Personal Interview Questions and Answers

Introduction 

In this advancing era, it is hard to get jobs. You need to go through multiple interviews to get one. Your performance in these interviews decides whether you get the job or not, keeping your experience and qualification aside. Therefore, you should know how to ace personal interview questions. These personal interview questions seem to be simple but are hard to answer sometimes. In this article, we will be dealing with some simple personal interview questions that are common in the interviews and their answers. These questions are mostly related to the person’s behaviour, education, achievements and stuff. It always helps you gain the upper hand in any interview if you are well-versed with a few necessary things. It will surely help you get a warm-up with the personal interview questions and answers. Some of the top interview questions are present here. 

We can divide these personal interview questions under several headings:

Common Job Interview Questions

1. Tell us something about Yourself?

To ace personal interview questions like this, you should not state your personal life, hobbies etc. You should better talk about your professional life, achievements, experience and the relevant things. Your answer should be in the direction that the interviewers get convinced that you are the right person to fit in the job. Your answer should state your strengths, accomplishments and managing skills you have. It is the very first question in an interview, and this leaves an impact. Try to build a good report with the interviewers by answering this in the required way. Try to be specific and not vague. This is one of the top interview questions. 

2. Can you list your strengths and weaknesses?

When talking about the strengths, try listing the qualities you have and are relevant to the job. Try to list a few qualities that are going to affect the things in your daily life. Don’t try to give a long list of the things you are good at. You can also try adding up some small stories to justify your strengths. These stories always have a long term effect.

When you list your weaknesses, try to convince the interviewers that you are continuously working on your shortcomings to make things better. For example, say you have a fear of public speaking. You can tell that you find it hard to speak in a crowd, but you are taking various forms of communication and trying to air your views to overcome this fear.

3. Where do you imagine yourself in the coming five years?

Most employers want to elicit the time you are going to stay with them. They want you to assure them that you will be staying with the company. They want you to excel, but in the same company. You can have the desire to grow, but at the same time, you should be a promising employee for the company. Never mention the things like you are in the company to gain experience only or something like that.

4. What reason do you have behind leaving your previous job?

When asked about the reasons for leaving the previous job, you should always try to refrain from blaming. You should not blame the company, colleagues, boss or the working environment. If you do this, this may indicate the negativity in you. 

Despite this, try stating a good reason. You can say that you were not facing enough challenges in your previous job. It shows that you are looking forward to new challenges and are interested in them. It also reflects upon the enthusiasm you have for working on challenging projects. Top interview questions can often refer to this as a benchmark of serious intent.

5. What makes you interested in this job?

By asking personal interview questions, the employer wants to know how much you know about their company and what you want from them. Make sure that you have researched thoroughly about the company. You should know about the founder and CEO of the company. You should also know about the vision of the company and the services they provide. It leaves a good impression and also shows the interest you have in the job. Try correlating your goals and ambitions with that of the company. You can assure the employer that you want the job to improve your skills and knowledge, and their company is a good place for that.  

6. Do you have any hobbies?

Try to answer this personal interview question in a precise manner. Justify the fact that you are good at managing your personal and professional life together. State the hobbies that are related to the professional setup like interacting with people, travelling etc. It shows your energy level personality and also shows how well you can fit in the work environment. You can also state some generic hobbies like singing, reading and stuff. It shows your interest in your personal life and the time you invest in your soft skills.

7. What positive things can your last boss say about you?

When you answer this personal interview question, be modest and don’t exaggerate things. Try to be unique in your way. You can state the facts like you were a knowledgeable employee. You know how to handle things; you don’t panic in difficult situations etc. Try to portray your personality in the best possible way you can. It is the best way to answer this personal interview question.

8. Do you want to ask any questions from us?

Try to be innovative while you answer personal interview questions. Don’t depend upon the pre-prepared questions. Try to grasp the things from the conversation going on and ask relatable questions. You can go for asking the doubts if you have any. Also, you can ask about the work environment in the company, the pattern of the assigned leaves or something related to the job.

Behavioural Interview Questions 

1. How would you show your disagreement with the manager?

These personality interview questions showcase your vulnerability and truthfulness. It should also prevent you from having any terrible experience with the manager. You can say that ” I will try to understand the viewpoint of the manager. If it coincides with my moral beliefs or ethics, I will try to find an alternative acceptable to both of us. If I’m not able to do so, I’ll keep my issue very clearly and politely to the manager so that he understands me and my problems. I am sure he’ll consider me and find an alternative.” You should be ethical while answering this question and try not to show any tendency for an argument.

2. How would you work as a leader?

You can impress the employer by demonstrating a situation where you have shown leadership. Since it is a part of personality interview questions, try answering the question in a STAR format (situation-task-action-result). It will help you to go a long way in answering the personality-related interview questions. You can mention the particular situation where you have shown this leadership trait. State the number of people you have headed and the number you can easily manage. State the starter gives you advice to cope up with your team. You can also state your work strategies and their corresponding results.

3. If you encounter a customer that is difficult to handle, how will you manage it?

While answering this personal interview question you could say; Try to convince the employer that you’ll stay calm with your work. You will be patient and humble with the customers and try to maintain the reputation of the company. Your actions will favour the company’s progress and will be well-thought. You can say that “I’ll try to understand the situation of the customer and act accordingly. I’ll try to stay calm and make things clear. I’ll try to clarify the doubts of the customer and cope up with all the emerging problems. 

4. What would you do if you had a difficult situation with your colleague?

You can answer this personal interview question by stating any incident that you had with your co-worker. Disagreements are quite common in a work environment. It is important to understand the way to manage these disagreements. You should be clear with things as well as try to avoid any mess. Your actions should not disturb the work environment. You can answer this question by saying something like the following. ” I will try to understand the situation of my colleague and make things clear that are going on in my head. Also, I’ll try to have a one-to-one conversation with my colleague to clear the matter. We can try to reach the best possible solution to the problem that suits both of us.”

5. How would you react if your work faces criticism?

To answer personal interview questions, you need to be very specific about your quality to face healthy criticism. Try to assure the employer that you accept the mistakes you commit. Try to show the enthusiasm you have to rectify the mistakes you make. You should always have the willingness to accept the mistakes you make. 

You can answer this question as follows. “I’ll, first of all, try to understand what was the fault with my work. After doing that, I will enlist my mistakes. Once I do that, I’ll make a strategy to cope up with my shortcomings. I’ll always try to welcome my critics so that I continuously learn about my mistakes and improve them.

6. Which was your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?

To answer this personal interview question you could frame your answer; Failure is an inevitable thing; you can never avoid it. Try stating the manner you handled the failure and the things you learnt from it. It will precisely define the personality that your employer wants to elicit from this question. Try to state a very genuine incident that happened with you and affected you. Explain the state you were in and how you managed to come out of it. Also, list the ways you adopted to tackle your failure and how they helped you. Try to display the difference in your personality before and after the event. Prove to the employer that you managed your shortcomings after that particular event.

Educational Job Interview Questions 

1. Tell us something about your qualifications?

To answer the personal interview questions, try to enlist the degrees and diplomas you have. You can also list the courses and skills you have. You can precisely mention the qualities and skills you possess and the fields in which you have the expertise. Despite stating about the parties you have attended, try to mention the skills and qualities you have learnt. Elaborate on the experience you have and your updates about things going around.

2. Do you have any further plans for your education?

If you have any plans related to your education, you can mention them. But if you don’t have any plans, you should not state that you’ll not be learning anything. To answer personal interview questions, you should always try to show your interest in learning new things. Try to explain to the employer how you are a life-long learner. Try to show your interest in new things and how keen you are, for learning the latest trends and technology. To survive in the modern world, you always have to keep yourself updated. Tell the employer about the things you do to maintain your knowledge and keep yourself up-to-date.

Professional Job Interview Questions 

1. Do you like to change jobs frequently?

The thing an employer wants to see by asking personal interview questions is your commitment to the job. He wants to know how long you will stay with them. Everybody wants a commitment and long term employees. Along with this, enthusiasm in the employees is another necessary factor. When you answer this question, you can go the following way. 

“This is a good question. I have been changing jobs in the past in search of growth. But, I also seek stability. I want to stay with the company for a long time. I find the work environment of your company very welcoming and soothing. There are always innovations in the working environment that I always search for. 

2. What knowledge do you have about this industry?

You need to have well-researched content to answer this type of personal interview questions. Try to acquire the best knowledge about the industry before the interview. You should know several things about the industry. It is one of the top interview questions that are frequent. When the candidate is well-oriented about the question, he should be well-prepared to answer the question. You need to know the basic things about the company. You should know about the founder and the CEO of the company. Try to list the objectives and the values of the company. You should also know about the competition in the industry. Try to think about the innovative things that you can do to excel in the company.

3. What makes you more eligible than other candidates?

Try to answer personal interview questions as confidently as you can. Try to state the positive points about yourself. You can prove the qualities you have. Mention the skills you possess. You can also mention the leadership and management skills you have. Enlist the things you will be doing for the betterment of the company. Avoid stating negative things about other candidates while you answer this question. It shows your state of mind and your perspective towards the growth of others.

Salary Interview Questions 

1. How much salary do you expect?

Don’t try to give a diplomatic answer when such personal interview question is asked to you. Avoid playing games with the hirer. Be polite and directly answer the question. You should research well before answering this question. Try to know your worth from different resources according to your qualification and experience. Have a clear idea about the payment you deserve for your work. State the range of salary you are comfortable with to the employer. You can also tell a higher salary range that can excite you to work more. This is one of the personality interview questions that will ensure your confidence and negotiation skills.

2. Can you tell us about your salary history?

Salary history is not a necessary demand of the employer. You can conveniently dodge these sorts of personal interview questions. You can say that you were earlier working on another post, and this one is different. The salary expectations change with the position accordingly, and it will not be fair to discuss the salary for another post. 

If you don’t want to dodge these personal interview questions, you can clearly state the amount you used to earn at the previous workplace. Along with it, you can mention the expectations you have from the company related to salary.

Personal Interview Questions 

3. What kind of company culture makes you comfortable?

While you answer this personal interview question, you can state your previous experiences with different companies. You can share your journey about how you came to know about the company culture you are comfortable in. You can state the things you like when you are in the office. You can tell what sort of meetings you like, what things you like to have in the office, what kind of interaction you want to have with your colleagues and your seniors etc. You can also suggest ways to maintain an environment in the office that is enthusiastic and friendly. State the things that make you cheerful and motivate you to work. 

4. Can you tell us something about your work style?

You should be thorough when answering this top personal interview question about the tasks you will have to perform while doing the job. You should know about the qualities you need to have to do that particular job. If you need to be active while doing that job, try to show how you can do that. Try to satisfy all the traits you need to have to do that particular job. You should be very clear about things. Try to assure the employer that you are working on all the skills you need to have to fit into that job. 

5. What is an ideal work environment for you?

If you are interested in the job, and you want to have it; the ideal work environment for you should be similar to that of the company. You can add or subtract a couple of things according to your convenience, but the majority of the things should be similar. You can mention all the things that make you comfortable at work. . Apart from these things, you can suggest ways to maintain a healthy work environment that keeps everyone motivated. Personal interview questions will always harp on this factor as applicants can 

6. Can you describe your long-term career goals?

To ace personal interview questions like these, it would entirely depend on you whether you want to describe your career after five years or after 20 years. You can answer this question according to your will. Answering personal interview questions will show the enthusiasm you have. It will clarify the hirer about the goals you imagine, how far you can go and what zeal you have to excel in your career. Your goals tell how motivated you are to work on a particular thing and the spirit you have to face the challenges. It shows your personality and the affection you have towards your work. Your reaction to an adverse situation can also be judged through this answer. So, be careful while you answer this particular question. Set your goals according to your capabilities and try to prove yourself.

Conclusion

Being pre-prepared for a few things is always good. People have skills but forget to brush them up. This article will help you to elicit and articulate the thoughts within you. You will be able to air your views in the best possible ways you can. These personal interview questions and answers are refined and give you good ideas about expressing things. There are personality interview questions, educational interview questions, salary interview questions and many more top interview questions which has been addressed.

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