Job application advice : Example questions

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1. What do employers want…
2. Your application
3. Online applications
4. Example questions
5. Personal statements
6. Speculative applicatio…
7. Analysing job adverts
8. Common mistakes
9. Power words

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Application form questions usually assess:

• how your education, work experience and extracurricular activities relate to the vacancy;
• why you want to work in that particular role/organisation/industry, i.e. your motivation;
• your skills that are relevant to the role.

You should answer questions concisely and include key words from the job advert/description. Some questions are long and complicated - make sure you answer each specific section.

Sometimes, it can be very difficult fitting your answer into the word limit provided. If this is the case, write whatever comes into your head and edit your work later by getting rid of too much detail and anything you have repeated.

Different forms may look similar but the questions may differ slightly, so do not cut and paste your answers from previous applications without amending what you have written.

Common questions

Some typical questions are outlined below along with advice on how they should be tackled.

Question 1: Please outline your work experience. Provide details for each of your roles including the dates you undertook that activity, the name of the organisation, your job title and responsibilities.

Answer: Relate your responsibilities to the vacancy. List your relevant roles, even if they were not necessarily your main duties. For example, if you are going for a job as a primary school teacher and you have worked in a fast food restaurant you could list your responsibilities as follows:

Maintaining excellent customer service for a wide range of people, managing parties for children, ensuring that activities were fun and safe and working in a close-knit team.

Question 2: Give details of your main extracurricular activities and interests to date. What have you contributed and what have you got out of them?

Answer: This question is designed to assess two key elements:

• your motivation to get involved in activities outside the curriculum;
• your ability to relate your extracurricular activities to the specific skills required in the vacancy.

To answer this sort of question, identify the key skills required by the specific recruiter and outline recent activities which clearly demonstrate your ability to carry them out. You should also explicitly outline how your experiences and achievements have prepared you for that specific role. 

Question 3: What is your greatest achievement to date?

Answer: This question is similar to the previous one but you can also outline an activity at university.

You should emphasise why you consider your achievement to be ‘great’ in relation to the vacancy requirements, plus state what the experience has taught you. This may be picked up for further discussion in an interview.

Question 4: What attracts you to our firm?

Answer: Show that you have a clear understanding of the organisation’s values and ethos and that they match yours. The more research you do, the better, as it demonstrates a real motivation to work for that specific organisation. Look on their website and trawl the internet to find genuine reasons for applying.

If you can visit their stand at a careers event, ask their representatives what they enjoy about working for that firm and quote them in your answer (using their full names). 

Question 5: What attracts you to this role and this service line?

Answer: Here, you need to demonstrate a clear understanding of the job you are going for and that you have carefully assessed that it suits your interests and motivations. Again, take some time to find out as much as you can about the role and clearly state the specific elements that you find attractive.

Competency-based questions

These assess your relevant skills to succeed in the role. Typically, you need to outline a specific example of when you have demonstrated a particular skill, how you have performed it well (in detail), and the positive outcome.

Stress your personal contribution and use recent examples from each walk of life, especially your work experience.

Typical competency questions include:

Question 1: Give an example of a problem you have solved that required analysis. What methods did you use and what conclusions did you reach?

Answer:

• Briefly outline a situation where you have solved a problem (10% of your answer).
• Outline the strategy you personally used to solve the problem. For example, you could highlight your initiative, creativity or effective use of resources (80% of your answer).
• Give a brief positive ending that puts you in a good light (10% of your answer).

Question 2: Describe a time when you were working under pressure with competing deadlines and it was impossible to meet them all. What was the situation and what did you do?

Answer:

• Briefly outline a situation where you have demonstrated your ability to work under pressure. Try to pick an example that reflects well on your organisational skills (10% of your answer).
• Outline the strategy you personally used to succeed under pressure. For example, you could highlight how you prioritised tasks, made efforts to renegotiate the least urgent deadlines, delegated tasks to others and communicated progress (80% of your answer).
• Give a brief positive ending that puts you in a good light (10% of your answer).

Question 3: Tell us about an occasion when you had to communicate complex information. Why did you have to do this and how did you go about it? Did you achieve your desired result?

Answer:

• Briefly outline a situation where you have demonstrated your ability to communicate complex information (10% of your answer).
• Outline why you had to do this (10% of your answer).
• Outline the strategy you personally used to communicate effectively. For example, you could highlight how you listened empathically, responded quickly and sensitively to people’s queries, used clear and succinct written communication and appropriate body language (70% of your answer).
• Give a brief positive ending that puts you in a good light (10% of your answer).

Question 4: Describe a difficult team project you have worked on, the result that was achieved and how you achieved it.

Answer:

• Briefly outline a difficult team project you have worked on (10% of your answer).
• Briefly outline the result and what you learned from it (20% of your answer).
• Outline how you personally worked effectively with others. For example, you could highlight how you encouraged people, made sure that everyone performed their personal responsibilities (including yourself), managed time and and supported colleagues who were struggling (70% of your answer).

Even though this is a team situation focus on your personal contribution to the team (use ‘I’ not ‘we’).