Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Handling the "Weakness" Question in the Job Interview


Discovered a great blog today - The Career Encouragement Blog - where an HR professional offers tips on handling the "weakness" question in the interview.

My favorite from her list of tips to handle this in the job interview:

1. Expect to be asked this question and don't be blind sided.
2. Make your response relevant to the job.
3. Don't be "cheesy" to use the author's phrase and try to use the old turn-the-weakness-into-a-strength approach.

One additional rule of thumb to keep in mind is that you would not want to admit a weakness in an area that is one of the top five most important requirements to do the job. That's just not smart.

I sat in on a job interview recently for a Vice President of Development and was disappointed when one of the top candidates, said his greatest weakness was that he has not met a fund raising target in the last five years. Not good!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is definitely one that can catch people off guard. I wish people remembered that weaknesses are not just in what you say.

You may have a good answer, but then you were dressed inappropriately. You have to be aware of other weaknesses that can show up in the interview.

Miss Cotty

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