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Candidate Services > Interview Tips: Suggested READY Answers to Tough Interview Questions: What do you consider your major strength? Your major Weaknesses? Sitting at home reading the newspaper, of course you may be able to rattle off any number of good answers to questions such as these. However, these answers may not come as fast as if you were being interviewed for a job. Keep in mind that these answers are just suggestions of what a lot of experts believe are the best answers to these tough questions. Do not just parrot them if the answers aren’t true. They are meant to get you thinking what your personal best answers would be, so that you aren’t bowled over when you’re asked these questions in the interview. Why do you want to leave your current job? There are lots of good reasons you can give, including more money, opportunity more challenge, desire for increased responsibility, and the desire to be with a more prestigious company. In his book “How to Win in a Job Interview” Jason Roberts points out that questionable reasons for leaving your last job include personality conflicts, reduction of force, reorganization or “mutually satisfactory release.” What are your greatest strengths? Some real strengths include common sense, intelligence, maturity, ability to deal with people and drive. Ask yourself and , in fact, ask the interviewer- what problems he or she needs to have solved. If you can, you should try to match your strengths (“I’m very good with figures”) to those needs. What are your greatest weaknesses? You’d better be careful here. An amazing number of people blab out what really and truly are their biggest weaknesses- “Well, I don’t get along with people too well” and “Well, sometimes I procrastinate a lot” or “Well, to tell you the truth, I get a splitting headache if I have to read more than two pages worth of information." You should understand that there are weaknesses and there are weaknesses that can be bent around to look like strengths. For example, “Well my biggest weakness is impatience-I’ve got to jump right in and get that job done. The important thing a lot of interviewers are looking for in your answers are not the specific answers but your poise and articulation. What do you want to be five years from now? There’s another loaded question. If you say you want your boss’s job then you are liable to be viewed as threatening, which you don’t want to be. Answer this practical question in a way that is not threatening and in a way that is realistic. You don’t want to appear to be too ambitious since your perspective employer would like you to be there for a while. How much are you earning now? Here you have a problem. You’re afraid that if you are underpaid then you may come across as seeming not valuable enough to your current employer. Or, you’re afraid that your prospective employer is liable to base his or her salary offer on your present low pay. Honesty is usually the best policy here, though. Interviewers know a lot more about prevailing salaries than you realize, and, in any case, they are liable to check on what you say. If you are underpaid tell your prospective employer what your current salary is and then add clearly that “that is exactly why I am here today.” What do you think of your present boss? You don’t want to shoot from the hip on this one. Telling a prospective employer that your present boss is the biggest rat in the industry may make you feel better but may also reflect badly on you. Since the interviewer may know, or know of, your boss, you certainly have to be honest, but diplomatic. “Strong leader” just sounds a lot better than “tyrant,” for instance. Keep I mind that it is not just the actual answers to these questions but how you answer them that is important, too. Always try, first, to find our what problems you prospective boss really wants to get solved. If you have a particularly tough questions you've encountered and would like to know our opinion on how to handle it, contact us. We'll be happy to help. More Interview Tips: |
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