Now that many interviewers are bored of asking the same old questions from the same old template expecting the same old answers from the candidates, don’t be surprised if you get a volley of challenging and tricky questions in your next interview.

Here’s how you can be prepared for them:

Some tricky challenging questions asked at interviews:

  • If you were a tree what kind of tree would you be?
  • Describe yourself in one word?
  • Your team is uncooperative and not producing expected results what would you do?
  • Give an example where you could not meet your goals and what did you do?
  • What has been your biggest mistake?
  • What will you do if you don’t get this offer?

And the list continues .. but you get the idea, these are the questions where your mind freezes for a second , or more and the wheels must work harder to get you out of “spot”.

Often the objective of asking such questions is not looking for a precise answer but the interviewer wants to assess you on your ability to think out loud or just come up with a creative answer even if it isn’t completely true (note for some of the above only, know that the more truthful you are on your answers the better they would be – really!)

You might have a smart answer to each of the above but if you don’t mean what you say – it will eventually come across and people don’t usually like wisecracking Smart Alecs, we all admire people who can think intelligently on their feet. Also it is good to know that usually people who think fast on their feet have prepared themselves to do so – nothing beats preparation and practice.

So although you might think that such questions should be left to answered on spot, it’s a good idea to prepare these beforehand – now they are not unexpected and challenging anymore!

So what are your answers to these tricky questions?