Interview questions

Opening questions

How to handle the questions that open and close an interview: introducing yourself, making your case and using the last word.

From the interviewer's side

What the interviewer is looking for

  • Whether you can pick out, from everything you have done, the few things that matter for this job. Relevance is the skill being tested, not your memory.
  • How clearly you communicate. A short, well-ordered answer at the start suggests you will explain things just as clearly to colleagues and customers.
  • An early sense of your motivation: whether this application was aimed at this job or sent to dozens of others.
  • Good interviewers score each answer separately, and most make up their minds later than candidates fear. Even so, an early impression colours how later answers are heard, so a clear, relevant opening gives you a head start.
  • Whether you can make a case for yourself without overselling: confident, specific and honest.

For candidates

How to prepare

  • Prepare a short introduction of about a minute and a half, built around two or three strengths that match the person specification.
  • Use a simple order: where you are now, how you got here and why this job is the next step. If you are changing career or returning after a break, you can start with the past when it is more relevant.
  • Do not assume the panel knows your CV well. The person interviewing may not be the person who shortlisted you, so introduce yourself properly.
  • Practise out loud from a few bullet points rather than a script, so you sound natural and can adjust on the day.
  • Choose the one strength or example you most want the panel to remember, and keep it ready for the end in case it has not come up.

Tell me about yourself.

What the interviewer is really asking

This is rarely small talk. The interviewer wants to see whether you can choose, from your whole working life, the few things that matter for this job and explain them clearly. It is also their first real look at how you communicate and why you applied, and that early impression shapes how they hear the rest of the interview.

What a strong answer shows

  • A clear structure, such as where you are now, how you got here and why this role.
  • Two or three strengths that match the person specification, each with a brief piece of evidence.
  • A link at the end between your story and this particular job.
  • Confidence without overselling, in about a minute and a half.

What loses marks

  • A life story that starts at school and never reaches the job.
  • Reading your CV back line by line.
  • Personal details that have nothing to do with the work.
  • A delivery so polished that it sounds memorised.

How to answer

  1. Pick two or three strengths from the person specification that you can back with real examples.
  2. Start with what you do now and one thing you are proud of in that role.
  3. Explain briefly how your earlier jobs, study or experience led you here.
  4. Finish with why this role is the right next step, then stop. The panel will ask for more if they want it.

An example answer

There are three things I would like to cover: what I do now, how I got here and why I applied. At the moment I am a restaurant supervisor at a busy city centre hotel, running the floor on evening shifts with a team of eight. The thing I am proudest of is our new starter checklist. I wrote it after we lost two new staff in their first month, and nobody has left early since. I started as a waiter while I was at college, then became bar supervisor, so I know every job on the floor. What I enjoy most now is the planning side: rotas, stock and training. Your assistant manager role puts that at the centre, and with two new sites opening next year, I would like to help build those teams from the start.

Walk me through your CV.

What the interviewer is really asking

The interviewer wants the story behind the page: why you made each move, what you learned and how it all leads to this job. They are also checking that the dates and details hold together, and they may come back later to any gap or short spell they notice. How you tell it shows whether you can see the thread in your own career.

What a strong answer shows

  • A clear thread running through your moves, even when the path was not straight.
  • Reasons for each change that show you were moving towards something.
  • Gaps and short roles explained briefly and without embarrassment.
  • Most of the time spent on the recent roles that matter most for this job.

What loses marks

  • Reading every line aloud, in order, at the same pace.
  • Dates or reasons that do not match what is written on the page.
  • Skipping over a gap and hoping nobody notices.
  • Blaming past employers for every move.

How to answer

  1. Re-read your CV the night before, so the dates and details are fresh.
  2. Open with a one-line summary of your career so far, then go through it briefly, spending most time on the recent and relevant roles.
  3. For each move, give the reason in a sentence: what you wanted to learn or do next.
  4. Explain any gap in one or two plain sentences, say what you did in that time and show that you are ready now.
  5. Finish with how the whole path leads to this role.

An example answer

In short, I have spent most of my career in office administration, with a break to care for my father. I started as an office junior at a firm of solicitors straight after my A levels, and within three years I was running the diaries and files for four partners. I moved to a property management company as office manager because I wanted to lead a team, and I managed three administrators there for five years. Two years ago I left to care for my father full time. During that time I kept my skills current with an evening course in bookkeeping, which I passed last spring. Now that his care is settled, I am ready to come back, and this practice manager role brings together everything I have done: people, systems and money.

Why should we hire you?

What the interviewer is really asking

The interviewer is giving you the chance to sum up your case, and testing whether you can. They want to hear that you understand what the job needs and can match yourself to it with evidence, confidently but without arrogance. It also shows how well you have listened, because the best answers pick up on what the panel has said matters most.

What a strong answer shows

  • The two or three things the job needs most, in your own words.
  • A piece of real evidence for each one, briefly told.
  • Something extra you would bring, such as a skill, an idea or a way of working.

What loses marks

  • Claims with no evidence ("I am a hard worker and a team player").
  • Running down the other candidates, whom you have never met.
  • False modesty, or so much confidence that it sounds like arrogance.
  • An answer that ignores what the job actually needs.

How to answer

  1. Before the interview, pick out the two or three requirements that matter most in the advert and person specification.
  2. Match each one to a short, real example with a result.
  3. If the panel has told you what they most need, refer back to it.
  4. Close with one sentence on what you would bring from your first week.

An example answer

From what you have said today, you need someone who can keep a night shift accurate through peak season and hold on to good people. I can show you both. I have run a night shift of twenty pickers for the last two years, and last peak we kept our pick accuracy above target every week while volumes doubled. On people, I set up a buddy system for agency workers, and six of them have since taken permanent contracts, which has made the shift far more stable. I also hold counterbalance and reach truck licences, so I can cover on the floor when we are short. What I would bring from the first week is a calm, organised shift that people want to stay on.

What makes you different from the other candidates?

What the interviewer is really asking

Nobody expects you to know the other candidates. The interviewer is asking what you would add that someone with similar qualifications might not: a skill, an experience, a perspective or a way of working. Good employers now look for people who bring something new to a team as well as sharing its values, so this is a chance to show both.

What a strong answer shows

  • Self-awareness: you know which of your qualities are genuinely unusual.
  • A difference that is useful for this job, backed by an example.
  • A sense of how your difference would help the team, not just you.
  • Respect for the other candidates, with the focus kept on what you offer.

What loses marks

  • Saying you cannot answer because you do not know the others.
  • Qualities everyone claims, such as being hard-working or reliable, with nothing to back them up.
  • A difference that has nothing to do with the job.
  • Belittling other people to make yourself look better.

How to answer

  1. Acknowledge in a few words that you do not know the other candidates, then move on to what you can speak about.
  2. Look for the combination that makes you unusual: experience from another kind of job, a language, a life experience or a mix of skills.
  3. Back it with a short example.
  4. Explain how it would help this team in this role.

An example answer

I cannot speak for the others, but I can tell you what I would bring that may be less usual for a graduate. Alongside my geography degree, I worked twenty hours a week for three years on the customer service desk of a large supermarket. So I have spent a lot of time with members of the public who were frustrated, confused or in a hurry, and I have learned to stay calm and explain things simply. My dissertation was on bus routes and access to services in rural villages, so I also understand how council decisions land in people's lives. For a graduate programme that rotates through housing, transport and community services, I think that mix of research and front-line experience would be useful from the first placement.

How did you hear about this role?

What the interviewer is really asking

On the surface this is a simple question, and some organisations ask it partly to learn which adverts work. But interviewers also listen for how targeted your search was: did you seek them out, or did the job just appear in a long list? It is an easy opening to show real interest, and a short, genuine answer that links to why you applied does exactly that.

What a strong answer shows

  • An honest, short answer about where you saw the role or who told you about it.
  • A quick link to what caught your interest.
  • Signs that you already knew of the organisation or were looking for this kind of work.

What loses marks

  • A long story about your whole job search.
  • "I applied for lots of things and this was one of them."
  • Naming someone who works there without checking they are happy to be mentioned.
  • Inventing a more impressive route than the real one.

How to answer

  1. Say truthfully where you found the role: a job board, the organisation's own website, a recruiter or a person you know.
  2. Add one sentence on what made you want to apply.
  3. If someone who works there recommended it, mention them only if they are happy for you to, and say what they told you that appealed.
  4. Keep it brief. This question is a doorway, not the main event.

An example answer

A friend of mine, Dev, is an electrician on your repairs team, and he told me about it when the vacancy came up. I checked with him before mentioning his name today. I then read the advert on your website and saw that you are bringing more repairs in-house rather than using contractors. That caught my interest, because at the moment I am a self-employed plumber and I spend most of my time on one-off jobs for letting agents. I would much rather look after the same homes and the same tenants over time, and see each job through properly. What Dev said about the training and the way the team works together is what made me apply.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

What the interviewer is really asking

This is a genuine last chance, not a formality. Panels can only score what they hear, so the interviewer is giving you room to add evidence you have not had the chance to share, or to put right an answer that went wrong. How you use it also shows whether you can sum up with confidence and read the room.

What a strong answer shows

  • A short addition that fills a real gap: a skill, example or qualification the panel has not heard about.
  • A brief, confident summary of why you want the job.
  • A calm correction of an earlier answer, if one needs it.

What loses marks

  • A flat "no, I think we have covered everything" when there was more to say.
  • A long second speech that repeats every earlier answer.
  • Raising a new complaint or concern in the final minute.
  • Apologising for the whole interview.

How to answer

  1. Before the interview, decide which piece of evidence you most want the panel to remember.
  2. Near the end, check whether you have said it. If not, say it now, briefly.
  3. If an earlier answer went badly, add a sentence or two to put it right.
  4. Finish with one line on why you want the job, then thank them.

An example answer

Yes, two quick things, if that is all right. When you asked about caring for a distressed patient, I talked about my ward experience, but I did not mention that I finished my Care Certificate and a dementia awareness course this year, which feel relevant to many of the patients on this ward. Second, on working under pressure, I said the shift went well, but I did not say what I learned from it. I now check in with the nurse in charge halfway through every late shift, so problems come up early rather than at handover. And thank you: I have enjoyed hearing how the team supports each other, and I would be proud to be part of it.