Rehearsed and prepared interviewee responses

People are always taught what to say and not to say in interviews. Don't speak bad about your former employer or boss, don't give a weakness make it into a strength, etc. etc. When I ask the weakness question I state I don't want the following responses:

 

"I tend to take on too much work." 

"I work long hours to get the job done leaving little personal time."

"I sometimes get frustrated with others who don't take their work seriously."

 

As recruiters we tend to "ding" candidates who are too honest in their responses. However, wouldn't you prefer to know the truth?

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Permalink Reply by Theresa Hunter on July 18, 2012 at 9:04am

What answer would you like to see?  My attorneys some times do take on to much work as they feel it is expected of them but does leave little time for personal down time.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on July 18, 2012 at 10:06am

I want the truth. If you want to leave your current job because your boss is an egg-head, don't say I'm leaving because I want to explore new opportunities. If I know the truth, then I can question why you feel your boss is an egg-head and make sure that if you were hired, I wasn't going to have you working with another egg-head. My thought is that we seem to reward candidates who can come up with the best politically correct answers instead of truly getting to the heart of why someone is looking to make a change.

 

Maybe after all my years of recruiting, I'm just bored with same old "rehearsed" responses.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on July 18, 2012 at 10:11am

That's not a weakness. That is the a condition of the job.  Examples of somethings that can be considered weaknesses are....

 

"I'm not the best a mult-tasking"

"I'm a procrastinator"

"I'm not comfortable presenting in front of large groups"

"I have average math skills"

"I can sometimes become a micro-manager when working on a high profile project"

 

Something that sures you are human and have flaws. Then I can truly get an idea of how you may fit in with a certain team/manager.

Theresa Hunter said:

What answer would you like to see?  My attorneys some times do take on to much work as they feel it is expected of them but does leave little time for personal down time.

Permalink Reply by Theresa Hunter on July 18, 2012 at 10:29am

Yes we are all human and saying those things to me during our first candidate interview is fine. Which is why any of those responses said in an interview would be a death knell for an Attorney as all of those above scenarios are things an Attorney should be good at and just like the I take on to much work response are all part of their job. That is why I prep my Attorneys before an interview as I want to know how they are going to respond to the weakness question and I can coach them on a response which makes them seem human but is able to transfer their weakness into a positive.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on July 18, 2012 at 10:54am

My advice to folks on how to "answer" the "weakness" question is to truly state a weakness but one that has no impact on the job you are going for. For instance, as an HR professional, other than a budget, I'm not performing mathematic equations, etc. so I respond by saying "Math has never been one of my strong points, however I'm advanced in Excel and there is always my best friend, the calculator."

 

Hiring managers have always responded favorably to that answer because 1) I was honest about a weakness and 2) I was able to sell my Excel skills and crack a silly joke.



Theresa Hunter said:

Yes we are all human and saying those things to me during our first candidate interview is fine. Which is why any of those responses said in an interview would be a death knell for an Attorney as all of those above scenarios are things an Attorney should be good at and just like the I take on to much work response are all part of their job. That is why I prep my Attorneys before an interview as I want to know how they are going to respond to the weakness question and I can coach them on a response which makes them seem human but is able to transfer their weakness into a positive.

Permalink Reply by Erin Passmore on July 18, 2012 at 10:58am

My least favourite answer to that question is "I am a perfectionist".  To be honest, I don't ask the weakness question, or the strengths question.  I stopped asking about 6 years ago when I realized I was always getting a canned answer.  Instead I focus on the behavioural questions that allow me to see how strong they are in what we perceive to be the strengths needed and areas where a weakness would make the job or company a poor fit. 

 

It makes for a less canned interview.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on July 18, 2012 at 11:01am

I agree, but I have many hiring managers request that I ask when I'm screening candidates.

Erin Passmore said:

My least favourite answer to that question is "I am a perfectionist".  To be honest, I don't ask the weakness question, or the strengths question.  I stopped asking about 6 years ago when I realized I was always getting a canned answer.  Instead I focus on the behavioural questions that allow me to see how strong they are in what we perceive to be the strengths needed and areas where a weakness would make the job or company a poor fit. 

 

It makes for a less canned interview.

Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on July 18, 2012 at 2:27pm

I ask candidates what they would change about themselves if they could wave a magic wand and change it right that minute.

I ask them what they would change about their boss and what they would change about their job.

I ask candidates if they could go back and change any decisions they have made in the past about their career what would they have done differently.

I ask hiring managers if they could change anything about their present and previous employees or their company what would they change?

 

I think when someone wants to change jobs or might be interested in changing jobs or change employees, knowing what they would change or what they would have done differently and what they think would be the result of that change brings out all kinds of interesting and helpful information.  It's my take that when we change anything we always hope it will be for the better.  Most people who think much are pretty good at hindsight as to what they would have done differently, much more so than predicting what they want to do and how that might affect things in the future.

If a candidate looks at me and says " i can't think of anything i would change or anything i would have done differently or anything i would have changed about my previous job or boss."  I either have someone who was totally happy where they were for 25 years, got laid off and is totally in a fog or they are taking something that i would like to have a lot of to poke down my throat.

If an employer asks me about weaknesses, my response will always be , these are the things my candidate indicates they would change if they had the power to do so or these are the things my candidate would have done differently so i believe he has taken a good self inventory and learned something from the past and will be aware of it in the future.

Permalink Reply by Theresa Hunter on July 18, 2012 at 2:35pm

I wish I would get the time you receive from your hiring managers.  I think it would make my job easier.  If I am lucky enough to talk with the hiring partner I do ask them what brought to your current firm and what keeps you there.  What excites you outside of your job.  Getting answers to these questions helps me when I talking with potential candidates as I now have an insight into what makes the partner tick even just a little.  : )

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on July 18, 2012 at 2:37pm

I may have to steal those. Great questions!



Sandra McCartt said:

I ask candidates what they would change about themselves if they could wave a magic wand and change it right that minute.

I ask them what they would change about their boss and what they would change about their job.

I ask candidates if they could go back and change any decisions they have made in the past about their career what would they have done differently.

I ask hiring managers if they could change anything about their present and previous employees or their company what would they change?

 

I think when someone wants to change jobs or might be interested in changing jobs or change employees, knowing what they would change or what they would have done differently and what they think would be the result of that change brings out all kinds of interesting and helpful information.  It's my take that when we change anything we always hope it will be for the better.  Most people who think much are pretty good at hindsight as to what they would have done differently, much more so than predicting what they want to do and how that might affect things in the future.

If a candidate looks at me and says " i can't think of anything i would change or anything i would have done differently or anything i would have changed about my previous job or boss."  I either have someone who was totally happy where they were for 25 years, got laid off and is totally in a fog or they are taking something that i would like to have a lot of to poke down my throat.

If an employer asks me about weaknesses, my response will always be , these are the things my candidate indicates they would change if they had the power to do so or these are the things my candidate would have done differently so i believe he has taken a good self inventory and learned something from the past and will be aware of it in the future.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany Branch on July 18, 2012 at 2:40pm

Are you an internal or external recruiter?  When candidates interview with me, I really don't want them "prepped" by the agency. I tend to do more of the conversation style interview when I feel I'm getting the "canned" answers. It throws the candidate off their game a little bit and I can see the "real" them.

Theresa Hunter said:

I wish I would get the time you receive from your hiring managers.  I think it would make my job easier.  If I am lucky enough to talk with the hiring partner I do ask them what brought to your current firm and what keeps you there.  What excites you outside of your job.  Getting answers to these questions helps me when I talking with potential candidates as I now have an insight into what makes the partner tick even just a little.  : )

Permalink Reply by Theresa Hunter on July 18, 2012 at 2:46pm

I am an external recruiter.  I have a candidate data sheet that I use after reviewing a candidates resume.  I get to know the real candidate because a lot of the questions have nothing to do with their resume.  I get to know what they are doing, what they love about what they do and than what they don't love to do and why.  I ask them about their reason for leaving and what have they done to try and fix it.  I just hate losing a candidate to a counter offer. More questions but don't want to bore you.

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