Job Interview Questions and Answers

Tag: last job

  • What did you dislike most about your last job?

    It’s best to be honest, so it’s best if you liked your last job so much there was nothing to dislike. That leads to an excellent answer.

    “I hated having to leave, but they had to downsize so a lot of key people were released.”

    Most people can find something they don’t like about a job, but now isn’t the time to expound on it, or even to mention it. Honesty includes steering the answer towards positives rather than negatives which reflect badly during an interview.

    Good boss:
    “I really can’t say I disliked anything about the job enough to talk about it, but I really learned a lot from my boss. I see the person I’d be working for here is a real pro too.”

    Liked Coworkers:
    “I never really thought about bad things there. It was an enjoyable experience to work with the people at that job. Everyone got along, knew their jobs, helped each other when someone needed help. I look forward to a similar experience here.

    The best answer to this question has a number of key elements:

    • Avoid negatives, mention dislikes to acknowledge the question while giving a reasonable explanation for not expounding on a dislike.
    • Include something positive in the answer.
    • Tie in the positive to the new potential job – research helps.

    If the last job was so bad that there’s nothing positive about it, look harder. Unless you worked under the whip, literally, every day, there must be something good, or at least not so bad about the job.

    Boss was a jerk, so spin it to having learned about management through observing what not to do.

    “I don’t take time to dwell about bad things, but I have to say I learned a lot about management at the last job. I intend to apply those lessons here.”

    Pay was too low, and often not on time. Spin it to lessons about the importance of enjoying work.

    “I can’t say there were a lot of negatives, at least nothing that stands out now that I think about it. What I do know is that the job taught me how important it is to enjoy work. Sure it’s a job to collect a check, but I can’t work for just money. One of the reasons I’m interested in this job is it’s something I’ll enjoy.”

    This answer, recently given at a job interview, is an example of what not to say. “I hate work in general, but a pay check is a pay check.”

  • What one thing would you change about your last job?

    The danger in answering this question at face value is that it can make you appear to look backwards instead of looking forward to what you can affect. There are a number of ways to answer it.

    The first is to refuse to look back, and only talk about the future events you can affect. Make sure to at least mention the past as far as learning from it.

    Organization:
    “I’m not a person who looks back at what might have been. What happened in the past happened. I learned from it and moved forward. I am organized and patient so that I can tackle what comes efficiently and with the best of my abilities.”

    Great Team:
    “I wouldn’t change a thing, because those experiences added up to make me what I am today. One thing I learned was that a good team, working well together, can handle any problem. That’s why, as a manager, I surround myself with the best possible people. As one of my former bosses told me, ‘surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.’”

    Another way is to give a specific example, then explain what you learned from it. Talk about how that created a better outcome, or will create a better outcome in the future. Looking back is fine, as long as you don’t leave it at “boy, I wish I had done that differently,” without explaining how you’d do it differently.

    Fired:
    “I was fired from my first job because I wasn’t meeting the sales quotas. I was working hard, don’t get me wrong, but now I know if hard work doesn’t result in sales, work harder. I’ve never missed quotas since then, in fact I’ve always exceeded them.”

    Poor communication:
    “A few years ago a co-worker and I didn’t get along. We never talked about it, or communicated in any way, except to trade barbs. It hasn’t happened since then, but if I ever have trouble like that again I’ll sit down with the other person. If that doesn’t work, I’ll ask the boss to be a mediator. Communication is key.”

    Tardiness:
    “I was notoriously late for my second job. They never fired me, I left when the company restructured, but looking back I can see it created conflict with my boss and some bad feelings with co-workers. After that, I’ve always been more careful to manage my time and to be on time all the time. My last boss commended me for always being on time.”

    If the interview isn’t going well, maybe you’ll feel the same way as the woman who gave this answer. “I regret coming to this interview.”