\u00bb<\/span> CV\/career services<\/a> Some job interview questions come up time and again, such as \u201cWhat are your strengths and weaknesses?\u201d, \u201cTell me about yourself\u201d and \u201cWhere do you see yourself in five years\u2019 time?\u201d. A bit of interview preparation on these questions can be a worthwhile exercise.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take the most difficult one first: \u201cWhat are your strengths and weaknesses?\u201d. I suggest you jot down at least three of your greatest work-related strengths and at least three of your greatest weaknesses. If necessary, ask other people\u2019s opinion about them. In the first instance, don\u2019t worry about how they\u2019ll come across in an interview.<\/p>\n When you\u2019ve finished this exercise, and before presenting your answers in an interview, you may want to knock off one or more of them, but keep it simple at this stage. What you want to end up with is three strengths that have weaknesses as their flip side, and weaknesses that have strengths as their flip side.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to show that you\u2019re tackling your weaknesses, or that they\u2019re diminishing of their own accord. And be prepared to back up what you say about your strengths with examples. Also, make sure you\u2019re not boastful when you describe your strengths.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a couple of abbreviated examples. \u201cI like to get things done and dusted, and I always meet my deadlines\u201d and its flip side \u201cI can be too impatient sometimes, although I try to avoid this, especially when it comes to other people who\u2019re slower than I am\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy working in a team and often take personal responsibility for the jobs that other team members aren\u2019t keen on doing\u201d and a flip side \u201cI tend to be too self-critical and not assertive enough, although I seem to have been coming out of my shell a bit more lately\u201d.<\/p>\n All too often, the question \u201cTell me about yourself\u201d gets an answer about the candidate\u2019s family, pets and\/or hobbies, which don\u2019t have much relevance to the job. This is a chance to say why you\u2019re attracted to the job and why you think you\u2019d be good at it \u2014 and to provide an example that supports the view that you\u2019d perform well in the job. <\/p>\n \u201cWhere do you see yourself in five years\u2019 time?\u201d is a potential minefield. You don\u2019t want to come across as over-ambitious, under-ambitious or unrealistic. The safest approach is to talk about a career goal that\u2019s realistically possible within the company you\u2019re applying to and the skills you hope to develop, or further develop, in the job. <\/p>\n Bear in mind that, in most fields, employers will expect the people they hire to be committed and motivated, to have realistic career goals and to work in the job they\u2019re offering for three years or so before moving on. <\/p>\n Another common question is \u201cHow did you prepare for this interview?\u201d, which is an ideal opportunity to point out that you\u2019ve gone through the company\u2019s website, googled the company to see what people have written about it and asked people you know about the company \u2014 that is, if you\u2019ve really done your homework! <\/p>\n
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