A Guide To Handling Personal Interview Questions

For many people, interviews can be a nerve-wracking experience, but they don’t have to be. Although the unknown of ‘what questions will they ask’ and ‘will you give an answer that they like’ can feel overwhelming, there are plenty of ways you can prepare for a range of scenarios.

Typically, interviews will consist of both work-related questions and personal or informal interview questions. When answering questions about your experience, you can always refer to your CV to help you give a strong answer. Personal questions, on the other hand, can be a little trickier and require some more thought.

In this blog, we’re going to look at some of the most common personal questions asked in interviews and give you some advice on how to best answer them.

Once you’ve answered a flurry of work and experience-related questions, you’ll likely be subjected to the dreaded ‘what are your strengths and weaknesses?’. Well, there’s no need to fear, this question isn’t meant to throw you off and is just the interviewer's way of getting your opinion on your performance.

Expressing your strengths

For some, talking about themselves can be difficult, especially when asked to ‘big themselves up’. The key to answering this question well is to be confident in your ability and don’t be afraid to highlight areas of your performance in which you excel.

The chances are, if you’ve been invited for an interview, this is because the interviewer believes you’re qualified for the role. That means that when this question comes up in your interview, you can use it as an opportunity to reinforce this idea and list the hard skills you have which apply to this job role.

Explaining your weaknesses

In contrast to being confident in your strengths, you may worry about underselling yourself when asked about your weaknesses. This is arguably one of the most difficult questions to answer, as it can feel like any answer you give will be negative. That being said, there is an opportunity to turn your answer into something positive.

The best way to do this is by highlighting an area which isn’t your strongest and outlining the steps you’re taking to learn and improve these skills. For example, you may explain that maths hasn’t always been your strong suit but that you’ve recognised this as a weakness and are currently taking a course to better your maths skills.

When the interviewer asks about your hobbies and what you like to do outside of work, this is when you should let your passion do the talking. For most people, work isn’t everything in life and there’s often at least one thing outside of your working schedule that you love doing.

This question is designed to help the interviewer get a feel for who you are as a person outside of a working environment and how passionate you are about activities that you enjoy doing.

Before the interview, make a list of your hobbies, so you can give a few examples straight away. You can then follow this up by going into detail on which hobby is your favourite, providing details on your involvement and what it is about the hobby that makes you passionate about it.

When you’re faced with the ‘what motivates you’ interview question, it can feel extremely broad, leaving you unsure where to start with your answer. Well, this is a great opportunity to give an answer which can benefit you long-term, as your interviewer wants to know how they can create an environment which will allow you to succeed.

You should prepare your answer to this question before the interview by thinking about:

• What would it take for you to do your job for free?
• What’s the first and last thing on your mind each day?
• Which activities do you find the most engaging?
• What were the factors in a fulfilling time of your life?

Your answers to these questions will help you define what motivates you and give a constructive answer to your potential employer. 

Stress isn’t something you should expect from a job role but it’s possible that unexpected factors could crop up and put some extra pressure on you. By asking this question, the interviewer wants to understand how you manage this pressure in a way that allows you to still perform.

A great way of answering this question is by explaining how you would use the pressure to your benefit, as it provides you with the necessary motivation and encouragement to remain productive. As for explaining how you deal with stress, you can give details on how you’re effective at identifying the cause of the stress and focusing your attention on solving this issue.

In addition to this, you can also touch on your awareness of stressful situations and the actions you take to avoid them. This naturally ties into broader teamwork interview questions where you can highlight your effectiveness at working in a team and how you can have a positive impact on those around you. Having someone on board who is capable of diffusing stressful situations is an incredible asset.

It’s impossible to prepare an answer for every possible question an interviewer may ask you about yourself. That being said, there are certain things you should remember when answering more informal questions which ensure you’re taking the best approach.

• Honesty - It’s important to be honest so that both you and your employer can decide whether you’re a good fit for the role. If you’re not, you may struggle in that role in the long run.
• Use the question to your advantage - When asked about your personal life, there are definitely aspects and certain levels of detail that you won’t need to go into. Instead, think about your answer and how you can relate it to the role, whether it’s an interest that’s relevant to the company or an experience which demonstrates a positive trait of yours.
• Display a positive attitude - Make sure that any answers you give come across in the correct way and that your tone or body language isn’t negative. If you feel a little uncomfortable with more personal questions, it’s crucial to ensure that you don’t come across as defensive or combative.