TheToughest

InterviewQuestion Of

All

…And How To

AnswerIT!

For me, one of the the toughest interview questions of all is:

What is your greatest

weakness?

It is not an original or particularly good question, but one that can trip people up

So here are some strategies

Strategy 1:

Avoid the answer completely

Instead, focus on the skills required

Strategy 1 Example:

“This is a difficult question to answer. Of course, we all have certain strengths and weaknesses. When I applied for this job I assessed the key skills I would need to perform well. For me, this job requires the key skills of X, Y, and Z and I feel that I have all of those. With my new role will come new responsibilities such as X, and in my previous job I have had limited opportunities to fully develop these. However, I am a fast learner and will focus on developing these areas.”

Strategy 2:

Talk about minor and irrelevant and

weaknesses

Strategy 2 Example:

For example, if you are applying for a job as a gardener, you might say that you are struggling with public speaking.

Strategy 3:

Avoid general statements

Strategy 3 Example:

Instead of making general statements such as ‘I am bossy’ you might want to qualify this to specific situations along the lines of ‘When there is a lot of pressure on a project I can come across as bossy’.

Strategy 4:

Talk about past development

success

Strategy 4 Example:

“No body is perfect. I am always interested in keeping my skills up-to-date and seek out constructive feedback. In my last job I noticed that my social media skills were not as good as they could have been, which made me book on a training course. Now my social media skills are so good that I help to coach others in that area in my company .”

Read my latest LinkedIn LinkedIn Influencer post

on the topic

This overview was put together by Bernard Marr, Founder and CEO of the Advanced Performance Institute.

Bernard Mar is a bestselling business author, keynote speaker, strategic performance consultant, and analytics, KPI & Big Data guru.

Read Bernard’s blogs:• LinkedIn Influencer Blog• Big Data Guru Blog

Connect with Bernard on:• LinkedIn• Twitter• Facebook• Google+• YouTube• Advanced Performance Institute

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