Graduate Job Interview Questions

Whatever job you're going to interview for, you’ll hear many different common interview questions (from ‘tell me about yourself’ to ‘why should you get this job?’).

However, if you're a recent graduate, there’ll also be some that are specific to your situation – and knowing how to answer them will help you stand out from the other applicants.

To help you prepare for your job interview, we've put together a list of commonly asked questions so you can think about and plan answers to some of the questions that are likely to be put to you.

  1. Why did you choose to study your degree subject(s)?
  2. What did you find most enjoyable or challenging about your course?
  3. Why are you interested in this career?
  4. Tell me what you know about the company
  5. Explain why you’ve applied for this graduate job
  6. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
  7. What are your strengths/weaknesses?
  8. What motivates you?
  9. Talk me through your CV
  10. Why do you want to work for this company?
  11. What did you learn at university that you could bring to this job?
  12. What are your salary expectations?
  13. Are you applying for other jobs?
  14. What is your greatest weakness?
  15. Give some examples of working as part of a team
  16. What challenges are you looking for in a position?
  17. What applicable attributes/experience do you have?
  18. Why did you choose your university and what factors influenced your choice?
  19. What has been your greatest achievement?
  20. Describe a situation in which you dealt with confrontation?
  21. What do you like to do outside work?
  22. How do you deal with stress?

Further information

For more tips and advice on writing your graduate CV and looking for a postgraduate job, please see: