Job Interview: What questions cause you the most anxiety?

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ClanCy

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Jul 17, 2018
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For me, it has to be "What is your greatest strength?" or "What are your weaknesses?"

For the first one, I have a tendency to be humble to a fault. I don't perceive myself to be the best at anything, or even remarkably good. Just adequate at many things. I feel most employers I have interviewed for are unimpressed by this response.

For number 2, I feel like all of my actual weaknesses are enough to eliminate from any job considerations. For my weaknesses, although I normally just bs something else, I am perpetually late (not late-late, but like 2-3 minutes daily) and I am not a people person . I feel like it is hard to bring up any of these things without the interviewer immediately sending some sort of body signal to me that I shouldn't have said what I said.

Does anyone have any tried and true work-arounds for these questions?
 

burn587

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The what is your greatest weakness question. Mainly because I lose respect for the interviewer as soon as it is asked. Asking someone to willingly possibly disqualify themselves from a job is idiotic.

I’ve always answered that with : I don’t know of any great weaknesses in myself, but if one was brought to my attention or I realized it myself I would correct it.

I have honestly wondered if the question is designed to just show if you’re smart enough to sidestep it.
 

ClanCy

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Jul 17, 2018
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The what is your greatest weakness question. Mainly because I lose respect for the interviewer as soon as it is asked. Asking someone to willingly possibly disqualify themselves from a job is idiotic.

I’ve always answered that with : I don’t know of any great weaknesses in myself, but if one was brought to my attention or I realized it myself I would correct it.

I have honestly wondered if the question is designed to just show if you’re smart enough to sidestep it.
I love this. Don't know why they ask either, I have always struggled with it just for the same reason you said. I feel like I'd get fired for answering it honestly. And so why reward a slimy question with an honest answer? I may have to borrow this
 
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chuckd4735

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The what is your greatest weakness question. Mainly because I lose respect for the interviewer as soon as it is asked. Asking someone to willingly possibly disqualify themselves from a job is idiotic.

I’ve always answered that with : I don’t know of any great weaknesses in myself, but if one was brought to my attention or I realized it myself I would correct it.

I have honestly wondered if the question is designed to just show if you’re smart enough to sidestep it.

I honestly love to ask it because its fun to hear responses. For me, if Im interviewing you, your resume has already sold you. Interviews for me are to verify if your personality would fit with our work environment. You would have to have a pretty ****** answer to get disqualified based on an answer to nay questions we ask (although its happened).
 

Rabbuk

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For me, it has to be "What is your greatest strength?" or "What are your weaknesses?"

For the first one, I have a tendency to be humble to a fault. I don't perceive myself to be the best at anything, or even remarkably good. Just adequate at many things. I feel most employers I have interviewed for are unimpressed by this response.

For number 2, I feel like all of my actual weaknesses are enough to eliminate from any job considerations. For my weaknesses, although I normally just bs something else, I am perpetually late (not late-late, but like 2-3 minutes daily) and I am not a people person . I feel like it is hard to bring up any of these things without the interviewer immediately sending some sort of body signal to me that I shouldn't have said what I said.

Does anyone have any tried and true work-arounds for these questions?
read the job description online think up synonyms for all the character traits you see and find a story from your work history that proves you have that. Whichever one seems most important of the traits for the job they're hiring for if they ask for just one.

For weakness I say something like "I have trouble stopping and smelling the roses or I'm not always good at enjoying small wins." Something that everyone in the room can admit to themselves as reasonable people they themselves do too. Again 30 second narrative to seem more relatable.
 

ClanCy

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Jul 17, 2018
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I honestly love to ask it because its fun to hear responses. For me, if Im interviewing you, your resume has already sold you. Interviews for me are to verify if your personality would fit with our work environment. You would have to have a pretty ****** answer to get disqualified based on an answer to nay questions we ask (although its happened).
I literally feel like I have failed to win jobs based on interview performances more than anything in the past. Is it because I freak out over questions like this?
 
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Entropy

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Do you have any questions for us?
I like this question as an interviewer.
It lets me know how much the prospect has thought about the position or if they are just going through the motions.
If we listed every thing that we do in the job advertisement, it would essentially be unreadable. Also, cultures vary from institution to institution, so it helps us answer those types of questions.
 

Bigman38

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I can BS my way through all the stereo typical questions because I've thought about them before but I fear the question that is one level deeper than what you know. Or some random tangent that you don’t know. It’s tough to convince someone that’s the case when it comes up.
 
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chuckd4735

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I literally feel like I have failed to win jobs based on interview performances more than anything in the past. Is it because I freak out over questions like this?

Sure, it could be. Dont get me wrong, people can have bad interviews, and when another candidate does better, then you got the short end of the deal. However, I think way to many people come to job interviews to sell their skill set. Thats what your resume is for. Let the job sell you as a person.

I think its OK to have a weakness, but be creative with it. We just hired a guy whose weakness was that he thrived off of positive reinforcement, and if he didn't get it often he thinks he is doing something wrong. It was a good reminder for me to let my staff know when they are doing a good job.
 
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Cyientist

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I like this question as an interviewer.
It lets me know how much the prospect has thought about the position or if they are just going through the motions.
If we listed every thing that we do in the job advertisement, it would essentially be unreadable. Also, cultures vary from institution to institution, so it helps us answer those types of questions.

No doubt it’s a great interview question, that’s why I feel like one needs to nail it. It’s the one that usually takes me the most time to prepare for. It looks horrible to not have anything and your questions that you have come up with may have already been covered so you need to be able to think on your feet.
 
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rHarmon

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quit trying to find "tried and true work-arounds". all skilled interviewers can see right through it.

being honest and forthright and of good nature is what gets you hired. presuming you're qualified.


Could and should. But to me it's just like being honest with a cop, a total 50/50 crapshoot. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" "Yes officer, I was going 78 in a 65." "Ok, I'll be right back with your ticket."