Great Answers to 8 Common English Job Interview Questions

So you’re looking for a job.Searching for jobs is already stressful. It’s even more nerve-wracking (stressful) when they finally call you up for an interview.And once you’ve got the job interview, congratulations…

…but now you’ve got something else to worry about.The job interview is English!Time to panic!How do I answer this?What are they going to ask?What do I say to really impress them and make them choose me?OK, actually, it’s time to calm down and relax

.Don’t worry.

Almost everybody who ever goes for a job interview is a little bit afraid… after all, this opportunity could really change your life, forever!

Here are 8 questions that they will likely ask, along with answers to help you rock (do well on) your interview.

There is some great news when it comes to job interviews. It’s not all doom and gloom (bad). Most recruiters these days ask the interviewees (you) the same basic questions. So with a little preparation, you can speak very well at your interview. Instead of saying “goodbye” to your dream job, you can say “hello.”

8 Common English Job Interview Questions and How to Answer Them Well

1. 1.Tell me about yourself

   

After greeting, shaking hands and introducing yourself, the next thing that interviewers are probably going to ask you to do is to talk about yourself.

Now, this might seem easy for you – you’ve practiced it in your English class so much, but they don’t want to hear every single detail. Avoid saying something like: I was born in Beijing. I love playing the computer and surfing the net. Or I have two sisters. They don’t want to know everything about you. They want to know about you and your career growth; they want to know about you related to the job you’re applying for.Also, make sure you don’t use any informal slang or make any basic grammar mistakes.

2. What are your strengths?

When your interviewer asks you this question, they want to know all your positive qualities. These positive qualities need to relate to what they want and are looking for.

So before you head into your interview, make sure you do your research as to what kind of person suits this job, especially if you’re a newbie (new) and entering the workforce for the first time. Treat this question as a chance to advertise yourself – you are the product, now market yourself. The thing to remember here is not to just list a number of adjectives (anyone can do this). Instead, use examples to support your point.

To be punctual – to be on time.

I’m a punctual person. I always arrive early and complete my work on time. My previous job had a lot of deadlines(time when you must finish something by) and I made sure that I was organized and adhered to (respected) all my jobs

.

To be a team-player – to work well with others. I consider myself to be a team-player. I like to work with other people and I find that it’s much easier to achieve something when everyone works together and communicates well

.

To be ambitious – to have goals. I’m ambitious. I have always set myself goals and it motivates me to work hard. I have achieved my goals so far with my training, education and work experience and now I am looking for ways to improve myself and grow.

To take initiative – to do something without having to be told to do it. When I work, I always take initiative. If I see something that needs doing, I don’t wait for instruction, I do it. I believe that to be get anywhere in life, you need this quality.

To be proactive – To do things and make them happen. I’m proactive. When I think about things, I do them. I like to see results and it’s important in this industry to be proactive and responsible for your own actions.

To keep your cool – To stay calm in all kinds of situations. I think it’s really important to be able to stay calm when you’re working as a reporter. It can get really stressful, but one of my greatest qualities is that I can keep my cool and I don’t allow the pressure to get to me, which helps me achieve all my goals and remain focused. Here are a number of other words that can help you answer this question:

REMEMBER: It’s really important that you give good, solid answers and back them up with evidence otherwise it’s just going to sound like you’ve memorized what you’re saying. Some companies won’t directly ask you what your strengths are, they could ask the same thing, but using different words, such as:

·         Why do you think we should hire you?

·         Why do you think you’re the best person for this job?

·         What can you offer us?

·         What makes you a good fit for our company

·         ?

3. what are your weaknesses?

What? I don’t have any weaknesses! Of course you do – no one’s perfect. Everyone has weaknesses, but what they’re checking for here is how you try to fix your weaknesses and they also want to know how self-aware (how much you know about yourself) you are.

Another trick here is to turn those weaker qualities into positive qualities. For example, your weakness is that you spend too much time on projects which makes you work slower. Turn that into a positive by saying: I sometimes am slower in completing my tasks compared to others because I really want to get things right. I will double or sometimes triple-check documents and files to make sure everything is accurate (correct)

.  

Another great trick is to talk about a weakness (like being disorganized) and mention some methods that you are using to help overcome this: e.g. I have created a time-management system, which allows me to list all my duties and organize my deadlines so I have a clearer idea of what I need to do. 

4. Why did you leave your last job?

If you’re applying for your first job, this question is not for you.

However, if you’ve worked before, the interviewer wants to find out why you left your old job. Did you leave because you were fired? (Your old boss asked you to leave for doing something wrong). Did you quit? (Resign – Did you choose to stop working?) Or were you laid off? (Made redundant – no longer needed because the job is no longer available?)

If you chose to leave your old job, avoid saying anything negative about your old workplace or boss (even if this is true). The person or people interviewing you will just look at you in a negative way. You can say the following:

·         I’m looking for new challenges.

·         I feel I wasn’t able to show my talents.

·         I’m looking for a job that suits my qualifications.

·         I’m looking for a job where I can grow with the company

·         .

5. Tell us about your education

Here they want to know everything you’ve studied related to the job. For example your training and further education(e.g. University, polytechnic, college). You don’t need to tell them everything you’ve done since elementary school, just the important things.

Your: Degrees – 3-4 year qualification from university/college

.

Diploma – A short-term qualification (e.g. 1 year) from college/university/polytechnic.

Certificate – A piece of paper showing your participation in a course. NB: Make sure you take all the necessary documents with you, as they may need proof!

If they ask you the question: tell us about your scholastic record, they want to know what kind of grades you received.

6. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Here, they are asking about your goals. Again, it’s related to your career, not your personal life. So if having a family is on the list, don’t mention it. Be careful what you say here, you need to be ambitious, but NOT too ambitious as those interviewing you may see you as a threat (competition). You can mention: By then I will have…I would have liked to… 

·         Improved my skills

·         Created more of a name for myself in the industry (become more known for what you do).

·         Become more independent in what I do and productive (doing more).

·         Enhanced (improved) my knowledge.

·         Achieved a higher position.Become a team leader…

7. What kind of salary do you expect?

Here, they are asking you about how much money you would expect to earn from the job. Be reasonable. Make sure you do your research on the internet about what the average salary is. Do not say I don’t know, it makes you sound unsure. Be confident and name your price without selling yourself too short (going for less) or going too high. The truth of the matter is, they already have a salary in mind, but this is their way of checking if you know the industry and if you’re aware of your own skills.

8. Do you have any questions for me/us?

Yes, you do! This is how an interviewer will usually finish the interview. They are not just being polite – they want you to speak.

Remember, they’re still judging you as you answer this question. So don’t ask anything that will make you sound silly, such as what kind of work does your company do? Or how much vacation time do I get each year? You want to find out more, and if you don’t ask any questions, then they may view this as you being not very interested in the job. Ask questions like:

·         Do you have any examples of projects that I would be working on if I were to be offered the job? This shows that you’re interested in the actual job and not just being employed.

·          

·         What is the typical day for this position (job)? Find out what kind of duties are involved and what kind of things you would be expected to do on a day-to-day basis.

·          

·         Does the company offer in-house training to staff? This shows your interest in not only getting the job, but also wanting to improve and grow.

·          

·         What is the next step? Here, this is a way of asking what is next in the interview process. They will tell you how many days it will take to make their decision and will inform you if you need to come back for a second interview.

Job interviews don’t have to be scary. Remember first impressions count, think before you speak, and show your great English skills and give awesome answers to win that job. GOOD LUCK!

visit http://www.firststepfirst.co.in

•  42 Amazing Resume Tips That You Can Use in 30 Minutes

These Resume Tips Will Take Two Minutes Tops 

Maybe you’ve finished writing your resume, maybe you’re just starting.  

Either way, you could probably use some quick resume tips.  

What are the best tips for writing a resume? 

   It’s easy to overlook things when you’re worried about finding a job. The best tips  help you remember the smallest details of resume writing.  

1. Create a professional email address

.  

Out of all of the resume tips listed, this may seem too obvious.  

But it’s worth mentioning because the use of an unprofessional email address will get you rejected 76% of the time.  

So, if you haven’t already done so, ditch that email address you’ve been using since high school. Choose a professional email provider like gmail or outlook. Use your name. 

Right: John.smith@gmail.com  

Wrong: Johnlikesgrapes@hotmail.com 

2. Update your contact information.

After you change your email address, make sure the rest of your contact information is up to date. 

• You don’t want to miss an interview because you put the wrong phone number on your resume. 

Also, exclude information like your birth date or marital status. You do not have to respond to questions about religion, race, or gender on an application. Us employers cannot take these aspects into consideration when accessing you.

If you’re applying for a job out of state or country, also consider omitting your current address. That way a hiring manager won’t think you’re confused about the location of the job. 

3. Set your font size to 10-12 points. 

• While choosing a font is important, making sure that it is the right size is paramount

Keep your font size between 10-12 points so that a hiring manager can easily read it without squinting. 

4. Use reverse-chronological order. 

• For your education section, put your highest degree first. or your experience section, put your current job first. 

5. Align your content to the left to make it skimmable. 

• The first thing a hiring manager is going to do is skim your resume for relevant keywords from the job description.  

6. Make strategic use of bold, caps, and italics.

Be consistent with your choices. If you’ve made one of your subheadings bold - make them all bold. Try not to overuse anything. The point is to make important information easier to find.  

7. Choose an attractive and readable font. 

You may think fonts are trivial in the larger scheme of things, but the right font is going to do a lot for your resume. 

• Right Stick to fonts that sound like the names of hipster children

:Verdana 

Arial

o    Helvetica 

o    WrongIf you choose a font that is hard to read or childish, a hiring manager might toss your resume in the trash. 

o    Comic sans

o    Papyrus

o    Curlz mt

8. Only add jobs you’ve had in the past 10-15 years. 

• You do not need to list every job you’ve ever had on your resume. Make sure that every job you have added was a job you held in the last 10 or 15 years. 

9. Give your sections simple subheadings.

• Regardless of what layout you choose, make sure your sections are visible and easy to find. 

You can do that by givingthemsimplesubheadings.

For example 

Right

Resume summary

Experience

o    Education

o    Skills

o    you’ll want to write simple subheadings for all sections. That way applicant tracking system (ats) software can find them. 

Wrong 

o    About me

o    Accreditations

o    Professional background and work history

Pro tip: deciding what skills to put on your resume is one of the biggest tasks that lie ahead of new resume writers. Make sure that they are easy to find and easy to skim as well.

• 10. Include urls to social media profiles, personal websites, and your blog. 

• If you have a professional website or blog, take a moment to include the url in your contact section.

Add any relevant social media handles as well. For most professionals, that will include your linkedin url and your twitter handle. 

Creative professionals could also consider adding relevant links to instagram, youtube, or pinterest profiles.

Take an extra couple of minutes to make sure that your urls are live and to hyperlink them in the text so they are accessible

. 

11. Choose a resume format that works for you.  

• What are the best formats for a resume? Well, that depends 

There are three types of resume formats

:  

o    Reverse-chronological

o    Combination

o    Functional or skills-based 

Deciding what resume format to choose will be one of the first things you do

.  

Best Most of you will opt for the reverse-chronological format. It’s the most common and you can play with the layout.  

Worst 

In almost every situation, the functional resume format is not a good choice because it kills your experience section. And even if you don’t have experience, that’s not the best way to handle it.

Pro tip: consider a format that gets your strongest information closest to the top of your resume where hiring managers will be sure to see it right away.

 12. Consider using a professionally designed template.  

• Templates can save you a lot of time and effort. Imagine not having to fool around with margins in word. Pick one out, and you’re ready to go.  

13. Consider putting your education section first. 

• Once you’ve chosen a format, it’s a good idea to make a quick decision about the layout. 
• How do you build a strong resume?
• After your contact information, start your resume with either a resume summary or a resume objective. More on that later.

But what should come next? Your education or your experience section? 

If you’re a professional with tons of experience, your experience should come first. 

But let’s say you’re a student and your educational background is your strongest selling point. In that case, consider putting your education section first.  

14. Lose the phrase “references available upon request.”  

• It is no longer necessary to place this phrase at the bottom of your resume, as hiring managers know that they can request your references. 

Adding it only takes up valuable space that you could use for something else.

Only have five minutes? Here are the best resume tips 

15. Read the job description and then read it again.

  

Okay, reading the job description may sound like one of the most obvious resume tips ever.

Of course, you’ve read the job description. Right?

In fact, most people spend an average of 76 seconds reading a job description. And that’s why hiring managers find that 50% of applicants are unqualified for the job. 

You’ve got to make sure you have the skills necessary for the job in the first place.

Right: 

Read the job description. Make sure you’re qualified. Read it again. Mine it for keywords. Put it through a cloud generator. Take it on a date. Buy it tiffany’s. Get married to it.  

Because that job description is your best friend when it comes to building a great resume.  

Wrong: 

Seeing a job title that sounds right, sending your resume immediately. 

Reading a job description is as close as you’re going to get to reading the recruiter’s mind. 

Pro tip: if you want to save time and find out how to write a resume for your profession, take a look at our guides and resume examples.

 16. Make sure you’ve created margins.

Margins are important. That’s because resumes with text crammed edge to edge look messy and unprofessional.

Do you know where messy resumes go? You know.

If you do need a little more space, it’s okay to drop your bottom and top margins to 0.5” and your side margins to 0.75”. Anymore and you’re resume will suffer 

17. Balance your text and white space.  

Balancing your text and white space is the same thing as adding margins. It makes your resume aesthetically pleasing and easy to read. 

Do not sacrifice white space in the name of fitting everything onto one page. There are other ways. 

18. Consider adding a coursework description.  

This is one of the best resume tips for students. If you’re learning how to make a student resume, adding a coursework description is a good start. 

Your education is still your strongest asset. Listing or describing courses can show recruiters that you have skills related to the job. 

Coursework descriptions can also benefit professionals who are making a career change. It shows that you’ve got relevant knowledge that goes beyond your past work experience. 

19. Name your files properly. 

It is important to name your files properly.  

Right: John_smith_resume 

Wrong: Resume 

Your resume could end up in an inbox with hundreds of other resumes.  

And if they’re all named “resume,” then the chance of your resume standing out is slim tonone.

20. Match your cover letter to your resume.  

The two best cover letter tips are:

Write a cover letter.

 Match the content of your cover letter to your resume. 

Yes, you still need to write cover letters. And yes, they need to match your resume so that you’re telling the hiring manager one cohesive story.

If there was something you feel needs an explanation, write about it in your cover letter.

  

21. Draw attention to your promotions. 

Make sure you’ve mentioned any promotions you’ve received. 

You don’t have to list the name of the company more than once in the case of internal promotions. 

Write the name of the company once. Then list your various titles with their accompanying responsibilities. 

Example: 

Company abc 

Marketing manager

Responsibilities.

Marketing assistant

·         Responsibilities.

22. Cut the fluff in your experience section. 

Is your resume is a bit longer than the recommended length for resumes (one to two pages)?

Then an easy way to cut fluff is to start by deleting bullet points in your experience section. Limit yourself to around six bullet points. 

Right 

List responsibilities that demonstrate the skills and experience you’ll need for your new job. Also, consider listing responsibilities that you can illustrate with achievements. 

Wrong 

Don’t list every responsibility you had at previous jobs.  

23. Write explanations for large gaps in your career history. 

Address significant gaps in your career history by writing brief explanations next to the jobs where the gaps occur. 

Gaps can happen for all sorts of reasons.

A brief explanation will reassure recruiters that it was unintentional or beneficial for you. As in the case of a layoff or a break to have a child or go back to school. 

24. Insert action verbs wherever possible.  

Take a quick glance at your resume.

How many times have you used the phrase “responsible for?”

A million? It’s not uncommon.

The good news is that it only takes five minutes to replace that sad phrase with action-packed verbs.

Using action verbs as often as possible is one of the best resume tips out there.

Remember, not all verbs are action verbs. Try to avoid weak verbs like “managed” or “communicated.”

Here are some alternatives: 

Wrong: managed  

Right: orchestrated

Wrong: communicated 

Right: persuaded 

25. Get rid of nonsensical jargon. 

The person interviewing you may not be familiar with the technical jargon that goes with your territory. Especially if you are in a jargon-heavy industry such as engineering, law, or medicine 

Try to use layman’s terms or simplified equivalents wherever possible 

Wrong: dramatically cloudify viral innovation. 

Right: create digital backups for popular campaigns.

26. Run your job description and resume through a cloud generator.

  

Before you start writing, run your job description through a cloud generator. Which words are the most prominent?  

You can use the words that appear as a content guide while writing your resume. 

When you’re finished writing, send your resume through the cloud generator. Do the same words appear?  

A cloud generator is a quick way to check that you’ve tailored your resume to meet the needs of the hiring manager.

27. Consider saving a copy of your resume as a pdf.  

Saving your resume as a pdf is one of those resume tips that might not work for everyone. 

Pros 

The benefit of saving your resume as a pdf is that the formatting will not change when it’s opened.  

Cons 

The downside is that if a company is using ats, a pdf might not be the best format for your resume.

Pro tip: it’s often best to save your resume in a couple of file formats so you can send whatever is more suitable. It’s up to you to decide.

These resume tips take 30 minutes, but they’re so worth it 

28. Tailor your resume to the job description.  

Tailoring your resume is probably the king of resume tips. If you do nothing else, tailor your resume to the job description. 

You do that by identifying keyword skills in the offer and then add these skills throughout your resume. It sounds like a lot of work, but these keywords are what you should put on your resumeabove all else. 

That’s because keywords are what hiring managers are looking for when they scan your resume. 

29. Add achievements to your experience section.  

If tailoring your resume to the job description is the king, adding achievements is the queen of resume tips. 

Illustrating a skill or responsibility with an achievement puts you five steps ahead of candidates with the same skill set. 

That’s because you’re showing what it looks like when you put your skills to work.

When adding achievements to your resume, use the x, y, z approach. 

Right: To generate user engagement, i performed multiple a/b tests, resulting in a 20% decrease in bounce rates and a 15% increase in sales conversions. 

Wrong:  I won an employee of the year award.

30. Add numbers and details where possible.

  

Adding numbers and details to emphasize skills is by far one of the best resume tips you can follow. Anytime you can illustrate an achievement or skill with numbers or details - do it. 

Right: Increased sales by 12% over a 5 month period. 

Wrong: Responsible for sales. 

Numbers draw the eye of the recruiter and details give them a tangible sense of what it looks like when you use a skill.  

Maybe you increased sales, efficiency, or user engagement. Maybe you slashed costs. Whatever it is that you’ve achieved try to make it quantifiable

. 

31. Make good use of the top third of your resume. 

Think of the top third of your resume and “the penthouse.” It’s here that you want your best skills, experience, and achievements to appear. 

Try to put the best stuff at the top.  

Why?

Because when a recruiter scans your resume, they will focus on the top third of thedocument.

If they don’t find what they’re looking for in a few seconds of scanning, they will reject your resume as irrelevant. 

32. Include a resume summary or objective.

  

So, how do you get your best information in the top third of your resume? 

Include a resume summary or a resume objective.  

It’s three sentences of who you are, where you’re going, and why you’ll bring value to the company.

When considering how to write a resume summary or how to write a resume objective, keep in mind that the old school way is dead.

Wrong - what you want Dedicated sales manager seeking fulfilling work in children’s retail sector. 

Right - what they want 

Dedicated sales manager with 5+ years of experience in the retail industry. Wishing to decrease returns for peapod babywear by 15% 

33. Use a proofreading tool like grammarly.  

You cannot afford to have typos or grammar errors in your resume. The majority (61%) of recruiters will throw out a resume immediately if they see typos. 

Microsoft word or google docs will do a good job of detecting spelling errors, but the grammarly app or language tool will catch grammar mistakes and typos. 

You need to proofread your resume before sending your resume, and an app will help you catch things you can’t see. 

34. Have a human proofread your resume.

  

Apps are great for catching mistakes, but another human being is priceless.

Grab whoever you can find with the patience to read through your resume.

They can also give you feedback about your tone and how you’re selling yourself.

35. Write a thank-you email.  

Knowing how to write a thank you email after an interview is priceless.

It’s not always enough to write a great resume and ace an interview. The show isn’t over until you’ve also written a thoughtful thank-you email.

36. Clean up your online presence. 

When you’re just learning how to create a resume, you may forget that hiring managers also search for you online. 

Be sure to optimize your linkedin profile so that it resonates with your resume.

Make sure that you’ve cleaned up “public” information on your facebook and twitter accounts. Change your facebook privacy settings to “friends” to keep future posts from becoming public.

And do a quick sweep to make sure nothing else unsavory is lurking out there on the internet. Enter your name into google and see what turns up in the results. 

You can ask google to remove sensitive or sexual content from the web. 

37. Create a professional persona for yourself.

  

A professional persona is a two or three-word description of yourself that should stick in the head of the recruiter when your name doesn’t. 

It’s like when you try to describe someone from last night’s party.

Remember the girl who graduated from harvard and talked about goat cheese for an hour?

It’s like that except less goat cheese. 

38. Reinforce your professional titles by showing career progression.  

Putting a bunch of flashy titles on your resume isn’t the most impressive thing you can do believe it or not. 

What is impressive is the telling the story of your career progression.

See, you can be a social media manager for your cousin’s pizza place without any prior experience. 

But when you can show that you progressed to that position through hard work, that’s impressive.

The trick is trying to make each past role reinforce your place in the next one.

Marketing manager

Manage a team of 10+ employees.

·         Prepare annual marketing plans. 

Marketing specialist

·         Planned and implemented promotional campaigns.

·         Cooperated with interactive agencies. 

·         Marketing intern

·         Conducted market research.

·         Assisted during promotional campaigns.

39. Consider adding a hobbies and interest section to your resume.

  

If you have space, hobbies and interests can be great additions to your resume.

That’s because companies are beginning to emphasize work culture. Which makes finding a candidate with a  fitting personality increasingly important.

Just be sure to research your company. Choosing hobbies and interests that match the company’s culture is a good strategy.  

Right: 

Work culture: corporation participates in charity marathons.

Hobbies and interests: volunteer work and athletics 

Wrong: 

Religious,political,orsexualhobbies.

If the person reading your resume has an opposite opinion, it could hurt your chances of getting an interview. 

40. Trim any unnecessary fat from your resume.  

Having problems keeping the length of your resume in check? 

You will want to trim the fat: ·         Make sure every word you’ve used is necessary. 

·         Keep your bullet points to six at most. ·         Trim your resume summary or your skills section without killing the value. ·         And kill any extra sections that aren’t mandatory

. 41. Try to find the personal email address of the hiring manager.  

You can always attach your resume to a generic email and send it to a generic inbox.

Or you can attach your resume to a personalized email and send it to your hiring manager. 

Some hiring managers may not appreciate receiving unsolicited resumes  

At the same time, if you know how to send an email to a hiring manager you know that you aren’t sending it unannounced. 

Right: 

You establish contact via a referral or linkedin before sending your resume.  

Wrong: 

Sending a cold-call email to an unknown hiring manager.

  

42. Track your resume.  

Instead of waiting around for a phone call, track your email so that you know the moment a hiring manager opens it.

You can use a free tool like mixmax to see if a hiring manager has read your resume. That give you a better idea of when to send follow-up or thank you emails.

Key takeaway 

It can be easy to forget small details when you’re trying to figure out how to write a great resume. But if you follow these resume tips and tricks you can rest assured that you’re on the right track