Author: Aseem

Almost every interview you sit for is going to eventually lead you to discuss your strengths and weaknesses. There is simply no way out of this situation, and like with any other question, you get to put your greatest strengths in the limelight and get to show how much you are willing to grow with your weaknesses.

Everybody has strengths and weaknesses we know about ourselves, but not all those are interview appropriate. The key to answering questions of this kind is balance.

Read this blog to learn how to answer this question, why you are asked about your strength and weaknesses in job interviews and what are some strengths and weaknesses examples you can give when posed with this question.

Before we jump to this question, let’s first understand how to answer and ace interview questions as a whole.

Scripting – the key to self-introduction for interviews

This may come as a surprise for some of you, and we bet y’all are wondering should we be scripting our answers?

And the answer to this question is a resounding YES!

By scripting we mean, preparing or pre-writing an interview answer. You absolutely should be scripting answers to standard questions for your interviews beforehand. And the question “what are your strengths and weaknesses” are as standard as they come. In fact, answers to any question that will provide an introduction to yourself to the interviewer should be scripted prior to the interview.

What we don’t recommend however is trying to memorise these scripted answers word-for-word. This will just lead you to sound rehearsed when instead you want to sound candid – one of the most common mistakes freshers make during their interview. Scripting your answers beforehand will help you organise your thoughts beforehand. It will give you a rough flow of points from start to finish, so that you can tie up the end of your answer neatly and not end it haphazardly.

So how do you script answers better? These are our top tips:

1. Prepare a list of the most frequently asked questions in the field you’re applying to. And script answers for those select few questions, since they have a higher chance of being asked.
2. Once you script your answer, practise them out loud to see how naturally they’re flowing for you. And go back and make any changes required to the answer.
3. As we mentioned above DO NOT memorise these answers, this will throw you off if the answers you memorised are not asked.
4. In order to check how you sound, you could also record your answers and go back and check how well your answers are flowing.
5. When it comes to the actual interview, just make up an answer as you go – based on the main points of the answer you scripted.
6. If you want to go a step further you can also schedule a mock HR interview with an interview coach. This way you’ll be much more comfortable answering questions in a foreign environment.

Now that we understand how to script better answers, let’s go back to addressing your strengths and weaknesses in an interview.

Interviewer’s favourite – What are your strengths and weaknesses?

The topic of strengths and weaknesses may seem daunting to most and it certainly is tricky to talk about them. However interviewers ask about your strengths and weaknesses often to evaluate a few things about you:

• How well do you know yourself
• Based on your answer, whether you’re fit for the team
• Whether or not you assess yourself
• What your approach is, to make up for your weaknesses
• What new skills and traits will you bring to the team

As you can see there is a lot you have to keep in mind when you answer the question – “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

How to answer – What are your strengths?

To answer this question, it is important to put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer. What strengths do you think the interviewer is looking for? You will get a general idea of this by reading the description of the job role you’re applying for. Depending on what you come up with, you can then align your strengths to match their expectations.

For example, if you’re looking to apply for the role of Product Manager, organisational ability is a skill you’d like to showcase.

When you answer this question, be confident. This is your chance to highlight positive traits. However, refrain from bragging about how good you are at xyz tasks. It’s never a good look and unless your interviewer is equally pompous, they are least likely to get impressed. Instead be straightforward and humble, talk about strengths and provide scenarios where you used them.

A sample response for this question would look like this:

“One of my greatest strengths is my organisational skill. I learned this through [story of how you developed this], and this allowed me to [example of what you achieved using this strength] at my current/previous job/experience.”

As you can see this format is a bit direct and straightforward, however it gives you the leeway to add a personal touch in the form of a story or an experience. You should always follow up your strengths with an example of a situation where you put them to use and what the resulting outcome was.

If you’re having a hard time pointing out your strengths, we’ve put together a list of possible strengths, and you can pick one or two (we’re generous like that) and elaborate on them.

A list of possible soft skills you can use as Strengths:

• Detail-oriented
• Accuracy
• Time Management
• Good at negotiation
• Flexible
• Quick to Adapt
• Quick study / Fast learner
• Empathetic
• Disciplined
• Excellent at communicating
• Innovative
• Creative
• Problem solver
• Open to criticism
• Persuasive
• Interpersonal skills / a Team player
• Strong work ethic
• Leadership

Apart from these soft skills, you should definitely add hard skills or technical skills that are relevant to your field and back it up with some credible work experience like projects, etc.

How to answer – What are your weaknesses?

We all have weaknesses and flaws – just a part of being a human being.

But our ability to recognise these weaknesses and work upon them is what differentiates us from each other. And ultimately this is what recruiters are looking for – how do you overcome your shortcomings.

Similar to your strengths, the key to talking about your weaknesses is combining self-awareness with an action and the resulting outcome.

• Talk about the weakness – what is it?
• What you did overcome this weakness – with a story.
• How did that improve your weakness (result)

Owning up to your weaknesses is a sign of growth in itself and is more attractive to your hiring managers, rather than saying you have no flaws. So when posed with this question, this should be the outline of your answer:

“During my career I would often struggle with [weakness]. I have come a long way after I did X activity to improve myself. [Follow up with a story of how you managed your weakness.]”

When you script an answer for this question, ensure that you pick a weakness that allows you to demonstrate your growth and your fervour to keep learning from your mistakes

In case you’re stuck coming up with a weakness you can elaborate on, we have a few listed for you. Pick the ones that you can elaborate on with a story of improvement:

• Self-critical
• Insecure
• Disorganised
• Prone to procrastination
• Uncomfortable speaking in front of a crowd
• Uncomfortable with task delegation
• Risk-averse
• Competitive
• Sensitive to criticism
• Extreme introversion or extroversion
• Limited experience in a particular skill or software

When you pick a weakness, make sure you pick one where you have shown improvement, so that you can demonstrate your growth to your hiring manager.

Conclusion

Your strengths and weaknesses matter to recruiters, because from these answers they can assess whether or not you are a suitable candidate and whether or not you’ll be a good fit for the team. They also like to see whether or not you’re capable of assessing yourself.

When choosing a strength or weakness, choose one that allows you to elaborate in the form of a story on how you either used that particular strength or overcame your weakness

If you want to learn more about HR interview questions like this, upGrad Campus offers Placement Plus and Internship Plus with all its courses. You can expect complete career guidance, from Resume building to mock HR interviews, making you100% ready for your first job.

Does the thought of job interview season have you biting nails and bouncing legs? Then consider this article your holy grail and keep reading to find out just how to ace job interviews with ease.

Starting with…

What are the successful strategies to crack interviews?

As a fresher, interviews can be painfully stressful. Especially when there’s no one to guide you through the insane amount of preparation you’re stuck with the day before. To make your life easier, we’ve noted down the most important strategies and interview tips for freshers before the D-day.

1. Research about the company

   Research is one of the most important interview skills you must develop. You have to research about the company you are applying to and about the position they are offering you. Things you should keep in mind when researching for a new job interview or considering a prospective offer:

   • Your goals and expectations v/s the roles and responsibilities of the position you’re applying for.
   • Salary, this is very important. Your future employer has to match or come in a reasonable range of what you’re asking for.
   • If the position has had a high turnover rate, i.e many people leaving the role, then try to find out why that is the case and more about this position. Sites like Glassdoor are great places to check the company’s rating.
   • You should browse through these sites to get an overall idea of what the company culture is like. If possible, reach out to existing or ex-employees and ask more about the company.
   • Now if you’re sure you want to apply for this job role, your next step should be to not just research but to also learn about the company and its products/services/new launches.
   • Going further to learn about the company, check for any news about the company and go through their social media pages. The more you know about the company the more it will impress your future employers. And higher the chance of you having the best interview of all time.

2. Utilise the STAR method

   When it comes to answer situational questions (like how have you handled conflicts in projects) during your job interview, the STAR method will help you structure your answers better. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. Explain the Situation, list down your Responsibilities or Tasks, then talk about the Actions you took and finally the Result of your actions.

3. Dress to impress

   Or as we like to call it dress well – test well. This obviously doesn’t mean you go out of your budget for the interview. But on the day of your interview ensure you’re well groomed and presentable by the company’s standards.

4. Appear Confident

   Dressing well is only the first step to impressing your interviewers, if you don’t appear confident, all your prep is going to fall flat. Your confidence should be reflected not just in your answers, but also in your body language.

5. Ask questions

   Once your interviewer is done questioning you, ensure you ask questions about the company or your job or your team. Asking the right questions is one of the most important interview skills you could teach yourself. The interviewer will feel that you actually care about the job and you’ll get to learn about your prospective team well in advance. It’s a win-win.

6. Follow up

   After your job interview, it is possible you won’t hear back from the company on the promised date; in that case follow up with them. Either via email or via call if you have the number. If they haven’t made a decision on the position yet, you will definitely be at the forefront of their potential candidates.

Common Interview Questions (with answers too!)

It is hard to predict the exact questions your interviewer will ask you during your interview, so if we had to, we would place our bets on these commonly occurring interview questions for students and freshers. Answer these well and you’ll learn how to crack interviews for sure!

1. Tell us about yourself.

   This is a very commonly asked interview question for students, and this is how you should answer it.

   Start by sharing a few details about where you’re from and what your background has been, where you studied etc. Then slowly transition into what your past work experience has been and what you have worked with in the past. Don’t add irrelevant details and drag the question on. It will create a bad impression on your part.

   Interview Hack: Use the Present Past-Future Rule to answer this question.

   • Start with what you’re currently doing in your career and add some examples or quantifiable details of your work.
   • Refer back to your Past and show your recruiter how it shaped your decisions.
   • Before you end the answer, throw in a bit about what your future aspirations are and how the company can help you get there.

   Another alternative interviewers take to ask this question is “Walk me through your resume” in which case you should talk less about your personal life and elaborate more on the achievements you’ve added on your resume.

2. Why do you want to work for this company?

   Remember all that research we asked you to conduct in the earlier section?

   Use that to answer this question! Talk about how the company can help you achieve your goals or how your vision/goals align with the company’s goals. You can also add what work of theirs impressed or fascinated you. If they have published research work, talk about what aspects you liked about it. If you have friends within the company, you can talk about how you heard about the company’s culture and ethics and how you would want to be a part of it.

   However, don’t go overboard with the praises and make it come across as fake (should you choose to fake it till you make it).

3. Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge.

   This is the most perfect opportunity you can find to demonstrate your skills through a story. Use the STAR method we spoke about earlier to give an added punch to your answer.

   • Situation

     Talk about a situation you faced in your previous job or in college. Did you ever work with super tight deadlines? Brownie points if it’s a team project.

   • Task

     How were you responsible for the project? What was your role in the story?

   • Action

     What measures did you (specifically) take to ensure that your project met the deadline? How did you make a difference?

   • Result

     Finish with the resulting outcome. Now ideally your story should end positively, however if it didn’t have a positive outcome talk about the lesson you learnt in the process.

   You can use this method to answer other differently worded questions like, “Can you work under pressure?” Or “talk about a setback or failure you faced.”

4. Will you be able to work overtime or relocate should we ask you to?

   This is a very tricky answer with no “correct” answer. But our advice would be to answer truthfully and not say ‘yes’ to simply please your employers. Answer ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or even ‘Maybe’ based completely on your preferences and your situation. Just be sure to back up your answers with legitimate reasons.

5. What are your Salary expectations?

   Another very important but very tricky question that you will be asked. And there is no doubt about this, at some point you will have to discuss your salary expectations with your future employers. These are the ways you go about this conversation:

   • You can ask your interviewer what their budget is and what they would be willing to offer you, to better understand the situation.
   • Take into account your living expenses, any other financial goals of yours before you agree to anything.
   • Don’t just quote a random figure, take into account your experience, how much the average person in your field makes, etc. If you have any other invaluable qualities then take that into account as well.

   This is a difficult situation to navigate, especially if you aren’t used to talking about compensation or money in general. But you have to remember that you are a hundred percent within your rights to ask for a fair salary that meets your needs.

   You should be covered with the above questions, but go the extra mile to prepare for any unconventional interview questions the interviewer could ask you. You’ll thank yourself later!

Types of Interviews

Depending on the company you apply for, there is a set pattern for the way interviews are conducted. These are possible types of rounds you could have during the entire interview process:

• Personal Interview

  Your personal interview concerns all things you! You can expect questions about your life, your past career experiences, projects you might have worked on, the skills or tools you’ve picked up and so on and so forth. In the previous section, we have covered the different types of questions you could be asked.

• Group Discussion

  In places where multiple candidates are interviewed for the same role, they hold group discussion rounds to test public speaking skills, confidence, general knowledge, and other soft skills. If the group discussion is domain-specific, they would also be looking out for your subject matter expertise.

• Technical Round

  This is also carried out one-to-one or sometimes in larger organisations, an entire panel of interviewers take interviews. In the technical interview, they will purely test your domain knowledge in a particular subject. So be sure to prepare relevant subjects before your interview. If your field of choice requires domain expertise, you will not get the job without it.

There are other interview rounds as well, but these three are the most commonly occurring ones. In either case, remember to centre your answers around the company and their needs along with small anecdotes about yourself.

Final Thoughts (and tips)

Interviews might feel really stressful for you, but with a little bit of experience you will come to realise that interviews aren’t something to break your head over. Just be confident in yourself and your skills, the rest will play itself out.

Some parting advice and interview tips to leave you people with – get a full night’s rest before your interview and don’t forget to smile at your interviewer!

If you think these can help you crack your interview and want to learn more about perfecting your interview skills through mock interviews, resume building workshops and more, check out our Placement Plus Program!

Then consider this article your holy grail and keep reading to find out just how to ace job interviews with ease.