{"id":18365,"date":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/top-interview-questions-and-answers\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:32:45","slug":"top-interview-questions-and-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/top-interview-questions-and-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Interview Questions and Answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you about the time I showed up to an interview with mismatched socks and a coffee stain on my blazer (true story). I was so busy rehearsing \u201cperfect\u201d answers from some generic list I\u2019d Googled that I forgot to be<\/em> a human. Spoiler: I didn\u2019t get that job. But after 5 years of fumbling through interviews \u2014 and eventually landing roles at companies like Target\u2019s corporate HQ and a scrappy Midwest startup \u2014 here\u2019s what actually works.<\/p>\n

\n

The Question That Made Me Sweat Bullets<\/h3>\n

\u201cTell me about yourself.\u201d Sounds simple, right? Nope. Early on, I\u2019d ramble like a GPS stuck on reroute mode. Then I met Sarah, a hiring manager at a Minneapolis tech meetup, who told me: \u201cI don\u2019t want your resume in sentence form. I want the story behind the bullet points.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So I tried this: \u201dI\u2019m a recovering perfectionist who learned to love pivot tables more than my morning Starbucks venti.\u201d<\/strong> (For a data analyst role. Got laughs and<\/em> a callback.) The trick? Lead with a personality quirk + how it solves their problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The \u201cWeakness\u201d Trap<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your greatest weakness?\u201d used to make me panic-sweat. Once, I blurted out, \u201cI work too hard!\u201d \u2014 which sounded as believable as a $3 bill.<\/p>\n

Then I stole a move from my kid\u2019s kindergarten teacher (seriously). She\u2019d say, \u201cI\u2019m learning to\u2026\u201d<\/em> instead of \u201cI can\u2019t\u2026\u201d<\/em>. So now I answer: \u201dI\u2019m learning to trust my gut on design choices earlier in the process. Last month, it saved my team 20 hours of revisions on a Home Depot campaign.\u201d<\/strong> Framing matters.<\/p>\n

\n

The Secret Sauce No One Talks About<\/h3>\n

After 20+ interviews, I realized companies aren\u2019t hiring a skill set \u2014 they\u2019re hiring a vibe.<\/strong> My buddy Jake aced a Shopify technical round but got rejected because he \u201cdidn\u2019t seem curious.\u201d Now, I sneak in questions like:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u201dWhat\u2019s something your team argues about in Slack?\u201d<\/em> (Reveals cultural quirks)<\/li>\n
  • \u201dHow did yesterday\u2019s \u2018average Tuesday\u2019 look for this role?\u201d<\/em> (Better than \u201cWhat\u2019s a typical day?\u201d)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n

    My Go-To Cheat Sheet<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. For \u201cWhy us?\u201d:<\/strong> Mention a specific feature in their app\/newsletter\/product you geeked out over. (I once got hired at a brewery because I critiqued their Instagram captions mid-interview.)<\/li>\n
    2. For STAR method stories:<\/strong> Keep a Trello board of 5-7 \u201chighlight reel\u201d moments (e.g., \u201cThat time I pacified an irate Best Buy customer with LEGO metaphors\u201d).<\/li>\n
    3. Post-interview:<\/strong> Send a voice memo<\/strong> thank you instead of an email. 80% of hiring managers told me it made me memorable.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n

      The Real Tea \u2615<\/h3>\n

      Interviews are first dates \u2014 not final exams. My last boss admitted she hired me because I laughed at her Ted Lasso<\/em> reference, not my Excel scores.<\/p>\n

      So breathe. Be the version of you that texts mom memes and forgets to mute on Zoom sometimes. Because here\u2019s the truth: Every \u201cfailed\u201d interview taught me more than the ones where I \u201caced\u201d it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Now go forth \u2014 and maybe check your socks first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Let me tell you about the time I showed up to an interview with mismatched socks and a coffee stain on my blazer (true story). I was so busy rehearsing \u201cperfect\u201d answers from some generic list I\u2019d Googled that I forgot to be a human. Spoiler: I didn\u2019t get that job. But after 5 years…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}