2 Interview questions

Employers might use several question types in their interview processes, and in this section, you’ll focus on two of the main examples that are likely to be used to probe teamwork skills – competency-based questions and strengths-based questions.

Figure 2 There might be more than one interviewer

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A woman is interviewed by a panel of three sitting at the opposite side of a large desk

Figure 2 There might be more than one interviewer

Other types of interview question include:

• Motivation questions – assessing whether your interest and enthusiasm for the job is genuine. Examples include ‘What made you apply for this role?’ or ‘What attracted you to our company/organisation?’.
• Technical questions – focusing on important technical requirements for the role.
• Opinion based questions – designed to test your ability to think on the spot and explore your opinions on various relevant topics. There is usually no right or wrong answer, but homework about current issues for the sector you’re applying to could prove useful.
• Brain teaser questions – these are presented as puzzles or problems and are often used in interviews for technical or numeric jobs where mental arithmetic, creativity or logic skills are important. There often isn’t a correct answer, but the interviewer is interested in the approach you take. An example might be ‘Why are tennis balls fuzzy?’

It is unlikely (but not impossible) that you could shoehorn teamwork into your answer about tennis balls, so for the purposes of this course you’ll focus on the types of interview questions that are designed to find out more about your teamwork skills!