So last month I tackled some of the common job interview questions you are likely to field. Some of them may have seemed tricky, but they’re small fry compared to some of these tough interview questions that employers reserve for when they really want to make the applicants sweat!

But fret not, dear readers – there are answers to (or at least efficient ways of dodging) the most fiendish of job interview questions. How? Read on…

"Some of this job will be repetitive and mundane. Are you seriously okay with that?"

Ouch – how’s that for an opening tough interview question? Of course no one is over the moon about repetitiveness and they know this, which is why if you’re overly positive you’ll smack of insincerity – they’re not just looking for an intelligent, positive response here, but one that’s believable! To that end, in answering this interview question you might find a good response to be something like: "Of course all jobs have elements that are repetitive and less interesting than the others, but I’ve always tried to give 100% in every aspect of my work – mundane or not."

"How have you managed to attend this job interview during office hours?"

This tough interview question may as well have been rephrased "does your boss know you’re here?" because that’s what they’re asking! It should be fairly obvious that the right answer isn’t "I pulled a sicky!" A good answer to this is "I took some of my pre-allocated holiday time to attend", or if you want extra brownie points it will look exceptional to say "Regrettably, I was out of paid holiday time, so I asked my employer for some unpaid leave. I don’t think it would be fair on them to pay me for time spent attending other job interviews."

"You know what the job involves – which part do you think sounds the least appealing?"

This interview question is incredibly mean and unfortunately there is no easy way out. You could try and keep it short with a "Having read through the job description, there isn’t anything which really doesn’t appeal to me" but if the job does have unappealing elements (and 99% of jobs do!) then you’ll come across as insincere. If there are aspects of the job which you can see yourself hating then be honest about it – just make sure it isn’t a major part of the job, and try to play it down when answering the interview question with a "but every job has some areas which don’t appeal, so I would still endeavour to take on these less appealing elements in a mature and professional manner."

"What kind of person do you find it hard to work alongside?"

Although this interview question seems like an easy pitfall, there is real potential to turn a negative into a positive! Start off your answer with your best trait, as in "I’ve always thought of myself as very hardworking/sincere/quick/efficient, and so I sometimes find it frustrating to work alongside those who lack that particular quality. That said, I do pride myself on being very easy to get along with and a team player, and I have never met someone I can’t work alongside." When answering the interview question this way, you highlight your positive points rather than other people’s negatives.

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