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How to answer one of the toughest interview questions.... What's your greatest weakness? Without doubt one of the hardest questions to answer. Being too honest can severely affect your interview. Everyone has something they can work on, so saying you have no weaknesses makes you sound arrogant. The best way to approach this is to think of a weakness that won't impact your getting the job. Remember that this question is a work-related question, so don't say that your biggest weakness is not helping enough around the house or, the worst answer I ever heard, "chocolate cake." Tips: 1) Do not mention a weakness that will prevent you from being hired. If you're going for a job as a telemarketer, don't say your greatest weakness is speaking on the telephone! 2) No clichéd responses. "My greatest weakness is that I am a perfectionist." 3) Do not avoid the question. The interviewer has asked you this question and you need to answer it. My advice is to provide a real work-related weakness and follow it up with examples of how you are fixing the problem. Example: If you're asked this question, give a small, work-related flaw that you're working hard to improve. Example: "I've been told that I occasionally focus on details and miss the bigger picture, so I've been spending time laying out the complete project every day to see my overall progress." Admitting a real weakness and then following up with what you're doing to improve yourself is preferable. "My presentation skills are not as strong as I'd like, so I signed up for weekend presentation skills classes and also joined a Toastmasters club." Remember that the specific job you are interviewing for will help to determine how you answer the question.

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Open-Ended and closed-Ended job interview questions

Open-Ended Job Interview Questions The one thing to keep in mind with an open-ended question is that you need to give the interviewer more than a yes or no answer. If you do the research beforehand, you will be in a position to adequately open-ended question. Closed-Ended Job Interview Questions There are times when an interviewer will need to know a specific piece of information and only require a brief response. My tip is to always answer the question directly in a brief, but complete sentence - never just in a one word answer. Examples Q: Have you finished your bachelor degree? A: Yes I did - I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Finance, from the University of XYZ. Q: How many years of experience do you have as a truck driver? A: This is my 6th year as a qualified truck driver with company XYZ. Q: Are you proficient in using Microsoft Excel? A: I am an advanced Microsoft Excel user and am also proficient in all Microsoft programs including Word and PowerPoint.

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How to ace behavioural job interview questions

1) Take a blank piece of paper and write down between 10-20 examples from your education, work experience, community work, charity etc of where you added value in a positive way. 2) Now using the STAR format write out the Situation, Task, Action, Result Example 1 "Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and were able to meet or achieve it." S ituation My role as project manager was to ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget. T ask My last role involved combining three office spaces into one. With a tight deadline of 90 and dealing with multiple contractors from different companies I knew it was going to be a struggle to complete the job in time. I set the goal of having everything completed within 80 days to give us 10 days at the end to make final corrections. A ction By dividing all the different contractors into three main teams and having three project managers controlling the three teams I was able to create a more efficient and effective work timetable and ensure that downtime was kept to a minimum. R esult As a result of this more efficient working time we completed the job on time and reduced costs by 15%. This new way of dividing contractors into smaller teams has now been implemented into standard work procedure and seen a reduction in overall costs. Example 2 (Question is asked to a student or graduate) "Tell me about a time during school when you displayed good leadership skills." ( S ituation) "As a senior member of the debating team, ( T ask) I noticed that the team performance and moral was being deteriorated due to fighting between two members of the team. ( A ction) I decided to speak one on one with each individual away from the groups in order to create an environment where they could trust me and open up to me with the issues. ( R esult) After speaking with both individuals I was able to convince them to meet face to face and sort out the issues with me as the mediator as opposed to getting teachers involved. As a result the two individuals were able to sort out their differences, shake hands and our team was able to function again as a complete team working together. As you can see from both examples, the key to interviewing success is simply preparing for the questions and having a mental outline to follow when responding to each question. Preparing stories or examples that illustrate how you solved the problem or how you performed in an outstanding way will help you respond to any behavioural question that comes your way.

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Listing salary requirements

Some job advertisements ask you to include your desired salary, and if they ask for this, it usually means that you can't avoid doing so. Listing salary requirements is always tricky because it's hard to "guess" what the employer will think about your preference. Asking for too much can rule out your chances right away because you might appear unrealistic, but asking for too little can signal a red flag and tell the hiring manager that you don't value your skills and experience. So the question is - what do you say? My advice is to always include a range because you give yourself a little bit of breathing room. A range not only eliminates you from this potential scrutiny, but it could also tell the hiring manager that you need a little more information before you give them a definite answer. In other words, you leave yourself some option, and you also put yourself in a good position to negotiate. Chances are that full details of the job haven't already been provided, so if you make it to the interview and hear more about the job's requirements, you can then argue why you are qualified to receive the higher end of your salary range. So how do you determine this range? Try to search for similar positions and what they offer in terms of salary. Look up job search websites and try to ballpark a range that most of the positions fit into, and then use this range when you're writing your cover letter. The range you include is entirely dependent on what you find, but I would probably suggest not making it any larger than $10,000 - it may be too general otherwise. All in all, it's always best to keep your options open.

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Does your resume stand out?

I recently spoke to the hiring manager of a major accounting firm who told me they can receive in excess of 500 professional resumes for a single job. She told me that reading through every resume is almost impossible, and therefore she makes her decisions within the first 10-15 seconds of opening the resumes. If she didn't screen resumes this way, it would literally take her days upon days to read through every single application. How to reduce 500 resumes down to the top 20 Presentation is important when it comes to resume writing. When you're reading through 500 resumes you don't want to have to search through resumes with a fine-tooth comb to find certain answers. Weird fonts, pictures and graphics make the resume harder to read and therefore increase the chance of it getting deleted. Bullet points, for example, are far easier to read than long drawn out sentences. What you need to include on your professional resume • Relevant skills • Employment history • Industry experience (depending on the job) • Measurable accomplishments • Professional presentation and layout How to ensure your resume will be deleted • Long drawn out sentences for job duties and responsibilities • Irrelevant information • Lack of dates (don't make the reader have to guess) • Lack of professionalism (if the resume looks like it's been written in 10 minutes, it says a lot about the candidate) • Spelling mistakes Distinguishing between a resume that was written by a professional resume writer vs. a resume that had been written by the candidate When you read through enough resumes, it's obvious to pick out the ones that have been written by a professional resume writer. Most of it has to do with the presentation and the format. From a hiring manger's perspective we are only interested in the information contained within the resume. We are only concerned with hiring the right person and with what they can bring to our business. Final Point With competition for jobs at a peak and with online job portals in greater demand than ever before, having a professionally written resume can assist in the job seeking process. The resume is one of the most important documents you will ever write as it can potentially change your life. Just remember the golden rule. Your resume is a marketing document and needs to sell your skills. Once you have achieved this you are halfway towards your new job.

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This month's top rated article

Is your resume preventing you from getting a new job?

It seems that when people apply for jobs and don't receive job interview requests, they are quick to blame anyone or anything. I've heard job seekers tell me countless times that they applied for over 100 jobs online without receiving one single interview request. They tell me it's because of the current state of the economy or because the demand for jobs is far greater than the supply. While both of these reasons are true to an extent, companies are still interviewing and hiring. If you're someone who has applied to a large number of jobs but you haven't received a single interview request, it's probably time to start asking yourself those tough questions.

Are you qualified enough?

Are your job expectations realistic that you can actually get the jobs you are applying for? Too many times people waste their own time applying for jobs that they are not suitable for. I recently worked with a young professional with 2 years of work experience and no managerial experience. In terms of salary he was earning the market value for a person with his skills and experience. For an entire month he applied for different managerial roles - all paying salaries of double what he was currently earning - and he couldn't understand why he wasn't able to land an interview. While it is important to aim high, it is equally as important to be realistic about your skills and experience.

If you're qualified for the job, is your resume letting you down?

You may have fantastic skills, experience and achievements. You may even be the best person for the job. If this is the case, why are you not getting interview requests?

When a hiring manager first picks up your resume, what they see and what they read will be the first impression they have about you. I recently worked with a candidate who just finished law school and was running into a similar problem. He was at the top of his class and as a recent graduate, he was now looking at beginning his career in one of the top law firms. Every job this candidate applied for was right for him. A recent law graduate seeking the best and brightest. The candidate sent his resume out to every law firm in the city and didn't receive one interview request. Even the smaller firms were not even giving him a chance.

Here's what I saw when I took a brief look at his resume. The candidate had put his education and university roles on page 3 of the resume and had devoted the first 2 pages of the resume to the part-time jobs he had during high school and university. As such, by the time the hiring manager had read through page one of his high school work experience, the resume was being deleted before the most important part of the resume (his education) was even read. In today's society, reports suggest that a job candidate has 15-20 seconds to catch the reader's attention. By putting the most important information on the back page of the resume, the reader's attention was focused on aspects of the resume that were completely irrelevant for the candidate in getting the job.

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