Quick Answer
Most Irish interviews cover the same ground. Expect to be asked why you left your last job, what you know about the company, how you handle pressure or conflict, and what your availability is.
For hands-on roles, the practical questions matter more than the clever ones. Can you get to the site for a 7am start. Do you hold a current Safe Pass. Are you comfortable on a forklift. What notice do you have to give.
There are also questions an employer cannot ask you. Under the Employment Equality Acts, questions touching any of the nine protected grounds are unlawful, including age, family status, religion and nationality.
Prepare three or four examples from real jobs you have done. Almost every question is a route into one of them.
Interview advice online is mostly written for office jobs in America. It tells you to describe yourself in three words and asks where you see yourself in five years.
Irish interviews for warehouse, construction, hospitality and general operative roles are usually shorter, more practical and more direct than that. Here is what actually comes up.
The questions you will almost certainly get
"Tell me about yourself." Not an invitation to talk about your childhood. Give two minutes on your work history, most recent first, ending with why you are sitting here. Practise it out loud once. It is the only question you can genuinely script.
"Why did you leave your last job?" Answer plainly and keep it short. Redundancy, contract ended, site finished, wanted more hours, moved house. All fine. Criticising a previous employer is the single most common way candidates damage an otherwise good interview.
"What do you know about us?" Two minutes on their website beforehand covers it. What they do, roughly how big they are, where they operate. Not knowing looks like you applied to everything without reading anything.
"Tell me about a time something went wrong." They want to know how you behave under pressure and whether you take responsibility. Pick something real, explain what you did, say what changed afterwards. Never answer that nothing has ever gone wrong.
"How do you handle a disagreement with a colleague or supervisor?" Common in team-based roles, particularly on sites and in kitchens. The answer they are listening for is that you raise it directly and calmly rather than letting it fester or going over someone's head.
"What are your salary expectations?" Give a range rather than a single figure, and base it on the market rather than what you got last time. Our Salary Guide Ireland is a reasonable place to check before you go in.
Worth knowing: Ireland's draft pay transparency legislation is expected to prohibit employers from asking about your pay history. It is not in force yet, so you may still be asked. If you are, answering with what you are looking for rather than what you earned is entirely reasonable.
What gets asked in hands-on roles
Generic interview guides skip these entirely, and they are usually the ones that decide the outcome.
Warehouse and logistics:
Are you comfortable on a counterbalance or reach truck, and is the licence current?
What pick rates have you worked to?
Have you used a scanner or WMS system, and which one?
Are you happy on a cold store or chilled environment?
Can you do the shift pattern, including any weekend or early starts?
Construction and trades:
Is your Safe Pass in date?
What tickets do you hold, and can you send them before you start?
What size of site have you worked on?
Have you worked with this type of plant or material before?
Can you get to the site for the start time, and do you have your own transport?
Hospitality:
What covers have you worked to on a busy service?
Are you comfortable across sections, or is one your strength?
Do you hold HACCP training?
How do you handle a complaint at the table?
What is your availability across weekends and evenings?
Office and admin:
Which systems have you used, and at what level?
How do you prioritise when several things are urgent?
Describe a process you improved.
What is your notice period?
If you are unsure which certificates a particular role expects, our guide to Safe Pass, CSCS and manual handling sets out what each one covers.
The practical questions people underprepare for
These sound like small talk. They are not. They are the questions that determine whether you can actually start.
"When could you start?" Know your notice period before you walk in. "Two weeks" beats "I would have to check."
"How would you get here?" Especially for early starts and sites off a bus route. If you drive, say so. If you do not, say how you would get there rather than leaving it open.
"Do you have the right to work in Ireland?" A legitimate and necessary question. Employers must verify this. Have the documentation ready and answer directly. Note the distinction: asking whether you can legally work here is fine. Asking where you are from is not.
"Is there anything that would stop you doing this job?" Reasonable when phrased around the tasks. An employer can ask whether you can carry out the duties, with reasonable accommodation where needed. They cannot ask about your health or medical history in general.
Questions employers cannot legally ask
This is the part almost nobody covers, and it is worth knowing before you are sitting in the room.
The Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 prohibit discrimination on nine protected grounds:
Gender
Civil status
Family status
Sexual orientation
Religion
Age
Disability
Race
Membership of the Traveller community
The legislation covers recruitment, not just employment. A question that requires you to disclose information falling under any of those grounds, where it has no genuine job-related basis, is unlawful.
In practice that rules out:
Your age, date of birth, or what year you finished school
Whether you are married, have children, or plan to
Childcare arrangements
Your nationality or where you are originally from
Your religion or which school you attended
Health conditions, disabilities or medications
Whether you are pregnant
These protections apply at interview stage, not only once you are employed. The WRC hears complaints about discrimination in recruitment and selection, and questions of this kind have led to findings against employers, particularly where a question was put to one candidate but not to others being interviewed for the same role.
One point worth understanding: a candidate who raises an inference of discrimination shifts the burden onto the employer to show that discrimination did not occur.
The WRC sets out how employment equality complaints work, and Citizens Information covers equality in the workplace in plainer terms.
If you get asked one
Most of the time it is clumsiness rather than malice. An interviewer making conversation asks whether you have kids without thinking about it.
You have options, and none of them require confrontation:
Answer the concern rather than the question. If asked about childcare, the real worry is reliability. "I have no issues with the hours or the shift pattern" answers it without disclosing anything.
Redirect politely. "I would rather focus on whether I am right for the role" is a complete answer.
Answer it if you do not mind. Nothing stops you. The protection exists for your benefit, not as an obligation.
Write it down afterwards. Note the question, who asked it, and the date, while it is fresh.
If you believe a question cost you the job, a complaint can be made to the WRC, normally within six months of the incident. Compensation can be awarded, with the amount depending on the circumstances and on whether you were already an employee. Citizens Information explains the process.
One thing very few candidates know: you can make a data access request for the interview notes held about you. Employers are expected to keep clear records and marking criteria, and an absence of them makes a selection process very hard to defend.
Questions worth asking them
Interviewers notice when you have none. Three or four is plenty, and the practical ones land better than the philosophical ones.
What does a typical shift look like?
Who would I be reporting to, and how big is the team?
Is this a new position or a replacement?
What does the training or induction look like in the first fortnight?
What are the next steps, and when will you come back to me?
That last one is genuinely useful. It gives you a date, and it makes it reasonable to follow up if it passes.
Key Takeaways
Most Irish interviews cover the same six or seven core questions. Prepare three or four real examples and you can answer nearly all of them.
Never criticise a previous employer. It is the most common self-inflicted damage in an otherwise good interview.
For hands-on roles, the practical questions decide it: tickets, transport, shift availability and notice period.
Know your notice period before you go in. "I would have to check" is a weak answer to a simple question.
Employers cannot ask about the nine protected grounds: gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, or Traveller community membership.
Asking whether you have the right to work in Ireland is legitimate. Asking where you are from is not.
An employer can ask whether you can perform the duties, with reasonable accommodation. They cannot ask about your health generally.
These protections apply at interview stage, not only once you are employed.
Raising an inference of discrimination shifts the burden onto the employer to show it did not happen.
WRC complaints must normally be made within six months of the incident.
You can make a data access request for the interview notes held about you.
Irish interviews for practical roles are rarely about clever answers. They are about whether you can do the work, whether you will turn up, and whether you will be straightforward to work with.
Prepare three or four real examples from jobs you have actually done and you can answer most of what comes at you. Know your notice period, know how you would get to the site, and have your tickets ready to send.
And know where the line sits. An employer can ask whether you are able to do the job and whether you can legally work here. They cannot ask your age, your family situation, your religion or where you are originally from. Most who do are being careless rather than deliberate, but the protection is there either way and it is worth knowing you have it.
FAQs
What questions can an employer not ask in an interview in Ireland?
Anything touching the nine protected grounds under the Employment Equality Acts: gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, and membership of the Traveller community. That rules out questions about your age, children, childcare, nationality, religion or health where there is no genuine job-related basis.
Can an employer ask my age in an Irish interview?
No. Age is one of the nine protected grounds, so questions about your age, date of birth or what year you finished school are unlawful where there is no genuine job-related basis. Indirect versions count too, such as asking whether you still have the energy for the role.
Can an employer ask if I have children?
No. Family status and civil status are both protected grounds. If the underlying concern is availability, the employer should ask directly about the hours and shift pattern instead, and you can answer that without disclosing anything about your family.
Can an employer ask about my right to work in Ireland?
Yes. Employers are required to verify that you are legally entitled to work here, so it is a legitimate question. What they cannot do is ask about your nationality, where you are originally from, or your immigration background more broadly.
What should I do if I am asked an illegal interview question?
You can answer it if you do not mind, redirect politely, or address the underlying concern without disclosing anything. Write down the question, who asked it and the date afterwards. If you believe it cost you the role, a complaint can be made to the WRC, normally within six months.
What should I ask at the end of an interview?
Three or four practical questions work best: what a typical shift looks like, who you would report to, whether the role is new or a replacement, what induction involves, and what the next steps and timeline are. That last one gives you a date and makes following up straightforward.
Total Solutions is a licensed recruitment agency based in Lucan, Co. Dublin, placing temporary and permanent staff across construction, warehousing, hospitality and office support.
Browse current openings on our jobs by location page, or see what to expect on a temporary assignment. More candidate guidance in the Insight Hub.
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