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How To Answer The "What Are Your Greatest Strengths?" Question In An Interview - Jobs/Vacancies - Nairaland

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How To Answer The "What Are Your Greatest Strengths?" Question In An Interview by HumbleVictor(m): 11:12pm On Oct 14, 2017
The best way you can show off your skills and show that you stand out among other candidates is to answer this questions smartly.

Here are a few strategies for doing just that:

1. Think quality, not quantity:

To walk that line between confident and arrogant, don't just list a bunch of nice adjectives to describe yourself. Sure, you want to sell yourself as the right man or woman for the job, but you're going to be much more compelling if you cut the buzzwords and speak genuinely about your strengths.

Your strategy? Choose one to three attributes you want to mention (depending on whether the question asks for one strength or multiple) and cap it there. You’ll want to think strategically about what skills will position you as qualified for the job and a good fit for the company.
Does the position require client interaction? Strengths like communication and relationship building makes sense. Or if the environment is fast paced and constantly evolving — your ability to multitask, adapt and learn quickly would be good to highlight.

2. Be able to back strengths up with stories:

That said, what's more important than the strengths you choose is being able to back up your claims — don't just expect the interviewer to believe you without some evidence.

Start off by answering the question directly, and then move into a story that shows off your skills. For example, "I believe some of my greatest strengths are my communication skills and willingness to take initiative. During my last internship, when I was helping to manage several social media accounts, I made sure that everyone on the team was on the same page and knew what our messaging strategy was by taking the initiative to send out a weekly email to keep the team up to date and to seek feedback. This ended up being so helpful that the weekly social media update was incorporated into a full-time staff member's responsibilities."

3. Look for holes and fill them:

The great thing about the "strengths" question is that it's actually pretty versatile and open-ended and you can really turn the conversation to whatever you want. So, a great way to approach this question is to think about something you really want to talk about during the interview, but haven't had the chance to share yet. Are there any skills that you want to emphasize? Maybe you have a killer "teamwork" story, but haven't had the opportunity to share it yet. Well, here is your chance!

Alternatively, if you get the question toward the end of your interview and you've basically covered your bases, another approach would be to make a final pitch that you're a great fit for the position and the company culture. Assuming you've done the crucial legwork of researching the company prior to interviewing, you should have a good sense of how the company perceives it's own uniqueness.
Of course, you can only use this strategy if your personal values do truly align with the company's.
Unfortunately, there's no one-size-fits-all answer for this. Your best bet in preparing for the "strengths" question (and questions like it) is to have your talking points prepared and a lot of good stories to turn to. Use open questions like this strategically, and then make sure your answers memorable by telling a killer story.

With a bit of preparation, you'll be ready to take full advantage of being asked, "What's your greatest strength?"

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