13 Tricky Interview Questions And How To Answer Them Perfectly

If you have ever wondered what some tricky interview questions are and how to answer them, this article is for you.

Many questions are asked during an interview for a new job. Some of them are clearly difficult and check your competence, while others are apparent. The latter is commonly very tricky.

If you think that you’re going through the part of the interview, where the questions are clear and easy, because the most vital are the difficult and substantive, you are most likely wrong. People who interview candidates for a job know very well what questions to ask to know everything they need to properly evaluate a particular person.

Every question has meaning, even those that seem trivial to you. It’s worth knowing what your answer can convince a potential employer or discourage you.

13 Tricky Interview Questions

1. “Can you tell me about yourself?”

This question is for the employer to see if the candidate has “done his homework”. It also shows how confident a person is and whether he can describe himself convincingly, using the information he can communicate.

This question shouldn’t be treated as a chance to speak about your personal life. You must focus on your value as a potential support for your company. Keep in mind that people like to hear what they want to hear.

2. “Which one word best describes you?”

This one little question gives potential employers the opportunity to find out a lot about you, including whether you are creative, how you act under pressure, whether you are confident, and so on. It also reveals what sort of personality you are.

This is a really difficult question, because there’s a fine line between the answers, which are funny, interesting and original or will sound arrogant.

It’s also easy to exaggerate with false politeness or say something utterly incomprehensible in the context of a job interview. Choose the word that best reflects your strongest quality and explain the choice.

3. “How would you compare this position to other positions you have applied for?

This question is clearly meant to get you to confess whether you are applying for another job. What matters to the person you’re talking to is how you talk about other companies and how good you are at your search.

If you say it’s the only job you’ve applied for, a red light may come for a potential boss, since not many candidates submit applications to only one company. Honesty in this case will be the best way out. Be careful when you talk about other potential workplaces – you can’t talk about it in a disrespectful, offensive, or overly enthusiastic way.

4. “Could you list your three biggest weaknesses and your three biggest strengths?

The art of answering this question is being honest and at the same time conforming to the expectations of the prospective employer. So you need to show your true strengths to match this particular location and your weaknesses so as not to compromise your working abilities.

5. “Why do you want to work here?”

It’s clear that you want to work for them for many reasons. It is important to rank these reasons according to a hierarchy. For potential employers, this is information about what really matters to you.

6. ‘Why do you want to leave your current job?

Your potential future employer is investigating negative patterns here that may have caused you to fail at previous jobs. He will also want to know if you’re willing to present your current company in a negative light. This never benefits the candidate.

7. “What are you most proud of in your career so far?

On the one hand, the answer to this question shows what your achievements are and whether you can properly assess them. On the other hand, it tells you what’s really important to you, what you’re passionate about, and what you strive for.

It’s important that you can talk passionately about what you’ve been doing all along. Nobody wants to hire someone who doesn’t enjoy what they do.

8. “With which bosses and co-workers have you had the most and least success and why?

The key to a good answer to this question is controlling your emotions. It’s about finding out if you have a tendency to get into conflict and how explosive you can be in situations where there are differences of opinion.

On the other hand, employers want to know under what conditions you work best. This can also be a dangerous question, because you need to anticipate answers that are company-specific and not fraudulent at the same time.

9. “Have you considered starting your own business?

Of course, this question is about finding out if you plan to leave the company and start acting on your own. Excessive enthusiasm for making similar plans is unlikely to be acceptable in most companies.

On the other hand, honestly arguing that you never thought about it wouldn’t be a good solution either. You can always say that you have considered such a possibility or even tried to do so, if you were, but it just isn’t for you.

10. “If you could work for any company, which would you choose?”

This is another question where the balance between over kissing and spontaneous honesty is important. You can at all times say that your life’s dream is to work for Google, but to your boss, that’s not a really good reason to hire you. On the other hand, convincing that you have dreamed of working for him since you were a child is a bit too much.

It’s best to say that you have looked at lots of companies and the one you applied to seemed the best fit for you, so you applied.

11. “Why did you get fired?”

The indisputable fact that this question was asked doesn’t in itself cancel your chances. Future bosses want to understand how you deal with eventualities like this, such as losing your job, and trying to determine what the real cause is.

He wants to know if you’re positive and prepared to get back to work. He’s trying to sense anger at you or to see if your confidence has been damaged.

It’s important to keep your emotions in check and not allow yourself to be commented negatively about your previous boss.

12. “What would you do if you won a million tomorrow?”

Questions that you can find in colourful magazines can even be asked during a job interview. For what purpose? Your boss may want to know if you still want to work if you have lots of money. Is work your passion and you have an interest enough not to give it up, irrespective of wealth?

It’s also important to know if you are about to do something unreasonable with cash. For potential employers, it is vital how you treat your money and whether you are accountable.

13. “How do you find time for this conversation? Where does your boss think you are now?

It’s a trap. Potential employers can find information here about what your priorities are and whether you take your responsibilities seriously.

If the interview is taking place during business hours, you should have an evidence that you’re not in the office at the moment. How you handle this may have an impact on your future work. Don’t say you have taken sick leave – that never sounds good and shows a pattern of behavior. Instead, reassure your potential employer that you’re doing it responsibly, for example you tell your current boss that you have some important things to do and you’re taking a day off to handle them.

Thanks for reading this article on tricky interview questions and I actually hope you take my advice to heart. I wish you good luck and that I hope that its content has been a good help to you.