Job interviews can be very stressful and part of the stress comes from not knowing what questions the interviewer is going to throw at you. It's impossible to know all the questions that you will be asked but often there are at least some questions that can be said to have a fairly high probability of being included. The trick to producing a good interview is often tied to the preparation that you have put into the interview and, in particular, to considering how you're going to answer those key questions.

In this article, I'll outline some of the generic interview questions that you may be likely to face. I'll also touch upon government-related questions that you might expect to crop up.

However, before looking at possible interview questions, there's one other thing that is worth bearing in mind. There are times when we're applying for another job within the company that we already work for. In such situations, it's worth sitting down with your line manager and seeing if they can pass on any wisdom about the types of questions that they think you might be asked. Unless they're the one who is going to be interviewing you, then they will probably be quite willing to give you their steer on what may be considered important for the job that you've applied for. Also remember to look at the job spec to see what kind of responsibilities they have chosen to specify.

Common interview questions:

Anyway, back to commonly asked interview questions. Based on my own experience, I'd say that the following are quite likely to make an appearance during your interview:

Why do you want this job?
Don't just say because the money's good' or The office is five minutes from my house'. The pay and location may be strong personal motivators but the employer is unlikely to be particularly impressed. Instead, look at this as an opportunity to explain how you're looking forward to the challenge presented by the role and use the question as an opportunity to show them that you've done some research on the company and/or department. It will also be useful to talk about what attracts you to working in the government sector.

What would you say are your weaknesses?
You probably don't want to be brutally honest in answering this question. I'm dreadful at time management' or I have anger management issues' are not advisable. Similarly, I don't think I have any weaknesses' will not elicit any ticks on their score sheet. What should you say then? There's no doubt that

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