If one of your goals for 2024 is to land a lucrative tech job in cloud computing, then knowing how to answer cloud interview questions is essential.
As one of the world’s leading cloud talent creation experts, we help people launch successful careers in the cloud, speaking to hundreds of candidates from diverse backgrounds every year, and coaching them through the interview process.
In this cloud interview guide, we’ll share our expertise and walk you through:
- The science behind a great job interview
- Step-by-step advice on how to prepare for your cloud interview
- Answers to the most common cloud interview questions
- How to build a good rapport with the interviewer
- Best questions to ask following your cloud interview
While each cloud role will differ in terms of the specific skill sets it requires, there are some highly effective techniques on how to structure your responses, so you can answer any cloud interview questions successfully. We’ll be exploring these techniques in this blog, based on the expert insights of our Talent Acquisition team.
What’s the main purpose of a job interview?
Remember, before you attend a job interview, the employer has already reviewed your résumé and selected you as someone who—at least on paper and from a technical skills standpoint—should be able to perform the role. So, they’ll be more likely to look for proof of your soft skills, an indication of your values fit with the company culture, as well as a demonstration of your curiosity and passion for the role and the organization.
Aligning with the company’s values and culture
As well as assessing whether you have the right skills to do the job during an interview, the employer also wants to make sure that you’ll thrive within the company culture. Therefore, it is important that you research the company’s culture and values and are ready to talk about which parts resonate with you the most. It is also important that your answers sound genuine rather than scripted, so only align yourself with the aspects you’re genuinely passionate about.
A job interview is really about finding out if you can form a successful partnership with your prospective employer. Essentially, it’s a chance for both you and the employer to find out if you’re a good match. In order to ascertain that, you both need to ask each other questions to establish common ground, so curiosity is key.
How to prepare for your cloud interview
Research and job interview prep are crucial when going to an interview for cloud-based roles. In fact, the success of your job interview largely depends on two things:
- Conducting the right research
- Applying an effective technique when answering interview questions
When preparing for your cloud interview, make sure that you:
- Find out as much as you can about the company’s mission, vision, values, and culture ahead of the interview
- Go the extra mile and follow the company’s social media accounts. Check out their LinkedIn or social media news feeds, listen to podcasts produced by them, and read their most recent blogs
- Note down anything that interests you and that you can reference in your cloud interview
Pro tip. If you know the names of the interviewers on the panel, make sure you look them up on LinkedIn. That way, you can build rapport with the panel and address them by their first name, which will help you come across as more personable.
How to practice your technique for common cloud interview questions
Typical cloud interview questions and answers
Cloud interview questions are typically split into three categories:
- Skills and knowledge (i.e. cloud interview questions based on your CV or résumé)
- Competency-based questions
- Culture or values-based questions
Questions based on your CV/résumé
These cloud interview questions are designed to assess your experience and the information you provided on your résumé or job application. So, make sure you have a copy of your CV/résumé in front of you as a guide, checking that your answers align with the information provided there.
To answer these types of questions successfully, be prepared to give more detail about the skills referenced on your résumé. The best way to do this is by looking at the job specification and practicing answering questions about your skills and knowledge ahead of the interview, so that your answers align with what’s required of the role.
Pro tip. Often at cloud interviews, you’ll hear the question ‘walk me through your CV/résumé’. So, have your elevator pitch ready. Start from your education and work your way forward, spending most of your time on your most relevant or recent role.
Competency-based questions
These questions work on the premise that past behavior predicts future behavior.
Typical competency-based interview questions for cloud roles include:
- Tell me about a time you…
- Give me an example of when you…
- Describe a time…
The best way to prepare to answer these is by looking at the soft skills and behaviors on the job ad. When answering these, consider using the STAR technique.
How to use the STAR method to answer competency-based cloud interview questions successfully
S – Situation
Describe the situation and give context.
What was the project or challenge that you faced in your role?
T – Task
What was the specific task you had to complete?
What was your responsibility or assignment in the context you described?
A – Action
What did you do? What obstacles did you overcome?
What steps did you take or what procedure did you follow to overcome the challenge at hand or deliver the specific project?
R – Result
What was the result?
What impact did overcoming the challenge have on your team or your company? What was the ROI of the project?
For example, if you're asked: “Tell me about a time you’ve had to multi-task…” here’s how you could answer that:
Situation: “In my current role, I work for a global company. I’m often required to deliver multiple projects with conflicting deadlines across different time zones.”
Task: “A few months into the role, we lost a key resource in our team who was supposed to deliver a crucial project, with a strict two-week deadline.”
Action: “Since I had skills in this area and I’m very organized, I was able to reprioritize my workload quickly and efficiently, contact the relevant people involved in the project, and deliver it on time.”
Result: “I was able to successfully deliver the project while staying on top of my usual workload, and the project resulted in the company accruing new clients.”
For example, if one of the values of your potential employer is ‘sustainability’, here’s how you could weave in your values-fit with a few small tweaks:
Action: “Since I had skills in this area and I’m very organized, I was able to reprioritize my workload quickly and efficiently, contact the relevant people involved in the project, and deliver it on time. I’m passionate about reducing our carbon footprint, so for the project, I was mindful of researching and putting forward vendors that offered sustainable practices or lower fuel shipping methods.”
Pro tip. Remember though, when you’re talking about how you align with the company’s values, it’s important that you explain what you can bring and contribute to the role, rather than why it’s a great match for you, personally.
Typical skills employers look for in cloud computing interviews
Though the specific skills will depend on each role, here are some of the most common behaviors and soft skills that employers look for when recruiting for cloud-based jobs:
- Team player
- Self-motivated
- Presentation skills
- Stakeholder management
- Solution-focused / Problem-solving
- Ability to Multi-task
- Communication skills
- Detail-oriented
- Continual learner
- Critical thinking
- Adaptability
- Client-focused
- Influencing skills
- Innovative
- Resilient
- Ambitious
Culture or values-based questions
These questions are used to determine if you align with and would thrive in your prospective employer’s working culture. These questions will typically assess your:
- Behaviors
- Working style
- Personal motivations
- Values
They generally focus on the organization as a whole, rather than a specific role. As such, it’s important that you do your job interview prep thoroughly to answer these successfully. For example, look at the company website, look at their culture pages, look at their news releases, and what they’re doing right now.
Pro tip. Employers often tend to ask “what do you know about our company?” And people often reply with something factual, along the lines of: “Well, you’ve got 10 offices in the US and one in the UK.” However, this sort of answer does not communicate your interest in the company or your passion for the role.
Instead, you could say something along the lines of:
- “I just saw you recently completed a deal with Microsoft that’s going to create 5,000 new jobs which will open new doors for people to join the ecosystem.”
- “I spotted that you recently won an award for your diversity initiatives which is something I’m passionate about, too.”
Examples of culture-based questions
- Describe the environment in which you work best
- Describe your ideal manager/supervisor
- Why do you want to work for us?
- How would your co-workers describe you?
- What motivates you?
Examples of values-based questions
- When have you gone above and beyond?
- Why do you think respect is important in the workplace?
- What does teamwork mean to you?
- What innovative ideas have you introduced in your current workplace?
How to answer difficult cloud interview questions
You may think of some questions as being trickier or more challenging than others. But a lot of that fear melts away when you understand the intent and purpose behind each question, and what skills they’re designed to assess. With that in mind, here are some examples of tricky cloud interview questions that may come up, and how best to answer them.
Sample cloud interview questions and answers
"How have you handled a conflict at work?"
This question will help the interviewer understand if you’re a problem-solver, examine how you personally handle conflict, and determine whether your approach is a good fit for their work environment.
One of the most effective ways to answer this question is by relying on your cultural and behavioral job interview prep research.
- Explain that you are adaptable
- Show how you employed a proactive strategy
- Pick an example that highlights your values fit
Also, choose an example that highlights your integrity, initiative and professional growth and shows:
- How you learned from a mistake
- That you were respectful to your company/colleagues
- Demonstrated integrity, critical thinking, and learning/growth from the situation
Finally, it’s important to demonstrate a good understanding of different viewpoints, especially if one of the values of your potential employer is diversity and an inclusive working culture. To address this:
- Pick an example with a positive outcome
- If you don’t have an example with a positive outcome, then what did you learn?
- If the above is true, explain what you would do differently next time
"What are your strengths?"
This type of question may have several forms, including:
- Tell me about your strengths
- How would your manager describe you?
- Tell me about your achievements
Everyone has different strengths, so answers here can vary a lot. But make sure you only highlight strengths that genuinely align with the job description. And then follow up with examples of how you have demonstrated these in the past.
"What are your weaknesses?"
This is the sort of question that tends to fill most people with dread… However, the interviewer isn’t out there to ‘get you’. By asking this question, your prospective employer just wants to know if you have a realistic view of yourself and whether you’re able to learn from your mistakes!
To answer this question successfully, look at the job spec and identify if there is something you are missing. Chances are, if you have noticed that you are missing a key skill/knowledge, the employer will have noticed it too.
It’s such a powerful thing to address the ‘elephant in the room’ by:
- Focusing on how you can overcome/learn from your weakness
- Giving an example of when you have had to overcome a skills/knowledge gap in a previous employer
- Explaining how you adapted/learnt and communicating that you will be able to do so again
Be honest and show you can improve/give past examples of when you have done so, or tell them how you plan to fill your skills or knowledge gap in the current role.
Pro tip. Lots of people don’t know this, but most companies only want you to have around two-thirds of the job skills listed on the job description, so that there is room for you to grow in the role. So, an area where you may lack experience is actually a chance for personal growth in your new role, and will therefore allow the company to retain you for longer. However, make sure that you clearly demonstrate that you are willing to grow and be proactive in your role.
Best questions to ask the employer following your cloud interview
Coming up with good questions to ask at the end of your cloud interview is another area people usually struggle with—and one that, once again, goes back to you having done your research well.
Here are some examples of job interview questions to ask to put your best foot forward:
- Ask about the interviewer’s career journey in the company. (If you are being interviewed by a panel and there is someone with whom you have not directly spoken to yet, then ask them a question. It is important that you engage with everyone in the room.)
- What does success look like to you?
- What would you want me to achieve in the first three months in this role?
- Pick out an interesting fact from the company website, news, and culture pages—comment on what the company does and ask a question about their values or latest projects.
Other tips for cloud interviews (in-person and remote)
Aside from how best to answer the cloud interview questions, it’s also important to project a good personal image to show you’re a professional and a good fit for the company. So, whether you’re attending your job interview in-person or remotely, make sure that you follow these tips:
- Be mindful of your body language
- Engage with everyone on the panel
- Dress appropriately
- Ask questions
- Speak slowly and clearly
Ready to kick-start a career in cloud computing? We can help!
At Revolent, the application process of our Cloud Careers Programs is robust but very well-supported. We’ll take the time to not only polish and tailor your résumé but also prepare you thoroughly for every stage, giving you your best chance of launching an exciting career in the cloud.
