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andrewtayloruk · 10-29-2004, 02:23 AM

It really depends on the type of interview, I was interview for a job once and they asked that question. I replied, quite calmly and looking direct in to the interviewer's eyes:

The inability to acknowledge my own weaknesses.

To be honest, it's a stupid question designed by stupid people and copied the world over, it's so dated it's unreal. I never ever ask that question, I think it's ridiculous, it makes people feel uncomfortable and doesn't glean any information that you can possibly used to make a decision.

You need to go to an interview, be yourself, talk honestly and politely and be confident and comfortable. If you don't get the job, it's probably because you're un-qualified, under experienced or the boss's niece already had the job 2 weeks ago.

The company I was working for was about to go under and the management lined us up for job interviews with our biggest client. I'd worked with the client day-in-day-out for a year, I knew everything there was to know about the project. I'm educated, well dressed, confident and capable, I knew the job was mine for the taking, we were just running through the motions, I interviewed initially well with the HR manager, my colleagues had all interviewed and been given positions, I was last to go in for the final stage with the new externaly hired project manager, the thing was billed as a meet and greet with the new lead, everything I said was argued down by the new project manager, the HR manager couldn't look me in the face she was so embarassed, the person didn't even shake my hand, I knew I'd been stitched up. Needless to say, I didn't get the job, the reason given was I didn't have enough experience (I could have accepted anything else!) but I designed and built the project from the ground up.

The (my) position was later filled by the new project manager's boyfriend.

I'm sure everyone on this board will have a story like that, I'm not bitter because it wasn't meant to be, it's better to get a job by being yourself because then you know you're meant for the position.

Don't worry about bad interviews, just learn what went wrong, I promise it's not the answers you give in the interview, as long as you answer honestly it's the person you are.

Of course, if you've got a really obscure fetish, you can keep that underwraps!

10-29-2004, 02:23 AM	#9 (permalink)
andrewtayloruk Upright	It really depends on the type of interview, I was interview for a job once and they asked that question. I replied, quite calmly and looking direct in to the interviewer's eyes: The inability to acknowledge my own weaknesses. To be honest, it's a stupid question designed by stupid people and copied the world over, it's so dated it's unreal. I never ever ask that question, I think it's ridiculous, it makes people feel uncomfortable and doesn't glean any information that you can possibly used to make a decision. You need to go to an interview, be yourself, talk honestly and politely and be confident and comfortable. If you don't get the job, it's probably because you're un-qualified, under experienced or the boss's niece already had the job 2 weeks ago. The company I was working for was about to go under and the management lined us up for job interviews with our biggest client. I'd worked with the client day-in-day-out for a year, I knew everything there was to know about the project. I'm educated, well dressed, confident and capable, I knew the job was mine for the taking, we were just running through the motions, I interviewed initially well with the HR manager, my colleagues had all interviewed and been given positions, I was last to go in for the final stage with the new externaly hired project manager, the thing was billed as a meet and greet with the new lead, everything I said was argued down by the new project manager, the HR manager couldn't look me in the face she was so embarassed, the person didn't even shake my hand, I knew I'd been stitched up. Needless to say, I didn't get the job, the reason given was I didn't have enough experience (I could have accepted anything else!) but I designed and built the project from the ground up. The (my) position was later filled by the new project manager's boyfriend. I'm sure everyone on this board will have a story like that, I'm not bitter because it wasn't meant to be, it's better to get a job by being yourself because then you know you're meant for the position. Don't worry about bad interviews, just learn what went wrong, I promise it's not the answers you give in the interview, as long as you answer honestly it's the person you are. Of course, if you've got a really obscure fetish, you can keep that underwraps!