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Top Interview Questions and Answers Everybody Must Know 

In this article we are going to discuss about top interview questions and answers you must know.

Most of us are well aware about these questions in general as we all are professionals either experienced or starting your journey as a IT Professional.It may be even any other profession . Here we will try to summarize all of them at one place to make it easier for you to understand and use it as a good resource to refer as refresher.

Even though most of us know the questions but most of the candidates failed to impress hiring manager with their answers during their interview to these most common interview questions.

This post is going to help you related to any interview you may have either you are fresher or experienced. You need to understand interviewing practice deeply then you will realize the prospective of hiring manager as well to excel in interviewing and get maximum out of it and fulfill your dream and become a successful professional.

Once you reach to interview physically or virtually what hiring manager knows about you is very less based on resume and personality and some information from internet but interviewers do not have your internet details which HR may be having during the process of recruitments.

Especially interviewers mostly refers to your resume at the time of interview.So it is obvious that you need to have impressive resume is the essential. We will not discuss about resume more here as we are keen to focus on post resume option once you landed to interview.

So you have golden opportunity to prove to hiring manager that you are the only person he is waiting for and then it’s done. But this game is not as easy as it seems.

It’s a open game and you have to win this game is your objective. Visualize yourself as hiring manager then you can easily understand the prospective of hiring manager.

This is not very simple but if you have good understanding what hiring manager expecting to listen from you it will place you ahead in this game.

So let’s see most common interview questions with their answers and try to understand how to crack any interview by just doing smart preparation.

There are many common standards like dress properly, be on time and have good postures etc. We will try to summarize these questions in their order which may be helpful.

It is not mandatory that everyone will go through all these questions. That is purely based on profile what job and at what level of job exactly you are beeing interviwed for.

How Many Rounds of Interview?

Generally there are five rounds of interviews which takes place as part of recruitment process in most of the organizations.Based on each organization recruitment process their hiring process may have multiple parts like below.

It may get extended based on job profile and criticality of job profile even client round may be more than one.But as per current Information Technology trends generally it must be 5 below rounds of interview as per current industry standard.Lets explore them one by one and understand the complete hiring process.

• Screening Round Interview

• Technical Round Interview

• Managerial Round Interview

• HR Round Interview

• Client Round Interview

Screening Round Interview

What is screening Round in Hiring Process? Screening round usually performed by Human Resources Departments. As name suggests profiles from various sources gets screened to eliminate or you can say profiles are filtered based on specific criteria to have granular list of candidates.

Normally it have two parts. Market have evolved for example if you refer LinkedIn Jobs .You might have observed that a single opening have thousands of applicants.So it is really impossible for HR to go through all the resume and shortlist candidates. They are using softwares you can say simply filtering candidates based on relevancy to the job they have posted.

Normally HR professionals have their accounts on popular social media channels and websites where mostly job seekers registers their profile like Naukri, Indeed etc. They search profiles based on keywords, keywords here means may be specific to requirement like “Java Developers” and then filter matching candidates with relevant profiles. Due to the same reason these sites recommends all their users to keep updating their profiles to get picked in these filters. Main objective is to make sure to get profiles which is most relevant and candidate is looking for change as well.

Once HR Professional finds relevant profiles they forward it to respective department which is looking for resource and it gets scanned by subject matter experts to see the relevancy of profile is good for department requirement.

Once they have OK from Department then HR schedules Interview based upon Interview Panel Availability and Candidate Availability for Interview.

That`s all about Screening Round Interview of Recruitment Process with main objective of profile filtering to have granulat refined well matched profiles only which is best fit for role they are going to hire.

Technical Round Interview

Technical Round you can understand as to know the candidates knowledge for the specified role. It may be either HR Related Role or Technology Based Role.

For organizations you can understand this Second Round of Interview but for candidate this is First Round of Interview.

As mentioned above once interview is scheduled candidate gets reviewed by SME`s as per requirement to judge the suitability of candidate for the published role.

This is the most decisive part of interview process as it comes from the department where exactly resource is going to be placed if selected.

For example if any Linux Administrator/Cloud Specialist is the opening then SME from that department take the interview with candidates and if they are OK to hire they submit their decisions to HR.

As stated clearing this round have more value and gives more chance of candidate gets hired by organization.

Managerial Round Interview

As stated above once HR gets OK from Specialist Group they arrange another round of interview for candidate with Department manager. Since candidate have already passed technical round so manager just try to see candidates overall personality and fitment.

Candidates capabilities like how is his inter-personnel skills, communication, stability of candidate gets tested. If candidate is found suitable manager recommend HR to get candidate hired.

HR Round Interview

This is basically third round of interview for candidate and fourth round of interview for organization. Since HR already have approval down the line they start negotiating joining date and salary expectations with candidate.

Once agreed HR shares offer letter to candidate accordingly after completing all departmental approvals.

This is standard procedure but it may have one more step before releasing offer to candidate is client round. That is not mandatory but as per current IT Industry trends especially for support organizations client always want to meet any new resource gets added to their operations. 

Client Round Interview

Basically in general there is only three main round of interviews but it may varies as explains here in this article based on current trend and practice.Client round is not a mandatory round but most of the client prefers and if so then it must be there.That may be mix of technical and managerial as well.

In general there is only three round of interview for candidate.It is logically more for organizations.

First Round of Interview

First round of interview mainly focus on candidate shortlisting and scheduling interviews. In this process organizations (HR) is having various provisioning like social media, websites and even they will partner with staffing firms to fulfil their human resource requirements. These firms   helps organizations in first round of interview.

Second Round of Interview

second round of interview you can co-relate with Technical round which is the real interview round with interview panel and candidate is examined for suitability for job he have applied for either via any medium as first round either via social media or websites or third party HR staffing vendors.

Third Round of Interview

Management round and HR Round explained above you can put in third round of interview for candidate. You can debate about Managerial round which you may consider either 2^nd round or 3^rd round of interview .

You can consider wherever you want to place it. But for candidate level you can understand it is salary negotiation round and rest will be internal to organization.

Once salary part is negotiated offer is getting released. There are many internal approvals and verification of candidate stuff takes place in between but again that is internal arrangement of organizations not related to candidates.

These question basically focus to judge you apart from technical stuff more focused on personality, ability to articulate, personality etc.

If it is for any technical job questions about specific technology will be depending upon technology you are applying. In that case you may have these questions during managerial round.

HR round basically focused to negotiate on salary part if candidate is through to previous round.

How to Stay Ahead in Interview Game?

Even though most of us face common interview questions wondering how to stay ahead in interview?.What exactly you can do to stay ahead in interview and increase your chances to get selected.

There are few common interview ethics you can consider to stay ahead in interview by following steps.

• Dress Up Professionally

• Prepare in Advance

• Read Job Description

• Study About Firm

• Be on Time

• Introduce Well

• Be Unique Presenter

• Sell Yourself Well

Most of the item mentioned here is well known to everyone and all contributes in decision making from panel. This is something selling or presenting yourself that particular post if for you only.

So all is answering for these questions so what makes you unique is answering what interviewer want to listen from you sets you away from crowd. For most common interview questions please do not answer commonly try to answer them in unique way referencing some of your greatest qualities and achievements in past and display your capabilities how you can add more value to the job role.

So let’s back on main topic top interview questions and answers everybody must know. 

Most Common Interview Questions

The most common interview questions are questions which is usually asked in all interviews in most of the interview rounds.During the answering process I will share some resources which will be really helpful to pass any interview.

Few questions even may be common to all kind of interview round and few may be specific to any round with start to finish.

Introductory Interview Question

All most all interview have this question once you settled down in interview after initial greeting to each other formalities.

Tell me about yourself?

Who does not know about this question? Tell me about yourself is the first question usually asked to Introduce who you are?

People used to take is very lightly and does not focus to describe well. Think in this way if you have gone through the post you must realize the importance of this question .Organization must have went through rigorous process to place you on interview table then why this question is mandatory kind of questions?

People from Interview panel must be having candidate resumes which is having hell lot of information about candidate so why this question and how you can use this question to set the tone for interview and display your suitability for the role.

You need not to mention things which they already have in resume. This is the time when you can pitch well   about your previous achievements and kind of person you are and what value you will add to this role if you get selected.

You must have heard “First Impression is the Last Impression” right. So impress them with your first answer and set the positive tone for you which is going to help during the whole interview and it will place you ahead of many.

“Its golden opportunity cash it well in your favor”. Try to keep it short and display what they get will if they hire you please eliminate all not necessary things like telling name and educational history and all your experiences etc.

Decisive Interview Questions

There are few interview which are really important which may help interviewer to make his or her decisions. If you answer them wisely as recommended below makes your chances of selection really high. One of the most important decisive interview question is why we should hire you?

 Why We Should Hire You?

In general what do you understand from this question? .What exactly they are looking from you they have that requirement and they have scheduled your interview for the same still this question?

Can you sense what they might be expecting?. They are expecting something like you to display why they will consider you as most suitable person for this role?

Do you see this questions association with introductory questions if you have pitched well at the start there is high probability you should not this question at all.

As explained in first question here also you can use same tactics and force them to make their decision in favor of yours.

You need to display value add what you will bring to mentioned role again use your experience and display your previous achievements or quality you may have which will separate you from the crowd and enhance your chances of selection. Do not forget to share positive details which you must have gathered about them during your research about organization which tells them about your preparedness for the specified role.

Exit Interview Questions

This type of questions usually asked at the end of the interview. These are also very important and most common interview questions and candidates used to take it as very formal kind of questions but it do have very great resemblance.

Most of the candidates used to say no he do not have any question as Mr. X have already explained it what query I was having.

But it gives really good impression while ending your conversation if you ask some really logical questions. Please avoid asking very common category of questions and spoiling all your hard work you have did.

Main question at exit level is do you have any questions for us?

Do You Have Any Questions For Us?

You must ask some kind of analytical questions about organization like their next 5 year plan or new services they are planning something like that rather than questions not having any sense at this moment like asking feedback on interview or etc.

Other Interview Questions You May Get Asked?

Interview is always alerting situation for everyone either experience professionals or even fresher’s as well.You never know what questions may get asked so what best you can do and in your hand is research well and practice as much as you can.

Questions always going to vary depending upon capabilities of interview panel.Select your target organization and keep watching openings and apply when they get published and excel those with full confidence and achieve your goal to work with specific organization.

Below are few other common interview questions to keep in mind during your preparation for interview.

Why You Want This Job?
What Value Add You Can Bring To Company?
What Are Your Greatest Strengths?
What Are Your Weaknesses?
State Your Professional Achievements?
Share Challenge/Conflict You’ve Faced and How You Have Tackled with It?
Share Examples When You Demonstrated Leadership Skills?
How You Have Displayed Your Disagreement With Top Leadership?
When You Have Made Your Last Mistake?
Share Time When You Failed Last?
Why You Are Leaving Your Current Job?
Why Were You Fired From Previous Organization?
Why there is Gap in Your Employment?
Explain Why You Changed Career Paths?
What’s Your Current Salary?
What Do You Like Least About Your Job?
What Are You Looking for in a New Position?
Work Environment You Prefer?
What’s Your Work Style?
What’s Your Management Style?
How Your Team Describe You?
How You Handle Pressure/Stressful Scenarios?
What You Like to Do Outside of Work?
How You Prioritize Work?
What is Your Passion?
What Motivates You?
What is Your Five Years Plan?
How You Plan Your Career Goals?
What’s Your Dream Job?
What Makes You Unique?
What is Not on Your Resume?
What is Your First 30 Days Plan if Hired?
What is Your Expected Salary?
What We Could Do Better?
When You Can Start?
Your Willingness to Relocate?
Which Animal You Want to Be if Needed?
How Did You Hear About This Position?
Why Do You Want to Work With Us?

There is no limit to be very honest regaring interview questions you may get asked but these were some of the other interview questions you may get asked.

 Conclusion

There is no definite guide for top interview questions and answers everybody must know. You must have heard there to “no shortcut to success” all you need is willingness, defined goal and consistent approach for learning.

You can use this guide as a helping guide to understand process of recruitment and prepare yourself ahead of interview and always display that you will add real value for said post.

There is no reason why you cannot crack interviews as interviewer is also human being and it is matter of 30-60 minute you have to sell well. It is just matter of winning these minutes and that`s it. Keep strong believe in yourself and keep updating yourself to stay relevant to the market and always stay confident and strong morally.

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