Data Analytics
We analyzed 209 interview reviews for Data Analytics from various job sites, social network groups and forums.
Here are the most frequent job interview questions asked by HR managers during initial phone or onsite interviews. This list does not include technical or factual questions.
10 frequent non-technical questions for Data Analytics:
According to our research, hiring managers looking to fill Data Analytics role ask soft skills interview questions 3% less frequently than for other roles.
1. Walk me through your resume top question
How to answer
This question is often asked at the beginning of the interview.
The interviewer wants to hear a brief overview, a summary of your professional experience, in order to have a starting point from which they can dig deeper.
Structuring your answer wisely gives you a good chance to emphasize your Key Selling Points and to channel the conversation in the direction you want.
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About Yourself
Print out your resume. For each of your recent job experiences (at this point do not go back more than 5 years), write down 3-5 key points at which you feel you are strong.
For example, for your current (or previous) job, you may want to list skills like “Excellent presentation skills,” “Employee Engagement guru,” “Analytical skills,” “Attention to detail” (they don’t have to be all soft skills, but being aware of at least a few of your strong soft skills is important). Make sure you have examples for each of your statements.
If you have difficulties to think of these points, search online for job descriptions for similar job roles, and figure out which of those keywords appeal to you. Look for people on LinkedIn that have jobs similar to the one you are applying for. Their profiles often contain many keywords that you can use in response to this question.
Now that you’ve gone through all your recent experiences, are there any points that repeat more often than others, or are especially important to you? These are candidates to be your Key Selling Points -highlight 3-5 of them.
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About The Company
Research the company and the role for which you're being interviewed. When researching the company, find out what skills and qualities they value the most. Carefully consider the job requirements. What is it that you will be responsible for?
Now, write down 3-5 keywords from the job description that you find of utmost importance for this job role.
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About The Fit
Try to establish the match between your own highlighted keywords, and those of the job description. These are your Key Selling Points! You should normally limit yourself by 3-5 such keywords or phrases.
Now, craft a story based on your career history. You don’t have to go in chronological order - you can start with your current or last job experience, and then go back to your previous ones, or focus on just the experiences that are relevant to your story, and only briefly mention the less relevant ones and only if needed.
Select one point to highlight for each phase of your career. Make sure you ingrain your Key Selling Points in the interviewer’s memory - after the interview is over, you want them to remember you as someone who is strong at XYZ, or experienced in A, B and C.
It's okay to focus more on stellar achievements and brag a little bit about them.
Pro Tip
Don't bore the interviewer by going through your resume line-by-line.
Instead, WOW them by succinctly (keep it within 2 minutes) telling a story of how your career path has brought you to this point and how you are the best candidate for this role.
Super tip: The more you practice with Mr. Simon, the better you'll be at telling WOW-worthy succinct stories!
2. Tell me about yourself
How to answer
Most job candidates expect this to be one of the first interview questions and probably think of it as an “icebreaker” to get the interview started. It is much more than that! It is your opportunity to show the interviewer your relevance for the job. You want the employer to know that you are qualified to do the job, you are interested in doing the job and capable of getting it done.
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About Yourself
What is your current occupation? Define yourself professionally in one statement.
Pick 3 key skills that make you great at your work (your Key Selling Points). How have you applied these skills?
Try to give some numbers to support your statement.
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About The Company
Your first step is to Research the company to find out as much as you can about what they do and their approach to their business and their employees.
Based on what you know about the company and the job description, why are you interested in the position you are applying for?
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About The Fit
Now is the right time to show the fit between your skills and the company's requirements. Your answer works best if you emphasize your relevance. How do you do this? You will have already researched the company, studied the job description to identify their needs and possible pain points and prepared the relevant Star Stories that show how you addressed similar issues in the past. Your next step is to develop your Present-Past-Present approach.
Start with the Present. Focus on the skills and experience from your most recent positions. What has enabled you to get the job done successfully and how this relates to what the employer is looking to accomplish.
Next go back to the Past. Here is where your Star story comes in. Explain how you were able to use your skills and experience to accomplish a task that relates to an area of concern for the employer.
Finally come back to the Present – summarizing the lessons you learned and how they shaped your response and approach today.
Remember, the whole conversation is about the present, not the past. Just one sentence can summarize why your approach works, and its applicability and relevance to this position.
Pro Tip
You can also end with a question like:
“Do you know what the current needs in the company/department are, where my skills and experience can help?”
That can help you learn more about the company and the job, turn the “interrogation” into a conversation and will allow you to relax some tension.
Read our blog post to learn more about how to answer this question.
3. Tell me about your greatest professional accomplishment
How to answer
Of all your accomplishments (and I am sure you’ve had a great many of them!), you should choose the one most relevant to this job position.
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About Yourself
In preparation for answering this question, list the top 3 professional accomplishments that you are most proud of. No need for lengthy descriptions, just a sentence or two for each one to help you recall each situation.
Write down your Key Selling Points - your top 3-5 skills that make you a strong professional.
Make sure you have developed the story behind each accomplishment and have a strong command of the details of what happened so that you can tell the story clearly and distinctly.
Along with each accomplishment, mark which of your Key Selling Points they showcase. How exactly?
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About The Company
Based on your research of the company, what are their current needs?
- What are the major projects going on?
- What are the expectations for the position you are applying for?
- Think about which of your accomplishment stories best fit their needs and expectations?
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About The Fit
Once you have decided on the appropriate accomplishment story, think how you will relate it in an interview and how you will make it relevant to the the job you are seeking. One approach is to use the Present-Past-Present technique.
Let's say that the accomplishment was leading your team in installing a new billing system and bringing it in on time and under budget.
You might start off in the Present by talking about the importance of having good leadership skills.
Then move to the Past to relate your story about how you successfully lead your team in accomplishing the objective.
Finally, come back to the Present to address how you will be able to help them reach their goals (the ones you learned about when researching the company) going forward.
Be sure to keep practicing your accomplishment story until it flows naturally and convincingly.
Pro Tip
Most enterprises are now going through major transformations, often called Digital Transformation.
Do your research on what it means and what is often involved, to get a better idea of the current goals and environments in companies. But one thing that definitely characterizes this transformation is striving for agility.
Whether the prospective employer is a long-established company or a startup, they are looking for people who demonstrate qualities like agility and adaptability, which are generally considered to be both helpful and quite a safe choice in most circumstances today.
4. Tell me about a time you had a poorly performing team member
How to answer
Underperforming employees can appear at any job.
Each person performs his/her tasks on schedule, and the entire team works together to get the project done, but there may be times when one team member is exhibiting low or poor performance and generally displays a lack of motivation. It can affect the entire team.
This question addresses your collegiality and your ability to work on a team. The interviewer would like to know if you can successfully motivate others without it coming across as condescending.
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About Yourself
Ask yourself the following questions based on your own experiences.
- Do you like working on a team?
- How well do you work in groups, and what role do you tend to take on in a team project (for example, leader, mediator or follower)?
- Are you easy to get along with?
- What can you do to support other team members?
- How do you act to help to minimize the damage of poor performance to the project?
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About The Company
Research the company ahead of time so that you can present yourself as someone who would fit seamlessly into their team culture.
The example you use to respond to the question should be relatable to the company you are applying to.
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About The Fit
You need to demonstrate to the interviewer that you are both enthusiastic about teamwork and that you get along with colleagues.
Be ready to provide a viable solution to this common work situation. Use a scenario when your encouragement was well received and resulted in a positive change or outcome. Emphasize that you always try to create a friendly environment with your team members.
Here is a simple and honest example:
"As a server at “ABC,” I was working with a difficult coworker who refused to contribute to the preparation for a holiday party. She decided to sit and watch while we worked. I took this opportunity to speak with her in a calm and friendly manner and asked her to do the small odds and ends. She agreed and worked on the place cards and seating cart, which played an important role in the fluidity of the event. Sometimes, people have hidden strengths and weaknesses, you just need to identify them!"
Indicate how you’ll handle future challenges if they happen.
Pro Tip
Teamwork is important, but when you have one member who isn’t positively contributing to the team, the tone of the team can shift.
Keep your answer upbeat and avoid complaining about previous managers or team members, speak about your actions and approaches rather than theirs.
5. Working in a team, or by yourself - what is your preference?
How to answer
When the interviewers ask this question, they want an insight into your personality, how well you work independently and how well you work with others.
Generally, there's no right or wrong answer to this question, unless the company specifically prefers that you work only in a team or only by yourself.
Luckily, Mr. Simon is here to provide you guidance.
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About Yourself
To prepare for this question, try to think of your previous experiences. Which type of work suited you best and why?
For instance, someone who prefers working by themselves may be able to focus better on the problem, and a person who prefers a team approach may like having others to help figure out problems.
If you're a fresh graduate or someone that does not have much work experience, you can think of schoolwork or the times that you worked with others in an organization.
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About The Company
What has your research found out about the company and its culture?
What have you learned about how the employees work?Review the job description as it may give you clues to whether the job focuses on teams, independence or both.
Try to expand your search into social media posts at Glassdoor or others where employees/former employees may have posted about working conditions you would be working under.
Remember: knowledge is the key! The more you know about the company, the better prepared you will be to answer questions like this.
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About The Fit
Based on your research, what did you find is the company's preference?
- What type of workplace does the company appear to have?
- What kind of challenges could you help the company/department resolve by working as a part of a team?
- What about the challenges that can be resolved by working independently?
Emphasize both independent successes as well as group successes (be sure to mention actions you took to help the team).
Pro Tip
Talk about the benefits of each working style and add to your story by telling them in terms of your STARs.
- What was the Situation/Task you needed to address?
- What Actions/Approach did you take?
- What were the Results? What did you do differently that made you successful?
6. Why and how did you choose your career?
How to answer
By asking this question, the interviewer tries to understand what led you to choose your career path and hopefully to find out how enthusiastic you are about the work you do and how well you will fit into the job that you are applying for.
The answer will show whether your desire to work “here” and if it is a determined part of your overall career plan or it is just a stop along the way to other things.
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About Yourself
- What characteristics and skills do you have?
- What makes you good at what you do?
- What attracted you to your career path?
- What strengths do you possess that make you the best candidate for the job?
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About The Company
Do your research and learn as much as possible about the organization and the career path you might forge there.
Match up any of your skills and experiences that relate to the requirements of the job. How can you apply them to your new position, as well as the future?
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About The Fit
Don’t just explain how you originally found this career.
Show you’re still glad to be doing it, that will put the hiring manager’s mind at ease that you’re motivated to do the work, and that you’ll be a big success if they hire you.
Your answers should provide the basis for a discussion about your passion for the work you do, your qualifications, and your skill set.
Make a list of factors that led you to this choice.
At the interview, tell only about those that characterize you and the situation in a positive light.
It may have been a successful internship with a similar function, which confirmed your desire to work in this field.
It could be a successful example of your parents, relatives or friends, which is indicative to you. You might have been motivated by your own academic success in this field which led you to enter it.
Pro Tip
Say that your chosen career best reflects your interests and you see it as continuing to be the most promising one for you.
Here’s a simple formula for answering this question:
First, address the origin of your motivation by tying it to your personal history. Then, explain what keeps you energized about the work on a daily basis that led you to where you are today. Finally connect your story and motivation to this job, the one you are interviewing for.
7. What are your top 3 skills?
How to answer
This is one of the best questions you can expect!
If you are prepared for it, this question allows you to take full control of the conversation by communicating exactly what you want the interviewer to know about you. This is your time to showcase the best of you!
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About Yourself
First, come up with a list of skills that you know you are good at – as many as you can think of. If you find this exercise difficult, use the helpful questions below:
- What skills are you better at than your peer X? Your peer Y? Your boss Z?
- What positive feedback could your manager, colleagues, clients, or even friends give about working with you?
- What positive points were made about you in your last review(s) that involve the skills you demonstrated?
- In which areas do you have professional knowledge and/or experience?
- What records of achievement do you have?
- What was the most impressive recent achievement you can think of? Which skills of yours made this success possible?
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About The Company
Research the company to help identify the kinds of skills needed.
Carefully review the job description, this should detail the types of skills required for the job.
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About The Fit
Highlight the skills from your list that match the list from the job description.
Pick 3 top skills. These are your Key Selling Points, and be sure to communicate them to your interviewer when asked this question.
To bring these skills home to the interviewer you should use the Present-Past-Present method to tell your interviewer how any one of your 3 top skills will benefit their company.
Let's say that working well in teams is one of the 3 skills you spoke about. As an example of how this works, starting with the Present, you might say "Although I can take on many projects on my own, I have always loved working as part of a team, collaborating with others, and learning from them to reach a positive outcome for the company."
Then go back to the Past to relate a specific Star story, for instance: "At my last job, my team was asked to help an important customer set up and install the latest update to its inventory management system. Due to a tight timeline, we had to put in a lot of extra hours to meet the client's deadline. The team pulled it off within the timeframe and under budget. I was particularly proud of my role in this effort, which was noted by both the customer and my manager."
Then come back to the Present to say, "In reviewing the company's website I noticed the importance that it places on teamwork and based on my skills and experience in working in teams, I am certain that I would be a great fit going forward."
Pro Tip
Optionally, you can end with a question like “And do you know what are the current challenges where my skills can be helpful for the company?", or “I see from the job description that you are looking for someone with the skills X and Y. Could you elaborate on this a little further?”.
That can help you learn more about the company and the job, turn the "interrogation" into a conversation and will allow you to relax some tension.
8. Tell me about your work experience. What was the most interesting?
How to answer
This question lets an interviewer gauge what makes you tick and whether the job you are applying for corresponds with your areas of excitement and enthusiasm. Such a fit will earn you important points for being a viable candidate.
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About Yourself
Review the details that you shared in your resume. Select the three to five best points to highlight and relate to the position to which you're applying.
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About The Company
Carefully research the company and the job description.
Find out what duties you'll be taking on to determine which of your top skills to emphasize. Try to find out what current challenges they are trying to solve by opening this vacancy.
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About The Fit
Knowing the duties for which you will be responsible will help you identify which prior experiences to highlight.
How well you connect your previous experiences with the job requirements can tell the interviewer how prepared you are for this role and how enthusiastic you will be about your job.
Pro Tip
Do not start your answer with "as you can see from my resume," even if you have listed those skills and qualities.
Instead, tell a story showing that you can solve problems similar to their current challenges and that you are enthusiastic about this.
You can best do this through constant practice of your STARs.
9. Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult or disruptive person. It may be a client, manager, or coworker. How did you handle the situation? What was the outcome?
How to answer
People skills are highly valued in a company. It is important to show how you can manage difficult personalities, especially if you are applying for a job that involves teamwork, or a lot of interactions with clients.
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About Yourself
Look back on your experience. Have you worked with a difficult or disruptive person? Remember a few such situations and how you diffused them and turned things around. What are your approaches to resolving conflicting situations at work?
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About The Company
- What have you found about the company and its culture?
- What have you learned about how the employees value each other?
- How do they treat their customers?
- Do they have any specific standards and policies?
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About The Fit
Using what you found about the company, choose one of your examples that fits best with the company standards and share your story.
If it's a customer, how did you turn things around and made a customer happy?
If it's a coworker, how did you diffuse a tense or difficult situation?
Pro Tip
Use the triple A of diffusing a difficult situation:
- Acknowledge - what the other person is feeling,
- Apologize - for the way the other person is feeling,
- Admit - that there was an issue that you are working on to get it resolved.
If it is a customer, it would add that extra touch if you "Ask" for the customer's contact information so you can update them of any progress on their issue.
10. Tell me about a time when you failed to meet a deadline. What did you learn?
How to answer
The ability to meet deadlines is crucial in most roles.
However, nobody is perfect, and deadlines will be missed from time-to-time.
This is not a "loaded" or “gotcha” question, designed to catch you. It is a genuine question, asked by the interviewer who knows that there will be times when deadlines pass, and projects go sideways.
- What they want to know is - how you reacted?
- Are you someone who is able to turn a negative into a positive or a person who would allow yourself to be sidetracked by such a failure?
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About Yourself
Here are some questions to ask yourself regarding missing and meeting deadlines.
Knowing the answers to the following questions will help you formulate your answer to the overall deadline question.
Use them to tell about a specific situation where you missed a deadline but were able to turn it into a positive.
- Do you take personal responsibility for failing to meet a deadline? (Don’t attempt to put the blame on others, this should be about you)?
- How well do you work under pressure?
- What helps you to stay focused when faced with a major deadline?
- How do you prioritize your tasks?
- What will you do to keep missing a deadline from happening again in the future?
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About The Company
When you research the company, try and find out what kind of challenges they are facing.
- What responsibilities will you be tasked with?
- Will there be a degree of pressure like hitting targets, meeting deadlines or managing multiple tasks at once?
The job description may also be a good source for understanding what types of tasks might need to meet deadlines.
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About The Fit
When answering a question relating to not meeting deadlines, it is important to look for a story that has a positive outcome regardless of the initial failure to meet a deadline.
Use the STAR method to tell the story in which something fairly important didn’t go right due to your personal actions (or lack of actions).
Emphasize that you took personal responsibility for the shortcoming and talk about what you did to improve the situation, how you were able to turn the situation into a positive and what you did to prevent it from happening again.
Ensure the hiring manager that you learned your lesson and have practiced good work habits since that time.
Pro Tip
Here is an example of a possible answer to this tough interview question.
“Last year I missed a project deadline for an important client because I underestimated the need for support staff on the project. Despite working overtime, I missed the deadline by three days. When I realized that the deadline was fast approaching, I called the client and apologized for the delay (as well as informing my boss). I took full responsibility for the inconvenience and provided a new timeline that I could meet. I met the second deadline that I promised the client, and they were impressed with my transparent and honest attitude throughout the process. Since then I have not failed to meet a deadline."
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This page has been updated on February 23, 2024.
