Hallie was honored to be featured in a recent Glassdoor article about how to prepare for your responses to common interview questions. As a follow up to this article, we wanted to share some additional tips with you.
Many times, what seem to be common interview questions are actually behavioral interview questions. They are designed to draw out a candidate’s strengths in a different way, but also their personality type and “soft skills.” Employers don’t just want to know that you have the hard skills for the job, they want to make sure that potential employees will fit in with their organization, work well within a team, be able to handle challenges or problematic situations well, and that they have a strong work ethic, for example. Questions meant to reveal personality traits allow them to see if you have the soft skills that would make someone an ideal employee.
Here are a few questions a hiring manager might ask:
What is your greatest strength? You want to tailor your answer to the position you are interviewing for. Did they mention any specific strengths in their job listing or is there a specific strength that the position requires? Have at least 3 stories of successes from your past experience that you can tell to illustrate the strengths they are looking for based on the position, the organization and its goals (that you would have read from their website) and the industry.
What is your greatest weakness? Don’t be scared by this question. An employer wants to know that a potential employee is self-aware. Give them something that is an area of challenge and how you work to improve that. Make sure it’s not an area that would be detrimental to the job.
