Professional Credit Card Officer Interview Questions & Answers:

1. Explain me about any issues you've had with a previous boss?

Arrgh! If you fall for this one you shouldn't be hired anyway. The interviewer is testing you to see if you'll speak badly about your previous supervisor. Simply answer this question with extreme tact, diplomacy and if necessary, a big fat loss of memory. In short, you've never had any issues.

2. Tell us what do you see as the important future trends in this area?

This works well for some positions – technical ones and leadership ones – and not well for others. It should be pretty obvious from the type of job you're applying for whether this question might be asked. If it is, it's easy to prepare for – just spend a half an hour reading some blogs on the specific areas you're applying for and you'll have some food.

3. Explain me are you good at working in a team?

Unless you have the I.Q. of a houseplant, you'll always answer YES to this one. It's the only answer. How can anyone function inside an organization if they are a loner? You may want to mention what part you like to play in a team though; it's a great chance to explain that you're a natural leader.

4. Explain me about the most difficult project you ever faced?

The interviewer could usually care less what the exact project is. The question is mostly looking to see if you have faced serious difficulty and how you overcame it. For most people, this isn't their biggest success or biggest failure, but something that they turned from a likely failure into some sort of success.

5. Please explain how are you when you're working under pressure?

Once again, there are a few ways to answer this but they should all be positive. You may work well under pressure, you may thrive under pressure, and you may actually prefer working under pressure. If you say you crumble like aged blue cheese, this is not going to help you get your foot in the door.

6. Why are you interested this position?

This is actually something of a trick question, because it's just a way of re-asking the second question (what you know about the company) and the fourth (what you know about the position). It's asked because it tells whether people give flippant answers to questions (things like “because I'm a people person”) or whether they think about things and give a genuine question. This is a good question to formulate an answer for in advance – basically, just come up with a few things that seem intriguing to you about the company and the position and reasons why they interest you.

7. Explain me have you done anything to further your experience?

This could include anything from night classes to hobbies and sports. If it's related, it's worth mentioning. Obviously anything to do with further education is great, but maybe you're spending time on a home improvement project to work on skills such as self-sufficiency, time management and motivation.

8. Explain why did you leave your last position?

Mostly, this is looking for conviction of character. A strong, concrete answer of any reasonable sort is good here. “I wanted to move on” is not a strong answer. Downsizing is a good answer, as is a desire to seek specific new challenges (but be specific on what challenges you want to face). Minimize your actual discussion of your previous position here, as you'll be very close to a big opportunity to start bashing your previous position.

9. What's your biggest weakness as Credit Card Officer?

If you're completely honest, you may be kicking yourself in the butt. If you say you don't have one, you're obviously lying. This is a horrible question and one that politicians have become masters at answering. They say things like "I'm perhaps too committed to my work and don't spend enough time with my family." Oh, there's a fireable offense. I've even heard "I think I'm too good at my job, it can often make people jealous." Please, let's keep our feet on the ground. If you're asked this question, give a small, work-related flaw that you're working hard to improve. Example: "I've been told I occasionally focus on details and miss the bigger picture, so I've been spending time laying out the complete project every day to see my overall progress."

10. Explain me are you applying for other jobs?

This is an honesty question. I'm looking for “yes,” but people who are trying too hard to feed me a line of nonsense answer “no.” The best way to answer is to say “Yes, in much the same way that you're interviewing other people. We're both trying to find the best fit for what we need and what we want.” If your answer is truly no, then say so – “No, I'm actually happy with my current position, but there were a few compelling aspects of this job that made me want to follow up on it” and list those aspects.