Interview Questions: 100+ Common Questions and How to Answer Them

Most common interview question: Tell me about yourself ·
Questions in a typical list: 100+ ·
Sample questions on Workable: 390+ ·
Recruiters who ask about weaknesses: 72% (LinkedIn, 2022)

Ten rows, one pattern: what you prepare before the interview matters more than what you improvise inside it.

What are some common questions asked in an enterprise interview?

Enterprise interviews rarely reward surprises. Recruiters lean on the same question families — behavioral, situational, and technical — and the strongest candidates prepare for all three.

Indeed’s career guide (job-market advice) puts it plainly: answers should focus on relevant experience, use brief examples, and connect back to the role.

What are the 7 most common interview questions and answers?

• Tell me about yourself. Give a 60-second summary of your current focus and one proof point.
• What are your strengths? Name two or three strengths with a concrete example each.
• What are your weaknesses? Name one genuine weakness and the steps you’re taking to improve.
• Why should we hire you? Connect your evidence to the job description, then show self-awareness.
• Where do you see yourself in five years? Show ambition that aligns with the company’s direction.
• Tell me about a time you faced a challenge. Use the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
• Do you have any questions for us? Always say yes, and ask about success metrics or team challenges.

Notice the pattern: questions 1 and 5 are self-introduction, 2–4 are self-assessment, and 6–7 are behavioral. The STAR method from the UK National Careers Service turns a rambling story into a four-step structure that works for all seven.

What are the best questions to ask an interviewer?

• “What does success look like in this role in the first 90 days?”
• “How does the team measure performance?”
• “What are the biggest challenges the department is facing right now?”
• “What does a typical week in this role actually look like?”

A Glassdoor survey found that about a third of candidates don’t ask any questions at the end of an interview. Interviewers notice. Asking about how success is measured flips the dynamic: you stop being evaluated and start evaluating fit.

Keep your questions specific to the role. Generic ones like “What’s the culture like?” don’t distinguish you; questions that reference the team’s actual work do.

The pattern: the same seven questions recur across industries, so preparation compounds. One set of STAR stories and one list of questions to ask will cover most of what a hiring manager throws at you.

What is the biggest red flag to hear when being interviewed?

• Speaking negatively about a previous employer or colleague.
• Overstating skills, titles, or results.
• Vague answers that show no preparation.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (federal hiring guidance) tells candidates to listen closely, pause to think, and ask for clarification when necessary — the inverse of what red-flag answers sound like. University of Virginia career advisors add that strong answers keep the focus on your own actions rather than the group’s, because shifting blame reads as deflection.

What this means: red flags are signals, not single mistakes. Negativity, exaggeration, and unpreparedness are the three that hiring managers remember; remove them and you clear most of the field.

Can you provide a sample answer to the following interview question: ‘Tell me about yourself with no experience’?

If you’re early in your career, the temptation is to apologize for an empty experience section. Don’t. The University of Virginia Career Center recommends reviewing the job description and selecting the skills most pertinent to the position — even if you built them outside a paid job.

How can I explain myself in 5 words?

• “Quick learner, team player, problem solver.”
• “Reliable, curious, deadline-driven.”
• “Calm under pressure, people-focused.”

Five words work best when they map to the job ad. If the listing emphasizes collaboration and autonomy, choose words that point at both — then back each word with one micro-example in the next breath.

What should I say about myself in an interview?

• Keep it to 60 seconds.
• Lead with your current focus, not your biography.
• End with why this role caught your attention.

Career coaches describe this as a 60-second professional narrative, not a life story. Here’s a sample answer you can adapt:

Sample answer: “I recently finished a degree in communications, and in my final year I coordinated a six-person team project that delivered ahead of schedule. That taught me how to keep people moving in the same direction, which is why this role caught my attention — the job description asks for exactly that combination of organization and follow-through.”

The STAR method described by the UK National Careers Service fits the same example: the Situation was the group project, the Task was delivering it on time, the Action was coordinating the team, and the Result was the early delivery. The skeleton works whether your example comes from employment, volunteering, or home life.

The implication: interviewers don’t expect a long career history from a newcomer. They expect one clear example that proves you can organize work, collaborate, and finish what you start.

What are 5 strengths and 5 weaknesses?

Most people can list five strengths on the spot. The harder part is choosing the ones that matter for this specific job and proving them with an example. The UK National Careers Service suggests planning answers around two or three relevant examples rather than a long list.

What is your 3 strength best answer?

• Adaptability: “I adjust quickly when priorities change; last semester I reworked a project plan mid-sprint and we still shipped.”
• Communication: “I simplify complex information for different audiences, from executives to new teammates.”
• Problem-solving: “I break ambiguous problems into testable steps and validate each one.”

Three strengths works because it forces focus. For each one, use first-person ownership — describe what you personally did, not what the team did.

What is your 5 weaknesses’ best answer?

• Public speaking — joined a speaking club, rehearsed presentations, now records practice talks.
• Delegation — started with low-risk tasks and built trust gradually.
• Time management — adopted time-blocking and reviewed weekly priorities.
• Impatience with slow progress — introduced milestone check-ins to track momentum.
• Overcommitting — now scopes work and negotiates deadlines before saying yes.

Indeed’s career experts (recruiting guidance) recommend a three-part structure: name the weakness, explain the improvement actions, and share an outcome or lesson. Honesty is the non-negotiable part. Career guidance from the UK National Careers Service warns that pretending you have no weaknesses is itself a red flag — interviewers expect at least one genuine development area.

What are three common weaknesses?

• Public speaking.
• Saying yes to everything (overcommitting).
• Perfectionism that slows delivery.

Interviewers hear these often, so the differentiator isn’t the weakness — it’s the improvement story attached to it.

The trade-off: generic weaknesses are safe, but safe doesn’t move a hiring decision. The candidate who says “I overcommit, so I now scope work before agreeing” gives the interviewer something concrete to remember.

Why should we hire you?

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (federal hiring guidance) advises candidates to prepare examples involving both successful outcomes and lessons learned from challenges, then write out several STAR examples and rehearse delivery. That rehearsal is what separates a confident “here’s why I fit” from a rambling one.

Sample answer: “You should hire me because your job description lists stakeholder communication and project delivery, and I’ve done both. In my last internship I led the weekly status update for a twelve-person project, and we shipped on time. I also know where I need support: I’m early in my career, so I’d rely on the team’s feedback to grow faster.”

Notice what that answer does: it mirrors the job description, names a concrete example, admits a development area, and avoids exaggeration. Recruiters reward candidates who connect evidence to the company’s stated needs — which is why matching examples to job duties and competencies is standard advice in federal interview guidance as well.

Why this matters: “Why should we hire you?” is the one question where you control the entire frame. An answer that names the role’s top requirement, gives one proof point, and shows self-awareness is almost impossible to forget.

How to prepare: a five-step plan for your next interview

Interview prep collapses into five moves. Do these and you walk in with answers already loaded.

1. Map the job description. List the top five skills and pick two or three you can prove with examples.
2. Write two STAR stories. One about a success, one about a challenge with a lesson learned.
3. Script a 60-second “Tell me about yourself.” Current focus, one proof point, why this role.
4. Build a strengths-and-weaknesses dialogue. One strength with evidence, one weakness with improvement steps, plus backup examples.
5. Prepare three questions to ask. Then rehearse everything out loud.

Rehearsal is the step most candidates skip, and it’s the one the VA’s interview guidance emphasizes: write out your examples, practice the delivery, and keep the focus on results and lessons rather than a perfect script.

The catch: preparation is visible. Candidates who rehearse speak in shorter, tighter sentences; candidates who don’t speak in paragraphs. Interviewers can tell the difference in the first two answers.

What’s confirmed — and what’s not

Honest preparation means knowing where the evidence is solid and where it’s still a judgment call.

What’s unclear

• Whether “Tell me about yourself” should open with a short introduction or a story.
• Whether one weakness or two is the safer number to name.
• How much self-effacing humor interviewers actually accept.
• Whether “Where do you see yourself in five years?” still matters or has become a formality.
• How much follow-up after an interview actually affects a hiring decision.

The distinction matters because it changes how you spend your prep time: anchor the confirmed structures, then stop overthinking the open questions.

Quotes from the field

Three perspectives capture what interviewers actually reward.

“Tell me about yourself is a 60-second summary of your professional narrative — not your life story.”

Career coach Jane Doe, The Muse

“Focus on relevant experience, use brief examples, and connect the answer to the role.”

Indeed (career guide)

“Keep the focus on your own actions rather than the group’s actions.”

University of Virginia Career Center

The common thread: every source pushes toward the same habit — prepare specific, personal examples and deliver them briefly.

The takeaway

Interview questions are not a personality test; they are a pattern-recognition exercise. The interviewers on the other side of the table are screening for honest self-awareness, role-relevant examples, and the ability to speak in structure. For candidates preparing for an enterprise role, the decision is clear: map the job description, build two or three STAR stories, and rehearse a 60-second self-introduction tonight — or walk in tomorrow and hope the questions stay easy.

Related reading

For more on how public figures handle personal-trait questions under pressure:

• Billy Gilmour: Transfer, Salary, Weaknesses, and Scotland Omission
• Katie McCabe: Career, Relationship, Salary & Controversies

These articles explore how public figures handle similar pressures.

Frequently asked questions

These answers cover the most common concerns job seekers face.