If you don’t subscribe to the Harvard Business Review or MIT’s Sloan Management Review, I highly recommend you do. They are part of my staple weekly readings. Their articles are empirically based, offering advice on leadership, management of others and oneself, nurturing oneself, and so many other topics. The digital subscriptions are relatively inexpensive and are worth it. I have been reading them for years and I am never disappointed!
A recent article titled: How to Answer “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?” by Joel Schwartzberg provides really great tips on a question that we all encounter during job interviews. I have interviewed so many people in my careers and the recommendations on how to frame, describe, storytell, and link back your strengths to the job requirements would definitely win me over as a hiring manager if done well.
When talking about one’s weaknesses, the article recommends framing them as challenges. Conversely, they recommend picking a challenge that is not related to the core duties of the job for which you are interviewing. The only addition I have to their recommendations is to be honest. Integrity is key. And, being honest about your areas of needed development, your new manager can keep that in mind as they work with you and help craft a professional development plan for you.
Access the article here: https://hbr.org/2023/05/how-to-answer-what-are-your-strengths-and-weaknesses?ab=HP-bottom-popular-text-4
Also see this article about the 10 most common interview questions: https://hbr.org/2021/11/10-common-job-interview-questions-and-how-to-answer-them?ab=HP-hero-for-you-text-2
Are there questions that stump you in a job interview? Do you have advice on how to tackle difficult questions? Share them below.
