Interview English Lesson - Work Related Questions

If you could start your career over again, what would you do differently?

"If you could start your career over again, what would you do differently?"

This depends on several factors. If your university major is different than your career choice, then you could answer that you would choose a different major to prepare you for your choice in career. Or if you started at a small company and didn't have many opportunities, you can say that you would have started at a larger company. This is not a significant question so a regular answer should suffice.

Short Answers

"I started my career at a small company. I feel I would have benefited more if I started at a larger company. A large company usually provides training that I didn't receive, so I would like to have started my career in a larger company."

"I didn't know how much I liked working with computers until I finished college. If I had known earlier, I would have liked to have worked with computers earlier in my career."

Long Answer

"Well, I majored in chemistry and now I'm working in the marketing department for a telecommunications company. I had a lot to learn in the beginning, but I quickly learned what I needed to know to be an effective member of the marketing team. However, I always felt that if I majored in business or marketing, I would have started off with a better foundation. I'm great at what I do, but if I could start over again, I would probably choose to have majored in business administration."

This is an acceptable answer because the answer doesn't display any problems in the work history. Many people change careers or go into a field that is unrelated to their major. This is common, so answering this q

During your performance reviews, what criticism do you hear the most?

"During your performance reviews, what criticism do you hear the most?"

This question is primarily for people with work experience. If you are fresh out of college, then you will not be asked this question. The answer to this question should not disclose any real faults. Instead, try to think of something that doesn't sound too bad. Here is what I hear at my reviews and this is how I would answer this question.

Short Answers

"I heard that I need to be proactive. I always perform at an exceptional level, but I didn't volunteer for additional work. I wasn't accustomed to it so I'm glad that I received this criticism. I now practice keeping an eye out for additional projects I can take on."

"During my review, my manager told me to voice my opinions more frequently. He always liked my suggestions when I told him, but in group meetings, I usually let my manager speak. Now, I feel more confident that I can suggest my ideas in groups."

"My manager told me that I should send more updates. He told me I did my projects well, and that I was never late, but he would like more updates so he can report to his manager."

Long Answer

"I actually like to receive criticism because it gives me information on how to improve. But the most common criticism I hear is hard to correct because I disagree with the comment. I'm told that I should be more visible. I'm told that I do great work and I do a lot of extra work, but in a large organization, it's important to visibly stand out. I'm not a person who likes to be secluded in the office. I like to go out and collaborate, I like to work with people, and I email my co-workers with valuable information that will help with their job, so I can't say I agree, but I always try to be more visible."

This criticism is actually a common comment used by managers if they can't give you a good review score but have nothing bad to say about you. In large organizations, you are measured against your peers. That means if you do well, you might get a bad review score because everyone did better. Likewise, if you are just mediocre and everyone else is terrible, you will get a good review score. Because of this system, I'm regularly told to be more visible. So when I answer this question, I make sure to back up my disagreement with examples of being visible. uestion using this answer is common. If you don't want to use this common answer, then thinking about a scenario early in your work career that you would have done differently might be more effective.

Tell me about your last three positions?

"Tell me about your last three positions?"

This type of question is generally asked by lazy interviewers who want to hear you talk for a while. A better question would be to separate the three positions and ask them one by one. But some people will ask this question, so you should definitely prepare for it. You can use this as your advantage. If you don't have many good things to say about your second position, you can briefly comment on it and spend more time talking about the other two positions. I'll give an example in the long answer, but here are some short answers first.

Short Answers

"I've only had one position. In my last position, I worked as a marketing analyst for South American markets. I worked closely with partners in Chile and Argentina."

"I've only held two different positions. In my first job, I was a lab manager for ABC Software company. I monitored 50 computers and performed diagnostics regularly. In my last position, I was a network engineer fixing network problems and trouble shooting bottlenecks."

"I worked as a translator for the King County court house. Afterwards, I worked as a translator for hospitals. My last position was translating help documents for a software company."

Long Answer

"The first position I held was working at Radio Shack as a salesman. I learned a great deal about retail stores, about sales and working with customers, and became more independent. I thought I learned a great deal and enjoyed my work, but I wanted to experience different types of work. So I started working for Verizon. I had an office job and did a variety of different tasks such as planning, data entry, and organizing projects. I learned a little about the office setting, but I wanted to get back into sales. So I was given an opportunity to sell cell phones for Verizon at a retail store. I used my past sales experience and worked hard becoming one of the top sales person three years in a row. I've been there ever since."

I haven't worked at three different positions, so I just made one up. The question is pretty general, so the answer is pretty general. It does emphasize sales skill and coming back to the type of work that this person enjoys. But you should think of something that is related to the position you are interviewing for. Only thing you should be concerned about it clearly explaining your past three positions, what you learned there, and if you did something notable, include that as well.