Tough Interview Questions – Dealing with the Dark Side, Part I
by Angela Loëb
Today, I want to address a particular question that seems to trip up even the most confident interviewee: “What is your greatest weakness?”
Early in my career, back when I was a recruiter, I used to ask these questions separately:
- What is your greatest strength?
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What do you like most about your job?
- What do you dislike most about your job?
After a while I began to notice similarities. The answers I received from job candidates kept proving over and over that our likes and strengths are tied together as are our weaknesses and dislikes. I’ve observed that we tend to be weak in the areas of things we don’t like, and we tend to excel in the areas we do like. It’s a chicken or egg concept, I guess… who knows what comes first. Maybe we have no interest in developing ourselves in an area in which we don’t like, or, perhaps, since we prefer to avoid situations that might possibly lead to failure, we don’t like the things associated with those situations.
Regardless of where the psychology falls in the matter, the fact remains… your weaknesses and dislikes will probably be tied together.
Jay and I teach that what you don’t like to do is as important to notice as what you do like to do. We specifically make this point in the READY modules of both the CareerFinder™ Method and the Job Search Boot Camp e-courses because we’ve found that it’s important to explore this whether you’re simply analyzing the requirements for the ideal job or you’re self-assessing to define your personal brand.
We’ve observed that sometimes it’s easier to access the don’t wants because you probably have strong feelings about them, whereas your strengths and likes are often tied to your unique talents. Are you aware of your unique talents – your unique strengths? If you struggle with identifying your uniqueness, it’s probably because these strengths/talents are such a part of you that you take them for granted. That sometimes makes them harder to identify.
Even if you have no trouble pinpointing your strengths, it’s still a good idea to spend some time examining your weak areas and dislikes.
Yes, we’re taught to dwell on the positive in our society – positive thinking, positive psychology, positive affirmations – and if you’re familiar with any of my writings and speaking presentations, you know that I’m all for that. But, for now I urge you to give yourself permission to visit the dark side… just for a short time. After all, the employer won’t hesitate to take you there to see just how dark your dark side is.
Their usual motivation for taking you there is that they want to see how you handle problems, stress and personal growth. I would add that at the core of it, they want to uncover issues that the might have to deal with if they hire you. So it’s paramount that you are well-prepared to answer their dark-side questions.
The interview could very well be sprinkled with questions like:
- What skills would you like to develop?
- What traits would you most like to change professionally?
- What part of your job would you gladly give away if you could?
- If you could change one thing about your last manager, employer, job, etc. what would it be?
Have you noticed? These are all variations of the “What is your greatest weakness?/What do you dislike?” question.
Tomorrow, we’ll discuss other dark-side questions and how to prepare yourself to give authentic answers that impress the prospective employer.
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