Career advisor

We pass information, advice and guidance to assist you make decisions on learning, training and work.

Get advice on the variety stages of a job hunt, including how to enhance your interview technique and write an efficient CV. You can get help to search for your first job, get back into work or change career path .  

Your skills

Your interviewer wants to find out if you’ve got the skills to do the job, so they may ask:

• what are your strengths and weaknesses?
• what would your colleagues and friends say are your best qualities?
• why should we hire you?

Know your strengths, and mention ones that are relevant to the job you're being interviewed for. Give examples from your previous work or life experience where possible.

Typical strengths employers look for are:

• communication - getting on with different people
• team working - being an effective team leader or team member
• good attitude - being hard-working, honest, polite and co-operative
• problem solving - using your initiative to identify solutions
• enthusiasm - being positive
• quick learner - taking on and understanding new tasks
• determination - showing you’re focused on achieving goals
• flexibility - doing a variety of tasks to achieve a common goal

The employer

To try and find out why you’ve applied for the job, your interviewer might ask you:

• why do you want to work here?
• what do you know about our company?
• what can you do for us that someone else can't?

Show your knowledge of the company by knowing facts and figures, like:

• what the product or service is
• the size of the organization
• last year's turnover figures, if applicable
• the company’s competition
• latest developments in the field
• the history, goals, image and philosophy of the employer

About the job

Your interviewer will want to find out if you understand what the job’s about, so they may ask:

• what do you think the main tasks and responsibilities will be?
• what do you think the main challenges will be?
• what would you do in the first week, month or year?

Make sure you read the job description thoroughly and research how the organisation operates.

Good answer:

'The main task is to supervise a team of sales staff to try to help them exceed sales targets. It's my responsibility to motivate them and pass on my sales experience to enable them to achieve more.'

Your ambitions

Your interviewer will want to find out if you are ambitious and have clear goals, so they may ask:

• what are your goals?
• where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

Good answer:

'My first aim is to get a trainee chef position, then to work through level 2 and 3 qualifications in professional cookery to develop my skills.'

Team working

The interviewer wants to check you know how to work well in a team, so they may ask:

• what makes a good team?
• what makes a good team member?
• what makes a good team leader?

They’re trying to find out if you know how a successful team operates, and if you're a good team player. They want to see that you can contribute constructively in a team, and you can work well with other team members.

Good answer:

'A good team needs to have clear objectives and goals, and procedures to help them work towards these. Each person needs to be clear what their role is, and what is expected of them. There needs to be openness and trust, and clear communication.

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Unusual questions

You could be asked an unusual question like:

• if you were a biscuit, what type of biscuit would you be?
• if you were an animal, what type of animal would you be?

The interviewer knows that you won’t have prepared for this question, so they want to see if you can think on the spot and come up with an answer. Try to think of something that generally reflects you, but also has positives that you could apply to work.


Written By
Md Rafiq