Professional Documents
Culture Documents
25Q A &
ENTRY LEVEL & PROFESSIONAL JOBS
Teststreams.com
Appreciations
I'd love to thank Robin Ryan (Author of 60 seconds and you're hired), admin at collegegrad
for providing useful resources that helped in putting together this work.
Also a big thumbs up to the entire teststreams.com team in Nigeria for a Great job done.
Samuel-O-Johnson
Founder-TestStreams
TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
TABLE OF CONTENTS :
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I've worked hard in my education and career to prepare myself to become a world class
accountant. I received my BSc. in Accounting from the University of Ibadan and then went to
work for KPMG after graduation. I passed the ICAN exam on my first try and have progressed
well in my career. I was recently promoted from Staff Auditor to Senior Auditor and was
selected to train new hires in our region on recent GAAP accounting changes"
"I've worked hard in my education and my internships to prepare myself to become a world
class accountant. I will be receiving my BSc. in Accounting from the University of Ibadan and
have already completed two internships with large public accounting firms the past two
years. I worked for KPMG last year in tax accounting and Ernst and Young the year before in
audit. I have already taken the prep exams for ICAN and am ready to sit for the ICAN exam in
this October. I earned the Intern of the Year Award for the Ikeja branch of KPMG last year"
"Wow, well let's see Where Should I even start from. I was born in 1992 in Ikotun, Lagos State.
I am the second boy in a family of four boys. We got along OK, except for my older brother,
especially when he got older and joined a gang. My parents were Catholic, so it was a pretty
strict upbringing. I made my first communion in second grade and was confirmed in Primary
Six. I was even an altar boy, can you believe that! I had a pretty rough childhood and I spent
some time attending Sunday school"
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Because I'm the best person for the job. Here's why: I have all of the required qualifications
that you are asking for in this job. The education, the experience, the industry experience. But
I also bring a passion to the job that makes me the best person for the job. Why? Because
that passion translates into results. I really love what I do. Let me give you an example"
"Because I'm the best person for the job. I know you are interviewing other students with
similar qualifications in terms of my degree and my internship. Yet I was awarded the
Employee of the Month award as an intern this past year and was the first intern ever to
receive that award. I was given that award over all other nominations of their full-time staff.
That award was given due to my delivery on a project that no one else had been able to
successfully complete. I not only delivered the project, but I did it while also working on two
other projects, both of which were completed during job one year as an intern. Let me tell you
about the project where I won the award"
"Well, I really need this job and it would be awesome to work here! I've been unemployed for a
while and my Mom is starting to get on my case about it. And, y'know, I really don't like living in
the basement anymore. I want to get out on my own and be independent. So if you hire me, I
would be able to get out of the house and be off on my own. Life would be good."
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"In the near term, I am focused on becoming a subject matter expert in my field. I do want to
prepare myself for future promotional opportunities, if they come about. I am working to
prepare myself for managerial opportunities in the future by taking on the lead role on
project teams such as my current network integration project. Yet I am also flexible to take
on roles which will broaden my exposure, which is why I have become involved in two cross-
functional team projects, one with the finance group and one with the marketing group. This
not only strengthens my relationships with other teams, but also broadens my knowledge
base for interacting at a higher level."
"In the near term, I am focused on coming up to speed quickly in my new role. My longer range
goal is to become a subject matter expert in my field. I want to become the person others seek
out for the answers to their most difficult problems. As an example of this, in my recent
internship I took over management of the internal collaboration site for the project managers.
The site had not been updated in over a year, so I took responsibility for making the updates
and incorporating current material that would be of benefit to everyone. My work in this area
won a departmental award, would you like to see a copy?"
"My long term goal is to have your job. Actually, that's more my mid-term goal. My long term
goal is to become the CEO. So I want to put myself on that path and continue to make course
corrections along the way until I finally achieve that goal. So I'm pretty ambitious in what I want
to do, I guess the real question is whether you can provide me with the road-map for getting to
the corner office? Lastly, I want to make money, I mean, why do we all work anyway?"
If you answer Like This? Well, Congrats! YOU JUST LOST A JOB OFFER.
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I have several notable accomplishments in my career. Probably the most notable
accomplishment was the delivery of the most recent version update to one of our core
products for customer payments. This was a 12-month project and I was one of 8 team
members. What made it notable for me was that my role expanded from being one of the
tech team members to taking the lead on building the mobile components of the product. In
order to deliver this aspect of the product, I pulled in three new project resources with
specific skills in each of the mobile technology platforms we targeted and cross-trained all
project resources to support each platform. In the end, we delivered the product on time and
have received numerous accolades, both internal and external. The mobile component was
specifically identified to be world class and distinguished the product at its release. Our CEO
spent time showing the mobile components to the press and industry and it has since met
with excellent reviews. Would you like to see the Android version of the product?"
"I have several notable accomplishments in both my education and my work experience.
Probably the most notable accomplishment was delivery of the mobile apps project during my
internship this past summer. I joined the tech development team at a time when they were in
the process of losing a team member due to relocation. That team member was the lead for
the iOS version of the mobile app under development. Since I had already developed two iOS
apps and no one else on the team had worked with iOS, I was asked to take the lead for the
iOS development and deployment, effectively half of the project. This was outside the original
scope of my internship, but definitely mission critical. I was able to deliver the app on time
before completion of my internship and have deployed it to the iTunes store. It has already
received over 100 positive reviews from customers. Would you like to see it?"
"Hmmmgreatest accomplishment? I'm not sure I have a greatest accomplishment. Most of the
projects I have been working with have been canceled, but no fault of my own. We usually get
ready to deliver something and then the project funding gets pulled and we are never able to
actually deliver. So then we all scramble to get moved to another project before we get
targeted for layoffs. Some people at our company aren't as good at that as me and they've
ended up being laid off. But I'm a survivor and I've been able to avoid the layoff ax all these
years. So that's probably my greatest accomplishment is that I haven't been laid off in spite of
all of the projects being canceled. I'm pretty good at laying low and staying out of the
spotlight."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Several of my capstone courses for my major tied directly into the work I've been doing on
the job. For example, my Algorithms class has tied in directly into my current project, as
we're seeking to optimize the code for presenting user results. I was able to apply a unique
algorithm that greatly increased the user interaction with the results on that particular page.
Would you like me to show it to you?"
"Several of my classes have tied into real world examples for my career. A recent example is
with our case study class, where we reviewed a recent case of the merger between a large
national bank and a smaller regional bank. Even though the case was interesting and highly
relevant, it was two years old by the time we reviewed it in class. With guidance from our
professor, I reached out to one of the Vice Presidents at the regional bank to assess the impact
of the merger. It provided valuable insight not only into the financial models used for making
the merger at the time, but also how they played out in the merger itself. My final paper ended
up winning an award within my department. Would you like me to show it to you?"
"Well, I learned how to hold my beer, that's for sure. When I arrived on campus as a Fresher, I
was a real lightweight. But over time, I learned to drink with the best of them. I know it's
important to be able to hold your liquor in a work setting so that you don't do or say something
stupid when you're out drinking with your co-workers. Most of my classes weren't really tied to
work and the ones that were tied to my career were just plain boring. So I've been working just
to get my degree and get out of here so that I can start doing real work. The partying has been
fun, but it's time to get on with my life."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I recently had a conflict with an employee in another department who had a project which
was dependent on work being done by myself and two other members of our team. He had
sent a rather urgent e-mail acusing us of derailing his project. I had never met him before, so I
asked to get together with him for coffee. I asked him to walk me through his project and the
interdependency of his project with our project. I then walked him through our project and
timelines. Once we had the opportunity to communicate our independent priorities, we could
begin talking about our shared priorities. We agreed to a timeline that would help us both
meet our goals and the conflict was resolved before it became a major incident."
"I recently had a disagreement with one of my professors over the wording of a question on
one of the key exams, which was missed by several members of the class due to the
ambiguity. I brought it up to the professor privately and personally, but he was dismissive of
my request. After discussing it with several classmates, we went to him together to discuss it
further. At that point, he agreed that there was a level of ambiguity in the question, but still
would not change the grade of the test. However, he did appreciate us bringing it to his
attention and gave us the opportunity to work on a separate project for extra credit to make
up for the shortfall on the test. We completed the extra credit and we were all happy with the
end result. It wasn't necessarily the solution we were seeking, but it was a compromise that
was acceptable."
"I've always found that I need to show the other person, in detail, the error of their ways, then
they will eventually come around to seeing my way being the best way to do things. Do I have
conflict? Sure. But having conflict is a healthy thing. I actually welcome conflict. In fact, I grew
up in a family where conflict was a way of life. I got battered and bruised growing up that way,
but I learned how to come out swinging and make my way in the world."
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
WHAT YOU COULD SAY -
"Well, I think I'm pretty much awesome in any and every area you can think of. You name it, I
have it covered. In fact, I really don't have any weaknesses, pretty much everything is my
strength. So if you were going to ask that question about what is my greatest weakness, don't,
because I don't really have any. That really bugs me when people ask that question, because it
assumes that I have a weakness of some sort and I don't. If you look up "awesome" in the
dictionary, my name will be there."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I have had problems in the past with taking on too much work and then not delivering a
quality and timely product because I was stretched too thin in too many areas. I know it's a
weakness, because it reflects negatively on my end deliverables. I want to deliver quality in
everything I do, but I have not always been able to do so when multiple priorities stack up.
Part of the difficulty is that work was coming from outside groups and my boss did not have
visibility into the requests being made. So I developed a project prioritization spreadsheet
that I would review with my boss whenever a new request came in for additional work. My
boss would review and approve moving projects up and down in priority based on the new
requests. That way it allowed me to focus on completing what is most important to my boss
with the highest quality, while moving the less important projects off to the side until time is
available for completion. This is still a work in progress for me and I still need to get better at
this, but it's an area where I am focused on continuously improving."
"I have had problems in the past with taking on too many projects and then not delivering
quality and, in some cases, not delivering on time. I was simply stretched too thin in too many
areas with not enough time to deliver in a quality manner. I think that's the opportunity that is
there as a new college student, you want to do everything and be involved in everything.
However, I've learned that I'm not at my best when I have too many conflicting priorities. I've
had to cut back on some of the less important extracurricular activities to focus on delivering
my academic projects with the highest quality. This prioritization of my work has carried over
to my work life with my recent internship. I had several key deliverables that were due the
same week, so I met with my boss to prioritize the delivery schedule. She helped me focus on
both the timing and the quality of the delivery. In the end, all three projects were delivered
with high quality results. Would you like me to tell you more about them?"
"My greatest weakness is that I'm a workaholic. I don't have any balance in my life and tend to
stay late at work to complete all of my projects, often until 3 in the morning. I'm usually the first
one in and the last one to leave. I know I should probably address my workaholic tendencies,
but I know they help me to get everything completed. So I just keep on working, even when I'm
not at work. As a result, my personal life has suffered, I'm recently divorced, my kids say they
never get to see me, which is true. My life is a wreck due to working all of these crazy hours. I
just keep working and working."
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
9. If you had to live your life over again, what one thing would you change?
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Probably my biggest regret has been not focusing on my chosen career earlier. As you can
see from my resume, my Bachelor's degree is in English. At that point in my life, I didn't have
a clear idea of what I wanted to do in my career. However, in my final year of college I met a
woman who became an early mentor in my career. She helped me in both my career selection
and in focusing my last year of college taking electives which would better help me in
preparing for my future career in the insurance industry"
"Probably my biggest regret was not settling on my major early enough in college. I took a
large number of classes in general fields when I would have been better prepared by taking
accounting-specific coursework. So to make up for that lack of focus in my first two years, I
have spent the last two years of college taking as many accounting and business courses as
possible, actually taking more than required for my major. And I feel I made up for my late
start by getting work experience through both voluntary work my Junior year and then my
internship last summer. As a result, I was one of the top students in my major. It's been a
tough road which I could have made easier by selecting my major earlier."
"Well, I've always wanted to be a movie star. All the way through high school and college,
everyone kept telling me I should go to Nollywood, that I would make it big. I still keep going to
auditions, hoping that someday my number will be called. But in the meantime, I need to make
a living. And this job is better than waiting on tables, right?"
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"My last manager said that I was one of the best hires he had made in his career. He said that
I was the go to person to get things accomplished and delivered on our team. I know that he
would say I was one of the best professionals he has worked for in his career. How do I know
this? Because that is what he said in the letter of recommendation he wrote for me. Would
you like a copy?"
"My manager for my internship last summer said that I was the best intern she had managed
during her tenure as a manager. She said that I got far more accomplished and delivered than
any other intern she had worked with previously. I know that she would say she would love to
work again with me in the future. How do I know this? Because that is what she said in the
letter or recommendation she wrote for me. Would you like a copy?"
"Well, I didnt really like my last boss that much. We didnt really get along. Thats the reason
Im looking for a new job is because of my last boss."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I do understand that my overall GPA was less than ideal. While other students were full-time
students and could focus exclusively on their classes, I was also working two different part-
time jobs to help pay my way through school. This made my schedule very difficult and, at
times, it negatively impacted my grades. However, I am extremely proud of what I was able
to accomplish on my own during college and ended up getting As in all of my capstone
classes, due at least in part to what I learned in my work. In the end, I feel that my concurrent
work experience helped me to better prepare for the world of work after college."
"My first year of college did not go well for me in terms of grades. I was not yet clear on my
major nor my career aspirations and struggled with some of the general classes. However,
once I entered my major curriculum, I was able to bring up my overall GPA considerably and
my GPA within my major is a solid 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. So while the classes got tougher as I
went through college, my grades also got higher."
"I guess I was in over my head when I went to college, probably too immature to be away from
home that young. I failed a couple of classes my Fresher year and I really didnt want to retake
them, so my overall GPA has suffered because of that. I guess grades have never really been
that important to me. Im really not a very good at academics. Im the guy who sits in the back
of class just doing what he needs to get by"
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I do handle pressure well, in fact, let me give you example. We recently had a request for a
new feature to be added to our product. We had already mapped out the release schedule
without this feature, then management decided to add the feature and keep the release cycle.
As the lead for the team, it was my responsibility to deliver a bug-free product on time. Let
me tell you what we did to meet this new schedule"
"I do handle pressure well, in fact, let me give you example. In my recent internship, I was
asked to add a new feature halfway through the product development cycle. This was not part
of the original scope and it meant that it would take extra work on my part to deliver it by the
end of the internship. Here is what I did to deliver this expanded request by the end of my
internship"
"There are lots of times that there is pressure to deliver in my job and most of the time it is due
to management not knowing what I actually do and how long it takes to deliver. So I have
started wearing ear buds and just ignoring people when they stop by my cube. If they try to
interrupt me, I just point at my screen to tell them I am busy. That has reduced a lot of the
stress and pressure in my work"
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"My education and internship experience has prepared me well for this role. I understand that
you also provide internal training for new hires related to the role and your company. Given
this training, combined with my education and experience, Im confident that I will come up to
speed quickly in this role"
"Well, Ive never really done this type of work before, so Im going to need a lot of training and
hand holding to get started. Will you be sending me away to classes or do you do the training
internally?"
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I have worked in the financial services industry for most of my career and my experience is
well aligned with the needs of the insurance industry. I have specifically supported the
insurance sector during my last role, so I have a solid understanding of the business drivers
for the insurance industry"
"I worked in the technology department for an insurance company as my internship last
semester. That experience has focused my desire to be fully committed to working in tech
specifically within the tech industry. The tools we used in my internship were first class, but
tech was always a sideline department, rather than being the primary focus. So Im looking to
be all in with tech in my future career."
"Well, I dont really know much about the industry. I just applied for this job because I thought
the job was a match for my background. What can you tell me about your industry?"
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Goldman Sachs is the leading investment bank and provides a wide variety of financial
services to corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Your Institutional
Client Services group, where this position is based, works in equity, fixed income, currency
and commodity markets. My experience in fixed income is well aligned with this role in your
fixed income group, which is what generated my interest in speaking with your firm"
"Im an Konga customer and have been for many years. But I know that Konga is much more
than the consumer retail side and the focus on price, selection and convenience. The company
also includes Konga pay for online payments on Konga, Konga Express the official dispatch
mechanism, Konga Marketplace, more like ebay, and many of the Prime-related activities in
entertainment. There are many different parts of Konga that I find to be fascinating and would
love the opportunity to be part of the organization"
"Well, I know that GE makes light bulbs and Ive certainly bought my share of light bulbs over
the years. And I think you make refrigerators as well, or at least you used to make them. My
parents have a really old GE fridge in their kitchen and its still working."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Im interested in Google at a high level, but also specifically for whats being done in the
department for this role. My electrical engineering experience has been heavily software
focused and my recent background working with Uber directly aligns with Googles needs for
this role within the Self-Driving Car Project"
"I have read about your companys reputation for building and growing your leadership talent
from within. There are not many companies who can say that their current CEO was a college
grad hire, yours is one. So it is your companys commitment to not only that first entry level
job, but also the commitment to career development at each subsequent stage of my career
that interests me the most. I want to work for a company where I do not have to change
employers to advance in my career"
"My uncle worked for Coscharis Motors and it seemed to be a solid employer for him until he
got laid off in a downsizing. I dont think that was his fault. But everyone knows Coscharis and
even though this recession has really hit them bad, it is probably one of the better Nigerian
auto dealers..."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"While I like the area where I currently live, I am open to considering other parts of the
country for the right opportunity. I am early enough in my career to be mobile and flexible in
what I will consider in terms of my work location. The work itself is what is most important for
me."
"Im very flexible about where I will work after graduation. It would be relatively easy for me to
relocate to other parts of the country and Im open to exploring new opportunities."
"I wanted to move back home after graduation to be closer to my Mom, but I cant find a job
there right now. So I would be open to considering another area just to get started, but my
long-term goal will be to move back to my hometown if and when a job opens up there."
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Ive been reading a lot of information about Victoria Island Lagos and was pleased to see it
rated as one of the best areas in Lagos to live and work. The combination of professional
opportunities with the major employers in the city along with the quality of life make it a
great place to consider for relocation."
"Ive been to Victoria Island several times before, since I have family and friends who live in the
area. I love the combination of work and recreational opportunities in the Ikoyi area and have
already explored with my friends some of the available options for apartments in the area."
"Well, Ive heard the slogan to Eko Oni Baje, but Im not really sure what that means. If that
means there are a lot of weirdos walking around, I guess I would just have to stay in at night to
avoid them."
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INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Yes I am. An example of this is my current team, the Global Standards Project, where we are
all working together with a variety of background and skills to produce a result which none of
us could have achieved individually. So it's important that we all communicate well with each
other on an ongoing basis. Some of this takes place in our weekly status meeting, where we
get together to update on our progress toward the goal. But I think the most important
aspect is the ad hoc meetings that take place during the week between different team
members. One of the members of our team taught us how to scrum on problems and now we
are all using it as a way to both communicate and involve others to move the project forward.
These scrum sessions are usually impromptu and might only last for 10-15 minutes, but they
help to get team members unstuck on problems they are facing so that they don't have to
wait until the Friday status meeting to discuss. So we are all staying in constant
communication with each other to not only reach our own goals, but also to help others in
reaching their project goals. Net result is that we already have four distinct deliverables and
have already recorded more than N350,000 in cost savings in just the past two months. And,
based on my interaction with the team, I am currently being trained as a Scrum Master to lead
future scrum sessions."
"Yes I am. An example of this was with my summer internship team, the Global Standards
Project, where we were all working together with a variety of background and skills to produce
a result which none of us could have achieved individually. It's important to note that I joined
an already established team, so it was important to me to communicate with others and make
sure I was on track for delivering my part of the project. Although my deliverable was a small
part of the overall project, there were several team dependencies based on my ability to
deliver. So I not only kept everyone current during the weekly meetings, I also worked closely
with several key team members throughout the week to make sure I kept my portion of the
project on track. The end result is that I delivered on time and within budget. The entire
project met its deliverables and they are now on to the next phase of the project."
"You bet I am! That is, if I'm on the right team. If I'm not on the right team, and that's happened
to me, I will work to get moved to a different team. Just like Lionel Messi had to make the move
to Spain, I've had to move around teams to get on the right one. Although I guess
wouldn't move back to Abuja, but you get the idea. If someone can get me the ball when I'm
hot, hey I'm smoking hot. Surround me with other superstars and I'll be a superstar, too! So now
I'm looking to get off my team and join another team so that I can be my best. My current team
was good for a while, but now they kinda suck and I'm doing all the work. I want to move to a
team where everyone plays their best and we can win a championship."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
(pause) "I believe that a successful manager should provide the team with the big picture, a
view and a vision of where we are going and how our work specifically fits into the overall
direction of the company. Yet focused on delivering results. As an example, I had a recent
manager who was excellent at keeping our team focused on delivering results which were in
full alignment with a recent change in corporate direction. Let me tell you more about it"
(pause) "I have had two direct managers as well as a team lead in my past internships. It was
actually the team lead in my last internship who had the qualities of a successful manager
that I admired the most. While my overall manager was there to provide the team with
overall direction, which was important, it was the team lead who translated that overall
direction into how we could have a specific impact on a day-to-day basis. Many internships
do not produce deliverable results, but what impressed me about my team lead is how she
kept me focused on delivering results on a weekly basis. The net result is that I delivered my
component of a critical project within the timeframe of my internship."
"A successful manager is one who leaves me alone and let's me just get my job done. One who
doesn't ask me to report on anything. And doesn't ask me to attend the stupid, endless, boring
meetings. I just like to come in, put on my earphones and block out the rest of the world. That's
how I get the most work done. Everything else is just an interruption to my day."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"I define success as delivering more than is expected of me. Let me give you an example. My
primary goal for this past year has been the delivery of the new accounting system. While the
main driving force behind the delivery of this new system has been to update our systems to
reflect current accounting practices, I also identified several process steps which could be
automated as part of this system upgrade. After consultation with the team, I integrated
these process steps into the system, which how saves our accounting team a total of 30 to 40
hours each month during month-end closing..."
"I define success as delivering more than is expected of me. Let me give you an example.
During my internship last summer, I was given a main goal to deliver research on selection of
new collaboration tools for our business unit. I went beyond that initial research and actually
implemented several test tools for the team to work with as a trial. Those tools are now being
rolled out throughout the company based on my initial work..."
"I'm pretty money motivated, so money is my measuring stick. I know if I'm successful based on
how much money I have been earning. If I'm doing well, I would expect to be paid more money.
At the end of the day, the only real measure that crosses all professions is money. So show me
the money and I'll show you the motivation." "
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"My job is primarily focused on information, but there is also a strong people element to it. I
have found that as I progress in my career, the emphasis has gradually moved away from
information and toward people. There are quite a few people in my profession who are
excellent in dealing with information, but lacking in dealing with people. It's important to
excel at both. My recent promotion was due to my ability to work well with both information
and people"
"My schoolwork has focused on the information element, yet my recent internship focused
both on information and people. While most of schooling focuses on individual
accomplishments, my internship focused on getting results as a part of the team. I'm equally
comfortable working with either element and I have seen through my internship how the
people element will continue to grow in importance as I move forward in my career"
"Definitely information. Some of my co-workers even refer to me as a closet coder. You know,
lock me in a closet and let me code. Occasionally slide some pizza under the door and I'm good.
I don't deal well with interruptions and usually keep ear buds in with loud music so that people
won't interrupt me during the day."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"In my recent internship, I set a personal goal to not only accomplish my set objectives for my
internship, but also to develop proficiency in a new tool or technology. My objectives for my
internship were both completed and I was also able to develop proficiency in Java, which I had
previously only used in my classes at school. Let me tell you about the objectives achieved and
where I was able to use Java to complete the project"
"Well, I've been a gamer since I was a kid and one of my goals was to achieve one of the top
ten scores in Minecraft. This past year I was able to score #10 on the global list. I was totally
stoked."
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"Yes I am. I have several key goals set for my role that I am seeking to accomplish over the
course of the coming year. Let me tell you about one that I recently accomplished ahead of
schedule"
"Yes I am. I have quite a few goals that I have set for myself in my education and career
preparation. An example of achieving one of my recent goals was securing an internship this
past summer"
"I guess so. Although my life has been so busy, Ive kinda given up on trying to complete my
goals, so I have a lot of goals that are in half-finished stage. I never seem to be able to complete
them, since there always seems to be something else more important getting in the way"
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
INTERVIEW QUESTION:
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TOP 25 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ENTRY & PRO JOBS
SAMPLE RESPONSES
Experienced candidates
"While I dont have any plans at this time to complete an advanced degree, I am always open
to further education in terms of either internal or external training. Since technology changes
rapidly in our field, I do my best to stay on top of these changes through my own personal
research. In the past, my employer has also sent me to industry training on a periodic basis to
make sure that my skills are being kept current. What further training and education do you
recommend for your employees in this role?"
"I view learning as a lifelong process. Even though I will be graduating in the spring, I want to
continue to learn as much as I can to be an effective _____. So if that is a combination of
internal and external training, I am ready and prepared to continue to learn in the role"
"Ive been in school for almost 16 years and Im ready to put on the grad cap and then call it
quits, at least for a while. Its time to earn the big bucks. Although maybe in a few years, I might
use your tuition assistance plan to go back to school to get a law degree. I understand thats
where the really big bucks are made."
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