Guide to answer Top 5 Critical Interview Questions

Job seeking and facing interviews is the most daunting part of every student’s journey. With self-doubt, rejections, and failures chasing us, the placement journey helps us realize our true potential. In the end, all that matters is upskilling and putting our honest efforts into every opportunity without giving up. Here are a few tricks to answer some of the most common and critical interview questions. These tricks helped me to crack interviews at multiple MNCs and will surely aid you to perform well in an interview.

Q.No 1. Introduce yourself or tell me something about yourself?
This question is the first and the most gullible looking question everyone faces in their interview. Even a seemingly easy question like this can ruin the interview because this decides the flow of an interview. A good introduction will be no more than a minute. You should not restrict your intro with facts that you rote off from your resume. including your interests, any college events that you helped organize, and clubs you run or actively took part in makes it more interesting and engaging. A failproof practice is to add a brief about the projects you did as a part of your academics/any workshops/boot camps you attended. It will spike the curiosity of the interviewer and helps you relax.

Q.No 2. Why do you want to join the IT sector / Why do you choose to take up a CS job?
For every Non-CS student out there, this is the second question you will face after your introduction. You must be able to back up your answer with good, reasonable, and practical examples.
Listing out

• any elective subjects you took that belong to CS major or
• the projects you built or
• Bootcamps/Hackathons that you participated
• online courses/certifications you did.

And explaining how they piqued your interest inspiring you to make a career in CS can sound convincing.

Q.No 3. Why do you want to join the XYZ company/ Why should we hire you/ What do you know about the company?
Answering this question is similar to treading on a tight rope. Thorough research of the company and its core values is a vital step before attending any interview. Aligning the vision and core values of the company with your traits, and backing them up with examples in the past that prove your leadership/ teamwork/ organizing abilities is bound to get you a good impression. It is necessary to portray how eager you are to join that company. Listing

• the recent technologies the company is focused on,
• mapping them to your previous projects,
• and then explaining your eagerness to learn more

can get you some extra brownie points. Reliable and effective resources for all this information are

• the pre-placement talk,
• company’s official LinkedIn posts
• and the company’s official website.

Mentioning the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities performed actively by the employees as one of the reasons and inspiration will be an added cherry on the cake.

Q.No 4. What are your weaknesses?
Answering this question might be dodging a double-edged sword. Employers do not expect you to be perfect. They want to learn about you and know how self-reflective you are and what your learning style is. It is better to avoid the templated answers like, "I'm a perfectionist" or "I like giving attention to detail". Explain how you are constructively working on yourself to overcome that setback. End the question on a positive note by explaining the efforts you are putting in to make your weaknesses work for you.

Q.No 5. Do you have any questions?
Often, in a hurry to end the interview we reply with a no. Answering no can look bad and indicates your uninterest or indifference. You can always ask

• What a typical day looks like to work for the company?
• What’s your favorite part about working at the company?
• How can one stay relevant in a rapidly changing tech industry?
• What are the challenges an immediate recruit can face in this job?

Bonus Checklist before attending an interview:

For more resources:
1. Scan the below QR code or 
2. Visit the site mentioned below.

The above listed are a few of the top 5 questions you might face in an interview. Hoping this article will assist you as a guide for deciding how to formulate your answers and wish you all the best for your upcoming interviews and whole placement journey.

Regards,

Nimmagadda Sai Prathyusha
https://www.prathyusha.tech