What are the most common questions in an English job interview?
Almost every English interview asks five questions: "Tell me about yourself", your strengths, your weaknesses, "Why do you want this job?", and the five-year question. The strongest answer formula: direct answer first, then one concrete example.
- Five core questions cover most of any English interview.
- Answer formula: direct answer + one concrete example + link to the job.
- Typical German traps: "Chef" ≠ chef, "aktuell" ≠ actual, and too much modesty.
B1 · Job Interviews · 10 minThe most common English interview questions, taught brick by brick.
A structured ten-slide lesson for B1 learners. Hear a strong interview answer in context, meet the five core questions and the answer frame with a tutor, then practise both across six interactive drills before a final five-question quiz. The whole arc is under ten minutes and nothing requires a signup.
- CEFR levelB1 · Intermediate
- Time to completeAbout 10 minutes
- SkillsBusiness English, Listening, Writing, Speaking
- Bricks10 blocks
01 / 06
Why English interviews keep asking the same questions
English job interviews are surprisingly predictable. Whether you are sitting in a Munich corporate tower or on a video call with a Dublin start-up, the core questions repeat: "Tell me about yourself", "What are your strengths?", "What is your greatest weakness?", "Why do you want this job?", and "Where do you see yourself in five years?". Almost every interviewer also closes with "Do you have any questions for us?". That repetition is your biggest advantage as a B1 learner: you can prepare most of the conversation before it starts. Interviewers do not ask these questions because they love surprises — they ask them because the answers reveal how you think, how you present facts, and whether you have done your homework on the company. Your goal is not perfect English. Your goal is a clear, confident answer to each of the five questions, supported by one concrete example you have prepared in advance.
02 / 06
The answer frame: answer, example, link to the job
The strongest interview answers in English follow one repeatable frame: direct answer first, then one concrete example, then a short link back to the job. "My greatest strength is staying calm under pressure. For example, last spring two colleagues were ill during our busiest week, and I reorganised the schedule so every order still went out on time. That is exactly what your job advert asks for." Three moves, four sentences, done. The frame works because English business culture reads directness as competence: interviewers expect the headline first and the evidence immediately after. German answers often build up slowly — context first, conclusion last — which in English can sound evasive. Turn the order around. One well-chosen example carries more weight than five adjectives: "reliable, flexible, motivated" is a list anyone can claim, while a short story with a number in it is proof that only you can give.
03 / 06
Questions about you and your background
"Tell me about yourself" opens most interviews, and it is not an invitation to tell your life story. Interviewers want a professional snapshot in two to four sentences: your current role, your most relevant experience, and why you are in this room. A clean B1 pattern: "I'm a … with … years' experience in … Currently I … I'm here because …". Grammar carries real weight here too. Use the present simple for your current role ("I work at …"), the present perfect for experience that still counts today ("I have led projects in three countries"), and the past simple for finished stations ("Before that, I worked in Leipzig"). Keep the chronology short — English interviews move fast, and a two-minute monologue about your school years costs you attention that you will want later, when the questions get harder and your prepared examples matter most.
04 / 06
Motivation: "Why do you want this job?"
"Why do you want this job?" and "Why our company?" test one thing: whether you did your homework. A weak answer praises in general terms — "You are a great international company" could describe a thousand employers. A strong answer names one specific fact and connects it to what you offer: "I read that you are opening a warehouse in Poland next year. I have coordinated deliveries to Polish partners for two years, so I could support that from day one." Note the shape: their fact, your experience, the bridge between them. Prepare two such facts per company — from the job advert, the company website, or recent news. This is also where the five-year question belongs. "Where do you see yourself in five years?" is not a trap; interviewers want realistic ambition that includes their company. Growing into more responsibility on this team is a good answer. Planning to open your own competing firm is not.
05 / 06
False friends and word-for-word translation
Word-for-word translation is where German candidates lose the most points. The classics: German "Chef" means your boss — the English word "chef" is a cook, so "I get on well with my chef" places you in a restaurant kitchen. German "aktuell" means "current(ly)" — English "actual" means "tatsächlich", so "my actual job" says "my real job", not "my current job". And "bekommen" is not "become": "become" means "werden", so "I became a new contract" claims you turned into one. Job-advert German resists translation too: "belastbar" has no one-word English twin — say "I work well under pressure" instead of hunting through the dictionary. The repair strategy is simple: do not translate sentences, learn phrases. Collect ready-made interview building blocks — "I'm responsible for …", "in my last role …", "I'd say my main strength is …" — and build your answers from those blocks rather than from German sentences run through a mental dictionary.
06 / 06
The modesty gap — and smart questions to ask back
The last habit to unlearn is German professional modesty. In a German interview, overclaiming can hurt you; in an English one, underclaiming does. Hedged sentences — "I think I am maybe quite good at organising" — read as lack of confidence, not politeness. English interview culture expects you to state your strengths plainly and prove them with examples: "I'm good at organising complex schedules. Last year I planned 40 trade-fair trips without a single missed flight." That is not bragging; with evidence, it is simply information. The same confidence applies to the closing question. When you hear "Do you have any questions for us?", never answer "No, everything is clear." Prepare two questions that show you are already thinking inside the role: "What would success look like after six months?" or "How is the team structured?". Save salary and holidays for later rounds — the first interview is about fit, and your questions show what you care about.