1. Tell me about yourself
This sounds like an invitation to autobiography. It is not. It is a test of whether you can judge what is relevant and edit yourself in real time — a proxy for how you will communicate in the job.
The answer that works is roughly ninety seconds and follows a simple arc: where you are now, the one or two things in your background that led you here, and why this role is the logical next step. Present, past, future. Nothing about your childhood, your degree subject if it was fifteen years ago, or your hobbies unless they are genuinely relevant.
A rough shape: "I am a data analyst at a logistics company, where I own the reporting for our European operation. I moved into analytics from an operations role, which is why I tend to focus on numbers people will actually act on. I am looking for a role with more ownership of the modelling side, which is what drew me to this one."
2. What is your greatest weakness?
The question is not looking for a weakness. It is looking for evidence that you can assess yourself accurately and do something about what you find. That is why the humblebrag — "I am a perfectionist", "I care too much" — fails so badly. It answers a question nobody asked and signals that you either lack self-awareness or are unwilling to be straight.
Name something real, ideally something that is genuinely not central to the role, and then spend most of your answer on what you have changed. "I am not naturally good at delegating. When I moved into a team lead role I was still doing too much of the delivery myself, and it slowed the team down. I now run a weekly plan where I explicitly assign ownership rather than assuming it, and I have had to get comfortable with things being done differently to how I would do them."
That answer is honest, specific, and demonstrates the thing the interviewer actually wants to see.
3. Why are you leaving your current job?
The interviewer is checking for two things: whether you are running towards something or away from something, and how you talk about people who are not in the room.
Whatever the reality, frame it around what you are moving towards. Growth, scope, a different kind of problem, a sector you care about. If your current situation is genuinely bad — a difficult manager, a company in trouble — you can be honest without being bitter. "The team was restructured and the parts of the role I enjoyed moved elsewhere" is true, neutral, and closes the topic.
The hard rule is that you never criticise a former employer or colleague, even mildly, even when you are completely in the right. The interviewer cannot verify your version, so the only data point they get is that you are willing to speak badly about an employer to a stranger.
4. Tell me about a time you failed
Candidates make one of two mistakes here: they claim they cannot think of one, or they choose something so trivial it is obviously a dodge. Both read as evasion.
Pick a real failure with real consequences, but one that is finished — you do not want to be describing a fire that is still burning. Then structure it: what the situation was, what you decided and why it was wrong, what the impact was, what you did about it, and specifically what you do differently now.
The last part carries all the weight. "We missed the launch date by six weeks because I had not built any slack into the plan for the client's legal review. I now build review cycles into the timeline as fixed blocks rather than treating them as buffer." Interviewers are not hoping you have never failed. They are checking whether failure teaches you anything.
5. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Nobody expects a genuine five-year plan, and the ones who claim to have one often sound rehearsed. What the interviewer is checking is whether your ambitions and this job point in the same direction, because a candidate who obviously wants something else will leave within a year.
Answer in terms of capability rather than titles. "I want to be genuinely expert at pricing rather than broadly competent at everything, and eventually to be the person the commercial team comes to on it." That is honest about ambition without committing you to a job title that may not exist in that company.
If the honest answer is that you do not know, say something close to it: you know the direction, not the destination. That is more credible than a manufactured plan.
6. What are your salary expectations?
This one is uncomfortable because it is genuinely adversarial — the first person to name a number usually does slightly worse. But refusing to engage at all reads as evasive.
The strongest move is to ask first: "What range have you budgeted for the role?" Many employers will tell you, and in a growing number of places they are legally required to publish it. If you have to answer, give a researched range rather than a point, anchor it to market data, and make clear it is negotiable on the whole package.
"Based on what I have seen for comparable roles in this market, I have been looking in the region of X to Y, though I would want to understand the full package before being firm." Do your homework first — comparing the role against real salary data for your country and level is the difference between a confident range and a guess.
7. Do you have any questions for us?
The worst possible answer is no. It suggests either that you are not interested or that you assume the job is already yours. This is also the one moment in the interview you fully control, so it is worth preparing properly.
Ask things that only this person can answer. What does someone need to do in the first six months for this to have gone well? What is the hardest part of the role that is not in the job description? How does the team handle disagreement about priorities? Why is the role open?
Avoid anything you could have found on the website, and leave holiday and benefits for the offer stage. One question that reliably lands well: "Is there anything about my background that gives you doubts?" It is slightly nerve-racking, but it hands you the chance to address an objection before it costs you the role.