Strategy of Qantas Airways Limited-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Qantas Airways Limited. Answer: Introduction Qantas Airways Limited (QAN) is a well-known Australian air transportation company. Qantas is a listed company on ASX which operates on both international as well as domestic routes with revenue almost equally divided between the two. The strength of the workforce is nearly 28,000 who are predominantly working in Australia. The Chairman of Qantas Airways Limited is Mr. Leigh Clifford and Chief Executive of the company is Mr. Alan Joyce. The main headquarters of Qantas is located in New South Wale Australia. In the year 2016, the total revenue of Qantas Airways Limited was $16,490 million (including other and sales revenues). Till now, the company has owned fleet of 299 aircrafts which includes 11 fulltime freighters aircrafts. The main airlines brands of Qantas are Jetstar and Qantas. However, company also operates other businesses and airlines such as Q-Catering, Qantas freight, Qantas frequent flyer (Qantas, 2016). Jetstar Domestic and internationals routes mainly in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Approximately, 4000 flights in single week to more than 60 destinations across 17 countries (IBIS, 2017b). Qantas Huge network of domestic and international flights with four travel classes. Full domestic network makes it more of a regional airline in Australia. Nearly, 2000 flights in a single week (IBIS, 2017b). Q- Catering Snap fresh and Q- catering which run nearly five catering and food service/production centres in Australia. (IBIS, 2017b). Qantas frequent flyer One of the imperative program of Qantas which is based on loyalty of more than 10 million users (IBIS, 2017b). Analysis of Financial Statements There are three main financial statements namely the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement which need to be analysed in order to provide a glimpse about the overall financial position and operational performance of the selected company. Income Statement Based on the income statement of the last five years, it is apparent that the revenue growth has been rather muted due to which there is negligible top line growth. This may be attributed to the fierce competition that the company faces in both domestic and international flights. In domestic flights, the company faces high competition from Virgin Australia and hence the company has actively focused on increasing flight capacity and market share. Going forward also revenue growth is not expected in this sector. In international travel, the company faces competition from various international players particularly Emirates which is responsible for muted topline (Qantas, 2014). With regards to operating profits, it is apparent that 2014 was a particularly difficult year for the company since the company reported huge losses and also asked for government support. However, the EBITDA margins of the company have continuously improved which augers well for the business especially when toplin e growth is absent. This improvement in topline may be attributed to the transformation program undertaken by the company to rationalise costs and because of the declining fuel costs. After reporting a net loss of $ 2.84 billion in FY2014, the company has turned around to report a profit after tax of $ 0.58 billion and $ 1.03 billion in FY2015 and FY2016 respectively (Qantas, 2016). Balance Sheet With regards to balance sheet, a noticeable trend has been the decrease in short term and long term borrowings over the years which augers well for the company especially at a time when the company is upgrading the fleet to increase capacity and improve services. Also, it is noticeable that in FY2016, there is a decrease in the share capital caused due to the share buyback announced by the company (Qantas, 2016). Further, owing to a huge loss in FY2014, the retained earnings of the company even in FY2016 continue to be negative, however with high earnings in both FY2015 and FY2016, the losses have been largely nullified and it is expected that in FY2017, a positive retained earnings should be reported (Qantas, 2016). Cash Flow Statement Over the last five years (barring FY2014), there has been an increase in the operating cash flow which is a positive trend for the company. The cash outflow in investing activities has shown significant jump in FY2016 as compared to the previous years and $ 778 million is on account of aircraft refinancing which augers well for the company going ahead (Qantas, 2016). With regards to financing, it is a good sign for the company that the cash flow from financing activities is negative in all the last five years except in FY2014. This indicates commitment on the part of the company so as to reduce the debt through various refinancing arrangements and better earnings (Petty et. al., 2012). Ratio Analysis The key ratios of the company over a five year period are indicated below (IBIS, 2017a). The critical observations with regards to key financial ratios are as indicated below. The ROR for the company has significantly improved from a negative value in FY2012 to a significantly positive value in FY2016. The turnaround from FY2014 is quite apparent which augers well for the company. The ROSF has also seen significant improvement from a negative value in FY2012 to a high positive value in FY2016 which is again attributed to the high profits that have been generated. Infact the value in FY2016 is significantly higher than the industry average of 18.46% which provides a context to the stellar performance of company in FY2016. The ROA of the company has also undergone significant improvement and at 6.2% in FY2016, the value exceeds the industry average which highlights the superior performance of the company which may be attributed to the top management team. The profit margin has also shown similar improvement as the other parameters highlighted above. The profit margin for the company in FY2016 is superior to the industry average of 6.06%. The company has been able to rationalise the workforce so as to significantly improve the net profit per employee which in FY2016 stands at $ 38,100 and is significantly higher in comparison to the industry average of $ 25,340 which highlights the higher efficiency of processes and productivity of employees. Gearing ratio of the company is an indication of the capital structure. The gearing ratio peaked out in FY2014 when the company took a debt in order to restructure and bring about a turnaround which has led to future savings which have been reaped in FY2015 and FY2016. In the recent years, there has been a decrease in the gearing ratio as a result of which this value for the company is close to the industry average of 0.78 as on June 30, 2016. This implies that the balance sheet of the company is not overleveraged and in this aspect, the company is comparable to the peer group which is critical considering the outstanding debt concerns in the past (Petty et. al., 2012). The interest cover has also improved significantly in the recent years which provide greater comfort to the lenders that the company would be able to meet the interest obligations (Petty et. al., 2012). The interest cover as on June 30, 2016 is significantly higher than the industry average of 4 which implies that the company could avail incremental debt at lower interest rates compared to the peer group. The trend in current ratio seems worrisome as there is a declining trend which raises issues over the short term liquidity. Additionally, when seen in the context of airline industry also, it is apparent that the companys current ratio as on June 30, 2016 is inferior to the industry average of 0.62. Thus, it clearly highlights the need to improve for the company in this regard (IBIS, 2017a). Future of the business In order to understand the future of the company, it is imperative to briefly describe the huge turnaround that the company has witnessed in fortunes since 2014. In 2014, the company was reeling under debt and was at the verge of closure which forced the company to approach the Federal government to consider a bailout package which was turned down (Sandilands, 2014). As a result, the company embarked on an ambitious turnaround plan which involved cutting down on jobs, dropping unprofitable routes, retiring the old fleet of aircrafts and deferring the purchase of aircrafts along with cost rationalisation (Park, 2017). This plan has helped the company to turn around and reap $ 2.1 billion in savings in 2017 alone. Also, the lower fuel costs contributed immensely to the turnaround for the company (Sheedy, 2016). Going forward, it is expected that the fuel prices in the short to medium term would be low only which augers well for not only Qantas but the airline industry as a whole. Also, the competition between Virgin Australia and Qantas has eased in the recent years owing to excess capacity generation by both players (Freed, 2016). Further, low cost subsidiary of Qantas i.e. Jetstar is performing well both in terms of revenue and profitability and going forward better results may be expected (Chung, 2016). Also, going forward, the company should look at improving the topline which has been stagnant. Further, the key aspects of the turnaround strategy must be continued so as to reap cost savings going ahead as well. Besides, the company must look at improving the services so as to build on the market share and the brand. Political competitive environment impact The political environment tends to have a significant impact on the operation of airlines and Qantas is no different. One of the recent ways in which the government is impacting the airline industry is through various environment related taxes owing to the airline emissions (Kenny, 2014). In Australia also, the scrapping of carbon tax in 2014 has proved to be positive development for Qantas. Introduction of green taxes can adversely impact the profitability of the airlines especially against international players based in geographies where such taxes do not exist (Freed, 2015). Another way in which the government impacts the airline industry is through the means of taxes which are not only limited to corporate profits but also on the fuel and the other services. Most of this tax burden is passed on to the consumers and determines the final cost to be borne by the customer. A lower tax structure would not only mean higher profitability for the company (Qantas) but also would lead to h igher growth in passengers (Qantas, 2016). Also, considering that Qantas derives about 40% of the revenue from international flights, hence the currency rate is also a critical factor which tends to impact the overall competition (IBIS, 2017b).. Offlate there has been a decline in the value of Australian dollar which has favoured Qantas and thus it has been able to witness lower competition from international airlines. Thus, various government policies tend to impact the currency rate and in turn the consumer decisions as explained above (Pash, 2017). Thus, it would be fair to consider that political factors tend to have a significant impact on the competitive environment of the company (Qantas, 2014). Relevant Ethical Considerations It is well known that insolvency has legal considerations but it also has ethical considerations. This is because it tends to adversely impact the industry credibility in the eyes of not only the shareholders but also the suppliers and lenders. In most of the bankruptcies, the role of the management is pivotal and in most cases there is a fraud with the collusion of the management especially in case of failure of big companies. This tends to enhance the agency costs for the remaining firms and dampens the sentiment. If every firm starts acting in this manner, the participation of these key stakeholders would dwindle and hence even genuine businesses would face issues (Lubben, 2011). From a utilitarian perspective also, the businesses should try to extend benefit to the greatest number of stakeholders through business decisions which is possible when the company is operational and is professionally managed. Winding up tends to be detrimental to the interest of the various stakeholders and needs to be avoided. These arguments are further true for a company such as Qantas which acts as the national carrier of Australia. However, businesses that are not sustainable due to the faulty business model or inefficient operations must not be given support by the government and other stakeholders and it is best that these are shut down as they tend to act as a drag for the resources which could be deployed elsewhere (Sandilands, 2014). External factors to be considered One of the external factors that is pivotal with regards to consolidation is competition. In a competitive industry such as airlines where there are frequent price wars for customer acquisition, profitability can be wafer thin especially when the oil prices are high. As a result, it is imperative to keep the costs down so as to ensure higher profitability margins even when the topline growth is muted (Posh, 2017). This typically requires economies of scale whereby the scale becomes pivotal. Further, it is not feasible for too many players to survive in such a competitive industry as only a few would make profits. Thus, Qantas can potentially look at the players that are making losses but have potential to be turned around as possible acquisition targets. Further, the industry dynamics is such that an airline business has various verticals and usually a particular company does not have strong presence in each of these. Hence, it makes sense for a company like Qantas to make acquisition in one of these verticals in order to increase market share. For instance in the airline catering business, Qantas has a paltry market share of 4% and thus can potentially acquire bigger players in this segment so as to enhance the overall share and reap synergies (IBIS, 2017b).. However, the regulatory environment would also need to be considered which would be particularly relevant if for instance Virgin Australia and Qantas decide to merge as it would create a virtual monopoly in domestic flights and hence may be objected to. Recommendation The above discussion indicates that the company has had a turnaround from FY2015 onwards and it is expected that the company would continue to outperform the industry in the near future especially till the crude oil prices remain reasonably low. Even though from the low price of around $ 1.5 seen in FY2014, the Qantas stock has tripled but considering the sound management in place, increasing tourism in Australia, market leadership in international flight, lower competition in domestic flights and low price of crude oil, it makes sense to invest in the company from a medium term perspective. However, the company performance needs to be carefully monitored since the industry has significant external leverages such as political environment and crude oil prices. References Chung, F. (2016), Qantas posts record $1.53 billion full-year profit, Perth Now, [Online] Available at https://www.perthnow.com.au/business/companies/qantas-just-had-its-best-year-ever/news-story/f19ad5ddc1320591487eec0a5ffab7ab [Available August 25, 2017]Freed, J. (2015). The five reasons Qantas is back in the black, The Sydney Morning Herald, [Online] Available at https://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/the-five-reasons-qantas-is-back-in-the-black-20150224-13nbws.html [Available August 25, 2017] IBIS (2017a), Industry Average Financial Ratios, IBIS World Website, [Online] Available at https://clients1.ibisworld.com.au/reports/au/enterprisepremium/averages.aspx?entid=32 [Available August 25, 2017] IBIS (2017b), Segment Subsidiaries, IBIS World Website, [Online] Available at https://clients1.ibisworld.com.au/reports/au/enterprisepremium/environment.aspx?entid=32 [Available August 25, 2017]Kenny, M (2014), Qantas 'pressured on carbon tax', The Sydney Morning Herald, [Online] Available at https://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/qantas-pressured-on-carbon-tax-20140306-34a8c.html [Available August 25, 2017]Lubben, S. (2011), Corporate Bankruptcy Raises a Question of Ethics, The New York Times, [Online] Available at https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/corporate-bankruptcy-raises-a-question-of-ethics/?mcubz=0 [Available August 25, 2017] Park, K. (2017), Qantas Turnaround Wizard Joyce Has a One-Word Lesson for Cathay, Bloomberg Website, [Online] Available at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-16/qantas-turnaround-wizard-joyce-has-a-one-word-lesson-for-cathay [Available August 25, 2017] Pash, C. (2017), The Qantas turnaround is complete, Business Insider, [Online] Available at https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-qantas-turnaround-is-complete-2017-8 [Available August 25, 2017] Petty, J.W., Titman, S., Keown, A., Martin, J.D., Martin, P., Burrow, M., and Nguyen, H. (2012) Financial Management, Principles and Applications. 6th edn. NSW: Pearson Education, French Forest Australia. Qantas (2014), Annual Report 2014, Qantas Website, [Online] Available at https://investor.qantas.com/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/doLLG5ufYkCyEPjF1tpgyw/file/annual-reports/2014AnnualReport.pdf [Available August 25, 2017] Qantas (2016), Annual Report 2016, Qantas Website, [Online] Available at https://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/about/corporateGovernance/2016AnnualReport.pdf [Available August 25, 2017]Sandilands, B. (2014), Qantas strategy runs into political, investor headwinds, Crikey Blog, [Online] Available at https://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2014/02/27/qantas-strategy-runs-into-political-investor-headwinds/ [Available August 25, 2017] Sheedy, C. (2016), Qantas: The most remarkable turnaround in aviation history?, ICAS Website, [Online] Available at https://www.icas.com/ca-today-news/qantas-nine-lives-flying-kangaroo [Available August 25, 2017]

The Most Ignored Answer for Chronological Order Essay Topics

The Most Ignored Answer for Chronological Order Essay Topics Choosing the chronological assignment companies resume for the ideal reasons will affect your likelihood of standing out among the competition. It's extremely important to read carefully essay services reviews, because you would like to prevent low superior services. You are able to even check out several reviews and after that opt for the business which best suits your requirements and reasonably priced budget. Our reviews contain details like the score of the clients, our rating, starting prices, Discounts, and grade of the papers. Chronological order isn't just restricted to history. It is also important in math. Organize in chronological purchase. To show chronological purchase. Choosing Good Chronological Order Essay Topics There is little to say regarding the process essay outline because the structure repeats the actions necessary to finish a particular procedure. 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Potato Famine Essay Topics

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How to Write a Good College Essay - An Insight Into Writing

How to Write a Good College Essay - An Insight Into WritingA good college essay is the one that gets to make people laugh. In today's increasingly competitive environment, it has become more important than ever to know how to write a great essay. Therefore, if you do not have any idea about how to write a funny college essay, you need to get yourself some ideas that can help you in doing so. Whether you are in college or not, the following tips will definitely help you to succeed in your writing endeavors.It is a good idea to put an emphasis on your interest or passion. People tend to relate with people who have similar interests as them. If you have a talent like singing, then why not say that you love to sing or enjoy taking great joys in the company of others?A lot of students consider creative writing to be something very difficult. If you do not believe it, try to write about yourself and see how people react. You may find that you actually like to write a good composition. You should keep in mind that it is a common app that people look for when they have an idea that the person does not want to write.Always try to include humor in your college essay. People do not always get to read college essays that are filled with profundity and thought. It is still very important to make your point stick through the use of humor.You can make a good search on the internet for some great ways to find a funny college essay. Here are some excellent examples: you can search for 'College Essay - Funny' on Google and you will find thousands of results on the first page. You may even go through your library and try searching for it.Another great way to find the best college essaysis to check out various forums and discussion boards. These forums will give you many ideas about what you are looking for and how you can go about it.Remember that a funny college essay is not difficult to write, all you need to do is to put your best foot forward. Follow these tips, and you are b ound to come up with a well-written and intelligent college essay.

An Effective Guide For Writing an APA Essay

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The Preparation Of Organic Compounds Aspirins And Oil Of Winte

The Preparation Of Organic Compounds Aspirins And Oil Of Wintergreen Title of Experiment: The Preparation of Organic Compounds Aspirins and Oil of Wintergreen Introduction The purpose of this experiment is to prepare two organic compounds (aspirin and oil of wintergreen) and to illustrate the typical organic reactions. Students will also learn some techniques commonly used in organic synthesis and the meaning of the terms theoretical yield, actual yield, and percent yield. Both Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) and oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) are commonly used organic compounds. Aspirin is usually used as a pain reliever or fever reducer, and oil of wintergreen is used in rubbing liniments for sore muscles and as a flavoring agent. Aspirin is usually made by reacting salicylic acid with acetic anhydride. C7H6O3 + C4H6O3 C9H8O4 + C2H4O2 (salicylic acid) (acetic anhydride) (acetyl salicylic acid: aspirin) (acetic acid) Oil of wintergreen is made by reacting salicylic acid with methanol in the presence of sulfuric acid. C7H6O3 + CH4O C8H8O4 + H2O (salicylic acid) (methanol) (methyl salicylate: oil of wintergreen) (water) Procedure Preparation of Aspirin 1. Set up a water bath and an ice bath. 2. Put 3 grams of salicylic acid and 4mL of acetic anhydride in 125mL conical flask. 3. While swirling the flask, add 5 drops of concentrated sulfuric acid to the mixture. 4. Heat the flask in the beaker of boiling water for 15 minutes or until the solid dissolves. 5. Carefully remove the flask with 9 tongs from the water bath and add 25mL of your ice-cold water to the flask. 6. Set the flask in the ice bath until crystallization appears to be complete. 7. Separate the crystals from the liquid by suction filtration. 8. Rinse the product with ice water to transfer all of the solid aspirin onto the filter paper. 9. Draw air through the product for several minutes. 10. Transfer the solid from the funnel to a preweighed, labeled, dry paper towel, and allow it to dry thoroughly. 11. Make a tablet of aspirin by using a pellet press. Preparation of Oil of Wintergreen 1. Put about 0.2 grams of salicylic acid and 2mL of methanol in a medium sized test tube and swirl until the solid dissolves. 2. Add 5 drops of concentrated sulfuric acid. 3. Place the test tube in a hot water bath at 60 - 70?C for 15 minutes. 4. Remove the test tube from the hot water bath and let it cool to room temperature. 5. Cautiously smell the contents of the test tube. Science Essays

How to Answer the Most Common Job Interview Questions

How to Answer the Most Common Job Interview Questions Going into a job interview can feel a bit like prepping for the Hunger Games. You have a general idea of what you’re facing, but you don’t know the specifics- who knows what those devilish game makers will have in store for you? Nobody dies here (unless job interviews have really changed since the last time I went on one), but there can be only one person left standing: the victor, the one with the job offer. And as in any good conflict where you want to come out on top, you want to be as prepared as possible going into it. It’s impossible to know exactly what questions to expect ahead of time, but there’s enough commonality in how job interviews are structured that you can take an educated guess- and educate yourself accordingly. Here’s how to answer common interview questions. 1. Standard Interview Questions2. Behavioral Interview Questions3. Tricky Interview QuestionsThe first thing to do is to figure out what kinds of questions you might face be fore you even think about trying to prep for specific questions. The question types fall into two categories: what we’ll call â€Å"standard† interview question and behavioral interview questions.Standard interview questions are about what you’d expect: questions that ask you about your past experience, your current skills, and your professional goals. Some examples:â€Å"Tell me more about your coding background.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Can you tell me about your day-to-day responsibilities in your most recent job?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"How did you get started in this industry?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"It says here that you worked for seven years at Job Co. What did you work on there?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"What is your biggest strength?† (And its devilish counterpart, â€Å"What is your biggest weakness?†)â€Å"Where do you see yourself in five years?†These are straightforward questions with (hopefully) straightforward answers. You know your resume and your experience better than anyone, so own the information.How to Approach Standard Interview QuestionsIf it helps, think of these questions as a kind of game show, like The Interview Guys do. There’s a concrete answer available for every standard interview question. â€Å"I don’t know† or uncomfortable silence will throw up a major red flag to the interviewer, so make sure that you’re solid on your resume, the job description for which you’re interviewing, and the talking points you want to use in the interview. (I’ll take â€Å"Leadership Experience† for $400, Alex.)Top 5 tips for answering standard interview questions:Be confident! You’re talking about your best professional self, so be ready to cover your skills and accomplishments.Don’t give short answers. If you’re asked about your background in coding, don’t just say, â€Å"I took a class five years ago,† then wait for the next question to come along. Say, â€Å"I start ed with a class five years ago, and took off from there. I’ve used and grown those skills in my current job, where I was responsible for updating and maintaining the company website.† You don’t need a novel’s worth of details, but the interviewer is looking for you to expand on your own history- all he or she knows is what’s in the bullets on your resume. It’s your job to fill those out and make yourself look like a well-rounded candidate.Remember: it’s not about you. But, you say, isn’t it about my experience and skills? Yes and no. The whole point of the interview is to see how you’ll fit in with this job and this company. So when you frame your answers, make sure you’re always emphasizing how this skill or that experience point relates to the job at hand.Be honest. This kind of question is where, uh, soft spots on your resume might come to light. The interviewer will expect you to be able to answer all of these questions with concrete info, so if you can’t offer supporting information, or have long and awkward pauses, that’s a problem. If you’re not fluent in Spanish, don’t list it. If you weren’t really the youngest CEO ever at your last company, don’t suggest you were. Forget a background check- if you can’t back up your resume’s assertions in the interview, you’ll never even get to that stage.Be specific. This isn’t so hard for questions about your background or your software proficiencies, but it’s tougher when you get to questions about your strengths and weaknesses. The best way to hone in on these is to think of specific examples from your past. For example, â€Å"At my current job, I developed a workflow that improved sales reporting, so I’m very good at zeroing in on challenges and working with a team to solve them.† Or, â€Å"I’d say my greatest weakness is my tendency to try to tak e everything on myself. In my last job, that led to a lot of stress around deadlines, and I’ve since learned that I need to work harder on prioritizing and setting boundaries to get everything done smoothly.†RELATED:  How to Answer These 5 Common (but tough) Interview QuestionsThe best advice we can offer you is to think about how to answer common interview questions in advance and anticipate having to give anecdotes about your experience. You won’t know ahead of time which ones are likely to come up, but by having talking points in your pocket for every part of your resume, you can be ready for any standard questions that come up.Behavioral interview questions are a little less straightforward, with no easy answer. These questions are kind of like storytime: the interviewer will ask you to talk about a specific time you faced a challenge or demonstrated a skill. You’ll know behavioral questions when you hear them because they’ll have telltale phr ases like:â€Å"Tell me about a time you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"What would you do if†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Show me how you handled†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"Walk me through a time when you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬Å"How would you deal with†¦Ã¢â‚¬ What do all of these have in common? There’s a performance element, and usually an action verb. It’s on you to come up with an answer, and phrase it in a smooth interview operator kind of way.RELATED:  How to Answer Behavioral Interview QuestionsHow to Approach Behavioral Interview QuestionsThe approach for these questions isn’t so different from that of traditional questions. They just require a little more thinking on your feet, because there’s no easy factual answer. You’ll be drawing from your history directly (â€Å"tell me about a time when you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ), or indirectly (â€Å"what would you do if†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ).Top 5 tips for answering behavioral interview questions:It’s not about you, itâ€℠¢s about them. The advice for standard interview questions (#3 above) remains the same here: remember that it’s really about the interviewer and the company, not you. You’ll be providing info that illustrates how you have operated and will likely operate as an employee, but that information will be weighed against what the company wants and needs for this job opening. You’re not answering the questions in a vacuum. So make sure that your answers dovetail with the job description.Don’t be brutally honest. If you’re asked about the biggest challenge in your career so far, and your most trying time happens to have been the royal-est screwup in the history of royal screw-ups, don’t bring it up. Before the interview, spend time thinking about less dramatic anecdotes that don’t make you look bad. Or if you do end up talking about a time you messed up, absolutely make sure to follow up with a quick point about how you learned from it and hav e turned it to your advantage.Come up with pre-answers in certain categories. Behavioral questions usually seek to draw you out on skills like leadership, problem-solving, and personal interaction. Long before the interview, start doing a personal audit of your work history and come up with a list of relevant anecdotes in the following areas:Challenges you faced, and how you overcame themTimes you led others or managed a complicated project with numerous peopleWorkplace conflicts or differences of opinion, and how you handled themKeep it brief. You don’t want to leave them confused or wanting more by being too abrupt, but if you feel yourself start to ramble on (adding details that aren’t really necessary, explaining things in tangents), then rein yourself in a bit. Rehearse your likely stories ahead of time, so you can adjust the flow, and what feels like the right presentation. Rambling can come off as nervous babbling, and you don’t want to undermine your con fident aura on interview day.Keep it professional. They’re definitely not looking for examples from your personal life- make sure you limit your stories to things that happened at work.The Trickiest QuestionsOnce you know the types of questions and how to mine your resume and experience to prep ahead of time, you can focus more on the most challenging questions of all: the â€Å"you tell us† questions. These aren’t really standard interview questions, because they’re not straight facts or expansions on points found on your resume. They’re not really behavioral, either, because they don’t illustrate how you’ve approached workplace issues in the past (or would). They’re open-ended, and that’s what makes them scarier. Some examples of these extra-hard interview questions.â€Å"Tell me about yourself.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why should we hire you?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why do you want to work here?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why did you leave your last job ?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Do you have any questions for me?†Ã¢â‚¬ËœWhat is your biggest weakness?†Spin negatives into positives. This applies most fully to the â€Å"biggest weakness† and â€Å"why did you leave your last job?† questions (especially if you were let go, or left in a bad situation). The kind of formula you should keep in mind is, â€Å"I experienced X, but I learned Y, and now I work very hard on achieving Z. It’s an experience that I take very seriously.†Don’t pull the interviewer’s leg. If you’re asked about a weakness, talk about a weakness†¦don’t try to say you work too hard, and gosh darn it, that’s your biggest flaw. Every single one of us has real flaws, and candidness can be the key to establishing trust with the interviewer. However, when you talk about a weakness or a challenge you’ve faced, always, always (did I mention â€Å"always†?) talk about what you did/do to overcome i t, and what you’ve learned from it.Don’t panic†¦or pause too long. The deer-in-headlights reaction is not a good look during the interview. Either you look like you’re trying to invent an answer, or you look like you just don’t know how to respond. Practicing answers for the questions above (using, again, specific examples from your resume and your work history) can help you feel more comfortable with repurposing your material for a variety of potential questions.Always tie it to the job/company. Before the interview, review the job description, and highlight the areas that connect to your resume. If the job calls for managerial skills, â€Å"tell me about yourself† can be a quick walkthrough of your rise to leading men and women to greatness (increased sales or efficiency). If it’s a general question about why you want to work here,Keep it professional (redux). If you want to work for this company because your commute would be cut in h alf, don’t say that. â€Å"Tell me about yourself† is not an invitation to show pictures of your beloved pet lizard, Dr. Greenjeans III. Just give a quick rundown of where you are, professionally, and where you’re hoping to go. Personal opinions and personal life don’t really belong in an interview. (Exception: mild small talk before or after the interview- but even then, no big personal confessions or controversial opinions.)RELATED:  How to Answer the Toughest Interview QuestionsThe best way to deal with any interview questions is to prepare in advance- you can practice the spirit of them, if not the exact content. If you have a trusted buddy or family member, have them lob unscripted (professional) questions at you, so you can get better at fielding things on the fly. And if you need a cheat sheet on common interview questions and how to tackle them in the meantime, here’s a quick overview you can use as a reference. [via UndercoverRecruiter]A nd remember the most important part: you got this! Don’t panic no matter what you’re asked, and answer with confidence. May the interview go ever in your favor!