I. Tell me about yourself.

Key phrases to talk about your position in the company.

I work as a ……………… for / at ……….. company.
I’ m a …………………… ( position)
I ‘ ve worked for this company for …. (period).
I’ve been working in this position for ………… (years /months).
I’ve been working in this position since ……………. (year , e.g. 2015).
Key phrases to talk about your responsibilities:

My main responsibilities include ……………

I’m also responsible for ………….. ing, ……………. ing, and …………ing.
I’m in charge of ………………ing .
I deal with …………………. .
I oversee …………………… .
I supervise ………………… .
I troubleshoot …………… .

Key phrases to talk about your educational background and qualifications:

• I’m a certified ………………..

• I graduated from ………………… (University).
• I’ve got a university degree in …………… (majors, e.g. Applied Mathematics) from …………..
(University).
 Sample answers to describe skills and experience:

• Previously I used to work for many customer projects including banking, railway
and retail industries. And of course I did software development myself for various
mobile projects.
• As you can see from my CV , I have several years experience in this area and a
required education level.

• I have a deep IT experience in a variety of software development areas. I'm PMP

PMI certified Project Manager and have worked as PM for about 5 years. The
projects I've managed were of different difficulty level, from migration to new
software product creation. All were successfully completed and as you can see in
my resume there are several positive references on my work from product owners.
The latest project which I headed was an ERP system for IBM GTS department. The
system was developed through the classical waterfall model as all requirements
were perfectly defined on initial stage by main stakeholders. The ERP system was
developed by the team of approximately 20 people during a year time frame. I also
have an experience in Agile model approach and have Scrum Master certification.
So, as I have an experience in all software Product development stages, you can
rely on me in your new challenging project.
II. Useful phrases:

1. Asking for I’m sorry, could you expand on what you mean by…
clarification/refor Do you mean , how do I ……?
mulating/repetitio Would you mind repeating that?
n Pardon?
Sorry?
Could you repeat what you said?
What was that?
I’m afraid I didn’t catch that.
2. Playing for time That’s a very interesting question. I would say…..
That’s a _difficult question to answer; let’s just say that …….
Let me just think about it for a moment…
I haven’t really thought about that, to be honest, but I think (it would
be interesting).
Actually, that’s interesting. I haven’t thought about it, but maybe I’d
…
May I think about it for a moment?
How can I put this?
How can I best say this?
Let me get this right.
3. Structuring your I’d like to answer that in two ways: firstly…. Secondly …..
answer I think there are two important aspects to this question.

4. Giving concrete Let me give you an example of what I mean.

examples Take time management…, for instance.

5. Validating your Is that what you wanted to know?

answer Does that answer your question?

6. Saying something What I’m trying to say is …

in another way In other words,
Perhaps I shoul make it clearer by saying …
How can I best say this?
To put it another way, …
In brief, …
7. Summing up In short, …
To sum up, …
So in conclusion, …
To summarise, …
8. Interrupting Sorry to butt in, …
Could I just say that , …
Sorry to interrupt, but …
Key phrases to solve some problems on the phone:
1. The interviewer is speaking too fast and you can’t keep up.

• Could you speak more slowly, please?

• Could you slow down a bit? I’m having problems following you.

2. You’re not exactly clear what the interviewer means.

• Could you repeat that, please?

• What exactly do you mean by ...? / Can you run through that again?
• Can you run it by me again?
• Could you explain that in another way, please?

3. It’s bad line and you can’t hear.

• You’re breaking up. / You’re very faint.

• Would you mind spelling that for me, please?
• I’m afraid I didn’t get that.
• I’m sorry, but could you speak up a little?
• I didn’t quite hear that, sorry, can you say that again?
• I didn’t catch that last bit. Can you say it again please?

4. Checking understanding.

• Do you mean that …?

5. Signal phrases for when you have a question.

• Am I to understand that…
• Sorry, but just to clarify…
• So, what we’re saying is…
 List of Questions updated

The questions the experts added:

1. What was the biggest failure in your previous projects? What lessons have you learned?
2. What do you usually do if you’re facing any issues, e.g. technical issues?
3. Why do we have to hire you?
4. What type/kind of work do you like / don’t you like? Are you more a developer or a tester?
5. Would you like to join our project? (without explaining yet).
6. What is the most important difference between a support team and a customer?
7. Why would you like to work on this project?
8. How can you contribute to our current project?
9. I can see from your CV that you’ve joined your current project not long time ago. Why are you
applying now to our project? What’s your personal reason?
10.Please, describe a problematic situation you had on the project when you suggested a solution you
were really proud of. Was it your own solution?
11.How difficult were the tasks you dealt with on your previous projects?
12.Describe your ideal team.
13.Assess your skill in SQL from 1 to 5. (1=the best, 5=the worst)

Other popular questions:

14.Tell me about yourself/ about your background?

15.What do you consider to be your strengths/ weaknesses? / What do you think your strengths and
weaknesses are?
16.What has been your biggest professional success so far, and why?
17.What are your current responsibilities and role on the project?
18.Would you like to participate in this project? Are you motivated enough to participate in it?
19. How would you describe your personality?
20.What are your most proud of having done in your present work? (What issues did you have? What
were your proposals? What did you do? What was the result?)
21. What is the worst problem you have had in your present job and how did you solve it?
22. What is your worst fault and what is your best quality?
23. Describe your present job – what do you find rewarding about it?
 24. What do you do in your spare time?
25.What would you say has been your greatest achievement so far?
26. What is your current job? / What’s your current project or latest experience?
27. Have you ever worked in a team? Was it a small team or a big team?
28.What was the most interesting (from technical points of view) project you’ve taken part in so far?
29.Are there any areas you might be keen on in the future?
30.What is your main experience?
31.Where do you think your focus is on now?
32.Are there any questions you’d like to ask me?
• If I was selected for this position ,what would be my main responsibilities?
• What is the main goal of the project?
• Could you specify the use of the technology ? (an interviewee should follow the interview flow)
Less frequent questions:
33.What experience do you have that qualifies you for this job?
34.How long has this project lasted?
35.Do you know the key ideas of the project you are applying for?
36.Are you familiar with it?
37.Do you know your role in this project?
38.How do you understand this role?
39.What are your long-term career plans? (American customers)
40.We have a lot of applicants for this position, why should we appoint you?
41.What has been your most valuable experience?
42.When did you last lose your temper? Describe what happened?
43. Which is more important for you status or money?
44.How long do you think you’d stay with us if you were appointed?
45.Are you an ambitious person?
46. What is the best idea you have had in the past months?
47.What excites you about the job you are doing now?
48. What worries you about the job you are doing now?
49. Describe you ideal boss.
50.How do you deal with difficult people?
51. Assess yourself in English.
52. Are you a communicative person? What do you colleagues say about you?
53. Have you ever experienced in a project based on documents/ mails/remote project?