Interview Questions on your background

Interviews can be a strenuous exercise at the best of times, and while it is important that you do not appear rehearsed or wooden when being interviewed it is essential that you sound fluent and authoritative. Thinking about the type of questions that you might encounter prepares you for success. This series covers a range different questions and follows the same structure - providing a commentary to help you think through your answer; some insights into both +ve and -ve indicators that interviewers will be on the look out for and finally some possible question variations

General Background Questions:

Question: How many other jobs have you applied for?

Answer commentary: if this is the only one say so but also explain that you are serious about a move - else they may worry that if they offer you will not accept. If you have been looking elsewhere this is also legitimate - but you should try to avoid the sense of being desperate or unhappy where you are. Best to avoid statements like ‘I am always on the look out/always open to approaches' since they will (not unreasonably) assume this will be true should you join them. If you were headhunted it is OK to say you were not looking but this sounded so interesting you were persuaded and the more you heard the more you were interested (but this will lead to the why/explain follow on question so be ready for this

Marking:

• +ve reasonable and balanced approach
• -ve gives impression of not being committed to this application

Variations: How many agencies are you registered with (if more than one say since they could have got your CV more than once)? How many jobs have you applied to in the last year? Are you currently being interviewed by anyone else? (if asked do not feel compelled to tell them who but prepare a nice way to not tell them)

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