Interview | HR | Job Search | Job Hunting

2 Job Interview Questions that 90% Of Developers Fail

These answers are more important than hard and soft skills.

Remember the situation — you are interviewed to get a job. You did well with the technical part of the interview: handled all the test tasks, excelled at live coding, answered all tricky tech questions. The technical expert leans back in his chair and nods with satisfaction.

You exhale with relief — the hardest part is behind.

But not yet. There are strange questions ahead from the HR specialist. Excellent hard skills are not enough to get the job. The technical expert is not in charge here. The HR specialist is the one who makes a decision about your hire. So you need to answer more questions.

There may be more than 2 questions. Every HR has its own technology to get into the candidate’s head. But the following 2 questions are the most important to answer. Alas, most candidates fail to answer them.

Why are you leaving your previous job?

Why do you want to work for our company?

Let’s discuss them in detail.

Why are you leaving your previous job?

Any negative answer to this question will bury the candidate.

Never make the following mistakes:

• Talking about the previous job or manager bad
• Complaining about overworks, teammates, or working conditions
• Explaining how underestimated you felt there

Even if all these points are true. Nobody actually cares about that previous company. The goal is to check the candidate’s attitude and soft skills.

If a candidate had conflicts with everyone in the previous company, it’s a red flag. Probably that candidate will also have conflicts in the new company.

It’s important not to discount yourself while you answer this question. This is the best moment to increase your worth. Show your value and importance to your previous company.

The best way is to say that you still work there. The company is great and teammates are awesome. The salary is big enough. You are a respectful expert and perform interesting tasks.

But you want to grow further.

You are in the passive search. There is no hurry. You look for growth opportunities and more global challenges. It’s not that tomorrow you urgently need money to buy some food for your cat.

A good answer will show your value. The more value you offer to the employer, the better your chances to get a job.

Why do you want to work for our company?

Usually, the candidate doesn’t care so much about the company. The candidate needs money to feed the family, not the work itself. It would be perfect getting money without work.

Answering this question, candidates start to invent the bicycle. They come up with crazy reasons why they want to work here.

Some wrong answers:

• You are an awesome company — What does “awesome” mean? It’s not an answer.
• I need money — Discounts the value and shows disrespect to the company
• I am ready to work for any company that pays — Same as above.
• You have a friendly team/manager — An obvious lie. How can a candidate know about the team if he didn’t work with them yet?
• I really want to work in the company — Expresses neediness and doesn’t answer the question.

To answer this question, you need to prepare in advance. Gather information about the company and its products. Show that you care for whom you gonna work.

You may make a couple of compliments to the company’s product or politics. But not too much. The company is good, but you will choose from a set of similar companies.

Also, a useful idea would be to ask a question:

How can I be sure that I want to work for you when I’ve seen only a beautiful picture on the internet? I think that we should hear all the disadvantages of each other. Clearly determine the vector of development. What exactly do you want me to do as an employee?

Final Thoughts

The proper answers to these 2 questions are 80% of your success during the HR interview. Remember that an HR specialist decides to hire you or not.

Sometimes your attitude and work ethics matter more than the hard skills. Employer search for motivated and engaged employees. You can easily show these characteristics following the simple rules above.

So do your best during the interview and get your dream job!

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