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Or a question along those lines. How do you answer these questions. Whatever your answer may be you're a dead duck. I have found myself pausing for a few moments before answering and I swear I think this is where I've bombed my chance for the job.
If you say you're good at everything and there's nothing you need improving on you're a dead duck, too. I can't stand these questions. How about when they ask: "in a scale of 1 through 10- and 10 being best how would your last boss rate you"?... blah, blah, blah.
Go on Amazon and search for "interview". Read a couple of those books and you will have an idea what interviewers are looking for and why these seemingly "off-the-wall" questions.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I like to ask both sides of that question. Something like "what would you last supervisor say is you greatest strength and your biggest weakness?" Not only should you be able to be critical of yourself, but also to speak about your good qualities without appearing to brag. These questions are completely open, so what the candidate chooses for the answer reveals
a lot too.
I wouldn't say weakness I just think you're shooting yourself in the foot when you're truthful.
-Cheers.
No, you're shooting yourself in the foot by not answering the question. You can choose to ignore my suggestion and everyone else's, but you what does that accomplish? Your spinning your wheels here. The people you are competing against for these jobs have figured out how to answer the interviewer's questions.
These questions are just so stupid and have no relation to the ability to do the job. Unfortunately companies use them to select employees and wonder why they don't get the best person for the job. Companies deserve every bad employee they hire.
I went on an interview last weekend and they asked me "Describe to me ur biggest weakness and ur best strength."
I said "As far as my biggest weakness would be, I would have to say that I can be impatient. I like to get things done and I like to get things done quickly. I like answers instanly, however I realise that not everyone works like this and especially when it comes to working on a team..... I know that people work at different paces and thats perfectly OK, I believe that taking your time on projects is a great strength that many people possess and admire them for that. I think through others examples, it has taught me to be more patient and I continue to learn from others on a daily basis"
They really seemed to like this answer because it shows "u get the job done...u meet deadlines....ur focused on completeing a task" however it can also be seen as a weakness because "u may get things done too fast, etc etc. "
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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My last interview they used the STAR method. Situation, Task, Action, Result. What they did was say something like "tell us the last time you were asked to do something unethical" and then I had to use the STAR method to answer. At first, it really freaked me out. However, I must say that after learning how to answer like that, you can apply it to any situation or question they throw at you.
Example: what's your biggest weakness
At my last position I was asked to lead a team charged with coming up with a marketing initiative to increase sales by 50% (situation and task). I soon realized that I needed to brush up on my delegation skills, so I took an online company-sponsored training class (action). As a result, I ended up leading a team that exceeded goals by 10% (result).
Anyway, above example was created in 2 minutes, but you get the idea.
My last interview they used the STAR method. Situation, Task, Action, Result. What they did was say something like "tell us the last time you were asked to do something unethical" and then I had to use the STAR method to answer. At first, it really freaked me out. However, I must say that after learning how to answer like that, you can apply it to any situation or question they throw at you.
Example: what's your biggest weakness
At my last position I was asked to lead a team charged with coming up with a marketing initiative to increase sales by 50% (situation and task). I soon realized that I needed to brush up on my delegation skills, so I took an online company-sponsored training class (action). As a result, I ended up leading a team that exceeded goals by 10% (result).
Anyway, above example was created in 2 minutes, but you get the idea.
Oh, and I got the job.
That is indeed sound advice, however that sounds more like a situation like "Describe to us a difficult situation and how u overcame that obstacle" and it doesn't really address a "weakness" per se. . .
I did the saaaame thing u did and used the STAR method when asked about aweakness once and the interviewer said...and I quote.... "That's not a weakness, can u please describe to us a weakness of ur own personal accord?"
and that threw me off BIG time, I was all flustered and like "omg, now what do i say?"
lol
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