Strengths and weaknesses

Navigating the minefield

Don’t you just hate that moment in a job interview when you’re asked to name your strengths and weaknesses? Many of you want to know how to handle this potential minefield so I have enlisted the help of three very experienced interviewers.

My thanks to Simon Tobin of Michael Page Finance and Nicole Gorton of Office Team, both in Sydney. Also to Graham Smith of Heritage Recruitment in Brisbane, who started by explaining why interviewers ask this question.

“You want to make sure they have the right ‘behaviours’ and skills for the job. After the interview you would verify that they do indeed have the skills they claim to,” he said. “For example, is the person good at problem-solving? Will they work well in a team? Do they have an eye for detail and are they a self-starter?”

All three experts said it was very important to provide specific examples to demonstrate your “strengths”. A sales consultant who said a strength was the fact he or she was “driven by results” should follow with an example of going beyond a sales target or winning a sales award. Someone in retail or hospitality could be “passionate about customer service” and recall a time of going out of their way to fulfil a customer or guest’s request. Make sure your examples are truthful and can be verified by your referee.

Okay, now for your “weaknesses”. Mr Tobin and Ms Gorton both said to relate “weaknesses” that were really strengths and not to use the word “weakness”.

“Start the sentence with, ‘my area for improvement is’,” said Ms Gorton. Also, nominate a skill you don’t actually need on the job like languages. Being able to say you are actively trying to change your weakness into a strength is also a good idea.

For example: “My area for improvement is public speaking and I have just enrolled in a toastmaster’s course.” My stock standard one is: “I’m too focused on work and need to develop some after hours hobbies.” Nauseating right?

Mr Smith has a different view. “I ask, ‘Give me an example of a situation when you were not successful, what you did, and how you felt about it?’ I want to know that someone can encounter a knock back and be robust enough to cope with it and get on with the job,” he said.

By Kate Southam, Editor of careerone.com.au