Use your weakness to show strength in job interviews (Part 2)

The previous post in this series talked about some of the strangest answers I have seen given regarding how to get around that dreaded question ‘weaknesses’ in interviews.

Before I moved on to Part 3 which talks about quite frankly how much an nightmare this can lead to in particular with the day job I have just left, I just wanted to show an answer I received from a gentleman on facebook called Brent Salish (who I do not know) who posted the following comment about my original article which I think deserved a post in its own right

“As someone who over the years interviewed hundreds of candidates for A Very Large Software Company, I think there's some good advice here. (Though "chocolate" would have been an acceptable response too.) I rarely asked this question, both because I was?tired of stock and BS answers and because I think there are far better ways to elicit the two layers of this information. And therein lies the key. One layer, of course, is the question itself, along with how are you working on it and what are you learning.

The other layer is to explore the candidate's level of self-awareness. Successful candidates are going to be given near-impossible tasks and deadlines - that's the software biz - and are going to fail at times and will need to deal with hard criticism (code reviews are notorious for a bluntness that is often quite necessary). I needed to understand whether these experiences would stymie you or make you stronger, which meant I needed to assess self-awareness among other traits. I worked hard at not being an a**hole as a manager and department head, but maintaining civility and being supportive does not change the underlying situation. By the way, candidates who are good at interviewing often bring this information into the conversation themselves. It's a great way to take control of the dialog (an effective interview IS a dialog, not a grilling) while demonstrating your ability to learn and grow (and your ability to work with a large cohort of folks whose style is Be brief, be brilliant, be gone). BTW, the question I hated most as I moved up in the company was, What changes would you make to this department? I hated making sh** up based on almost no credible info... generally to the very folks I'd be managing!”

After thanking Brent for his kind comment, he further added “Yeah, to pull off "chocolate" requires good comic timing and a very light touch.”

(Lots more features not all featured on here can be found here - free to subscribe - https://andynartist.substack.com/)

(My first book of non-fiction on the employment market and beyond is here

- Beyond the CV - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-CV-Lessons-Unemployment-2024-ebook/dp/B0DJ7BQQ17?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.R343igZ2HQ9UCnmlkBA_FYGBAFz1s5CTAscs3NKgMMEhB97hqCE9XuJcAOzJKUYJ_m6_DqTZnpb2NiObkV4C1h0qhVFYkalZNZhXv2dZDC3bnKbG_EfD8TkabhcxP_HgWmHDaeon59W2DzM4SUVsBWvy3TPK0gU0cizRyzWiiQnkXaYwkFkN2YRB4L_kmdgos7Oy5AEg1b3o1dmeXYVsCQCQ2BphvQLDf3Gu4D0y-04.1_gJoN82pnu_ShJluq9CVU_qZbH8pLGhLnJ0B-JLJL4&dib_tag=AUTHOR)

#employment #work #job #interview #interviewquestions