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What are Standard Interview Questions?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

There are many different sorts of standard interview questions someone should expect when going into a job interview, and these questions will usually revolve around a few main subject areas. Applicants should typically expect to be asked questions that directly relate to the position in which they are applying to work, usually to determine their experience or knowledge about issues related to the position. There will also frequently be questions that seek to determine certain general aspects of an applicant’s personality and help the interviewer get to know him or her better. In general, the standard interview questions someone should expect are intended to help an interviewer eliminate unqualified candidates.

Standard interview questions are those questions asked of someone by an interviewer during a job interview. The interviewer in a job interview is typically a manager or human resources professional working for a company to which a prospective employee has applied. There are many different types of questions that can be asked during a job interview, and the specific questions asked will usually have a great deal to do with the job for which a person is being interviewed and the interviewer. Most standard interview questions, however, are intended to help an interviewer eliminate applicants who are not properly qualified for the position and better get to know an applicant.

Applicants typically answer questions about work experience and personal skills.
Applicants typically answer questions about work experience and personal skills.

The standard interview questions a person is likely to encounter will typically fall into two major categories: questions about the job and questions about the applicant. Questions about the job will usually vary widely and are dependent on the type of job for which a person is being interviewed. Someone interested in working in customer service or as a retail cashier might be asked about how he or she would handle a hypothetical customer situation. A person looking to work as a professional computer illustrator could be asked specific questions about particular programs he or she would need to use during employment. These standard interview questions are typically intended to help the interviewer ensure that the applicant is qualified for the position.

Some standard interview questions pertain to experience and expectations.
Some standard interview questions pertain to experience and expectations.

Standard interview questions about the character of the applicant, on the other hand, are usually intended to help the interviewer more quickly evaluate the character of the applicant. The applicant might be asked about previous jobs he or she left, to help the interviewer recognize potential employees who will quickly quit a job rather than staying on long term. Other standard interview questions could be used to better understand the moral baseline of an applicant. An interviewer could ask a question such as “Have you ever lied when you needed to?” If an applicant answers “yes,” then the interviewer would likely feel the interviewee is being honest with him or her; answering “no,” on the other hand, typically indicates that an applicant is lying since most people have lied in a situation in which it was required.

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    • Applicants typically answer questions about work experience and personal skills.
      By: Adam Gregor
      Applicants typically answer questions about work experience and personal skills.
    • Some standard interview questions pertain to experience and expectations.
      By: nyul
      Some standard interview questions pertain to experience and expectations.
    • Mock interviews may help reduce a job candidate's anxiety during the actual interviewing process.
      By: Sergey Nivens
      Mock interviews may help reduce a job candidate's anxiety during the actual interviewing process.