Tough Job Interview Questions Even Self-employed Professionals Should Prepare For

Finding work as a self-employed professional services provider can be like finding a job. Although you’re not looking for employment, you often need to go through an interview process with prospects. Whether by email, phone, Skype, or face to face…you need to be prepared to field and answer questions.

As a freelance writer, I’ve found most prospects ask the sorts of questions you’d expect them to ask of someone in my line of business. But recently, I talked with a potential client who caught me a bit off guard. He didn’t ask me anything inappropriate or altogether out there, but I wish I would have been better prepared for some of the questions he tossed my way. That experience made me realize how much it could benefit professional services providers to think like a prospective hire and anticipate not only standard questions related to your line of work, but also a few that dig into your personality and psychology.

Ready…set…prepare to answer the following interview questions in case a prospective client raises them in conversation:

• How would you describe yourself?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Why are you interested in working with us?
•  How do you react to constructive criticism?
•  How well do you work under pressure?
•  How would you describe  your working style?
• Are you comfortable working as part of a team?
•  On a scale of 1 to 5, how do you rate your communication skills?
•  What intimidates you? (This was one of the questions I recently answered…and not very well because I was, well, intimidated by the question!)
•  What has been your biggest success?
• What has been your biggest failure?
• What motivates you about your work?
•  What types of professional development activities do you participate in?

You might be thinking, “C’mon, what are the odds a client will ask me these things?” I understand your skepticism. But while you may never encounter inquiries like these, why take the chance? At worst, preparing answers for them will help you discover a thing or two about yourself. And wouldn’t you rather ask yourself the tough questions first before someone else does – even if the odds are against that ever happening?

By Dawn Mentzer
Another Insatiable Solopreneur™ post