Employer-ready candidates understand how to speak confidently about their technical and transferable skills in ways that sell their professional value to employers. View a more detailed interview prep guide in the Behavioral Interview Prep Guide.
Tell me about yourself.
Think about your past (your previous experience and education), present (how your professional and academic experiences are preparing you for this role), and future (why you want the job you’re interviewing for).
What is your greatest strength?
Consider the job description and the required skills in the posting and align them with a skill you’ve mastered.
Why do you want this job? (or) Why did you choose to go into communications?
Demonstrate your research. What about the library or company’s mission, values, and population served do you identify with? How do your skills align with this role? Explain why you’re passionate about the communications profession, but avoid getting overly personal. Keep your reply high-level.
How does social media help create an online presence for a library?
Establishing a social media presence can increase engagement and advertise the library’s resources to the community. Discuss any professional experience you have leveraging social media to engage with an audience. If you don’t have any professional experience, discuss coursework and strategies you would implement. Always provide reasoning.
How important do you think cross-departmental collaboration is and why?
This question is designed to investigate your communication and collaboration skills. Discuss experience you’ve had collaborating across departments, and explain how those collaborations were successful.
What is something your current supervisor or team would say about you?
Focus on your strengths! Try to align with a quality listed in the job posting, like “adaptable” or “flexible.” Provide an example if you can.
Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?
This question seeks your career goals. Share how you envision your career path, but make sure it aligns with experience you’d obtain in this specific position and organization.
What are your salary expectations?
Use resources like salary.com and glassdoor.com to research an appropriate salary range for your location and the job title before interviewing. When possible avoid giving a specific number. Inquire about the range, but rely on your market research, education, and previous experience to demonstrate your value.
Tell me about the most difficult project you’ve worked on.
Don’t be afraid to brag! Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to tell a story about the project and how you were successful.
Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a coworker. What was the situation and how did you resolve it?
This question probes your approach to teamwork and conflict resolution. Use the STAR method again to explain the situation and the steps you took to resolve the situation.
Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to answer a situational question if you are new to the field and lack professional experience. If you don’t have prior industry experience, demonstrate what you’ve learned in your coursework and how you’ll apply that theory to practice. Use previous experience (from the industry or elsewhere) to tell a story using the STAR framework for behavioral questions to provide context and detail about your accomplishments.
