I was asked these questions (not in any particular order)
1 - Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
2 - Is it okay if we send you to our overseas offices?
3 - How comfortable are you working with business unit people?
4 - You’ve worked in France and Canada on different projects, how do you compare both places?
5 - What difference you found while working in France as compared to Pakistan?
6 - If I were to ask your professor about you, what will be his first sentence?
7 - How comfortable are you taking a lead role, not only technical but managerial as well?
8 - Do you plan to settle in France?
9 - Tell me your main strengths and weaknesses
10 - Are you okay to do some programming as well?
11 - What do you think will be the main responsibilities of your job?
12 - What are your long term goals?
13 - Please introduce yourself.
14 - Why did you chose our company/Why do you want to work here?
15 - how many products do you think our company has?
16 - how your expertise in this area will be helpful to achieve our goal ABC.
I had this interview back in March in one of the leading European companies. In fact I had 4 interviews with 4 different persons (VP, Team lead, Project lead and HR) on the same day, lasting around 5 hours. One was technical (with project lead) and others were like this, i.e. evaluating me as a suitable candidate for the job and whether I’ll be a good addition to their team.
I was honest, straightforward and clear about my answers. Yes, I did practice. I watched some youtube videos, read many blogs and websites advising on answers to these questions. No question surprised me or took me off-guard. I think that’s the key, don’t feel and show that you were not expecting this question from them and you are making up an answer on the fly.
Practice does help, do it with your friend or family member or even in front of the mirror. Most of the time the first question will be “please introduce yourself”. So keep an answer ready for this one, and keep it short to 2 minutes max.
People in the higher positions (VP, Team lead, HR) will first spend sometime introducing the company, their products, culture, working environment etc. Listen to them clearly but don’t forget that soon you’ll have to do the same, i.e. introduce yourself (education, professional life, may be interests/hobbies etc.). While they can take 10/15 minutes, you should only take 2 minutes.
Always get the details of the company, their products, sector they are working, current developments, number of employees. It’s always good to get some information about the company that tells you their standing or goodwill. For example, the company might have received the award for best environment friendly company or voted as best place to work or voted for best work ethics or even if they are using some new technology like (just examples ) nanomaterials, Internet-of-Things, Cloud Computing etc. Then in your answers tell them that you read this company is focusing more using advance technologies and that interests you, or this place was voted as the best place for XYZ and this caught your attention.
Normally they know what answers you will give, they expect that you may use standard answers but what they really want to see whether you made some effort to prepare or not. Did you spend sometime to look at their company, at the job description or their future plans or just came unprepared.
So don’t ever go unprepared, don’t appear nervous, clueless or scared. No one expects you (and me) to know everything. Skills can be taught, but attitude and habits cannot. Show them you have good habits and a positive attitude.
Good luck and practice, practice and practice.
BTW, after 3 weeks they offered me the job and I’ll join them soon!