Skill-based Interview Questions All Companies Ask

No matter how well-crafted your resume is, that’s still not an assurance that you’re going to be what the company needs. Thus, the existence of job interviewers.

At the job interview, the company assesses not only your skills but your skills and your character. Ever wondered why some questions appear in almost all your interviews? That’s because they’re signed to see how you act in a dynamic, changing environment – which almost, if not all, companies are.

Kalibrr has listed below the usual questions you’ll encounter in an interview and dissected what exactly they’re trying to figure out with each question.

Adaptiveness to change 

How fast do you respond to changes?

Change is the only constant in any organization. You can expect to be asked questions about challenges you’ve encountered and how you faced it. They want to know if you were able to evolve and grow during the whole process.

Adaptability to welcome changes with learning is a critical skill in the 21st century.

Resourcefulness

Share an incident where you encountered a challenge and how you dealt with it.

Every single company functions with a limited amount of resources, whether it’s a startup or a multinational.

Expect to be asked questions about challenges that were caused by outside factors, like a third-party supplier backing out on an agreement. They want to know how you solved the problem and how resourceful you were.

They might also ask you situational questions that highlight resourcefulness like, what will you do if your best-performing team member gets sick and a project is due the next week?

Be prepared with creative answers. If you need to stall for time while thinking, look and discuss the big picture and absolutely do not get nervous.

People skills

What roles have you played in teams? Would you say you’re a team player?

People skills, rather than high IQ, are essential for leadership and success.

A “brilliant jerk” is less and less tolerated. Instead, companies want a high-performing individual who works well in a team.

To know which of the two you are, they might ask questions about how you work in a group – what roles you’ve played, what challenges you’ve faced. Were you a supportive team member or an overly-aggressive dictator?

Responsibility

Have there been any instances in the past where you’ve made a mistake at work? How did you deal with it?

To err is all right. To blame someone else for it is wrong.

Taking responsibility for failures and actions is an essential characteristic all companies are looking for across all fields. It shows your maturity and accountability.

They might ask you for stories about problems you yourself caused in previous projects. We’ve all made mistakes, even your interviewer, so just be honest. If you don’t give an answer, interviewers might think you have an external locust of control – you believe everything is out of your control and whatever happens, you are not to blame. 

Curiosity

The questions here are yours.

Companies need to know that you are genuinely interested in the job? How? By you asking the right questions.

Ask about the company culture. Ask about the role they’re interviewing for and what it will look like down the road. Ask about their goals and their visions.

Then go further. When they answer, listen well and think of related follow-up questions you can ask. This will show them that you sincerely want to know more.

Prepare for anecdotes and answers that relate and highlight all these skills. For sure, you’re going to be asked these skill-based interview questions so practice and answer without even pausing for a beat.