The 10 Job-Interview Questions to Practise in English

Interview answers in a second language fail for structural reasons far more often than vocabulary reasons. You know the words. Under pressure, you lose the shape of the answer. So these ten are here in the order they usually appear, with the trap in each one.

1. "Tell me about yourself."

What it tests: whether you can summarise yourself in 90 seconds. The trap is telling your life story chronologically. Use present–past–future: what you do now, the experience that makes you credible, why this role.

2. "Why this role?" and 3. "Why this company?"

What it tests: research and genuine intent. The trap is generic enthusiasm. Name one specific thing about the product, the team or the problem — and connect it to something you have actually done.

4. "Walk me through your CV."

What it tests: whether you can edit. The trap is reciting it. Pick three moves that explain your trajectory and skip the rest.

5. "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague."

What it tests: whether you can be honest without being a liability. The trap is either claiming you never disagree or describing a conflict where you were simply right. Show the disagreement, what you did, and the outcome.

6. "Tell me about a failure."

What it tests: self-awareness and whether you learn. The trap is the humblebrag failure. Choose a real one with a real cost, then spend most of the answer on what changed afterwards.

7. "What is your biggest weakness?"

What it tests: calibration. The trap is the disguised strength. Name something true, specific, and not central to the job — and say what you do about it now.

8. "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

What it tests: whether your ambition fits the role. The trap is describing a job at another company. Describe a capability you want to build that this role feeds.

9. "Do you have any questions for us?"

What it tests: whether you are evaluating them. The trap is "no". Prepare three: one about the team, one about what success looks like in six months, one about a real constraint.

10. "What are your salary expectations?"

What it tests: whether you can hold a number under pressure. The trap is answering in your second language without having said the number out loud before. Practise saying the figure in a full sentence, twice, at normal speed.

How to rehearse these properly

Do not write ten scripts. Build six to eight STAR stories that flex across questions, then practise being interrupted mid-story. The interview is not a recital; it is a conversation you have to steer in a language you are still thinking in.

Record yourself. Then do it with a tutor who will follow up with a hostile question, because that is the part nobody rehearses and everybody fears.