Managing the Job Hunt - Part 2 - Interviews

For many, an interview is a terribly stressful experience. We are taught from an early age not to brag or boast, yet that is exactly what we are supposed to do in an interview, aren't we? Are we not supposed to sell ourselves as the best possible person for the job? And the tedious process? I remember early in my career sitting through interviews thinking how redundant the process was. Interviewers do, after all, tend to ask the interviewees essentially the same questions.

As my career progressed and I was sitting on the other side of that table, I quickly realized the true value of asking these “usual questions.” I also quickly realized how many interviewees offer canned responses geared towards supplying me an answer that the individual believed that I would want to hear.

Those thoughts made me pause a bit before I began this post. I thought of my younger self feeling uneasy and intimidated going into an interview. I thought of myself as an executive interviewing a nervous candidate. I reflected on many of the best and worst interview experiences I have had on either side of the interview. During this time of reflection, there is one two-part question that seems to create a little more “pause” prior to the response than other questions:

“What is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness?”