Common Interview Questions
Common Interview Questions is a Villanova Career Center resource that helps students prepare and practice for interviews. The guide includes common questions students may be asked by employers, graduate programs, supervisors, or other interviewers.
This resource can help students think through their experiences, strengths, goals, communication style, leadership examples, and professional interests before an interview. Students can use these questions to practice clear and specific answers that connect their background to the opportunity they are pursuing.
General interview questions include topics such as:
- Introducing yourself
- Professional goals and where you see yourself in five years
- Strengths and weaknesses
- How friends, faculty, or supervisors would describe you
- Lessons learned from past experiences
- Learning style
- Projects or tests you are proud of
- Handling stress or conflict
- Leadership experience
- Group work and collaboration
- Proudest accomplishments
- Talking about experiences listed on your resume
- Questions to ask the interviewer
- Preferred work environment
- Inspiring professors, clinical instructors, or supervisors
- What you are looking for in an employer
- Relationship with a supervisor
- Why the employer should choose you
- Skills you can offer
- Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds
- Collaborating with others to achieve a goal
Behavioral and situational questions include topics such as:
- Taking on responsibilities outside your assigned role
- Showing leadership
- Resolving conflict
- Making a mistake and learning from it
- Missing a deadline or not completing everything on time
- Handling difficulty in a group project
- Experiencing failure or disappointment
- Being thorough and noticing something important
- Working with someone you disagreed with or expected to be difficult
- Handling a project where others were not contributing
- Managing several tasks with limited time
- Learning something new in a short amount of time
Students can use this resource to prepare examples before an interview and practice answering questions in a thoughtful, organized way.
