Single / Post
- Posted Date:
- Oct 6, 2026
- Category:
Job interview in English: questions and answers
Almost everyone who comes to me before an interview in English says the same sentence: I understand everything, but I cannot answer. It is hardly ever a language problem. The answer does not yet exist in any language. In your own language you could improvise it on the spot. In English there is no spare attention for that.
So this is not a list of tips. It is a list of questions and answers you can turn into your own.
Three things worth remembering
- Prepare content, not vocabulary. Five of your own stories will carry most questions.
- Answer in 30 to 60 seconds. Shorter sounds evasive, longer falls apart.
- Learn two rescue sentences for the moment you do not understand a question. Those two sentences will do more for you than a hundred new words.
A shape that works for most questions
The interviewer wants four things: the situation, your task, what you specifically did, and what came of it. That is the familiar STAR structure, and its only flaw is that delivered too rigidly it sounds like a form.
The version that sounds human: one sentence of context, one about the problem, two or three about what you did, one about the result. Put a number in the result where you can, even an approximate one.
Prepare five stories: a difficult project, a disagreement in the team, a mistake of your own, something you learned quickly, and an achievement you are proud of. Those five will cover two thirds of what you are asked.
Twelve questions and answers
1. Tell me about yourself.
This is not a request for your life story. It asks why you are in this chair.
I am a logistics coordinator with six years in international freight. For the last three years I have run the Scandinavian routes for a team of twelve. What I enjoy most is untangling a delivery chain when something goes wrong. That is why this role interests me: you are rebuilding your northern network, and that is exactly the work I like doing.
Three parts: who you are professionally, what you do best, why this company. Thirty seconds, not three minutes.
2. Why do you want to work here?
Two things. You publish your delivery times openly, which tells me operations are taken seriously here. And the role covers both planning and supplier contact, which in my current job sit in two separate teams. I would rather own the whole process.
Something specific about the company, something specific about the job. No generic compliments.
3. What is your greatest strength?
I am good at staying calm when a plan collapses. Last winter a supplier failed two days before a launch. I found a replacement, moved the schedule by four days and told the client before they noticed anything. The launch went ahead.
A trait plus evidence. The trait alone means nothing.
4. What is your greatest weakness?
Do not say you are a perfectionist. Name a real one and say what you do about it.
I tend to take on too much rather than delegate, because it feels faster. It is not faster. Since last year I hand over one recurring task a month, and I write down what I handed over, so I do not quietly take it back.
5. Why are you leaving your current job?
Never speak badly of an employer. Talk about what you are moving towards.
I have learned a lot there and the team is good. The scope has stopped growing, though, and I want a role where I deal with suppliers directly rather than through another department.
6. Tell me about a conflict with a colleague.
A colleague and I disagreed about the order of two deliveries. I asked him to walk me through his reasoning, and it turned out he had information about the client that I did not. We went with his order. Since then we share the client notes before planning, and that argument has not come back.
A good answer ends with what you changed, not with who was right.
7. Tell me about a mistake you made.
I confirmed a shipping date without checking customs capacity, and the delivery was three days late. I called the client myself the same day, gave them the new date and offered a partial delivery. Now I never confirm a date before the customs check, and that rule is in our team checklist.
Mistake, consequence, repair, systemic change. Four sentences.
8. Where do you see yourself in five years?
You do not need a five year plan. You need a direction.
Still in operations, but leading a team rather than a route. I would like to be the person who designs the process, not only the one who runs it.
9. How do you handle pressure?
I write things down. When three things are urgent at once I list them, decide which one costs the most if it slips, and tell the other two people when they will get an answer. What stresses people is not waiting. It is not knowing.
10. Why is there a gap in your CV?
Answer calmly and briefly. A gap stops being a problem the moment you stop defending it.
I took eight months off to care for a family member. I kept my certification current during that time and I came back in March. I am fully available now.
11. What are your salary expectations?
Give a range and justify it by scope, not by need.
Based on what I have seen for this scope in this market, I am looking at somewhere between X and Y. If the role includes supplier contracts as well, I would expect the upper end. I am open to discussing the whole package.
12. Do you have any questions for us?
Always have three. Having none reads as having no interest.
What does a good first three months look like in this role? What is the biggest problem the person in this job will inherit? How is the team measured?
Rescue phrases
Learn these by heart. You will use at least one.
- You did not understand: "Sorry, could you rephrase that?"
- You need a second: "That is a good question. Let me think for a moment."
- You want to check: "So if I understand correctly, you are asking about…"
- You lost the thread: "Sorry, let me start that again."
- You do not know a word: "I do not know the English word for it, but it is the person who checks the goods before they leave the warehouse."
The last one matters most. Describing a word you do not know sounds competent. Stalling mid sentence does not.
What not to do
- Do not memorise answers word for word. It is audible immediately, and one unexpected question brings the whole structure down.
- Do not apologise for your English at the start. It sets the tone for everything after it.
- Do not say "we" throughout when the question was about you.
- Do not translate job titles literally. Explain what you actually did.
- Do not answer in one sentence and wait for the next question.
A two week plan
Week one. Write your five stories in your own language, five sentences each. Move them into English and simplify. Record yourself on your phone and listen back, looking for the places where you slow down rather than for grammar mistakes.
Week two. Answer the twelve questions above out loud, timed, 30 to 60 seconds each. Ask somebody to put them to you in a random order. Practise the five rescue phrases until they are automatic.
The day before. Do not learn new vocabulary. Read your five stories once and go to bed.
If you would rather practise with somebody
I run interview preparation: ten weekly sessions over roughly two and a half months, 2,500 PLN. Separately I rewrite CVs so they get through automated screening and applicant tracking systems, 1,500 PLN. Both together cost 4,000 PLN. If the real issue is not the interview but everyday fluency, that is separate, longer coaching. English Communication Coaching
