Dealing with Negative Questions
What are your greatest weaknesses?
What the employer really wants to know:
The employer wants to know if your weaknesses will interfere with your ability to perform this job. Keep your answer brief.
What you want to say:
Name one weakness that is real, but will not kill your chances for this job.
“It is hard for me to switch gears from one task to another. I realized, in the past, that I wasn’t being flexible enough in this way.”
Without pausing, go on to say what you are doing to correct this weakness.
“I’m working on keeping in front of me a list of the priorities I have to complete that day, and regularly ask myself, “What should I be working on right now?” If I need to, I put aside one task and work on another.”
Example Answer 2:
“My computer skills are not as strong as I would like. I have signed up for a class at the community college, and I can practice on computers at the college.”
Describe a situation where your work was criticized and describe how you handled it.
What the employer really wants to know:
The employer wants to know if you can handle criticism without making excuses or accusing others.
What you want to say:
You describe a real situation briefly, without getting defensive or criticizing others.
“There was a situation in the past when the supervisor criticized me for spending too much time on a certain assignment. I was wanting to do the job perfectly, and it really hurt my feelings to be criticized for that.”
Then, you describe, in a positive way, how you have learned to handle these situations.
“But I realized that if I am to improve in my work, I have to know when I am not doing the job as well as expected. So I have taught myself to look upon the criticism as a chance to improve. It helps me to ask for the feedback from the supervisor ahead of time, so that it is really feedback and not criticism.”
Have you ever been fired?
What the employer really wants to know:
The employer may already know the answer to this and will be wanting to see if you are honest. They will be looking for any warning signs that you will not work out in this job.
What you want to say:
Give a brief, unemotional statement of what happened.
“Yes, I was fired from a job several years ago. Frankly, I was going through a difficult time in my personal life and couldn’t figure out how to handle everything I was responsible for.”
Go on to make a statement to convince the employer this will not happen here.
“I have now resolved those personal problems, and I’m really looking forward to a chance to prove what I can do on this job.”
Example Answer 2:
Give a brief, unemotional statement of what happened.
“Yes. After I took the job, I realized that it required different skills than I had.”
Go on to make a statement to convince the employer this will not happen here.
“I know now that I should have left the job voluntarily once I realized this, but I stayed on hoping I could learn the skills on the job. I am completely confident I have the skills to do this job.”