100 Job Interview Questions and Answers

If you’re nervous about interviewing, bookmark and save these 100 job interview questions and answers.

Note, these 100 job interview questions and answers come from the background of an engineer, but many of the terms can be interchanged for other jobs. Simply replace the variable with whichever market, role, or application that you’re supporting.

All behavioral questions must be highlighted in a STAR format. In this article, you’ll see several of our 100 job interview questions answered with the STAR framework in real time. Copy the frameworks that we use and you’ll ace the interview.

These are 100 job interview questions and answers that hundreds of my clients prepare for when they interview for high paying six-figure roles.

February 29, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

Tell me about yourself?

Out of all the 100 job interview questions, you absolutely need to an answer for this question.

I’m X, I have been a product design engineer supporting industries and applications in X, Y, and Z. My skillets include A, B, and C and I have demonstrated accomplishments regarding projects X and Y. I’m here today interviewing for the position regarding X as my skillset would bring a great asset to the team.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I see myself as an engineer with a strong foundation in skillsets such as X, Y, and Z. I also see myself as an engineer with a strong understanding of industries such as X, Y, and Z.

What are your long term goals?

My long term goals are to develop game changing technology that has an impact in X industry and applications. I plan to do this through developing skillsets of X, Y, and Z and I see that becoming an engineer at your company would allow me to achieve so.

What are your short term goals?

My short term goals include completing projects under my belt to support X, Y, and Z industry/applications.

Why do you want this job?

I want this job because it utilized my skillsets in X, Y, and Z which makes me a great asset. I’ve always been passionate about X product in supporting industries and application such as A, B, and C. This position gives me the opportunity to do so and I would love to support the company’s mission in being the market leader in X product/industry.

Why should we hire you?

You should hire me because of my demonstrated competence in X skill set. I have a proven track record of accomplishing projects regarding X and as a result have been successful meeting goals and KPIs such as on time performance and budget requirements.

What do you like about this job?

The job provides me an opportunity to both challenge myself and for me to learn about applications regarding X industry. The job also gives me an opportunity to learn engineering skillsets such as X which I would love to use to contribute to X macroeconomic issue.

What do you know about our company?

The company mainly focuses on products supporting X and Y industry.

Along with products, the company has a very strong footprint in X application/industry.

I would love to be a part of the company’s mission to become or sustain their prescense as a dominant leader in X industry.

Why do you like this company?

The company does great engineering work and I see there’s so many opportunities for me to learn X engineering skillset to support Y products or Z industry.

What products or services are you familiar with?

I’m familiar with the X hydraulic or the Y airplane that the company specializes in. The technology that the respective product utilizes is top of the notch and I’d like to hone my engineering skills to be able to engineer such a fantastic product.

What are your strengths?

My greatest strength is my ability to be metric driven.

I understand the importance of setting measurable goals as it’s easy to track progress that way.

As a result, being metric driven has allowed me to complete many projects within budget and schedule.

What are your weaknesses?

My greatest weakness is being too detail oriented.

I’d like to highlight a situation where I was focusing way too much on the small things and as a result, missed the project deadline.

Since then, I”ve been working on focusing on more high level impacts regarding my projects.

Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult coworker

I was the responsible test engineering for a certain component in a military application.

As the responsible test engineer, I was responsible for writing test procedures which consisted of setting up and running tests using equipment such as hydraulic cylinders, pneumatic devices, load cells, strain gauges, and mechanical components.

I went into this position not knowing how to write procedures at all, and the reference procedure I was given was a mess.

I based the procedure that I wrote off on the reference, but when I reviewed it with one of the senior engineers, she bled all over it.

Turns out the procedure I was referencing was a mess.

This lady was hard to work with too – she was very vague with her instruction and gave me high level guidelines to follow.

I wasn’t used to this type of environment, as prior to this position I was in a more production based setting.

However, I had to quickly adapt and use all resources available such as standards, processes, procedures, and my colleagues.

As a result, I managed to release the test procedure successfully.

Tell me about a time you had to stand up to someone?

There would be numerous cases where I would be questioned about my design by senior engineers and leaders.

One specific example would be this fixture I was working on.

I was given numbers by my lead to integrate into the fixture, but found some mistakes.

During our one on ones, I challenged his numbers and explained my justification.

As a result, the numbers I provided have worked and the project was successfully completed.

How do you deal with things under pressure?

I work very well under harsh deadlines and high pressure.

I’d like to highlight the time where I was the responsible engineer for this pump supporting X application.

The project was huge – worth about $2M.

The engineering of the pump had to be careful and precise, as if it wasn’t, this would cost the company thousands of dollars.

Through the engineering fundamentals I had set up, I designed the pump properly, wrote the Bill of Materials, and designed a pump which was able to successfully integrate onto the customer site.

How do you learn?

I’ve always learned in a sink or swim environment.

Unfortunately, I’ve always had the luck of being brought in an environment where…everything is a mess.

In an ideal world, processes and procedures are all defined, and everything is easy to find.

But they’re not.

I’ve had to implement alot of LEAN standards in my work to be able to complete my projects in a clean manner.

Some of the specific things I’m good at regarding organization are:

• Organizing files
• Keeping important emails
• Archiving important calculations for projects

How have you been trained in previous roles?

I’ve always had to learn on the job and ask questions whenever I was stuck.

I’ve never been “hand held” in an environment and I have developed the skills needed to figure out what I need to know.

Tell me about a technical challenge you solved.

My greatest technical challenge would have to be designing a vertical turbine pump to provide a city water, as a product design engineer.

The hardest things were getting the customer senior engineer to buy everything off.

As a product design engineer, my background was very production based – the jobs I had done previously were straight to the point, simple, and followed a certain guideline/framework.

This new job was different – and there were engineering requirements that I have never even heard of before.

I had to read up on civil engineering requirements such as ACI regarding Concrete anchor analysis.

Although it was very challenging, I ended up completing the project, and eventually built up my skillset such that I could do more.

What have been your favorite projects?

My favorite project had to have been designing and conducting static tests for military weapons systems.

The work required skillsets from all disciplines of engineering – design, manufacturing, analysis, and test to get things done, which I thought was very fulfilling.

What have been your favorite subjects in school?

My favorite subject in engineering was Thermodynamics.

I really enjoyed how Thermodynamics combined principles of math and science to design and develop products that allow the world to basically run.

Thermodynamics utilizes products such as pumps, compressors, turbines, refrigerators, and I’ve been very fascinated by the science behind those products.

Tell me about a time you displayed leadership

A specific time I displayed leadership was when I had to write a mission critical test procedure.

We needed this test procedure done in time to facilitate testing and to meeting critical schedule for the customer.

How have you handled a situation where someone wasn’t doing their fair share of work?

Yes and I’d like to highlight a certain situation where I was the lead engineer for X.

As the lead engineer, I was responsible for directing two technicians to build rocket components which supported mission critical applications for the company.

I noticed that the two technicians were taking advantage of the fact that I wasn’t micromanaging them so they often took breaks, did not get things done, and left parts just sitting there.

One day, I confronted them and told them that they weren’t supporting their tasks and that I was frustrated.

They acknowledged my frustration, apologized, and as a result of the confrontation, have been infinitely better about getting things done for me. We successfully completed the rocket.

Do you prefer working in teams or individually?

(Depends on the type of work you’re interviewing for)

Although I do believe teamwork is efficient and necessary to get things done, I’m a fan of being an individual contributor. I’m my most productive when I get zoned in on my work.

When I work with other people, this takes away from my ability to focus. I do love the cooperation aspect of working with people, but realistically, I find that working with others takes away from my “flow state”.

Tell me about your greatest accomplishment

My greatest accomplishment has been designing and producing X. It was a long effort regarding utilizing alot of my engineering skillset along with working with multiple disciplines such as quality, procurement, and manufacturing to produce my design.

Today, my design is still running and supports the X market which produces 1M gallons of crude oil for the city oil refinery.

Tell us your knowledge about this industry

My knowledge of the industry consists of supporting X, Y, and Z through my engineering skillsets such as CAD and FEA.

X industry is very lucrative, fast paced, and filled with opportunity, and there are many big players in the market such as Company A, Company B, and Company C.

I’m interviewing for this role to support the Company’s mission to be the market leader in X industry.

Where do you see the outlook of X industry 5-15 years from now?

In 5-15 years, I see innovation leveraging the use of technology such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. It is very clear to see that this will be continued to be heavily invested in from a company standpoint.

As a result of this, I see myself supporting roles that integrate this type of technology into many existing systems to improve operating efficiency worldwide.

Why are you interested in jobs in this industry?

I am interested in this industry because of how critical it is for worldwide infrastructure. Doing work that supports this industry makes me a part of something much larger than I am.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your skills in X?

(Answer these moderately, don’t come off as too confident, but don’t come off as inexperienced)

Use the number 7 for something you’re fairly competent in and 8 for something you’re advanced in.

Save 9 and 10 for the absolute geniuses in the industry.

Your answer in this section should be very conversational.

What’s your expected salary range?

Be straight up prepared for this question.

“According to the research I have done regarding my skills and market value, I’m expecting something between $XX,XXX – $XXX,XXX.”

Give them a range – and if the range is not okay with the employer, then you saved yourself time and headache.

Be prepared to negotiate and really make sure you understand your relative market value.

Are you willing to relocate?

Straightforward – if you are willing to relocate say you are.

If you’re not willing to relocate, say you’re not.

Additionally, use this as an opportunity to negotiate for remote work.

Are you okay if we won’t meet your salary requirements?

This question is up to you.

Personally, if the employer didn’t meet my salary requirements, I wouldn’t take the job.

Make sure you understand your market value and know that you’re not being underpaid – it’s not worth taking a job that you’re underpaid for.

How would other people describe you?

Efficient.

I want to do the least amount of work to get something done and companies should see it the same way too. Throughout my experiences, I have done a great job of getting alot done while putting in so little. This comes as a function of streamlining processes and procedures.

If I see that a process incorporates a task that is repeatable, then I see room to improve the efficiency for that process.

I adopt this framework in everything I do, from everything administrative, to engineering work, to even emails.

Do you like fast paced or slow paced work?

Say fast paced, you don’t want to come off as someone who can’t handle fast paced work.

What keeps you going day to day?

Say something along the lines of how the position and the type of work stimulates you in your day to day.

“What keeps me going is that each day I am presented with a handful of challenging solutions that I need to utilize a strong engineering problem solving mindset to formulate. As a result of this challenging work, it makes me feel alive and keeps me coming back day to day”

Why is your GPA so low?

(To answer this question, you need to have a stacked resume and make sure that you have a justification for a low GPA)

Unfortunately due to circumstances such as X, Y, and Z, I haven’t been able to invest that much time into my grades. I’m very busy day to day with several projects and as a result, my grades in school have suffered a bit.

I expect my workload to lighten up as I complete X project and from then on, I expect to boost my GPA up significantly.

Additionally, is having a low GPA a deal breaker for this role? (Use this to challenge them)

Why is your GPA so high?

Highlight your strong work ethic if asked this question.

My high GPA is a reflection of my character – when I am presented with a challenge, whether it’s a project, a challenging class, or a presentation, I give it my all. As a result of giving it my all, I have been very successful thus far academically.

How did you get such a high GPA?

I was able to get a high GPA due to understanding how to balance a heavy workload, seeking help when needed, along with a combination of hard work and effort. I understand that working in the industry is difficult and not that different from school in the fact that it’s going to be challenging. In school, the most important skill I learned was to “learn how to learn”.

What were your favorite classes in school?

My favorite classes in school were X, Y, and Z. (Make sure these classes tie into the role that you’re applying for)

As a result of my interest in these courses, I wanted to pursue a career in engineering where I can utilize principles in mathematics and science in my day to day career.

What are your hobbies?

Don’t get caught off guard with this question – it’s to show that you’re not just going to be a drone.

My hobbies include physical activities such as hiking, surfing, and golfing. Due to the nature of the challenging work that we are in, I learned that it’s really important to get time outside and to prioritize our physical health.

Tell me about a time you had to convince someone to go with your plan.

During a one on one with my lead engineer, he presented me a certain way of going about completing this tolerance stack up calculation.

I looked closely at the numbers and saw this method wasn’t feasible.

I directly told me lead and explained the situation, and explained instead how we should be doing it.

We ended up going with the method I had presented and as a result, the part that we were working on successfully came together.

Describe your typical work day.

My typical work day consists of logging in, and checking up on my emails. I check to see if there are any issues arose up or any actions that I need to close out based on previous discussions.

Once I’m done with my emails, I proceed to the tasks I’ve been doing such as designing, writing procedures, and hardware accountability.

Throughout the day, I will call into meetings and represent the engineering team for specific action items.

Are you interviewing with other employers?

(This may be one of those that they ask to throw you off – just be transparent)

Yes – I’m currently looking for work that supports the X industry doing Y type of Engineering work.

Is this a problem? (Again, don’t be scared to challenge them)

Tell me about your greatest failure.

My greatest failure was breaking one of the manufacturing machines in the facility.

I improperly fixtured up the component onto the machine, and as a result, the part broke free from the fixture, and ended up damaging the cutter on the machine. Thankfully, no one got hurt.

I then notified faculty and management immediately and asked what the following steps to do were, which was to write an incident report.

After presenting the incident report, I learned the importance of redundancy and set that as a standard in everything I do moving onwards.

I got another chance to finish the project, and successfully completed the part I needed to make.

Using a torque wrench and properly fixturing the component, this reduced the risk of a failure to zero.

Are you able to publicly speak in front of a big crowd?

Yes and I have successfully done so through leading large product review and design review meetings in front of engineering leadership teams, which have successfully led to the release of 10+ designs and millions of dollars in revenue.

Tell me what would you do if two of your peers weren’t seeing eye to eye on something that you had to get done?

I’d like to highlight a specific example of when I had to write a test procedure.

Two different parties in two different departments were giving me conflicting information.

So I took the initiative to set up a meeting, get those parties involved, and discuss it out.

The discussion went very smoothly, and I implemented what I needed to do regarding my test procedure.

As a result, the test procedure was released and currently supports a large scale high dollar value military project.

Can you handle multiple projects at once?

Yes, I’ve had to juggle many different projects in different types of industries such as X, Y, and Z as a product designer. It’s important to be quick on my feet and learn how to shift gears and prioritize my tasks.

I’d like to highlight a situation where I was responsible for project X, Y, and Z. It was a difficult period where I attended multiple meetings in a day and had to constantly shift my thinking.

Although it was challenging, the most critical part of being able to multitask is to be clean and document everything. I documented minutes, what I needed to do, and sorted out important files such as design inputs.

As a result, I was successfully able to complete projects X, Y, and Z on schedule and within budget.

Tell me about your skillsets.

My engineering skillsets include X, Y, and Z to support industries such as A, B, and C.

Throughout my career, I’ve had the chance to lead several projects from start to finish, which resulted in $2M+ revenue for the engineering companies I have worked in.

How do you spend your spare time?

I like to spend my spare time enjoying myself with friends and family. Although engineering is very great, challenging, and fulfilling, I need to make sure that I have good work life balance in my life. As a result, I take the spare time I have to spend my time with friends.

Do you plan to continue your education?

Answer depending on your background and situation.

If you’re going to pursue higher education, yes.

If you’re not going to pursue higher education, then no.

Why did you decide to go to the school you currently go to?

The school provides a really good engineering program and it was the environment that I wanted to place myself in.

Did you like your experience at school?

Yes, I genuinely enjoyed my school experience. Along with being challenged academically, completing multiple projects, and making lifelong friends, I enjoyed every day of my academic career.

What about your experience at school could’ve been better?

The relationships between faculty and students could have been more established. It seemed as if faculty was just doing their job just to make a living, but not forge relationship with students. As a result of this, there could’ve been a greater transfer of knowledge to cultivate strong engineers.

Tell me about your group projects with students at school.

My capstone project at school consisted of designing an automotive vehicle for off-roading applications.

This was a very challenging project and it gave me a ton of insight into how the industry is ran.

The group project consisted of different teams and sub-teams such as chassis, powertrain, brake system, and electrical, similar to how the industry is ran.

We had several meetings, and were each responsible for individual tasks which would then had to be integrated onto the vehicle.

We completed the vehicle and competed, and successfully placed 13th amongst all engineering schools (100s).

Were you a part of any extra curricular activities?

I was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Engineering Honor Society for extracurriculars.

Both of those societies provided me a very positive experience as they filled my network with like minded individuals.

Did you do any sports in school?

Yes, I played baseball in middle and high school. Playing baseball helped me develop relationships amongst peers and taught me the value of competitiveness and teamwork.

Tell me about how you juggled work life balance in school.

Being a school student was difficult.

I had to juggle a heavy engineering course load, complete engineering projects, along with working part time at my internship.

The key to being able to do so was blocking time out on my calendar for each task, adequate rest and recovery, and going out to seeking help when I needed it.

What was the most stressful part about being a student in school.

The most challenging part of being a student is giving up so much of my time to classes and projects, but to not get paid for that time. As a result, I had to take on paid internships or part time work, which greatly reduced the amount of free time I had to study as a student.

Did you have a part time job during college?

Yes I did, it was necessary to be able to pay the bills and tuition for school.

I’m also independent, which led me to looking for sources of income on my own instead of relying on others.

Did you ever contemplate quitting school?

Never – I understood what I signed up for and the demanding requirements of what being an engineer entails.

Although there were many challenging moments in my academic career, I had never contemplated the idea of quitting.

What do you look for in an employer?

Ultimately I look for an employer that provides me opportunities in which aligns with my career goals such as development, the ability for advancement, and to provide me challenging work that supports X industry.

What does company culture mean to you?

Although it’s important that my values align with the company culture, ultimately it doesn’t mean much as long as I can get my work done in an effective manner regarding corresponding with my company team.

How important is company culture to you?

Although company culture is not the end all be all, it’s important that the company’s goals and conduct align with the way I do business. Otherwise, this will not be a good fit for me.

(Note – many of these 100 job interview questions use the framework of disqualification)

Why do you have certain values of culture?

My values are a function of the upbringing that I have been brought in along with the skills that I’ve developed to accomplish and succeed.

Can you handle a fast paced environment?

Yes and I’d like to highlight a specific situation where I was the lead engineering for multiple projects at a time supporting different industries.

It was a very collaborative effort and very schedule critical, but through processes such as meetings, checkpoints, and reviews, we were successfully able to complete the project on time.

We expect you to wear multiple hats, is that something you can do?

Yes and I’d like to highlight a situation where I had to wear multiple hats.

I was recently hired on as a product design engineer to design a compressor to support pneumatic devices.

Along with being the design engineer for the job, I was responsible for:

• CAD
• FEA
• Procurement
• Quality
• Testing
• Manufacturing

I successfully completed the project and it currently supports about $300K in revenue for the company.

Tell us about all of your different skills.

A few of my skills include:

• CAD
• FEA
• Procurement
• Quality
• Testing
• Manufacturing

And I’ve used the above skills to create many high performance engineering products.

Can you use Microsoft Office?

Yes – I use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in my day to day tasks such as creating documents, spreadsheets, and design review presentations.

What do our company principles mean to you?

(In a rare case, you may be asked about company principles so we added many company culture / company principle type questions in our 100 job interview questions guide)

The company principles represent the way that I carry myself and how I perform my work:

• Accountability
• Teamwork
• Collaboration
• Innovation

Those company principles already represent the values that I implement daily in my tasks.

Have you demonstrated use of our company principles in the past?

(Using the above example for Accountability)

Yes, I’ve demonstrated accountability as a product design engineer. How I’ve demonstrated accountability is that as a product design engineer, I am responsible for producing bill of materials. I take a big sense of pride and accountability by being on time. As a result, I have accomplished a 100% on time Bill of Material release.

What does it take for you to leave an employer?

It takes a lot for me to leave an employer.

To be honest, some of the things that I consider are:

• Compensation
• Benefits
• Work-life balance
• Company culture
• Learning environment
• Mentorship
• Resources
• Ability To Grow

I need to evaluate the company given those 8 items and determine whether or not I want to stay or leave the company.

What are your views on confrontation?

Confrontation, although uncomfortable, is necessary.

There are times that we have to stand up to others or confront someone for lack of performance.

We can’t be Mr. Nice Person all the time, sometimes we need to be dogmatic.

Is confrontation necessary in a work environment?

Yes, confirmation is absolutely necessary.

I’d like to highlight a situation where I had to confront someone on their poor performance.

I told them what I was seeing based on their performance and that they needed to make some changes.

As a result, they immediately listened to the feedback I provided and carried out their projects accordingly.

What makes for a healthy work environment?

A healthy work environment consists of one where one can freely speak up for themselves.

No one should be afraid to speak up and work environments should encourage those, even the inexperienced, to contribute and present solutions to the problem at hand.

What kind of a learner are you?

I learn best by doing on my own and asking questions. I’ve always had to be in a “sink or swim” type environment. In an ideal world, we would have instructional laid out for us to use, but unfortunately, that is not the case.

What are the most important traits that an employee has in order to succeed?

Ultimately, the most important trait is the skill to find the information that you need to get something done.

The information to design parts, manufacture something, define processes are all out there and it is our own responsibility to be able to find that information.

School teaches us to learn how to learn.

Do you get along with your coworkers?

I’ve always been a fairly likable person, and as a result, have positive relations amongst all of my coworkers. From having positive relationship, it makes it infinitely more easier to carry out my work.

What’s your philosophy on getting things done?

I’m a fan of doing it right – there’s no reason to rush through something only to have it done wrong.

We all need to take our time and carry out our tasks in a clear and concise fashion.

Can you explain to me what LEAN is?

LEAN is a set of manufacturing principles that define a standard way of doing something. LEAN initially originated from Japanese Automotive optimization principles and companies worldwide adopt principles that get companies to run more LEAN.

To be LEAN is to effectively reduce waste in day to day operations.

Do you know what Agile means in a corporate setting?

Agile corresponds to the ability to bring upon change regarding existing processes, projects, or procedures.

It’s important to be quick and “agile”, as in the corporate environment, many unexpected events and failures occur.

A specific example I’d like to highlight was that for one of the turbo pump projects I was working on, I unexpectedly received some inputs for the design. Our submittal due date was approaching so we had to be strategic about implementation of the inputs.

I quickly had to set up a meeting during lunch, and invited all necessary parties.

Due to the nature of the work, it had to be during lunch as we were all booked throughout the day.

Our collaboration during lunch was very productive, and as a result, the customer was very satisfied with our design.

Explain to me what Scrum principles are.

Scrum defines principles utilizing a value add methodology to get projects done.

Scrum consists of:

• Control
• Self-organization
• collaboration
• value-based prioritization
• timeboxing
• Iterative development

A specific example of how I’ve implemented Scrum in my engineering practice was when I was the lead engineer responsible for the build of our engineering development unit. The engineering development unit was very schedule critical and as a result, we incorporate Scrum philosophy when carrying out tasks.

I would delegate and determine tasks such as what we needed from a Manufacturing Engineering standpoint.

I would determine what needed to be done through understanding the engineering framework behind the product we were building, and making sure we had what we needed.

As a result, we completed the Engineering Development Unit MONTHS ahead of schedule.

Tell me how you’ve implemented LEAN practices in your work place.

I’m very process and procedure oriented and as a result of that, I implement standards in my day to day work.

As an example, when I’m designing things, I set up standard calculations to make my day to day life easier.

This reduces waste, makes me faster, and streamline processes.

As a result, I’m always able to finish projects on budget and schedule, and even save money during the process.

Can you provide me any instances where you saved the company money?

A specific example was when I implemented X process/procedure in the design lifecycle of our product.

The manufacturing of the phase was very long and drawn out due to the need for this one process.

I made recommendations to remove the process and implement features of the process downstream in our manufacturing phase.

As a result, this decreased product cost for us by 30%, saving us about $300K per year.

Tell us how you would improve this feature on our product or process.

I would either:

• Remove feature
• Add feature
• Add inspection
• Remove inspection
• Test certain data points
• Identify areas of waste
• Evaluate data

And make my judgement based off the data and performance I see.

What is your outlook on X industry in 5-10 years?

Given geopolitical issues, socioeconomic issues, and macroeconomic issues, I think that the outlook on X is positive.

It’s clear that no matter what, companies will be investing in more tech to run smoother and more lean.

As a result of company investment in tech, there will be plenty of opportunities in the X industry in the next 5-10 years.

What advancements in technology can you foresee?

I see improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning at a minimum. Through looking at a short term outlook, I can see that these technologies will be integrated into older mechanical systems.

Day to day items such as doors, stop lights, and signs will become more smart.

Software will involve less and less human decision making and it is up to us as the users of the software to ensure that the inputs are correct.

Draw a free body diagram for us of this system.

(For Engineers, be prepared to draw a free body diagram of a mechanical system. You should already be capable of doing so. This is a pretty valuable skill that you learn in school that you need to implement day to day as an engineer.)

How do you determine your boundary conditions for this system?

I would analyze the system and determine what operating forces the system is subject to. From the analysis, that would give me my operating conditions and I would utilize my engineering judgement to determine the accuracy of the analysis.

We have a customer that needs X, how do you go about providing this?

I determine what the customer’s needs are, and what I need to do to get the customer those needs.

This consists of asking question when I am stuck, doing what I need to do, so that I can deliver the customer a high quality product.

How would you know that a company is losing money?

I would take a look at the company financials and see whether revenue is positive or negative.

To go even deeper, I would analyze company sector by sector, and break the analysis down by teams, products, and programs.

I would continue diving down until I see some outliers or inefficiencies in the data that I’m seeing.

Who is our CEO?

The CEO of the company is X.

X has a proven industry record of being a leader for Y industries and the company is led to a great direction by X.

What are our most popular products we sell?

The most popular products the company sells are X, Y, and Z to support applications such as A, B, and C.

These products hold a strong operational footprint in the industries and I would love to do engineering work to support those products.

Who are our biggest competitors in the market?

The biggest competitors in the market are X, Y, and Z. Their current product line consisting of A, B, and C challenges our company and we need to undergo development work to come out with a product line better than the competitors. (Along with investing in training for the sales force, but that’s a different story)

What do you like about our company?

The company provides opportunities for growth and currently dominates the X sector, which I have a strong interest in.

I am currently interviewing in this position as an opportunity to grow my existing engineering skillset and utilize it to support the market.

What is our company’s mission?

The company’s mission is to develop products that support the X industry to aid in the country’s infrastructure and well-being.

The X industry is a huge component of the world functioning, and the company does a great job in sustaining the mission through its products X, Y, and Z.

Why should customers go with us as a provider?

Our company provides customers the most optimal experience regarding X and will sustain customers needs through Y.

Along with a high quality product, the customer service experience is near excellent and nearly all users provide a positive rating.

Have you reviewed our company financials?

Yes – this quarters results seemed very promising and a great indicator for the health of the company.

No – the past few quarters have shown unfavorable results regarding revenue and earnings, and the company needs to make operational changes in order to be net positive.

Given market conditions, how would you determine where our financials are going to be next quarter?

Given current geopolitical, socioeconomic, and macroeconomic issues such as X, Y, and Z, I foresee the financials to be X given consumer and customer behavior.

What changes would you suggest to grow revenue?

I would look to see where the inefficiencies are in the company, by sector, by product, or by team.

Through each sector, I would evaluate the numbers and would find some outlier or something concerning.

I would trace the money and then come to a conclusion based on what I see.

How would you analyze market behavior and trends?

It’s important to take both a qualitative and a quantitative approach to understand market behavior and trends.

The markets are not rational and you cannot expect it to be defined by numbers.

Instead, I would look at the news and how relevant data is affected by the news.

From that, I would come to a conclusion based on the data and continue to test my hypothesis based on inputs such as new news and data.

Do you have any questions for us?

Yes, I was wondering what your current outlook is regarding X industry and where do you see opportunities for growth and development within the industry? Also, how do you go about determining market strategy regarding the release of new products?

100 Job Interview Questions – Conclusion

There you have it – a comprehensive guide to 100 job interview questions and answers.

Many of these are in variable format and come from the background of an engineer, so adjust to your discipline accordingly.

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