Most job interviews follow a similar pattern, and many questions come up almost every time. Prepare them once and you will not need to think long during the interview. That leaves your head free for the conversation itself.
9 min read · Updated September 2026
How an interview usually runs
Many employers in Luxembourg, Germany and France run structured interviews. Every candidate gets similar questions in a similar order. In German-speaking companies, many follow a format developed by the psychologist Heinz Schuler. A typical interview looks like this.
Welcome and a little small talk
Your self-introduction
Questions about your CV, your reasons for changing and your motivation
Questions about specific situations from your work
Information about the role and the team
Your questions for the company
Next steps
What is behind every question
Every question tests something from the job ad. Candidates who recognise what a question is really about perform better in interviews. Research calls this the ability to identify criteria (Ingold et al., 2015).
Use it in your preparation like this.
Mark the three to five most important requirements in the job ad.
Find a concrete example from your work for each requirement.
Note a number or result that proves each example.
With these examples you can answer almost every question on this page.
Questions about you and your motivation
1“Tell me about yourself.”
What they want to know
Whether you can summarise your career briefly and in a way that fits the role. It is often the first question and shapes the first impression.
How to answer
Speak for 60 to 90 seconds and use a simple order. What do you do today, what experience brought you there, and why is this role your next step?
Leave out private details and the full history of your CV. Pick the two or three steps that matter for this role.
Example
“I have worked as a maintenance technician for a building services company for four years, looking after heating and ventilation systems in around 30 buildings. Before that I spent six years in electrical installation, so I can fix control faults myself. Now I want to take responsibility for larger installations, and that is exactly what this role is about.”
2“Why do you want to leave your current job?”
What they want to know
Whether you are moving towards something and speak fairly about your current employer.
How to answer
Give an honest reason that looks forward. That could be more responsibility, a field you want to go deeper into, or a shorter commute.
Never speak badly about your manager or colleagues. It always reflects on you. The same rule applies when you are asked what you liked least about your last job.
Example
“I have learned a lot at my current company. For the last two years my tasks have been very similar, though. I want to move towards group consolidation, and there is no path to that there.”
3“Why do you want to work for us? What do you know about our company?”
What they want to know
Whether you have really looked into the company. A lack of research shows immediately with this question.
How to answer
Mention two or three concrete things you found out. That could be a project, a product, a piece of news or a point from the job ad.
Connect each point to yourself. Why does it fit your experience or what you are looking for?
Example
“I read that you opened a second site last year and now handle maintenance in-house. That mix of maintenance and troubleshooting is what I have been doing for five years, and I enjoy looking after installations over the long term.”
4“Why should we hire you?”
What they want to know
Whether you can say in a few sentences what value you bring. Questions like “What makes you different from other candidates?” aim at the same thing.
How to answer
Take the two most important requirements from the job ad and show briefly where you have already met each one.
Close with one sentence about what you want to achieve in your first months.
Example
“You are looking for someone who prepares month-end closings independently and works with SAP. I have done both for three entities over the last five years. In my first months I would learn your processes and then speed up the closing.”
Strengths and weaknesses
5“What are your strengths?”
What they want to know
Whether your strengths fit the role and whether you can prove them.
How to answer
Name two strengths the job ad asks for and back each one with a short example. One strength with evidence convinces more than a long list of qualities.
Example
“I work very accurately. Last year I booked more than 400 invoices a month, and the auditors did not need a single correction.”
6“What is your greatest weakness?”
What they want to know
Whether you see yourself realistically and work on yourself.
How to answer
Name a real weakness that is not critical for the role. Then explain what you do about it and what has already improved.
Answers like “I am too much of a perfectionist” are familiar to every recruiter. They sound evasive and cost you credibility.
Example
“I used to find it hard to hand over tasks and ended up doing too much myself. Since I started training two new colleagues, I plan every Monday what I will delegate. That saves me several hours a week.”
Questions about specific situations
These questions often start with “Tell me about a time when …” or “Give me an example of …”. They are the core of structured interviews, because how you acted in the past says a lot about how you will act in the new role.
Answer them with the STAR method. Briefly describe the situation and your task, explain in detail what you did, and finish with the result.
Question
What it tests
Which example fits
Tell me about a difficult situation at work.
Problem solving and resilience
A problem you solved yourself, with a measurable result
Tell me about a mistake you made.
Honesty and ability to learn
A real mistake with limited consequences and what you changed afterwards
How do you handle conflict?
Communication and teamwork
A specific conflict with a colleague or client and how you resolved it
How do you deal with stress and time pressure?
Organisation and priorities
A period with a tight deadline and how you organised your tasks
What is your greatest professional achievement?
Performance and initiative
A project where your contribution made the difference
Future, salary and practical questions
7“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
What they want to know
Whether you plan to stay and whether your goals fit the role.
How to answer
Describe a realistic path within the company. That could be more responsibility, becoming the expert in a field, or leading a small team.
Avoid goals that clearly lie outside the company, such as starting your own business or moving into a completely different industry.
8“What are your salary expectations?”
What they want to know
Whether your expectation fits the budget and whether you can justify it.
How to answer
Do not bring up salary yourself. Wait until the interviewer raises it.
Work out your current gross annual salary beforehand. Check whether you are paid 12 or 13 monthly salaries, and include bonus, meal vouchers or a company car.
Give a specific figure and justify it briefly with your experience and the responsibility of the new role.
If a recruiter introduced you, the company already knows a figure. Agree on it beforehand and give the same figure in the interview. Contradictions cost trust.
9“When can you start?”
What they want to know
When the position can be filled.
How to answer
Know your notice period exactly and give a specific date.
In Luxembourg, the legal notice period for a permanent contract is one month if you resign with less than five years of service. From five years it is two months, from ten years three months. The notice starts on the 15th of the month if you resign before the 15th, otherwise on the 1st of the following month.
Germany, France and Belgium have different rules, and your contract may set its own period. Check it before the interview.
10“Could we continue in French for a moment?”
What they want to know
Whether the languages on your CV are accurate. In Luxembourg, interviewers often switch language without warning.
How to answer
Prepare a short self-introduction of about one minute for every language on your CV.
Be honest about your level. A frank “My French is B1, I get by well in everyday situations” comes across better than a test that goes wrong.
The last question in the interview
11“Do you have any questions for us?”
What they want to know
Whether you are genuinely interested and are seriously assessing the role.
How to answer
Never say no here. Bring three to five prepared questions and ask the most important one first. Questions from your own research make the strongest impression.
These questions work almost every time.
How will you measure after six months whether I am successful in this role?
What does a typical week in this role look like?
How is the team structured, and who would I work with most closely?
Which projects are planned for the first year?
Is there anything in my profile that still makes you hesitate?
What are the next steps after this interview?
The question about hesitation takes a little courage. It gives you the chance to address concerns while you are still in the room.
Your preparation in 30 minutes
Read the job ad and mark the key requirements.
Look at the website, recent news and your interviewers’ LinkedIn profiles.
Write your self-introduction and practise it out loud three times.
Note five examples using the STAR method.
Work out your salary figure and your notice period.
Write down three to five questions of your own.
Pack your CV, certificates, a pen and something to write on.
Practise out loud with bullet points. Memorised sentences quickly sound rehearsed, and experienced interviewers will then dig deeper.
Why preparation pays off
Structured interviews predict later job performance better than almost any other selection method. A large re-analysis by Sackett and colleagues in 2022 showed this. That is why more and more employers use them.
For you, that means the questions are predictable. If you have prepared your examples, you will answer more calmly, more concretely and more convincingly.
