Here are some job interview questions, job interviews and excellent answers.

1. Tell me about yourself and your background (or) How would you describe yourself?

Sample excellent response:
For the past six years I have been in the Foods Industry working as a quality controller. Two years ago I was promoted to senior quality controller and currently head 7 staff. My strength is problem solving. I take an analytical view of what is happening and work through the process by trying various solutions. I work well independently or as a member of a team. I have worked in fast paced environments most of my life, and am very goal-oriented and deadline driven. I am looking for a position as a senior quality controller where I can effectively work with a team to bring in results that contribute to the bigger picture or bottom line.  

 Note: This is an excellent response because it gives more information about yourself in terms of a history of your work experience - including your strengths and what you are looking for. This is a more effective way to answer this question. By summarizing your work experience you are giving your interviewer a quick look or snapshot of yourself and what you have to offer.

2. What specific goals, including those related to your occupation, have you established for your life?

Sample excellent response:
I want to be working for an excellent company like yours in a job in which I am ensuring quality of the products. I plan to contribute my leadership, interpersonal, and technical skills. My long-range career goal is to be the best quality controller I can for the company I work for.

3. How has the university/Institution experience prepared you for a business career?

Sample excellent response:
I have prepared myself to transition into the work force through real-world experience involving travel abroad, internship, and entrepreneurial opportunities. While interning with a private company, I developed a 10-page sensory evaluation plan that recommended more effective ways the company could ensure product quality whilst minimizing costs. I also travelled abroad on two other occasions in which I researched on the different approaches to quality assurance by four food companies. As you can see from my academic, extracurricular, and experiential background, I have unconditionally committed myself to success as a quality control professional.

4. Please describe the ideal job for you following graduation.

Advice: Equates ideal job with job you’re interviewing for

Sample excellent response:
My ideal job is one that incorporates both my education and practical work skills to be the best I can be. Namely combining my education in quality control and Assurance with my working knowledge of quality control operations, entrepreneurial abilities, computer skills, and administrative skills. I want to utilize my analytical expertise to help the company meet its product quality goals. This is exactly why I am convinced that I would be a very valuable member of   (Mention company name) team.

5. Why did you choose a career in …?

Be positive about your reasons. If you have changed careers make a logical argument as to why you did so.

Sample excellent response:
My past experiences have shown me that I enjoy facing and overcoming the challenge of meeting customer expectations. Without a doubt, once I have identified a fault in quality and made my analytical decision, prepared myself for objections, I feel very confident approaching people I don't know and convincing them that the product is of good quality.

Advice: Link in your goals with the company who is interviewing you.

Sample excellent response:
My goals include becoming a Certified Financial Advisor so I can obtain a better working knowledge of financial research analysis, which would allow me contribute to my client base as a better financial consultant since I would have that extra insight into the companies they are seeking to invest in. Also this is the foundation block to advancing my career to portfolio manager or even branch office manager.

14. Why are you changing careers?

This question will only be asked if you are making a radical change in your career. Always stress the positive aspects of the change rather than the negative aspects of your previous career - you do not want to come across as someone who is moving just because you hate your old career. Say why you think you will be good in the new career - this should come from your experience and achievements, stress the transferable skills you have, such as leadership ability, etc.

15. Do you work well with others? Or are you a loner?

Some jobs mean that you have to work very closely with other people whilst other jobs mean that you are largely working on your own, so you need to say that you are happy in both situations.

th information and people, and I'm confident of my abilities in both areas.

16.You mentioned you work well with a team, can you describe a situation when you had to gain cooperation from a team.

Advice: This is a behavioral question. Use the S-A-R strategy. Be careful not to use too many "I" statements as these might sound like bragging instead to telling about an actual experience. Also avoid the “We’s”.

Sample excellent response.
A few months ago I worked on a team project that was really running behind schedule. The first thing I did was get everyone together to discuss the problem and what was happening and why. I made sure that everyone on the team had a chance to contribute to the discussion. I was surprised at the insights offered by even the quietest members of the team. We then came up with some new ways of approaching the project and scheduled. I set up a system so that each person could track his or her own progress - through data entry and frequent check-ins. It seemed to make a big difference when each person felt like he or she was making a contribution to a bigger project. Within a week the improvement was very noticeable. We not only improved on the schedules for the project, but we formed a much tighter unit and process for future projects.

Note: Notice the detail and story behind this answer. There is a lot of information about what "your" part in the process was, and how you made a difference. This answer shows a lot of leadership and team support. It also shows a concern for people and each person's opinion. It gives a real sense of the way you work with a team.

 17. How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?

Note: Same approach as question 16 above- you may be asked either of the two.

Sample excellent response:
I have had many opportunities in both athletics and academics to develop my skills as a team player. My tenure as a rower with my college's crew team serves as a good example. I learned a great deal about teamwork while rowing because all the rowers in the boat must act as one, which meant that we incessantly worked to keep each movement in the boat synchronized. On an individual basis, we still worked toward group goals through weightlifting and land rowing. My experience as a marketing research team leader also helped me to learn the role of "team player." I viewed my position as that of group leader and of group member. I ensured that everyone in the group had equal opportunity to contribute, maintained excellent communication among group members, and coordinated their energies toward reaching our team's goal.

18. What motivates you to put forth you greatest effort?

Sample excellent response:
You would think that because I am interested in sales, only financial compensation would motivate me to achieve. Although monetary rewards are important to me, I am driven to succeed internally. More than anything, I want to be respected by my friends and co-workers for being the best at what I do. Whether I am considered to be the best car dealer in my hometown or the best columnist for my college newspaper, I want to be recognized as the best.

19. Why should we employ you?

 Advice: The answer to this question will be based on your previous experience and achievements, which relate to the company. At the end you could add that you think there is a good fit between you and the job, and do ask the interviewer for their opinion.

Sample excellent response:
I sincerely believe that I'm the best person for the job. I realize that there are many other applicants who have the ability to do this job. I also have that ability. But I also bring an additional quality that makes me the very best person for the job -- my attitude for excellence. Not just giving lip service to excellence, but putting every part of myself into achieving it. In university and at my previous jobs, I have consistently reached for becoming the very best I can become. I think my leadership awards from my high school and higher institution, and my management positions are the result of possessing the qualities you're looking for in an employee.

22. What short-term goals and objectives have you established for yourself?

Sample excellent response:
My short-term objectives are to graduate from the Professional Development Program before the standard two years and begin developing a clientele. As an intern, I prepared ahead of time by studying for the Series 7 and Series 64 exams that constitute a majority of a beginning financial consultant's time. I'd like to make the company that hires me wonder what it ever did without me.

23. Can you describe your long-range goals and objectives?

Sample excellent response:
My primary objectives are to learn as much as possible about your company's product offering, organizational structure, and professional sales techniques so that I may become the most productive member of your sales team.

24. What do you expect to be doing in five years?

Sample excellent response:
Although it is hard to predict the future, I sincerely believe that I will become a very good financial consultant. I believe that my abilities will allow me to excel to the point that I can seek other opportunities as a portfolio manager (the next step) and possibly even higher. My ultimate goal continues to be -- and will always be -- to be the best at whatever level I am working at within Softer dreams corporate structure.

25. What do you see yourself doing in ten years?

Sample excellent response:
Ten years from now I see myself as a successful consultant for a world-class firm like yours. I want to have developed a wonderful bond with my employer I will have proven myself a highly competent systems analyst and will represent my company in helping others find solutions to their information-systems needs in a professional and timely manner.

26. How would you evaluate your ability to deal with conflict?

Sample excellent response:
I believe I am quite good at handling conflict. Working in retail and in the residence halls required that I make many unpopular decisions at times, whether it was terminating an associate or taking judicial action on a resident. Often the person in conflict with me would be upset and sometimes physically outraged. I would always make sure that I fully explained the situation, the policies behind my decision, and why those policies exist. Usually by the end of the conversation, the person could see the other side of the situation.

27. Have you ever had difficulty with a supervisor or instructor? How did you resolve the conflict?

Sample excellent response:
Yes, I had an incident with my Food Analysis lecturer. I turned in an practical report that he said was too good to be mine. I was honest with him; I told him that I had done my personal experiments, researched my literature, and written my report, and given it to a senior professor to read through but he made very few corrections. However, I had broken the Golden Rule of FA report writing -- the report must not even touch the hands of another professor. To prove to him that I was capable of conducting the experiments and producing a report that exceeded his expectations, I offered to re-do the experiments and write another report in his presence. I earned an A-minus.

29. Can you work under pressure?

 Advice: You need to say that you can. You could ask how much pressure the job involves.

Sample excellent response:
Yes. My past experience as an Arcade and Estates manager required me to deal with many serious situations since I held emergency on-call duties as a supervisor. One example was when I was called by a Resident Assistant to deal with an attempted suicide on her residence hall floor. The situation required that I think clearly and quickly in this life-and-death situation. I had to weigh the many tasks that needed to be completed. I had to assign RAs to call 999, make sure that IAA could get into the locked building, while at the same time applying first aid, and ensuring that the rest of the residents on the floor were OK. I also had to make sure the privacy of the resident in need was respected. I basically prioritised and dealt with each task by its importance. I delegated responsibility to RAs for things that they were capable of handling because I could not physically be in many places at once. Once the resident was taken to the hospital, I was responsible for paperwork and follow up to make sure the staff members, residents, and the resident-in-need adjusted back to "normal" life. I know this is an extreme example not found in the financial consulting field; however, it shows just how well I can deal with extreme pressure.

43. Why did you decide to seek a position in this field?

Sample excellent response:
I want to work in the Food industry and in particular, the quality control department because ever since I took my first quality assurance course in university, I have felt very passionate toward this field and industry and cannot imagine myself doing anything else.

44. What do you know about this company?

 Advice: This is your chance to impress the interviewer with your knowledge of their company. Give them a run down of their products/services, sales figures, news, company figures, customers, etc.

For over 150 sample questions and their excellent answers, Get a copy of my book: "HOW TO EASILY GET JOBS-Interview questions and their right answers exposed"