Common Personal Interview Questions and Best Answers

Before you head out to a job interview, review these personal interview questions and sample
answers to get an idea of what you'll be asked and the best way to respond.

Interviewing works both ways, so you can also use these questions as a way to determine if the job
is what you're looking for in your next position. These types of interview questions can help you –
as well as the hiring manager – determine if the role is a good match for what you're looking for in
your next job.

Once you have sat down and come up with honest answers to these questions, you can feel
confident in your ability to answer almost any question that will be directed your way during a
professional job interview.

Interview Questions About Your Personality

What They Want to Know: Your interviewers know the personal strengths and quirks of their
current team members, and thus they will be most interested in hiring the candidate they feel could
enhance their team dynamics. Your tone and body language in answering these questions are as
important as your actual responses – use them to express your enthusiasm and demonstrate how
you would be a personable and dedicated colleague.

 What are you passionate about? - Best Answers

 Are you easy to talk to? - Best Answers

 How do you handle stress and pressure? - Best Answers

 What makes you unique? - Best Answers

 What motivates you? - Best Answers

 When was the last time you were angry? What happened? - Best Answers

 More job interview questions about you. - Best Answers

Interview Questions About Your Background and Expectations

What They Want to Know: These questions are designed to clue the interviewer in regarding
your career path trajectory. How have you trained and prepared yourself for this job? Are you likely
to be an employee who will stick around for a while?

 Tell me about yourself. - Best Answers

 How would you describe yourself? - Best Answers

 What has been the greatest disappointment in your life? - Best Answers

 If you could relive the last 10 years of your life, what would you do differently? - Best
Answers

 What are your salary expectations? - Best Answers

 More job interview questions about your abilities. - Best Answers

Interview Questions About Your Self-Awareness

What They Want to Know: Personal questions that require you to demonstrate self-awareness
and evaluate your own actions and opinions can be tricky – especially when they address your
potential weaknesses. The best strategy is to answer these questions confidently, describing
instances where you recognized and capitalized upon opportunities for self-improvement.

 How do you evaluate success? - Best Answers

 What are your pet peeves? - Best Answers

 What do people most often criticize about you? - Best Answers

 If the people who know you were asked why you should be hired, what would they say? -
Best Answers

 What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make? - Best Answers

 What is your greatest weakness? - Best Answers

 What is your greatest strength? - Best Answers

Questions About Your Work Habits

What They Want to Know: Every employer has established ways in which they operate.
Depending upon the industry, you may be required to work independently, or you could be
expected to contribute to a team. Perhaps management insists that its employees work overtime or
on holidays when requested. Research the organization before the interview so that you’ll be able
to show how your personal work habits would dovetail seamlessly into their operational model.

 Describe a typical work week. - Best Answers

 Describe your work ethic. - Best Answers

 Do you take work home with you? - Best Answers

 How many hours do you normally work? - Best Answers

 How would you describe the pace at which you work? - Best Answers

 What type of work environment do you prefer? - Best Answers

 Describe a time when your workload was heavy and how you handled it. - Best Answers

Questions About Teamwork

What They Want to Know: When hiring managers ask questions about teamwork, it’s because the
job absolutely requires the ability to collaborate and work well with others. Have examples ready to
use of times when you have been a strong team member and when you have proven yourself to be
flexible, coachable, and supportive of others.

 Do you prefer to work independently or on a team? - Best Answers

 Give some examples of teamwork. - Best Answers

 If you knew your boss were 100% wrong about something, how would you handle it? - Best
Answers

 Describe a difficult work situation/project and how you overcame it. - Best Answers

Tips to Answer Personal Interview Questions

Here’s how to ensure you can answer personal interview questions with confidence.
Research the company. Before the interview, take the time to research the company. Doing so will
allow you to predict which personal interview questions they are most likely to ask. Read the
“About Us” section of the company website to get an idea of their corporate mission and / or
company culture. If you know people who have worked for them, ask their opinions of
management, their peers, and the workplace climate. What personal attributes does the company
value in their personnel?

Take a quiz. If you’re the type of person who has never thought much about your personality traits,
there are a number of fun and informative personality tests and career assessments that can help
you to define which of your characteristics are desirable to employers (sometimes hiring
departments even make job applicants take these tests before an interview so that they can narrow
down their field of candidates).

Do a mock interview. Armed with the questions here, ask a friend or family member to roleplay
the part of an interviewer. Rehearsing your answers to personal interview questions a few times
will ensure that you don’t become tongue-tied during the actual interview.

Have questions ready to ask the interviewer. Along with preparing answers to common
interview questions, you should also come up with a few questions to ask the interviewer. In almost
every interview, hiring managers will end the discussion by saying, “Do you have any questions for
us?” Make sure that you do – a simple “No” suggests that you might not be entirely interested in the
job or the company.

Examples of personality interview questions

 If your manager asked you to complete a task you thought impossible at first, how would
you go about it?

 Tell me about a time you had to fill in for someone. Were you successful? How did the
experience make you feel?

 Tell me about a time you missed (or almost missed) a deadline. How did you react when you
realized you were falling behind? What did that experience teach you?

 Do you prefer working in a team or on your own? Why?`

 If you could change one thing about your personality at the snap of your fingers what would
it be and why?

 Tell me about a time your manager wasn’t satisfied with the results of your work. How did
you discuss the issues and what did you do differently the next time?

 What are you passionate about?

 What types of activities or hobbies do you enjoy outside of work?

Q1: How would your best friend describe you?

Translation: what are you really like; am I seeing the real you?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates whose answers are a little too rehearsed.

 Candidates who are clearly fibbing; would a friend really call them ‘proactive’?
  Candidates who can’t answer or who answer with traits that clash with your culture.

This question will give your candidate a chance to express something a little more natural about
themselves like for example, the fact that they’re a great listener or a calming presence within

Q2: What do you least like about your job and why?

Translation: How negative are you and what tasks might we find it difficult to get you to do?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who are overly negative about their current job role.

 Candidates who dislike tasks, just because they find them difficult.

 Candidates who dislike some of the key tasks that you’d want them to do at your workplace.

This question will help you to suss out whether there are any clashes between the candidate’s
personality and the job role they’re applying for.

Q3: How do you like to be managed?

Translation: Will my management style work for you or will I have to change the way I work, for
you?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who are openly derogatory about any former bosses.

 Candidates who are a little too enthusiastic about not having to report to managers.

 Candidates who work best under management techniques entirely different to yours.

This is an absolute deal-breaker.

You really don’t want to hire someone who can’t (or won’t) be managed effectively.

Q4: Who is the biggest influence on your career?

Translation: do you actually want this job, or have you just fallen/been forced into this career path?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who’ve been swept along by luck, spontaneity and randomness are likely to be
less passionate and more fickle.

 Candidates who’ve made decisions based solely on advice (or even the command) of a loved
one are more likely to feel pressured and unhappy and they certainly won’t be as
committed.

We all have a variety of influencers in our lives, from celebrities and mentors to family members
and friends and discovering your candidate’s will reveal an awful lot about their personal and
professional life.

For example…
  Are they part of a close-knit family unit? If you’re a family company, then this might be a
particularly important factor for you.

 Do they have meaningful friendships? If so, this would imply that they’re a sociable, friendly
person.

There’s so much to be learned from who has influenced a person!

Q5: What do you do to get ‘in the zone’?

Translation: How do you work best and will you be able to work productively in our environment?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who claim to need peace and quiet, if your office is particularly buzzing.

 Vice versa.

 Candidates who don’t have an answer; dig deeper or rephrase the question if they
seem confused.

Most productive members of staff will have some sort of process that prepares them for moments
of deep concentration and proactivity – whether they prefer a lot of noise or complete silence.

I personally listen to music (with no lyrics) when I really need to get my creativity flowing.

Q6: What book do you think every {Role} Should Read?

Translation: are you passionate about your industry and willing to educate yourself in your spare
time?

This question really is a toughie and it’s important to bear in mind that it will be more relevant for
higher-level candidates in certain industries (for example, a marketing or sales manager).

So if you do decide to use it, don’t be too harsh!

(If a candidate recommends a blog, industry newspaper or article, then that’s just as impressive as a
book, so don’t hold that against them either!)

Warning signs:

 Candidates who can’t name an industry book or author.

 Candidates who can name a book, but can’t describe it’s subject matter.

 Candidates who recommend really weird books; it’s a professional interview, after all!

In an ideal world, your new employee will not only enjoy the training provided at your workplace,
but will also take the time to learn outside of working hours too.

Passion is an important part of any job role and if a candidate can prove that they go out of their
way to improve, grow and learn, then they’re truly worth their weight in gold.

Q7: If you could, what animal would you be and why?

Translation: Are you creative and can you have a laugh?

 Candidates who can’t seem to answer the question – where’s the creativity?

 Candidates who refuse to answer the question – it’s an interview, you make the rules!

 Candidates whose answers are just a bit boring like ‘a cat, because they’re my favourite
animal’. Again – where’s the creativity?

 Candidates whose answers are just weird like ‘I think I’d like to be a tapeworm. Warmth,
security, and a 24×7 all-you-can-eat buffet.’

It may sound a little bit random, but this question is actually a favourite among experienced
interviewers.

It’s a great way to quickly assess whether a candidate is creative (or completely not).

Q8: What motivates you?

Translation: Have I got the necessary resources to motivate you/ would you fit in with our culture?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who can’t answer; something must motivate them surely?

 Candidates whose motivations are at odds with your culture.

 Candidates who are clearly motivated only by money or perks (especially if that’s
something you can’t offer).

You can tell an awful lot about a person by what motivates them.

Do they want security? More money and benefits? To help other people?

Ask yourself honestly, can you (and do you even want to) offer them what they want?

You’d be surprised how many candidates won’t cite money as their motivating factor.

Q9: Tell me about a time when you failed at something?

Translation: Are you willing to admit your imperfections, how do you cope with them and will you
take constructive criticism?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who blame others for their failures.

 Candidates who are too negative about themselves.

 Candidates who claim they’ve never failed at anything in their life.

Nobody is perfect and a good candidate will be able to acknowledge that.

The most positive answers will be honest, describing how they faced their failure head on and used
the experience to learn and grow.

Q10: What are your pet peeves?

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who reel off a big list of things they don’t like about other people.

 Candidates who will quite clearly fit in terribly with the team.

 Candidates who start bitching about people in their current (or previous) workplace.

Everyone has their own pet peeves and little irritations, but some can handle them better than
others.

Watch a candidate’s body language; are they quite obviously frustrated? Do they look like they’ve
lose the plot?

Be honest in your assessment of whether the candidate is genuinely going to fit in with others.

Q11: What will your referee say is your biggest weakness?

Translation: Answer honestly or I’ll find out you’ve lied!

Warning Signs:

 Candidates who admit to weak skills that are integral to the role.

 Candidates who panic.

 Candidates who say they don’t know – this shows a lack of understanding of their current
job performance.

This is a great question (although pretty harsh).

Even if you have absolutely no intention of calling your candidate’s referee, you can be sure that
99% of candidates will answer honestly, just in case you do.

Recruiter Pro Tip

You could start a whole range of questions with ‘when I contact your referee’ to make sure you can
get an honest response.

 When I contact your referee what will they say is your strongest attribute?

 When I contact your referee what will they say is your main responsibility?

 When I contact your referee how do you think they’ll describe your personality?

Of course if you do get a chance to ask their referee, it will also give you an idea about how well they
can assess themselves.