Job Interview Questions and Answers: 20 Common Questions (2026)

1. Tell me about yourself

This is not an invitation to recite your CV or your life story. The interviewer wants a two-minute summary that explains why you are sitting in this chair. A reliable structure is present, past, future: what you do now, what you did before that led here, and why this role is the logical next step.

Example answer: "I'm a customer service team leader at an online electronics retailer, where I run a team of six and handle escalated complaints. Before that I spent three years on the phones myself, which is where I learned that most angry customers mainly want to be taken seriously. Last year I redesigned our complaint process and we cut the average resolution time from five days to two. I'm applying for this role because I want to move from fixing problems one by one to improving the processes behind them, and that's exactly what your service operations team does."

2. Why do you want to work here?

The interviewer is checking whether you applied on purpose or sent the same CV to fifty companies. Name two or three specific things: the product, a recent project, the way the company works, the team you would join. Then connect them to your own experience or goals.

Example answer: "Two reasons. First, you're one of the few logistics companies that runs its own route-planning software, and I've spent the last two years working with off-the-shelf tools and their limits. Second, I read about your move to electric vans in the city centre. I'd like to work on that kind of change rather than just keep an existing system running."

3. Why are you leaving your current job?

Never criticise your current employer, even if the criticism is deserved. The interviewer will assume you will one day talk about them the same way. Talk about what you are moving towards, not what you are running from. If you were made redundant or dismissed, say so briefly and factually, then move on to what you learned.

Example answer: "I've learned a lot in four years there, but the company is small and the next step up won't open for a long time. I want to work on larger projects and with a bigger team, which is what this role offers."

4. Why should we hire you?

Treat it as a request for a short summary of your fit. Pick the two or three requirements from the job ad that matter most, and give one piece of evidence for each. End with something the other candidates are unlikely to have.

Example answer: "You need someone who can take over payroll for 300 employees without a long handover, keep it compliant and improve the reporting. I've run payroll for 250 people for three years with no penalties from the tax office, and I built the monthly cost reports our finance director still uses. I also speak German, which matters for your office in Vienna."

5. What are your strengths?

Choose strengths that matter for this particular job and prove each one with an example. "I'm organised" means nothing; "I coordinated the move of our office of 80 people over one weekend without a day of downtime" means a lot. Two well-supported strengths beat five adjectives.

6. What is your greatest weakness?

This question tests self-awareness and honesty. Answers like "I'm a perfectionist" or "I work too hard" are so common that interviewers treat them as a refusal to answer. Name a real weakness that is not central to the job, then explain what you do about it.

Example answer: "I used to find it hard to delegate. When I became a team leader I kept the difficult cases for myself, and I ended up working late while my team didn't learn anything. Now I hand over one complex case a week to someone on the team and review it with them afterwards. It's slower in the short term, but two people on my team can now handle cases only I could handle a year ago."

Weaknesses that usually work: public speaking, delegating, saying no to extra work, impatience with slow processes, a technical tool you are still learning. Weaknesses to avoid: anything that is the core of the job, such as attention to detail for an accountant, or punctuality for any role.

7. How would your colleagues describe you?

A variation of the strengths question. The best answers quote something real: feedback from an appraisal, something a manager said, a nickname the team gave you. It sounds more credible than praise you give yourself.

8. Tell me about a mistake you made

Choose a real mistake with real consequences, but one that is not a disaster. The interviewer is less interested in the mistake than in what you did next: whether you owned it, fixed it and changed something so it would not happen again.

Example answer: "In my first year as a project coordinator I sent a client a delivery date without checking it with production. We missed it by a week. I called the client myself the same day, explained what had happened and agreed a new date, which we kept. Since then I never confirm a date without a written confirmation from the team that has to meet it, and I set up a shared calendar so everyone can see the commitments made to clients."

9. Tell me about a conflict with a colleague

Show that you can disagree without making it personal. Describe the disagreement neutrally, explain how you looked for the other person's reasons and how you reached a solution. Avoid stories where you were simply right and the other person was simply wrong.

10. Tell me about a time you worked under pressure

Pick a situation with a real deadline or workload, and describe how you prioritised: what you did first, what you postponed, who you asked for help. The result should show that the important work got done, not that you stayed up all night.

11. What achievement are you most proud of?

Choose an achievement that is relevant to the job you are applying for, even if you have a bigger one elsewhere. Explain why it was difficult and give a number for the result wherever you can.

12. Where do you see yourself in five years?

The interviewer wants to know whether you will stay and whether your ambitions fit what the company can offer. Describe the direction rather than a job title: the skills you want to have, the responsibility you want to take on. Make sure that direction runs through this job.

Example answer: "I'd like to be the person the team relies on for the most complex accounts, and ideally to be leading a small team by then. This role is a good place to build towards that, because I'd be working with larger clients than I do now."

13. Can you explain this gap in your CV?

Answer briefly, truthfully and without apologising. Caring for a family member, illness, travel, a course, a period of job searching: all of these are normal. Say what you did, mention anything you learned or kept up during that time, and bring the conversation back to the job.

14. What are your salary expectations?

Research the market rate for the role before the interview, using salary surveys, job ads that publish pay and people in the same field. If you have to name a figure, give a range whose lower end you would genuinely accept, and say whether you mean gross or net and annual or monthly. If the job ad already states a range, you can say that the published range works for you.

15. When could you start?

Know your notice period before the interview and state it plainly. Offering to leave your current employer without working your notice suggests you would do the same to them.

16. Are you interviewing anywhere else?

You can say yes without naming companies. It signals that others value you too. Add that this role is your first choice only if it is true.

17. Describe yourself in three words

Choose three words that fit the job and be ready to back up each one with a sentence. The question is mostly a test of whether you can answer quickly and stay concrete.

18. Why shouldn't we hire you?

Treat it like the weakness question: name a real gap relative to the job ad, such as a tool you have not used or a sector you have not worked in, and say how you would close it.

19. What would you do in your first 90 days?

Show that you would listen before changing things: learn the people, the processes and the numbers in the first month, take over your core work in the second, propose your first improvements in the third. Mention one or two concrete priorities from the job ad.

20. Do you have any questions for us?

"No" is the wrong answer. It suggests you are not really interested. See the list of good questions below.