Graduate interview questions and how to answer them

Graduate interviews usually mix four kinds of question: motivational questions about why you want the job, competency questions that ask for examples of what you have done, strengths-based questions about what you enjoy and do well, and technical questions about the role. Questions that come up often include “Tell me about yourself”, “Why do you want to work here?” and “Tell me about a time you worked in a team”. Prepare by researching the employer, lining up five or six real examples you can tell using the STAR method, and having three or four questions of your own to ask at the end.

What types of question come up in a graduate interview?#

Competency questions are the most familiar. Prospects explains that the interviewer has a list of questions, each focusing on a skill, and compares your answers against pre-determined criteria, on the principle that past behaviour predicts future performance. Skills that come up often include teamwork, communication, problem solving, leadership, resilience, adaptability and commercial awareness.

Many employers mix question types. The Civil Service recruits using Success Profiles, which can assess five elements: behaviours, strengths, ability, experience and technical skills. Not every element applies to every role, so one interview might combine “tell me about a time” questions with strengths questions. EY describes its skills-led interviews as a range of questions where you can tell it how you would use your skills at work.

Technical questions depend on the job. For data roles, our guide to data analyst interviews and technical tests covers what to expect. The same question types also appear in pre-recorded first-round interviews, covered in our guide to video interviews.

What are the most common graduate interview questions?#

These twelve come up again and again. For each, the aim is to understand what the interviewer wants to find out, then answer with your own evidence rather than a script.

Questions about you and your motivation

1. Tell me about yourself. Looking for: a clear, relevant summary and a good first impression. Approach: Prospects advises focusing on your skills, characteristics and successes and how they make you a strong candidate. Cover what you studied, one or two relevant experiences and why you are applying, in a minute or two. It is not your life story.

2. Why do you want this job? Looking for: whether you understand what the job involves. Approach: pick two or three parts of the job description and link each to something you have enjoyed or done well.

3. Why do you want to work for us? Looking for: evidence of research. Approach: mention something specific, such as a project, a client area, the training programme or a value you share, and say why it matters to you. Anything that could apply to any employer will not convince.

4. Where do you see yourself in five years? Looking for: realistic ambition. Approach: Prospects suggests basing realistic short- and long-term targets on the employer, the industry and your skills. Talk about skills and responsibility you want to build.

Competency questions

5. Tell me about a time you worked in a team. Looking for: your contribution and how you work with others. Approach: make your own role clear and say “I”, not “we”.

6. Tell me about a time you solved a problem. Looking for: how you think. Approach: explain how you gathered information, what options you considered and why you chose one.

7. Describe a difficult situation you handled. Looking for: composure and judgement under pressure. Approach: a tight deadline, an unexpected problem or a disagreement all work. Focus on what you did, and do not blame others.

8. Tell me about a time you failed. Looking for: honesty and learning. Approach: choose a real setback that was not catastrophic. Spend most of your answer on what you did next and what you now do differently.

9. Tell me about a time you took the initiative. Looking for: whether you act without being told. Approach: describe something you started, improved or fixed on your own, and its effect.

Strengths questions

10. What are your strengths? Looking for: self-awareness and fit with the role. Approach: Prospects suggests picking three or four attributes from the person specification and backing each with an example.

11. What is your biggest weakness? Looking for: honesty and a willingness to improve. Approach: avoid clichés such as perfectionism. Name a real area for development and what you are doing about it.

12. What energises you? Looking for: whether the everyday work would motivate you. Approach: answer honestly with specific examples, such as the kind of task you lose track of time doing.

How do you use the STAR method?#

STAR is a simple way to structure answers to competency questions. The National Careers Service defines it as:

• Situation: the situation you had to deal with
• Task: the task you were given to do
• Action: the action you took
• Result: what happened as a result of your action, and what you learned

Prospects adds a second R, for reflection, to its version. Spend most of your answer on the action, since that is what is being assessed, and give a number in the result if you have one.

Here is a made-up example, invented to show the structure, answering “Tell me about a time you used information to solve a problem”:

• Situation: “In my second year I was events officer for a university society. Over one term, attendance at our weekly talks fell from about 40 people to about 15.”
• Task: “Events were my responsibility, so I wanted to find out why before we booked the next term’s speakers.”
• Action: “I put the past year’s sign-up and attendance lists into a spreadsheet and compared them by day, time and topic. The drop matched the move to Friday afternoons, when many members had lab sessions. I shared a one-page summary with the committee, proposed moving back to Wednesday evenings, and ran a quick poll of members to check.”
• Result: “The next term, attendance averaged around 35. I learned to check the data before assuming the problem, and we now review attendance at the end of every term.”

Prepare five or six examples from your degree, part-time work, volunteering, societies or projects. One good example can often answer several questions. Practise telling them out loud, keeping them, as the National Careers Service puts it, short and to the point. You can practise STAR answers with the free Mock Interview tool, which also includes SQL questions for data roles.

How do strengths-based interviews feel different?#

Strengths-based interviews focus on what you enjoy doing, not only what you can do. Prospects explains that employers use them partly because candidates have less opportunity to rehearse, and because most people come across best when talking about things they enjoy. They often feel more personal and faster-paced than competency interviews. Prospects says you could be asked as many as 30 questions in an hour-long interview, with examples such as “Do you prefer the big picture or small details?”, and that recruiters notice your body language and tone as well as your words.

The Civil Service’s strengths guidance lists more than 30 strengths, from Adaptable and Analytical to Team player and Visionary, and tells candidates: “Do not rehearse your answers - because we are looking for your initial response.”

So prepare by reflecting rather than scripting:

• List what you do often, do well and choose to do, across your studies, work and free time.
• Notice the tasks you put off. They matter too.
• Read the job description and picture a normal week in the role.
• Answer honestly. If the day-to-day work does not appeal, that is useful to know.

What questions should you ask at the end of an interview?#

Prospects advises always saying yes when you are asked if you have any questions, and suggests preparing at least four or five in case some are answered during the interview. Good ones include:

• What does a typical day look like in this role?
• How could I impress you in the first three months?
• What opportunities are there for training and progression?
• Can you tell me more about the team I would be working in?
• What do you enjoy about your job?

Prospects advises saving questions about salary and holidays until you have an offer, and avoiding questions the website already answers.

What should you do after the interview?#

• Make notes. The Open University suggests reflecting on your answers while they are fresh. Write down the questions you were asked. They are useful practice for later stages such as an assessment centre.
• Decide about a thank-you email. In the UK it is optional. Indeed UK says a thank-you email is not typically required, although some employers expect one. If you send one, keep it to a few lines, send it within a day, and thank the interviewer for their time rather than making your case again.
• Chase politely if needed. The Open University says that if the date you were given comes and goes, it is fine to ask politely for an update after a week or more.
• Ask for feedback. If you are unsuccessful, thank the employer and ask for feedback. Some employers build this in. EY says it gives feedback on your skills at each stage of its process. Use what you hear to strengthen your examples for the next interview.