Job interview questions in Canada

• Tell us about yourself? …
• What can you tell us about Canada Post? …
• Why do you want to work for Canada Post? …
• DID YOU KNOW… …
• What is your greatest weakness?
• Example: my greatest weakness is I don’t take criticism well. …
• What is your greatest strength?

I’ve been on both sides of the job interview process more than a few times in both Europe and Canada. I’ve been through interview questions from part-time jobs at school, to straight-out-of-university graduate jobs, to now in a senior position in a big Canadian firm.

Being both the interviewee and interviewer in different companies, at different seniority levels, in different countries should make me well placed to help you understand what job interview questions you might get asked and how to structure your answers.

So while every job interview is going to be different, particularly across different fields and levels of experience, there are themes that persist across most types of interviews that can help you predict what Canada job interview questions you might get asked.

I’ll explain the types or categories of job interview questions you might come across, how to structure your interview answers for those types of questions and give you example Canadian interview questions for each type. So you’ll be well prepared with Canada job interview questions and answers.

I’ll also cover my top 10 common interview mistakes and some general interview tips that should help you ace the interview.

It’s worth pointing out that I’ve not seen a substantial difference in interview questions or interview structures between Europe and Canada. There are more tangible differences in interview style between the type of job you’re going for rather than just what country you’re going for it in.

Oh, and if you want to make sure your resume is the best it can be, you can read my article on how to write a knockout resume here.

Canada Job Interview questions

Interviews for Top Jobs at Canada Post

I applied online. I interviewed at Canada Post

First round was a very short phone conversation with HR, second round was a panel interview with HR and Engineering Managers. They asked typical interview questions – nothing out of the ordinary.

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I interviewed at Canada Post

This was great . They did a fingerprints background check. They were kind and jovial and they answered all my questions. They took the time to speak to all of us individually.

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I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Canada Post

Fast and smooth. No experience required. But it is hard to get in. Work as on call first and hard to compete because it is based on seniority level. Good luckBe the first to find this interview helpful

I applied online. I interviewed at Canada Post in Sep. 2022

Explained the job daily tasks, went over the on-call and temporary requirements. Must work 480 hours before requesting a permanent position. 4am-8am start time. Physical, all weather job. Starts in the sorting centre and moves to delivery.

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I interviewed at Canada Post

Went smooth but takes a long time for various steps post interviews. Basic behaviour questions asked. Mainly related to previous work experience. Three rounds of interviews 1. On call- HR basic 2. Technical 3. Management

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I interviewed at Canada Post

All of the answers to the questions were to ask the supervisor for assistance. There were three questions in total. What if you got a new route and how to handle problems.

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Anonymous Interview Candidate in Edmonton, AB

I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Canada Post (Edmonton, AB) in Jul. 2022

I applied online and received an email from Adecco (a temp. agency hired by Canada Post to interview candidates) about my interview. There was a delay of 1 week between when I was asked about an interview and when it took place. It took place virtually because they want to see your drivers licence. Then, the video feed was causing my laptop to heat up and we conducted the rest of the interview over the telephone. Canada post wants to see a copy of your drivers license over video. Could they not ask for an attachment? Anyways, I have no problems with them wanting to see me on video, but just a thought.. I am on the autism spectrum and noticed that Canada Post claimed priority would be given to people with disabilities and minorities. (I am caucasian). The questions were straight forward, but also rather annoying. Ive worked various labour jobs and and had to answer how Id deal with various situations. Answering the questions felt like a chore and I was mostly uninspired to answer then. Ive also been a professional musician where most of the questions asked had no relevance. Heres what Canada Post should be clarifying when they advertise this position: 1. Candidates have to be prepared for a possible 4:00AM start with as little as 2 hours notice. That means you leave your phone on and have your sleep interrupted. Once I heard this, my enthusiasm dropped substantially. 2. Candidates must be available all of the time. I applied with the expectation of being able to work 2 days/week. This is not clarified by Canada Post. Canada Post wants to find a large pool of canadates. By neglecting to mention all information relative to the position, they find as many people as they can. If they list the less desirable aspects of the job, theyll have less people applying. Be honest in the first place Canada Post, there is no need to waste peoples time. Its deceitful and disrespectful. Finally, unless you have a vehicle or live close to a depot (Canada Post makes no mention of the respective depots in your area which you may be expected to work at and travel to), it will be difficult or impossible to reach on at an early morning start time like 4am. Public transit does not run at that hour. Even at $22/hr (the stated wage of the position), I cant see many paying cab fare to get to work every morning unless they were extremely desperate.

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I interviewed at Canada Post

Resume uploaded with all the right documents online allows you to apply for anything in your area. Once Passed the GAT , then virtual interview. She made me feel so comfortable.

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Anonymous Employee in Ottawa, ON

I interviewed at Canada Post (Ottawa, ON)

online interview, was then contacted through phone, then email. Set up training days at office. Went very smoothly. I was with 3 other recruits Nice hr people, but you wont see them ever again.

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I interviewed at Canada Post

The first interview was interactive and challenging. am preparing for the second phase of it. hopefully it will come out better. I need to prepare well for it and tips of how it works

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Glassdoor users rated their interview experience at Canada Post as 67.0% positive with a difficulty rating score of 2.62 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty). Candidates interviewing for On Call Letter Carrier and Letter Carrier rated their interviews as the hardest, whereas interviews for Postal Clerk and Letter Carrier (Relief) roles were rated as the easiest.

The hiring process at Canada Post takes an average of 30 days when considering 315 user submitted interviews across all job titles. Candidates applying for Postal Clerk had the quickest hiring process (on average 23 days), whereas On Call Letter Carrier roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 36 days).

Common stages of the interview process at Canada Post according to 315 Glassdoor interviews include:

One-on-One Interview: 19.29%

Drugs Test: 12.08%

Presentation: 11.63%

Background Check: 10.46%

Group Panel Interview: 10.01%

Phone Interview: 9.28%

Skills Test: 9.28%

IQ Intelligence Test: 7.51%

Personality Test: 7.36%

Other: 3.09%

Popular Careers with Canada Post Job Seekers

Types of Canadian interview questions

These are what I see as the typical broad categories of Canada interview questions.

I’ve heard the types called different things by different people but, regardless of what you call each, the substance will be the same.

It’s handy to be familiar with the structure of job interview questions because you can then learn how to answer that type of question.

So while you’re not going to know the substance of the questions you’ll get asked, you can prepare for how to structure your answers for different types of questions.

These type of Canadian job interview questions are ones where the interviewer is trying to understand how you’ve handled situations in the past.

The interviewer is trying to use how you’ve handled situations in the past to determine how good you’d be at dealing with similar situations in their organisation.

So the question will start something along the lines of “Tell me about a time when…” or “Give me an example of a situation in which…”

Behavioural interview questions are, as far as I’m concerned, the same as competency questions – it’s just tell me about a time you’ve shown this skill/behaviour/competency.

The situation that they’ll ask you to describe will depend on what the important skills and behaviours for the job are.

So if it’s important for the job to be able to manage difficult customers then they might ask “Tell me about a time when you had to resolve an issue for a difficult customer.”

Or if it’s important for the job that you’re good at communicating technical issues to non-technical audiences they might ask “Tell me about a time when you had to explain a complex technical issues to someone outside your team and how you did it.”

We’ll cover how to anticipate what behaviours you’ll be asked about in the interview in the interview tips section below.

If you’re asked a question that begins something like “Tell me about a time…” or “Give me an example of…” then it’s important that you talk about a specific example.

Don’t talk in general terms; pick one good example and talk about that.

It’s fine to preface the answer briefly by letting the interviewer know that you have to deal with that kind of thing a lot in your current job but then move on to “and one good example of that is”.

It should be fairly obvious in the question what behaviour or competency the interviewer is trying to gauge.

It might be teamwork, innovation, or conflict resolution as examples.

So pick out the skill or behaviour from the question and focus your answer on demonstrating that – don’t get caught up in technical details.

The best way to structure your response to behavioural interview questions is using the STAR method which I’ve explained in the section below.

Situational interview questions in Canada are similar to behavioural questions but rather than asking how you’ve dealt with something in the past, the interviewer will give you a scenario and ask how you’d deal with the situation.

Normally the scenario will be something that you would likely encounter in the role you’re applying for.

I’ve also seen these called case interview questions. But essentially, situational interview questions and case interview questions are the same: giving you a situation (or a case) and asking how you’d deal with it.

Depending on the job you’re applying for and the interviewer, this type of question could be looking to test your technical knowledge of the job field or it could be more of a soft skills type question.

So a job-specific technical one might be something like, “Someone from HR comes to tell you they’ve clicked on what might be a dodgy link in an email they received. Talk me through what you’d do.”

Whereas a soft skill more general one may be, “Someone in your team is struggling and it’s causing the team to miss deadlines. What would you do in this situation?”

Any situation you might encounter in your potential new role is fair game here so it will really probe your understanding of the job you’ve applied for.

Obviously it’s important to explain clearly what you’d do in the situation but it’s even more important to talk through your thought process and reasoning.

Often there’s no one right answer to the question. Really what the interviewer wants to see is your critical thinking and logic.

It could be that the specifics is not quite what the interviewer was looking for but by explaining your reasoning they understand that you’ve picked up on the key points to consider in the situation and are applying sound reasoning.

The technical specifics in many jobs can be easily taught but reasoning skills cannot.

Don’t answer in such a way that it sounds like you’re passing the buck. Talk about what you’d do to resolve the situation.

That’s not to say you should always avoid saying that you’d inform your manager (and that kind of thing) as part of the answer but don’t go for the “Oh I’d just ask my manager what to do.”

Lastly, if there are real-life examples of how you’ve dealt with a similar situation in the past, include that too.

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FAQ

Why you are interested in applying for the post?

• What are the day-to-day responsibilities of the position?
• How has this position changed over time?
• Can you describe the working culture of the company?
• Do you provide professional development opportunities? …
• What are some of the challenges I might face in this position?

How long does it take to get hired at Canada Post?

How long is a post office interview?