As a fresher, you will certainly face many job interviews at the start of your career. You may not have much experience, but you can impress potential employers and interviewers by showing your skills, knowledge, and passion for excelling in your field of interest.
To help you prepare for the upcoming interviews, we’ve compiled a list of 30 interview questions you’re likely to face as a fresher. These questions cover various topics, from your personal and professional background to your problem-solving and teamwork skills. By preparing thoughtful and honest answers to these interview questions and answers for freshers, you can improve your chances of standing out from other applicants and securing your dream job.
So let’s dive in and get ready for your next job interview!
Question 1. Tell us about yourself.
This question is generally used to build a level of comfort with the candidate, as interviews can be stressful. The interviewer expects to hear about your co-curricular activities and everything outside your resume.
Example: “I have worked as an intern under a marketing firm, along with pursuing a diploma in business analytics to expand my knowledge further. I believe in lifelong learning; therefore, I’m an avid learner and aim to hone proficiency in diverse skills through certification and diplomas.”
Question 2. Why do you want to work for this company?
This question is asked mainly to understand the maturity of the candidate. They also want to know what value you can add to their company. The interviewer expects you to know the company you are applying for and thoroughly know the product/service/mission.
Example: “I have been an active supporter of the NGO ‘Education For All’, which is also where I found your company to be an active partner organisation. Perceiving how my moral values align with company’s endeavours, I would love to be a part of this company and contribute to its growth.”
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Question 3. What are your strengths?
The interviewer wants to know the values you can add to their team via this question.
These are some of the points you can take into account when answering
- Problem-solving skills
- Personal traits which play to your strengths
Question 4. What are your weaknesses?
This question is mainly asked to understand the hindrance you might potentially bring to the team. Here’s how to strategically answer this question.
Example: “Being a focused worker, I tend to lose track of time when completely engrossed in projects and assignments. I believe this is both beneficial and a disadvantage in the long run, which I’m actively working towards.
Question 5. What are your long-term career goals?
Try to align the answer according to your employer while keeping it short and crisp. Ensure that it is relevant to your current role.
Example: “As I’m applying for the role of a business analyst at your company, I only see myself acquiring years of experience, skills and confidence to one day lead the team under my guidance and become the lead analyst.”
Question 6. What motivates you?
The interviewer just wants to see if you are excited about this new job opportunity. Here’s how you can answer.
Example: “Knowing how many people spend hours and hours on social media platforms, I genuinely find it fascinating how different facets of media channels can attract an audience and use the same to promote their products and services. The intellect of leveraging social media channels to reap value is what drives me to apply for this position.
Question 7. Can you describe a time when you had to overcome a difficult challenge?
This question is generally asked to analyse how applicant usually deals with challenging situations and how they perform under adversity. Some relevant points are
- Prioritisation between work and personal life.
- The resilience showed in difficult situations.
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Question 8. How do you handle criticism?
Taking constructive criticism well and improving upon it is a great way to improve overall performance. This behavioural question is asked to understand how well you assess and overcome criticisms.
Example: “I believe criticism is a part of the learning process, which should always be accepted with open arms. Being someone who enjoys learning, I sportingly take criticisms and try to acknowledge them as honest and blunt feedback.”
Question 9. What skills do you possess that make you a good fit for this role?
This is among the most common technical interview questions for freshers. Your relevant skillset will be the key to this question. This question aims to make the employer confident in your skills.
- Showcase your skills which will add value to the company.
- Show them what makes you stand out from the crowd.
Question 10. What do you know about our company?
This determines the intention and passion of the candidate. This question also takes into account how professional the candidate is.
Here are a few suggestions
- Research and talk a little about their founder
- Talk about what motivated you about their company.
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Question 11. What interests you about this position?
Start with how you can fit into the company and add value by showcasing your skills. Then go on to talk about what got you excited about this job opening. This shows the interviewer how serious you are about the interview.
Example: “As your company is active across various domains, like TV, online media, and print, I think I will be able to gain exposure to multiple arenas of marketing, which will help me to learn and grow more with time. This is my biggest motivation to apply for this position.”
Question 12. How do you stay organised and manage your workload?
This behavioural question is a favourite amongst interviewers. These points are sure to help
- Talk about how punctuality and the importance of deadlines matter to you.
- Any regular routines you follow that help you stay on track with workloads.
Question 13. Describe a time when you demonstrated leadership skills.
The interviewer wants to know about your ability to lead and manage via this question. Here are some points that might help.
- Share a past story where you have shown leadership skills
- Talk about the results your team achieved under your leadership
Question 14. How do you handle stress and pressure in the workplace?
This question gives the interviewer a better idea of how you handle stressful situations in the workplace. These pointers might help you answer this question.
- Talk about your soft skills, mainly communication and adaptability.
- Bring up past real-life experiences you had and how you overcame them.
Question 15. What is your greatest accomplishment to date?
The question intends to assess what separates you from the crowd. This is used to assess your skill and competency to separate you from the sea of other applicants. Mention a notable feat you have accomplished in general. The feat does not necessarily have to be related to the job role.
Example: “While working as an intern for my previous organisation, I managed to work on several award-winning projects. One of these projects was also recognised by the government of India, which makes me think of this as one of my biggest accomplishments till now.”
Question 16. How do you continue to learn and develop your skills?
With the aggregation of technology, every sector is developing very fast, thus making it very important for an employee to constantly learn new things and keep up to date. These are some points to help you answer this question
- Constantly upskilling with relevant skills
- Keeping up to date with the industry
Question 17. Can you give an example of a successful team project you worked on?
This is a behavioural question directed toward your communication skills. It is a very popular question which you should be prepared for. Here is a list of points for help
- Talk about the previous team projects you have done
- How the previous projects and experiences helped you grow
Question 18. How do you handle conflicts with coworkers or managers?
Here here are some of the pointers they might look for.
- Great communication skills
- Foster relationships with colleagues
Example: “I believe communication and teamwork is the biggest tool within any organisation, and by utilising the same, we can easily avoid conflicts while managing the ones already erupted. Talking to both parties, understanding their opinions and aligning them on the same page is what usually helps me break conflicts.”
Question 19. Why should we hire you for this position?
The interviewer mainly wants to ensure you are qualified for this job. You are basically pitching yourself for this role via this question. Your answer should focus on these points for answering.
- Skills and qualifications
- Passion and motivation in this field
Question 20. How do you stay up-to-date with industry trends and developments?
This interview question for freshers is directed toward your ability to learn new things and adapt with time. Some points to consider while answering are
- Reading relevant blogs
- Keeping up with trade journals
- Consistently upskilling with certification courses and diplomas
Question 21. What do you consider to be your biggest professional failure, and how did you learn from it?
Instead of focusing on what went wrong, emphasise what caused the trouble, what you did to overcome it, and how it made you better.
- Do not try to make up excuses and blame it on other things or people.
- Be humble and own up to your previous failures.
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Question 22. What do you believe sets you apart from other candidates for this position?
This gives you an opportunity to showcase your achievements and skillset in front of your interviewer and differentiate yourself from other candidates applying.
- Research the company and its work culture.
- Talk about your past achievements.
Question 23. What are your salary expectations?
This is one of the most important questions for the interview and consequently decides how much you get paid for your job.
Keep in mind these points
- Always provide a salary range
- Try flipping the question and asking how much they are comfortable offering this job role.
- Research the said job role salary range.
Question 24. Can you describe a time when you had to adapt to a new situation or change?
This question targets your adversity quotient. These are some ideas to help you answer this
- Avoid focusing on the negative change
- The goal of your answer should be to make the interviewer feel confident in your ability to adapt.
Question 25. How do you approach problem-solving?
Problem-solving is a very important skill and is revered in almost all job roles. This is also a behavioural question where the interviewer wants to know how effective your problem-solving skills are. Here are some pointers that might help you answer this question.
- Learning from how others tackle a problem
- Applying logical reasoning to said problem
Question 26. Can you describe a time when you had to work with someone you didn’t get along with?
The interviewer wants to see professionalism and how the candidate handles aggravated situations. This can be a prior work experience in an internship or college.
These are some of the points to talk about
- Patience should be one of the main points
- Adapt during difficult social situations
Example: “Patience is my biggest tool when working with any such person whom I don’t get along with. I try not to let my bias lurk in professional settings and openly acknowledge what the other part aims to speak. Having an equal hand in such situations is what I think proves to make such situations possible.”
Question 27. How do you handle tight deadlines?
Punctuality is one of the most important skills to possess, and this question checks on that.
Some points to talk about
- Importance of deadline.
- Past experiences and practices.
- Work ethics and systems you have put in place for deadlines.
Question 28. Can you give an example of how you’ve improved a process or system in a previous role?
This question assesses your problem-solving skills and quick thinking. Some points to keep in mind while answering this question are
- Talk about past experiences where you have implemented ways to make things more organised and efficient.
- Highlight your answer with brief yet impactful real-life examples.
Question 29. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing our industry right now?
This is one of the technical interview questions for freshers to analyse their sense of alignment with current trends and markets. The answer would give an idea about how much the candidate understands the industry and how involved they are. It also shows experience. This question also gives an idea about how much pre-interview research the candidate has done.
- Research beforehand about the challenges plaguing the industry.
- Read about the company’s competitors as well.
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Question 30. Can you describe your experience working in a team and your role in the team’s success?
This question enquires about how much experience you have working in a team. It gives them an idea of how much you are a team player and how well you handle working with other employees. It is expected to cite previous experiences and qualities which make you a team player.
- Talk about your past experience working in a team.
- Share experiences that highlight your efficiency- as a team player and leader.
Conclusion
Interview questions for freshers can be nerve-wracking and require a lot of confidence to get them right. It is wise to prepare for the probable questions that can be asked in an interview. From reading sample questions and answers to researching the company, while these are common practices, the best way to strengthen your answers is to upskill and nurture skills inherently.
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