You think the interview is going well.
You knew the meeting location ahead of
time, and you arrived ten minutes early.
You are dressed sharp and your teeth are
clean. You came prepared in every
way-you have three copies of your
resume, a few business cards, two pens
and a note pad. You turned off your
cell-phone. You managed to find out
before the interview that your
interviewer held the position for which
you are now applying and that you were
in choir at the same college. You know
the company's mission statement and have
a sense of their structure. Your
interviewer nodded and smiled when you
spoke about your previous
accomplishments and your management
style. You seem to have connected with
the company culture.
Your reflection, research, and practice
have served you so well that you wonder
whether you should become a professional
interviewee rather than a Financial
Planner. Then the interviewer lifts her
head from her notes and, pen in hand,
asks: what are your weaknesses?
You have two options: you can squirm and
stammer through a response you develop
on the fly, or you can look your
interviewer in the eye and provide a
thoughtful response that still helps you
present yourself strongly. When asked
difficult questions, you feel
instinctively that they are probing and
that you are under great scrutiny. As
you prepare responses before the
interview, consider what information the
questions seek: are there ways in which
you would be a liability to the company?
If the company invests in you, what
kinds of things would it need to
overcome? Are you the kind of person who
can deal with things when they get
rough, or are you pure gloss?
In answering sensitive questions, make
sure that your answers are honest, but
reassuring. Use tact and choose your
words carefully so that you show respect
for other people in your responses. You
should usually use understatement in
your reply to sensitive questions. When
people hear something bad, they tend to
focus on it in a way that is out of
proportion to its significance in
everyday life. If you say that you are
not always organized, the interviewer
could imagine your desk with papers
strewn everywhere and deadlines missed.
But in reality your conception of
disorganization might look a lot like
the interviewer's conception of
organization. In addition, most of the
interviewer's questions could be
answered honestly in a variety of ways.
You want to choose the version of the
truth that is most appealing and
sensitive--the version that helps
support your main message.
