Prepare for a job interview
Before, during and after: how to prepare, the interview questions that almost always come up, competency-based answers and what to ask at the end.
5 guides
Questions and answers
Competency based interview questions: examples and how to answer them
‘Tell me about a time when…’ is the start of most competency based interview questions. Here are the questions UK employers ask most, sorted by skill, with example answers built on the STAR method, what the panel scores, and how to prepare a small bank of examples that covers them all.
Strengths and weaknesses: how to answer the interview question
‘What are your strengths and weaknesses?’ comes up in almost every interview, and it's easier than it sounds once you know what the panel wants to hear. Here's how to work out your strengths and weaknesses, lists of examples, sample answers for UK jobs, and how strengths-based interviews differ.
Civil Service behaviours: the 9 behaviours, with examples
Civil Service behaviours are the nine ways of working that Civil Service recruiters assess in applications and interviews. Here is what each one means, how the bar rises by grade, example questions and answers, how to write a behaviour statement, and where things stand after the July 2026 announcement that Success Profiles will be replaced.
Questions to ask at the end of an interview (with examples)
Almost every UK interview ends with ‘Do you have any questions for us?’. These are the questions to ask at the end of an interview, sorted by topic, with what each one tells you, what to ask a panel, and what to keep until you have an offer.
On this page
The interview questions that come up in most UK interviews
Whether it's a telephone screen with an agency or a panel interview with the line manager, the same interview questions come back from one job to the next. For each one, here is what the interviewer is assessing and how to answer in a few sentences:
| Question | What they're assessing | How to answer |
|---|---|---|
| "Tell me about yourself" | Whether you can get to the point | Your current role or course, two results, why this job |
| "Why have you applied for this role?" | Whether you've read the job advert and the person specification | Two requirements you meet, with proof |
| "Why do you want to work for us?" | Your research | One specific fact about the organisation, linked to what you want to do |
| "Why are you leaving your current job?" | Your motives, and how you talk about an employer | What you're moving towards, not what you're running from |
| "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" | Self-awareness | A strength backed by a result, a real weakness and what you're doing about it |
| "Give me an example of when you..." | A competency, from real experience | A STAR answer (see below) |
| "What are your salary expectations?" | Whether you fit the budget | A researched range for the role and the region |
| "Do you have any questions for us?" | Your interest in the job | Two prepared questions about the work itself |
Competency-based interview questions and the STAR method
Many UK employers build interviews around competencies: teamwork, communication, problem solving, managing pressure. The interview questions start with "Give me an example of a time when...", and the panel scores your answer against what the person specification asks for. Answer with a real example in four steps: the Situation, your Task, the Action you took and the Result, with a figure if you have one.
Situation: "During the Christmas rush, two colleagues on our team in Leeds were off sick in the same week."
Task: "I had to keep the click-and-collect counter running without extra staff."
Action: "I reorganised the rota into two-hour slots and trained a Saturday colleague on the till system."
Result: "Average waiting time stayed under five minutes, and the manager kept the new rota."
How to prepare for interview questions without reciting
- Reread the job advert and the person specification: each "essential" criterion is a question waiting to be asked.
- Prepare five or six STAR examples from work, placements, volunteering or your studies. Most questions can be answered with one of them.
- Research the organisation: its services, recent news, and the panel members' LinkedIn profiles if you know their names.
- Practise out loud, at least once, and time yourself.
The full checklist, from the day before to the follow-up email, is in how to prepare for an interview. For the end of the interview, see the questions to ask at the end of an interview.
Questions an employer should not ask
The Equality Act 2010 protects nine characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. Section 60 adds that an employer must not ask about your health before offering you the job, with narrow exceptions such as working out the adjustments you need for an interview or a test. If a question about your plans for children, your religion or your health comes up, you can steer back politely to the skills the role requires.
Practise out loud, on the real job advert
Kandiq's mock interview starts from a job advert and your CV, analyses the organisation, then asks 9 recruiter questions one at a time, across seven kinds: introduction, background, skills, behavioural, situational, motivation, salary and terms. You answer in writing or out loud. Each answer is reviewed against the points expected and, out loud, your speaking pace and filler words are measured. The session ends with a scored report. Mock interviews are part of Kandiq Pro, with 2 coaching sessions per subscription month.
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