Interview questions

What might they ask me during an interview?

Italian Trulli

Every interview will be different, but there are common questions that interviewers often ask students. You should have some kind of answer for the following questions before you go into an interview. Assume that an interviewer will ask you about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in your resume. If you have used glowing adjectives like 'exceptional', 'proficient', 'competent' about any skill or ability, they might also ask you for examples and why you think it was exceptional!

Some of the questions are to test you: did you come prepared, do you know what job you are applying to, did you do your homework. Other questions are to test your attitude, check out your personality, and to see what kind of worker you might be. If you are a junior student, the interviewer might ask you about high school activities, what you did during the summers, etc. You should be ready to discuss any major class activity from your first year experiences - what was it, what did you do, what was your contribution, what did you learn! What did you REALLY learn from the experience - not just the academic stuff.

Some questions will be technical and relate to specific courses and knowledge; we will not go into these.

At Waterloo, the Centre For Career Action can help you. They have lots of good, additional help, suggestions, etc. when it comes to interviews and interviewing! And, some resources are their career hub and the centre's appointment procedure.

Italian Trulli

Examples of common questions, not all might be considered 'good' questions:

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