“What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses according to you?” This is a simple question that has an answer to the other important question. “Are you the best candidate for the interview or not?” Questions which gauge your strengths and weaknesses can be asked directly and simply or they can also be twisted and camouflaged, depending upon the particular interviewer. Either way, bragging about your strengths and stressing upon your weaknesses will certainly not get you employed! To answer these questions well, assess your strengths by identifying your skills. Skills can be of three types, viz., knowledge-based, transferable and personal characteristics or traits. The ‘weaknesses’ question is definitely the more difficult of the two to answer. The important thing to keep in mind is that the interviewer is looking for relevant information on which to base a hiring decision. Consequently, it’s important to find a way to turn the ‘weaknesses’ question into your favour by identifying the weakness initially and then, illustrating specific strategies you have used to turn the weakness into strengths. Providing examples how you have worked to overcome your weaknesses in the past provides potential employers with a sense of confidence that you will find solutions to the challenges and problems you encounter in a future internship or job.
Strengths And Weaknesses Questions In Interview
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What qualities do you admire in others which you would like to develop in yourself?
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What are the areas in your work that you'd like to improve upon?
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What could you do better in the next 12 months to improve your performance?
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If you had to live your life all over again, what would you change?
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How you would be able to handle criticism of your job?
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What is your greatest achievement till date?
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Tell me about a situation when your work was criticized. How did you react to it?
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Can you work under pressure? Give an example.
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How do you define success? And how do you measure up to your own definition?
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Looking back on your last position, have you done your best work?
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Tell us something about your strengths and weaknesses.
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What is the toughest challenge that you faced while attempting to overcome a certain weakness in you?
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What was the toughest decision that you have taken in your life?
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What changes have you made in your life that you are most proud of?
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You were working late for the project to complete all the week. Will you come to work on Sunday even when you have family commitments?
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You are newly married and you have been assigned an overseas assignment for one year. What will you do?
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You need to fire your close friend from the job? How would you explain or present the situation (gravity of problem) to him? What are the qualities in you that will help you take that hard decision?
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How best can you explain yourself?
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Explain a famous glitch you found in your previous project? Give us a step by step detailed explanation. How did you approach the problem?
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Do you give consideration to other people’s thoughts? Give us an example and tell us what was your thought and the other team member’s thought and how did you manage the situation?
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Tell us about your work environment. Do you consider working alone or do you consider working in a group? Why so?
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Did you ever come into a conflict (of ideas) with your team members, project manager, superiors or professors? How did you handle it and explain your stance to them?
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Define stress. When do you get stressed out? How do you handle stress? You might have got stressed out at some point of time in your work. Give us a specific situation and the way you overcame it?
A careful introspection of your character is all you need to answer the above mentioned questions. If you ooze confidence and deliver your answers intelligently you will surely bag the coveted position!
