Preparing for an interview can feel daunting but understanding the different types of questions you might face can give you a significant advantage. Interviews are opportunities for potential employers to evaluate your fit for the role, whether you're interviewed in a boardroom or on a casual site tour.
This guide breaks down the most common interview question techniques, from standard questions that explore your motivations and experience, to competency-based and situational questions that assess your skills and judgment. You'll also learn how to approach technical, case-based, and role-play scenarios with confidence. By familiarising yourself with these formats and practicing structured responses you’ll be well-equipped to present your best self in any interview setting.
Standard questions of most interviews
- What do you know about us?
- What interests you in the business?
- Why you want to work for us?
- What interests you in the role?
- How would your personal values help us when working here?
- Talk me through your CV.
- Talk me through your key achievements
- What will you bring to the business?
Every meeting with a potential employer should be treated like an interview. Because that’s what it is; it’s an opportunity for the potential employer to form an opinion about you. So conversational interviews still require preparation and if you are offered a site tour this is still part of the interview process. Listen carefully, ask questions, and talk to people you meet.
Competency-based questions are structured to assess specific skills or competencies (e.g. teamwork, leadership, adaptability). They will relate to the job description so ask an AI search engine (ChatGPT, etc.) to produce a list of questions based on this. Then prepare answers to different competency-based questions, structured using the STAR approach. Example: “Tell me about a time you led a team through a difficult project.”
The STAR approach is useful for answering these behavioural interviews and is used frequently to demonstrate past behaviour and competencies.
- Situation: Describe the context within which you performed a task or faced a challenge.
- Task: Explain the actual task or responsibility involved.
- Action: Describe the specific actions you took to address the task or challenge.
- Result: Share the outcomes or results of your actions.
Here is an interview question relating to Stakeholder Engagement: “Could you give us an example where you have had to engage a particular stakeholder and they were completely disinterested in what you had to discuss with them?”
Good way to answer this using the STAR technique is:
(SITUATION) I had to speak with the Engineering Manager to discuss several variances in the cost report. He didn’t understand how we calculated the costs, (TASK) so my first job was to understand why he didn’t understand the costs by using open questions. (ACTION) I then took the financial information I needed and turned it into a visual graph which was easy for him to read/see where the costs came from. Then I asked him to talk me through what happens on the shop floor that could affect the costs. (RESULT) The end result was that he learnt more about the costs and eventually he came to me, before I went to him, to discuss the costs variances because he understood them more. The result of which made the business more profitable and he had more ownership of his area of the business.
PAR Technique is often used to highlight problem-solving skills.
- Problem: What was the issue?
- Action: What did you do?
- Result: What happened?
Situational Interview Questions
These are hypothetical and ask how you would handle a future situation. For example: “What would you do if you were given a tight deadline and limited resources?” They are effective at assessing judgment, decision-making, and problem-solving, especially for more junior roles where experience isn’t gained yet.
For candidates entering the job market for the first time, interview preparation can feel unfamiliar and intimidating. This is especially true for younger applicants exploring their first roles, as outlined in 11 best jobs article, where understanding employer expectations is often just as important as previous experience.
Technical/Case-Based Questions
Used in technical, consulting, or finance roles. They involve solving a problem or case study on the spot. They are best for analytical thinking, technical knowledge, and logic. Examples include:
- “A logistics company is experiencing delivery delays. How would you identify the root cause?”
- “You’re given a dataset showing customer churn over 12 months. What metrics would you analyse and why?”
- “A client’s profits have dropped despite stable revenues. What could be the reasons?”
Role-Play Interviews
Candidates act out a scenario relevant to the job. This is more likely to take place for more junior roles. This can also be performed where the candidates work together as a team to address the scenario. In these circumstances, you must play an active role in the group. An example could relate to handling a difficult customer as a support agent. It’s effective for customer service, sales, and conflict resolution roles.
Candidate Support Guide
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