Job interviews can be nerve-wracking—even for seasoned professionals. But when you know what hiring managers are likely to ask and why, you can walk in more prepared and more confident. Here are 10 thought-provoking questions hiring managers ask during interviews—plus tips on how to answer them in a way that sets you apart.
First, these questions are designed to prompt meaningful self-reflection. Even if you’re not asked any of them word-for-word, the preparation will equip you to handle similar questions with confidence.
Second, if, after reading through these questions, you find it difficult to apply them to your current role, it might be a signal to reassess how you’re approaching your daily responsibilities.
Interview Questions You Should be Prepared to Answer:
1) What are you passionate about?
In my experience, most candidates answer this question by saying they’re passionate about solving problems. While there’s no “wrong” response, your interviewer is really looking for what sets you apart. A generic answer makes it difficult to stand out from the crowd.
2) Tell me about a project you were responsible for that failed and what you learned from that experience?
Everyone has stories of rising to the occasion and pulling things together to achieve success. But truly stretching beyond your comfort zone — and risking failure — takes real courage. Despite what Hollywood often suggests, genuine growth often involves setbacks. How a person handles him or herself when nothing feels like it is going right can reveal a lot about a person’s character.
3) How has your boss helped you in your career?
Organizations want to know that you can effectively leverage the resources around you — and one of the most important is your manager. Whether your boss is exceptional or less than ideal, they have a significant influence on your work. How thoughtfully you’ve engaged with that relationship says a lot about your maturity, self-awareness, and leadership potential.
4) They say the greatness of a leader is reflected in those who follow him/her. Describe someone who followed you and a success they have achieved.
Whether or not you’ve held a formal management role, anyone skilled in their field will encounter opportunities to mentor others — at work, at home, in volunteer settings, and beyond. In any role that involves collaboration, employers are often keen to understand how you’ve approached these moments in the past. Your experiences can offer insight into how you might handle increasing leadership responsibilities in the future.
5) What are people likely to misunderstand about you?
In many situations, perception becomes reality. While we can’t control how others perceive us directly, we often hear about the importance of managing “perception” — or more commonly, “office politics.” Those who succeed in building strong organizations are often skilled at anticipating and navigating these perceptions. At the core of this ability is strong self-awareness. This question is designed to explore how attuned you are to that dynamic.
6) Describe a conflict you encountered during your career and how you resolved the situation?
When you bring together passionate, intelligent people, differences in ideas are inevitable — and those differences can lead to conflict. It’s nearly impossible to build a successful career without encountering conflict at some point. In fact, the ability to resolve conflict and collaborate effectively can determine the success or failure of a project. While these skills often don’t appear on a résumé, demonstrating strength in this area can be a tremendous asset to any organization.
7) Describe a defining moment in your career.
This question helps distinguish steady time-servers from the true high-impact contributors that organizations actively seek. It’s relatively easy to move from company to company without making a significant mark. But it takes real commitment — an investment of time, energy, and focus — to earn the opportunity to shape a business and, in doing so, define your own career path.
8) Describe one attribute you want to grow in at your next job.
Organizations are dynamic — they either grow or shrink. The economy itself is a testament to this constant change. If you’re not growing, you’re effectively shrinking. The skill sets you possess today might be exactly what the organization needs now, but if you’re successful in driving its growth, your current skills alone may no longer be sufficient for tomorrow’s needs. A focus on growth is a quality that prospective employers find highly valuable.
9) If you were to start a business today, what kind of business would you start and why?
This question offers another opportunity for the interviewer to gain insight into your passions. Don’t hesitate to mention interests from entirely different industries. The goal is for the interviewer to understand what sets you apart from other candidates. The only wrong answer is a generic response that fails to reveal the passions that make you uniquely qualified for the role.
10) What is the most important thing a company needs to provide in order for you to be inspired to stay a long time?
Similar to passions, organizations want to understand what motivates you and whether your motivations align with their culture. The only “wrong” answer is one that doesn’t help differentiate you from other candidates. Reflect on an experience where you felt motivated to stay with a company for an extended period, and consider how your unique contributions influenced the culture. Companies invest heavily in onboarding new employees and want to be confident that you’ll be a good fit for the entire package.
We hope you found these questions thought-provoking. We’d love to hear about any interesting questions you’ve been asked in interviews and how you approached them.