Interviews can be grueling

and even the most prepared candidates can be caught off-guard by a difficult and unexpected question.

Often, tricky questions aren’t asked to trip you up but rather to get a sense of what you’re really like so the interviewer can assess your suitability for the role. Here are some tricky questions and tips on how to answer them to bear in mind when preparing for that all important interview.

Why do you want to leave your current job?

The trap: The interviewer is looking for red flags such as “I don’t like my boss” or “I was expected to work extra hours” or “They made me do things that weren’t part of my role”. While they may be valid reasons, these types of answers won’t portray you in a good light and the interviewer may come away thinking that you are difficult to work with and unwilling to go the extra mile.

How to answer: Keep the focus on you and your future aspirations. Never speak negatively about your current/previous employers. Talk enthusiastically about the opportunity you are interviewing for and explain how it offers you the challenge/progression/opportunity to use your skills that you’ve been looking for.

What’s your biggest weakness?

The trap: Obviously you don’t want to highlight any flaws that will harm your chances of being offered the job. If you struggle with timekeeping, DON’T tell them you’re often late! If you don’t handle criticism well DON’T admit to bursting into every time a colleague pulls you up on a mistake.

How to answer: Identify a weakness that could also be seen as a strength, then explain what you’re doing to fix it. For example “I have a tendency to say yes and overcommit myself. I really don’t like saying ‘no’ but I’ve realised that it’s better than letting people down. I’m learning to take on only as much as I can deliver to a high standard, and rather than say I’m too busy to help, I give colleagues realistic timeframes I’ll be able to deliver”.

Which part of the job will be most challenging for you?

The trap: The interviewer is trying to find out if you lack any of the required skills and experience for the role. If you start talking about parts of the job description you have never done before or don’t like doing, you might find yourself out of the running.

How to answer: This is an opportunity to let your potential employer know that you are keen to sharpen your skills and continue to develop. If there’s an area where you lack formal qualifications, talk about what you are doing to build your skills – i.e. “I’ve loads of experience in creating Risk Assessments working safely but never done the formal training, so I’m doing the IOSH Managing Safely course make sure I’m up to date and aware of the latest legislation.”

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

The trap: The interviewer is trying to work out if your aspirations and career plans align with the role and the company. If you see this job as a ‘stepping stone’ DON’T admit it. Employers don’t want to invest time in recruiting and training someone who is only in it for the short term. Make sure you’re prepared to answer this question – a wishy washy answer makes it look like you don’t know where you’re heading.

How to answer: This is an opportunity to demonstrate you’ve done your research. If the company are growing, you could work this into your answer if you’re keen to progress. You don’t need to profess that you see yourself with the company until the end you your days but show that you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and that you’re committed to your field.

Tell me about yourself.

The trap: This seems like a straight forward question, and interviewers often open with this but so many candidates go off on a tangent and talk for too long about irrelevant things. The interviewer most likely wants to find out about how you tackle this invitation to talk about yourself. Will you brag endlessly about how amazing you are? Talk for ages about irrelevant topics like your pets or favourite food? Or raise alarm bells by telling them about a recent breakup or childcare problems?

How to answer: Keep your answer focussed on your skills, experience and career to date but make it personable. This is an opportunity to get across information about yourself that will make you stand our for the role. Talk about your psychological make-up and what parallels in your personality traits would benefit you in the role. The real question being asked here is “Why should I give you this job?” So if the job adverts states that the ideal candidate is a great communicator, talk about experience you’ve had delivering presentations or influencing colleagues with your concise communications skills.

There are clues in every advert….

It may be stating the obvious,

but when searching for a new job, your CV is vital.

You could be the perfect person for the job but if your CV doesn’t demonstrate that, you can forget it. Make sure you get it right by following our 6 golden rules and the interview invitations will follow.

Don’t tell fibs

Although it may be tempting to stretch the truth or just outright lie on your CV, it’s a really bad idea. If you’re applying for a job that requires you to be skilled in injection moulding, don’t say you are if you’re not – you’ll be found out!

Tailor it to the role you’re applying for

Applying for jobs can be time consuming and tedious but rather than firing out the same version of your CV to lots employers, take time to tweak it for the role you’re applying for. Read the advert, think about what kind of person the employer is looking for and amend your CV accordingly. For example, if the ideal candidate should have experience in Project Management and you’ve got it, make sure your CV says so. What’s more, you can highlight this near the top of your CV, by adding a RELEVANT SKILLS & EXPERIENCE section after your personal statement. This will help the employer to see at first glance that you have skills they’re looking for.

Quantify your achievements

It’s easy to say how great you are on your CV, but you can add so much more weight to your claims if you back it up your achievements with numbers. For example, if you’ve increased productivity on the factory floor, be specific; tell them you’ve increased output by 35% over a 6 month period. Make sure your numbers are robust though, and be prepared to elaborate at interview (remember golden rule #1!).

Don’t leave gaps

Gaps on your CV tend to rouse suspicion. Employers sift through so many CVs that they’re often looking for reasons to discount candidates and whittle down to a shortlist to invite for interview. Chunks of unaccounted time are a classic reason to send CVs to the ‘No’ pile. If you’ve got a reason for the gap, state it and put a positive spin on it. If you’ve done any volunteer work, training courses or anything else that has sharpened your skills, don’t keep it to yourself, let your prospective employer know!

Proof read!

DON’T waste all that hard work honing your CV by sending it out with glaring mistakes. Errors in your CV will tell employers that you don’t have attention to detail. Use a spell checker and get someone else to read it over with fresh eyes. You may have read it 100 times but it’s amazing how many mistakes go unnoticed in your own work.

Use keywords

If you’re uploading your CV to job websites such as CV Library or Total Jobs so that recruiters can find you, keywords are really important. Recruiters will search for candidates by industry, skills, job title, qualifications etc, so make sure you can be found. Think about these keywords and include them in your CV.