Adventures in Interviewing - Part II
"Oh, they never ask you that anymore," Gloria told me when I asked her what the best reponse to "What is your biggest weakness?" is. "It's such a textbook question and everyone has a form response planned out for it, so most interviewers never ask you that anymore," she said.
Thankfully, she was right. It's awkward discussing where you think you've gone wrong when you're trying to sell yourself.
Unfortunately, she was only right most of the time.
I'm sitting bolt upright in my chair at an Editorial Assistant interview for a small publishing house. Sweating, feeling my shoulders steadily droop with every ensuing question, suddenly realizing I'm starting to slouch and jerking them back up. I'm doing okay so far babbling about working abroad, writing is my passion, love to travel, want to write a book, read a lot, blah, blah, blah. Then comes the question--that fucking question.
"What do you consider your biggest weakness?"
"Ah, uhm, er, I, uh, don't like confrontation. I, er, sometimes don't, uh, speak up, like, because I don't want to, uh, step on people's toes." My voice starts to trail off.
My ears ring bad, bad, bad.
"Ooookay," he says followed by a long breath. He furrows his brow.
I roll my eyes to myself. Oh well, there goes that. I didn't really want this damn job anyway.
"If you could be anything in the world, what would you be?"
My face contorts into a mask of concentration.
"A rockstar!"
Ah well, might as well get a couple of laughs in before I lay my head on the chopping block.
-L
Thankfully, she was right. It's awkward discussing where you think you've gone wrong when you're trying to sell yourself.
Unfortunately, she was only right most of the time.
I'm sitting bolt upright in my chair at an Editorial Assistant interview for a small publishing house. Sweating, feeling my shoulders steadily droop with every ensuing question, suddenly realizing I'm starting to slouch and jerking them back up. I'm doing okay so far babbling about working abroad, writing is my passion, love to travel, want to write a book, read a lot, blah, blah, blah. Then comes the question--that fucking question.
"What do you consider your biggest weakness?"
"Ah, uhm, er, I, uh, don't like confrontation. I, er, sometimes don't, uh, speak up, like, because I don't want to, uh, step on people's toes." My voice starts to trail off.
My ears ring bad, bad, bad.
"Ooookay," he says followed by a long breath. He furrows his brow.
I roll my eyes to myself. Oh well, there goes that. I didn't really want this damn job anyway.
"If you could be anything in the world, what would you be?"
My face contorts into a mask of concentration.
"A rockstar!"
Ah well, might as well get a couple of laughs in before I lay my head on the chopping block.
-L
posted by CEO of the World at 3:56 PM
1 Comments:
I once gave these classy answers in the same interview (for a corporate position at a large international company).
"What is your greatest strength?" "My muscles!" (while pointing at my skinny arms)
"What would your enemies say about you?" "That I'm a bitch."
I got a second interview after that but didn't get the job.
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