If you’ve got a job interview coming up, giving thought to what the interviewer is going to ask you is crucial. But recent research shows that you might not be preparing for the right questions because some hiring managers are throwing candidates a curve ball. The science-backed study shows that hiring managers expect you to be prepared to address your previous career failures and mistakes.
What’s Behind Asking About Your Previous Career Failures And Other Interview Questions
According to research, a job interview is scarier than a trip to the dentist, holding a spider or skydiving. In fact, 72% of applicants say the anxiety of job seeking has harmed their mental health. You want to put your best foot forward, yet there’s so much to remember: how you dress, what you say, how you say it, your eye contact, body language, the questions you do or don’t ask, how interested you are. Faced with these pressures, 70% of job seekers lie on their resumes or misuse the frowned-upon practice of AI to polish resumes so they present a positive image.
A new study by Kickresume looked into over 250 interview questions from 50 top companies, including Apple, Unilever and Google to find out the topics hiring managers are likely to ask about. They found that, instead of preparing to speak about your strengths, you might be better off to focus on your career failures and mistakes.
The researchers reveal that 22% of companies want to know about a job seeker’s previous career failures, and 10% of them ask questions about working with difficult colleagues or how you would deal with conflict within the team. This line of inquiry shows the importance of working relationships and conflict resolution skills, the study suggests.
Over half (54%) of the companies ask job candidates to share stories from their previous experience, with a question that uses a phrase like ‘Describe a time when…’ —which goes to show the importance of being able to back up your experience with evidence.
Questions about how you might perform in a real life work environment are also common. For example, 16% of companies ask candidates questions about deadlines, and 10% want to know about how you perform under pressure. A further 10% of firms include general questions about ‘work environment’—both about the environment at the company and about your preferences.
Another 16% of companies—curious about how much research you’ve done—ask candidates to name their favorite thing about the company, what interests them in joining the company specifically or their favorite of its products. Google, for example, might ask you, “What is your favorite Google product? Why? How would you improve it?” These queries provide you an opportunity to show off your ideas and prove how you could benefit the company, the research advises.
Companies tend to ask for your positive qualities as well, like a question about a previous achievement, with 26% asking candidates to describe something they have achieved and 16% wanting interviewees to name their “proudest achievement” or “greatest achievement.”
Kickresume’s research finds that another common thread is questions about the future. For example, 16% of companies might want to know what you would achieve if you were hired. One example is the company Square, who asks, “How long will it take you to begin working on projects and make a meaningful contribution at Square?” A slightly smaller percentage (14% of companies) wants to know where you see yourself in five years.
Finally, 10% of firms inquire about a candidate’s previous experience with managers, with hypothetical questions about how you would work together with managers in the new role.
Kickresume also looked up the 50 companies on LinkedIn and discovered that Amazon had the highest number of open positions, with advertisements running at 32,070. Amazon was the only company in the tech sector in the top five, followed by consultancy firms Deloitte (28,966 ), Accenture (28,759), PwC (25,729) and EY (22,933).
A Final Wrap On Your Previous Career Failures
“Our research shows that common interview questions often ask you to prove you’ve got the right skills, qualities and experience for the job,” comments Peter Duris, CEO and co-founder of Kickresume. “So, before your interview, take another look at the job description and think about some good stories that show you’ve got what they’re after.”
He points out that 22% of companies ask about a candidate’s previous failure or mistake and acknowledges that it can feel awkward, but recommends that you not let that stress you out. “It’s really about showing how you solve problems and bounce back from tough situations,” he concludes. “We’ve all messed up at some point; it’s how you handle it that really matters.”
Upon first glance, questions about your previous career failures and mistakes might not seem like a positive way to prepare for a job interview. But when you take a second look, business leaders like Duris, advise that it can actually help you impress hiring managers, provided you answer in a way that presents you in a good light.