Popular Interview Question on Strengths

27 November 2017

It is a terribly framed interview question for all sorts of reasons, but that aside, what usually happens is that people fall into the trap of answering a different question to this one when it is asked.  Most people end up answering this question by talking about their skills not their strengths.  The difference is an important one to get because talking about your strengths is a stronger answer than talking about your skills.  Skills are things you have learnt to be good at – for example project management.  Strengths are things you are naturally talented at that make it easier for you to be good at specific skills – for example the strength of connecting ideas underpins why you are good at the skill of project management.

If you think this question might leave you floundering I would encourage you to put some thought into identifying your strengths and make sure you can name up your top five.

But don't just do it in preparation for an interview - do it because it is good to do for your career.  Research into strengths clearly shows there are tangible benefits when people know and use their strengths at work.  These include:

• Having higher levels of hope which leads to perseverance
• Gratitude that leads to better relationships
• Engagement with all its benefits
• Personal wellbeing leading to greater resilience
• Job satisfaction
• Greater connection to meaning
• Capacity to cope better with stress 
• Higher levels of performance and persistence 

Here are two ways to discover your strengths:

1. Go do an internationally acclaimed and validated assessment such as the VIA Strengths Assessment or the StrengthsFinder.
2. Ask others to tell you what they think your strengths are.  Not just one person – lots, 10 or more so you get to see (and believe) regularities.

Then to make sure they are deeply embedded in your memory so you can remember them in situations such as an interview double down on them by doing two things:

For one week, at the end of each day, note down when you used your strengths.
The next few weeks up the ante.  Take each strength and focus on it for a week, looking for ways you can intentionally use the strength in new and novel ways.
Taking what you are strong at and doing it in new and novel ways really accentuates and brings out your strengths.  For example, a study was done on orchestra members.  They were asked to play a piece they were familiar with, but were asked to play it under two different conditions.  Under one condition they were asked to remember a time when they had played the piece particularly well prior to performing.  In the second condition they were asked to perform the piece in a new and novel way.  Assessors blind to the conditions, listened to recordings of both pieces.  Unanimously they all rated the performance when orchestra members played in a new way, as a significantly better performance.

Know what your strengths are, use your strengths creatively, guide your career development in light of your strengths, then confidently answer the interview question: Can you tell us about your core strengths?

As always wishing you a flourishing career.

Katherine