Soft Skills Interview Questions and How to Answer them?

When preparing for interviews, we tend to spend the majority of our time revising our technical skills and pay less attention to soft skills. We assume that the questions will be more straightforward and we can answer them on the spot. But my friends, that is not the case.

These days companies, especially Consulting companies tend to focus on EQ (Emotional intelligence quotient) as opposed to IQ (Intelligence quotient). Employers want to assess if you can adapt to new situations and if you have strong interpersonal skills. IQ can be acquired with dedication but EQ is something that is hard to teach.

Below are a few questions and a few hints on how to answer the questions. One key point to remember is- DO NOT LIE OR MAKE UP COMPLICATED STORIES.

How to answer these questions?

A simple approach to answering these soft skills questions is to use the STAR response technique. (STAR → Situation, Task, Action, Result)

STAR technique to answer EQ questions

List of Questions-

1. Describe a situation where the results went against your expectations. How did you adapt to this change?
2. Have you ever missed a deadline? If yes, how did you manage it?
3. What is one new skill you’ve learned recently?
4. Tell me about one of your best teamwork experiences and how did you contribute to it.
5. Tell me about the time when you took the lead on any project or activity?
6. What would you do in a situation where your teammates are all in agreement but you disagree on a task?
7. Give an example of a time when you used feedback to improve your performance.
8. What is the most difficult change you’ve encountered in your career?
9. Tell me about the time when you’ve had to be creative or unconventional in solving a problem.
10. How would you prioritize your work if you have a lot of deadlines?
11. What are the top 3 work ethics that you always follow?
12. How do you stay motivated when working on a project that doesn’t interest you?
13. What do you hope to achieve during your first year here?
14. Your manager tells you that you’ve done a poor job. How would you respond?
15. Describe a time when you had to solve a problem, but didn’t have the tools or means to do it. What did you do?
16. Describe a situation in which you embraced a new change, process, or system that was very different from what you did.
17. Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond your set role.
18. What do you do when you have too much work on your plate?

Remember to use the STAR response technique while preparing for the above questions. It will help you keep your answers short and sweet. This technique also provides a format so that you don’t miss out on points or share too many points.

Example-

Sample answer using the STAR technique

Hope this helps you in your interviews. All the best!

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