You want to paint a picture of yourself as a qualified, capable person, ready, willing and enthusiastic about contributing to the company's mission. If you are looking for a new position because the last/current one was negative, or if you've been unemployed for a while, formulate your response carefully. Never share dirty laundry and don't waste time on negatives. Focus on the proactive and the positive aspects of your interest in the opportunity you are interviewing for and what you can bring to the table. Show career pride and initiative.
 
Competency-based questions:
- Tell me about a situation in which you had a miscommunication with a customer/colleague/boss and how you handled it.
- Describe a time when you had to put together a team to accomplish a professional goal and how you did it.
- What was the biggest professional challenge you faced in your last position and how did you overcome it?
- Can you describe an example of when you worked with a colleague or group to solve a problem?
You will definitely need to have real-life examples ready. Be prepared to explain how you resolved the situation favorably, what you learned, and how that experience could be applied to the work environment of your potential employer. You want to demonstrate your ability to work well with others, accomplish the mission, be accountable and proactive, and problem-solve.
 
Real-life Work Scenario:
You may have a real work problem laid before you, and be asked to describe how you would proceed. While this is a little harder to prepare for in advance, you should be thinking about the aspects of the role and draw from your past experience. This is similar to preparing for competency based questions. 
 
Imagination / New-Age questions:
- If you were an animal (fruit, color), what animal (fruit, color) would you be?
- If you could have lunch with a famous writer, dead or alive, who would you invite? 
The interviewer may be looking for an animal that is efficient, proactive, social, organized, or a fruit that mixes harmoniously in a fruit salad medley. But the point is typically to see your reaction. This allows them to get a sense of creativity, imagination and how you respond to a situation you may not have rehearsed. Gauging Interest and Engagedness:
- What did you like on our website? 

For example, if you are asked what you have done in your current position to improve your company's bottom-line, "As the International Channel Manager (situation) of a company trying to gain market share in international markets (task), I spearheaded and drove an International Distributor meeting with focus sessions on marketing and sales strategies and tools, introduction to add-on products, as well as software localization and OEM technology and coordination (action). The result was 2 additional language versions of the software being produced, strengthened communications and renewed marketing and sales motivation with a 20% increase in International channel sales and a strengthened relationship with our channel partners (results).
 
Do you have any funny interview questions or anecdotes? Please share them with us.