Types of Interview Questions.


What types of interviews are there & what should I expect?




Clients ask us different types of interview questions and we hope you will find your answers on this page. The interviewer should answer your interview questions and you should be told what to expect long before you turn up on the day.

It is important to remember that whatever type of interview you go for the interviewer will always be looking for the same thing, the most suitable person to fill the job vacancy from the available candidates.
Click below to find the answers to the most common types of interview questions.

    * Panel Interview Questions
    * Telephone Interview Questions
    * Second Interview Questions
    * Situational Interview Questions
    * Behavioural, Behavioural Based or Competency Interviews Questions

    * One to One Interviews

Whatever your type of interview your job is to demonstrate you are the candidate that:-

    # Can do the job
    # Is willing to do the job
    # Will fit in with the team and culture of the company
    # Would accept the job offer if one was made

They will be looking for you to reassure them (and persuade them) that you have what they judge the job requires. In other words that you have the :-

    • skills
    • experience
    • knowledge and qualifications
    • background
    • personality

Recruitment is an expensive business and getting it wrong even more so. Companies want to get it right and find the best candidate as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.

Although you may be interviewed by one, two or three people in a conventional way there are other types of interview you will need to be aware of. Make sure you know beforehand what to expect.

If the company does not give you any advice on the type of interview you can take a guess it will be of the more traditional type. Usually you would get advance notice if the process was going to be outside the norm.

One of the most common types of interview questions is

‘Why bother going to the trouble to do something different when there are so many people looking for jobs?’

The answer is simple. Even in the current economic climate where there may be many applications for the same job finding the right person can be a difficult decision. HR Personnel or Recruitment Agencies have a variety of specialist interview techniques in their repertoire. To shortlist from numerous job applications and then home in on the best candidates requires the use of a range of objective selection methods. This is what creates the different interview types.

Whatever the type of interview you will need to do the same thorough interview preparation. The more sophisticated the interview process discovering what might be expected and familiarising yourself with the techniques is always going to give you a confidence boost and a head start.

What are the reasons for different types of interviews?

All types of interviews are designed to discover the best candidate for the job is. But because one-to -one interviewing can be an unreliable predictor of performance recruiters often use other methods of assessment. They may set tasks to see how you perform in a variety of situations and closely observe how you cope.

Sometimes the behaviours or competences they are looking for are very clearly defined. You may or may not be sent a list in your interview pack.

If you know in advance then you can prepare yourself. If you do not know you can use your Interview Preparation Master Plan. and the list of professional behaviours to make a good guess at what might be assessed.

Exercises and tests will be given to all candidates with the aim of gathering evidence of your performance in relation to the specific skills they are seeking.

Using other types of interviews is known to increase the objectivity and the reliability of the recruitment process, so it is not surprising that interviewers use other tools and different types of interview questions to help them make the all important decision.

Here are some of the more common types of interview:

  • Situational interview Questions
  • Panel or boards
  • Competency Based and Behavioural interviews Questions
  • Psychometric and aptitude tests
  • Presentations
  • Group Interviews
  • Assessment Centres
  • Telephone Interviews
  • Click on any of the above click to find more information on types of interviews

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