You went and got yourself an interview! Congrats! Now what?
Interviewing when you have anxiety can be a scary and overwhelming thing, so I’ve compiled a list of common interview questions (which you can also do with a quick google search) that you can use to help prepare you.
I’ve also written a post about conquering interviews when you have anxiety which you can find here.
Common Interview Questions
- Tell me about yourself
- How would you describe yourself?
- Why do you want to work for this company?
- What are your greatest strengths?
- What are your greatest weaknesses?
- Where do you think you’ll be in five years?
- Can you tell me about a difficult situation you encountered and how you overcame it?
- How do you handle stress?
- How would you handle an angry customer or guest?
- Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and how you handled it.
These are just a few of the most common questions asked in an interview. Unsure of how to answer some of these questions? Indeed offers ways to answer them! I heavily relied on the input that indeed provided because they tell you what the interviewer is trying to determine from your answer and the best way to answer those questions.
Questions from my own interviews:
Below, you’ll find some of the questions I found and the answers I wrote. These are mostly customer service / retail related but you can tweak or modify your answers depending on that position you’ve applied for.
- What is customer service to you? – To me customer service is about creating a pleasant experience for the guest and making them feel like they are valued as not only a customer but also as in individual. In doing so, we can create an environment that they want to come back to which ensures that they become a return guest.
- Have you ever bent the rules when assisting a customer? – No, but I’ve made compromises that are within my bounds without jeopardizing myself, the business, or the company, like honoring an expired coupon or offering to price match a promotion from our website.
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake and how you handled it. – I had denied returns based on what I thought I understood our policy was, only to find out that I was handling them incorrectly. I was informed of that and so I apologized to the guest for giving them the wrong information and completed the return as I should have.
- How do you handle and angry or irate customer / client? – Let them rant or vent and get it out of their system. I keep myself calm and keep an even tone of voice when speaking to them. When they’ve calmed down enough for me to talk to them, I let them know that I understand their frustrations and their concerns and then I try to find a suitable answer or solution to their problem.
- What would you do if an angry or irate customer isn’t calming down? What would you do? – I would do what I could to defuse the situation. Continue to remain calm and not raise my voice when speaking to them. Ask them what it is they are looking for or what kind of outcome they are hoping for and then provide that if I am able. If I’m still unable to calm the guest then I would call for my supervisor / manger to step in and offer back up and support.
- (Two part- #1) How would you handle a team mate who wasn’t pulling their weight or making the kind of progress they should be? -My company has term called “coaching in the moment” which means that we pull our coworker aside and let them know what we’d observed and then offer feedback, advice, or training.
- (Two part – #2) What would you do if you noticed the same team mate still not making progress? – I would have another conversation with them, bring to their attention that things still aren’t where they should be, and see if they make progress then. If not, then I would offer additional training, show them training videos and then check back in with their progress.
- Do you have any experience in Microsoft Teams? – No. However, I do have experience using Webex, which is similar to teams. I’m a fast learner and good with new technology so I can adapt to a new system well.
Good luck!
With love and support, Molly.