common interview question 1
Commonly asked Interview question
Why did you decide to apply for this position?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
List three of your most important/proudest accomplishments.
What kind of work environment do you prefer?
What motivates you? ALSO Have you used these motivators with others?
How are you qualified for this job? OR What qualifications do you have
that make you think you will be a success at this job?
What supervisory experience have you had?
How would you characterize your supervisory style?
The person in this position needs to be innovative and proactive. Can you
describe some things you have done to demonstrate these qualities?
How would you rate your communication skills and what have you done to
improve them?
What else besides your school and job experience qualifies you for this
job?
What kind of position are you looking for when you graduate?
What is your experience with collection development?
What experience do you have dealing with academic scholars?
What is your experience with automated systems and with computers in
general?
What have you read lately, and what are you reading now?
What are the personal characteristics and qualities that you would bring
to this position that would be particularly helpful in fulfilling the
responsibilities of this position?
Why did you choose X University for your graduate education in library and
information science?
Tell us about yourself. ALSO Tell me about yourself — why did you choose
this type of work?
Tell us about X University’s online catalog.
What professional groups are you a member of, and how active have you been
in those groups?
Why do you think more students are going into public services than
technical services?
Tell us about your experience with online searching.
How do you work in groups, and what experience have you had working in
groups?
What appeals to you about this position?
Why do you want to move to this area?
How do you feel about providing general reference services for
undergraduates or for high school or junior high school students?
What are some aspects of your present position that you like?
What are some aspects of your present position that you dislike?
What do you see yourself doing five or ten years from now? OR Where do you
see yourself going from here?
What is your cataloging experience?
How are governement documents handled at X University?
What experience have you had using the Internet?
Do you have the skills necessary to create and maintain our WWW home
pages?
What do you see as the future of the Internet as a reference tool?
Can you install software on computers and perform basic maintenance on
them?
What courses (college/graduate school) did you find most satisfying? Least
satisfying? Why?
What would you say you learned from your college/graduate school
experiences that you see being carried over to your life today?
Do you plan to continue your education?
What kind of people do you like to work with?
What kind of people do you find it most difficult to work with? What do
you do to improve the situation?
Do you prefer working alone or in groups?
Starting with your last job, would you tell me about some of your
achievements that were recognized by your superiors?
What are some things you would like to avoid in a job? Why?
What are some of the things on your jobs that you feel you have done
particularly well?
What does success mean to you? How do you judge it?
What are some of the things about your last job that you found difficult
to do?
What are some of the problems you encounter in doing your job? Which one
frustrates you the most? What do you usually do about it?
How has your present job developed you to take on even greater
responsibilities?
What do you have going for you that might make you successful in such a
job?
Who or what in your life would you say influenced you most with regard to
your career objectives?
What would you say there is about you that has accounted for your fine
progress to date?
What traits or qualities do you feel could be strengthened or improved?
What motivates you to put forth your best effort?
What kinds of things do you feel most confident in doing? Somewhat less
confident in doing?
What are some of the thing you are either doing now or have thought about
doing that are self-development activities?
Tell me about a time when you had work problems or stresses that were
difficult for you.
Customers frequently create a great deal of pressure. What has been your
experience in this area?
What types of pressures do you experience on your current job? How do you
cope with these pressures?
Describe a time when you were under pressure to make a decision. Did you
react immediately or take time in deciding what to do?
What types of things make you angry? How do you react?
How do you react when you see co-workers disagreeing? Do you become
involved or hold back?
Do you prefer to have a job in which you have well laidout tasks and
responsibilities, or one in which your work changes on a frequent basis?
In your current position what types of decisions do you make without
consulting your immediate supervisor?