Sample Questions:
"Tell me about yourself."
"Why did you apply for this job?"
“Why do you wish to leave your current role?”
“What attracts you to our firm?”
“What motivates you?”
“What work environment gets the best out of you?”
“What are your aspirations in the next few years?” “What do you do in your free time?”

Interviewers are looking for:

• Motivations and personal background
• Prepare engaging and interesting snippets about yourself
• Showcase a positive attitude by smiling and displaying a cheerful disposition
• Show confidence in your capabilities and believe in yourself
• Be honest and authentic with your answers

Sample Questions:
"What would you do if you had to work with an uncooperative teammate?"
"How would you handle an unreasonable client demanding an overnight turnaround on a project?"
“If your boss or colleague was being unethical or breaking the rules, what would you do?”
“Conduct a five-minute presentation to [the class/the client/your supervisors] on [topic related to the job you are applying for].”

Interviewers are looking for:

• Personality and values
• Use the S.T.A.R. framework to answer these questions
• Create your own bank of stories you can share to answer these questions. These stories may come from internships, extra-curricular activities, class projects, National Service, etc.
• Prepare alternative courses of action to the hypothetical scenarios

Sample Questions:
"Tell me about a time where you had to lead a large and complex project."
"What was your biggest setback and how did you recover from it?"
“Tell me about a time when you displayed collaboration/initiative/creativity/ambition/innovation/a pioneering spirit/responsibility*.”
“How have you managed difficult teammates?”
“Tell me about a big event you organised, how did you do it?”
“How have you handled negative feedback in the past?”

*See job description for the types of transferable skills they may quiz you about.

Interviewers are looking for:

• Specific skills or competencies
• Use the S.T.A.R. framework to answer these questions
• Create your own bank of stories you can share to answer these questions. These stories may come from internships, extra-curricular activities, class projects, National Service, etc.
• Prepare alternative courses of action to the various situational questions

Recruiters may ask you to perform a coding task, make a policy recommendation or solve an engineering question.

Sample Questions:
“How would you explain statistical significance to a person who has no knowledge of statistics?”
“In what cases is a false negative more important than a false positive and vice versa?”
“How have you used [insert name of program/software/hardware/technical skill] * in your school projects and internship.
“What skills do you think are needed to be successful in this role”
“Write the tagline for this new poster advertisement”

*See job description for the types of technical skills they may quiz you about.

Interviewers are looking for:

• Function specific knowledge
• Think of the key technical skills required for the role you are applying for and revise your knowledge before attending the interview

Sample Questions:
"How many golf balls fit in this room?"
"Sell me this pen."

Interviewers are looking for:

• Recruiters are looking at your thought process rather than the absolute answer

Sample Questions:
What impact do you think [insert megatrend]* will have on the way our company does business in the next few years?
“Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?” [This is a good place for you to insert some knowledge about where you see the industry moving in 5 years and how you can help your department with these changes]
“How do you think we should price this new product we are launching”
“Who are our biggest competitors and what do they have over us?”
“There have been online discussions calling for this work to be regulated, how should we respond to any potential regulation?”
“How big is the potential market for this new product we are thinking of launching.”

*Such as the latest tech, climate or health developments

Interviewers are looking for:

• Your knowledge about the industry
• If you are thinking ahead about what might affect the company and the industry
• Your ability to quickly form a logical point of view with limited data
• Your ability to spot challenges and opportunities

The S.T.A.R. framework offers a structured way to craft your responses to behavioural interviewing questions. These questions typically revolve around your previous experiences, where you are asked to provide real-life examples of how you responded to a particular situation. This framework will keep your answers compelling and succinct without answering too briefly or elaborating too much.

"What is your greatest strength?"

• S

  Situation

  What was the challenge? What was the context?
  During my internship in ABC Company…
• T

  Task

  What was expected? What were the tasks you needed to accomplish?
  I had to solicit for sales leads. I noticed we didn't have a blueprint for reaching out to potential partners — each salesperson did their own thing. This was inefficient and ineffective…
• A

  Action

  What did you do? What actions did you take/initiate?
  so I collaborated with our team to build a partnership process and some guidelines to upload leads and contacts on a cloud platform.
• R

  Results

  What did you achieve? What was the outcome of your actions?
  By the end of my internship, the data I collected showed that 91% of the staff had become active users of the new platform.

A variation to the STAR framework is C-STAR where you state the conclusion before anything else. When asked to share a weakness, share one that you are working on improving.

“Tell me your biggest weakness.”

• C

  Conclusion

  My biggest weakness is public speaking.
• S

  Situation

  During my presentations in front of my class, I would stutter nervously. I would quickly notice people getting bored but as much as I wanted to, I could not do anything about it.
• T

  Task

  To fix this, I set myself the challenge to become an engaging presenter by my 4th year.
• A

  Action

  In the last 2 years I’ve made a concerted effort to raise my hand to answer questions or give presentations to practice operating out of my comfort zones. This year I signed up for toastmaster club practice sessions – it has been really helpful.
• R

  Results

  To be honest, I’m still nervous and I still stammer occasionally but despite that, I know I am improving. I gave a presentation last week to 50 people and the feedback I received was highly encouraging.

This framework helps you to shape your answers in a clear and straightforward manner. Keeping to the rule of three allows you to express yourself concisely, highlight your points, and augment the memorability of your messages to the interviewer.

You can answer the questions using the following sentence structures:

“There are 3 steps to solving the problem with the aggrieved customer. Firstly… secondly…thirdly…”
“There are 2 reasons why I applied to your company. The first is … The second is…”

"Why are you keen on this role?"

• 1

  First

  The first is the cutting-edge technology that you work within 3D metals printing. I think the industrial applications are limitless and very exciting!
• 2

  Second

  Secondly, this role would give me the chance to combine my technical skills with my people skills. I was privileged to receive good training in the industrial design program and internship. At the same time, I was the head of donor relations for NUSCares and was able to raise $150,000 by cultivating deep relationships with our donors. I believe this role will allow me to leverage my current combined strengths.
• 3

  Third

  Finally, I see joining your firm as a chance to grow into a thought leader in this emerging field. I’ve noticed that some of your young hires are publishing articles to share their knowledge of this area. I like that the firm encourages this and provides opportunities to let us develop and showcase our professional expertise.

This framework gives you a chance to share anecdotally – to tell stories of the present, past, and future in an engaging manner. A narrative makes it easier for interviewers to consume the information and provides them with the necessary details to assess you as well.

"Tell me about yourself."

• Present

  What are you currently interested in?
  I just graduated from NUS with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Sociology and am keen to start my career as a Market Research Consultant.

• Past

  What have you accomplished in school and the workplace?
  In my Final Year Project, I used both qualitative and quantitative research methods to study the purchasing patterns of single mothers in developing South East Asian economies. I also served as head of marketing for the Singapore Young Muslim Professionals Society where I attracted a record number of 1600 participants to our annual community development conference.

• Future

  How do you hope to contribute to the organisation?
  I hope to be able to use my social science research skills to help businesses be more customer-centric so that they can generate greater value for society and their shareholders.

• Looking at people who have filled this role before, what differentiated the ones who were good from the others?
• What are your expectations of this role in the first 1-2 months?
• How will you measure the success of the person in this position?

• What projects will the person in this role be working on in the future?
• What are some of the pain points your clients need help with?
• What are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the department now?

• What do you like best about working here?
• How would you describe the work culture like in the company?

• Arrive at least 15-30 minutes before the interview.
• What you do before and after the interview matter just as much.
• Keep your phone on airplane mode and out of sight.
• Follow up with a thank you email within a day.

• Let the interviewer take the lead.
• Be prepared for small talk.
• Do not interrupt the interviewer.
• Avoid questions on salary or benefits, unless asked.
• Paraphrase or clarify the question if necessary for you to collect your thoughts.

• Firm handshake
• Use gestures
• Upright posture
• Eye contact
• Positive energy