Even for people who’ve been on a countless number of job interviews, everything about an interview – and especially the process of answering all kinds of questions during the interview – can be quite stressful. I’ve been in ton of these, so I can certainly relate!
The thing though about interviews is that if you’re even half-prepared for them, they can be much less stressful. In my experience, preparation is key, especially when it comes to some of the more commonly-asked questions, which are more or less a part of any interview that you give.
For this purpose, the good folks at SampleQuestionnaire.com came up with this brilliant infographic which explains the “Logic Behind the Most Popular Interview Questions”. Some of these questions are pretty common and a part of just about every interview you’ll go to. Examples include questions like ‘Why should I hire you?’ or ‘What are you weaknesses?’
Then there are some very interesting questions that you’ve probably been asked during an interview, like ‘If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?’ and ‘If you were to get rid of one state in the US, which would it be and why?’
Here’s the infographic:
(click to enlarge to full-size)
So as you can see, a lot of these questions – some seemingly pointless – are actually designed to test your reasoning skills, assess your confidence, ability to work in the organization you’re interviewing for, problem-solving and analytic abilities, assess many different areas of your personality as well as assess whether you’ll be a good fit for the organization or not.
Remember, the first step is preparation. Once you know what you’re in for and what you’ll be asked, you can prepare yourself, and give an interview that is sure to impress.
Pro-tip: When appearing for an interview, it is also a good idea to get in touch with someone from the HR department of that organization to give you an idea of what kind of questions you’d be asked during the interview, so that you can prepare yourself better.
Oh and when going for an interview, don’t forget to dress to impress!