link it to what you bring. Avoid generic answers that would fit any employer.
3. "Why are you leaving your current job?"
Talk forwards, not against. Focus on what you're looking for — growth, a challenge, an industry change — never on criticising your former boss or team.
4. "What do you know about us?"
Two or three real facts are enough: what they do, who their customers are, something they've launched. Don't recite the About page; say what caught your attention and why.
5. "Why should we hire you?"
The most direct question of all, and it deserves an equally direct answer: two or three concrete reasons tied to what the posting asks for, each with a one-sentence proof.
6. "Tell me about the gap in your resume"
Naturally and briefly: what happened, what you did during that time, and that you're ready now. The longer the detour, the more important it seems.
Questions about you
7. "What are your strengths?"
Pick two or three relevant to the role and back them with a short example. A strength without evidence is just a claim.
8. "What's your biggest weakness?"
Be honest about a real one and, above all, say what you're doing to improve it. Interviewers aren't looking for perfection; they're looking for self-awareness.
9. "Where do you see yourself in five years?"
Show realistic ambition aligned with the role. You don't need an exact plan: direction and a genuine appetite to grow in that function are enough.
10. "How would your colleagues describe you?"
Answer with two traits and an example of where they show. If you can quote something you were actually told, better still.
11. "Do you prefer working alone or in a team?"
The honest answer is usually "it depends on the task", and that's fine to say — as long as you explain which kind of work suits each mode.
12. "What motivates you?"
Avoid money as the only answer, true as it may be. Talk about the kind of problem that hooks you, and give an example of a time you lost track of the hour working on something.
13. "How do you handle stress?"
Don't say you never get stressed. Describe a concrete mechanism — prioritising, asking for help early, breaking work down — and a situation where you used it.
Behavioural questions (the STAR ones)
This is where STAR shines. Prepare six to eight versatile stories and you can adapt them to nearly all of these:
14. "Tell me about a difficult challenge and how you solved it"
Pick a real problem with a clear ending. The focus goes on your decisions, not on how complicated the context was.
15. "Tell me about a conflict with a coworker"
Describe the disagreement without turning the other person into a villain. What's being assessed is how you handled it and what the relationship looked like afterwards.
16. "Describe a time you made a mistake"
A real mistake, owned without excuses, and what you changed afterwards. A "mistake" that's secretly a virtue in disguise is visible from a mile away.
17. "Give me an example of leadership or initiative"
You don't need to have managed anyone. Leading is also proposing something nobody asked for and carrying it through.
18. "Tell me about a time you worked under pressure"
A deadline, thin resources, or something unexpected. Explain how you prioritised — that's what they want to see.
19. "Tell me about a time you had to convince someone"
What argument you used, what they pushed back with, and how it ended. It works even if you didn't convince them, as long as you say what you learned.
20. "Describe a time you got difficult feedback"
What you were told, how you reacted in the moment, and what you did with it afterwards. The second part matters more than the first.
21. "Tell me about a time you had to learn something fast"
How you organised yourself to learn it and how quickly you were operational. It's a question about method, not talent.
22. "Tell me about a project that went wrong"
Be specific about what failed and honest about your part. Close with the practice you adopted because of it.
Questions about the role and the fit
23. "What do you expect from this role?"
Align what you want with what the posting actually offers. It's also your chance to check the job is what you think it is.
24. "How do you prioritise when everything is urgent?"
Explain your criteria — impact, dependencies, the real deadline — and give an example. Answering "I make lists" says nothing.
25. "What would you do in your first 90 days?"
Listen and understand first, deliver something small and visible after. Avoid promising a revolution before you've met the team.
26. "How do you keep up to date in your field?"
Name concrete sources and something you learned recently. The generic answer is forgotten instantly.
27. "Are you interviewing anywhere else?"
Be honest without giving details or using it as leverage. Being in other processes is normal and doesn't count against you.
28. "What are your salary expectations?"
Go in with a researched range for your role and market, and say you're flexible depending on the full package. If you can, ask first what range is assigned to the position.
29. "When could you start?"
A concrete, realistic date, counting your notice period if you're employed. Honesty here avoids problems later.
The final question
30. "Do you have any questions for us?"
Not the end: part of the evaluation. Always have two or three ready, for example: "What does success in this role look like at six months?", "What's the team's biggest challenge right now?" or "How are decisions made here?". Asking well shows genuine interest. Saying "no, all clear" is the most forgettable answer available.
How to practice (for real)
Reading answers is not practicing. Saying them out loud, under pressure, and hearing yourself back is what changes your performance. You can rehearse with a friend or, for something more realistic and available at any hour, with voice interview practice: a real conversation that asks you these questions, adapts to your answers, and then gives you an analysis with per-category scoring and STAR model answers.
Do three mock interviews before your real one. The difference shows from the first minute.
And if what holds you back is not the content but your body — the shaky voice, the blank mind — that has its own explanation: why you get nervous in interviews and what to do about it.