How to Answer Personality Job Interview Questions
Often personality interview questions are most dreaded because applicants may feel that they are being put on the spot or failing to provide the right answer to demonstrate the fit with the company. Good news is that job seekers can still prepare for these questions whether you are interviewing for healthcare job, sales position or graduate role see few example personality questions that could come up on an interview.
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What are your strengths?
When recruiter asks the above question he is interested to know what your strengths are for job at hand. Don't give him the answer that you have good programming skills when you applied for project management role. List number of behavioural competencies that interviewer look for in an ideal person for the role and relate them to the company and opening. Tailor the answer to meet the needs of the employer ''‘’I believe that my greatest strengths are…I see myself as…’’ Touch upon management skills (people, soft, interpersonal skills). Talk about personal qualities in terms of work ethic, commitment and determination to get the work done. If possible, back up the answer by providing real life examples. That is, if you say that your strengths are in managing teams then expand on this and back up this claim by demonstrating how you managed team of employees. Ensure to say what was your aim (goal), how did you do it and what outcome did your actions make. You can review complete guide on how to answer competency based interview question with great hints and tips to help you succeed.
What are your weaknesses?
A number of people upon hearing this behavioural interview question during their employment interview would think of some great weakness employer needs to know. Nevertheless always identify weakness that is positive and that will not put you into bad light. Try to think of some minor weakness and transform it into strength and end on a positive. For example, I get impatient with colleagues that spent discussing an issue for too long without action. Choose a weakness you have improved upon such as presentation skills and now you are comfortable to deliver a speech in front of audience; demonstrate steps you took to overcome this weakness. Note that interviewer is not interested in your weaknesses but rather he wants to know that you can identify weak spots and take action to improve on them. Remember, if the recruiter does not specify how many weaknesses you should mention tell only one, however, prepare at least three answers if the hiring manager decides to push on this.
What would your last boss say about you?
At times relationship with line manager may not go the way we want - this might be for number of reasons including but not limited to lack of focus, clear direction or simply poorly defined job functions. Nevertheless, employees don't have to be the best friends with their managers to have good working relationship - it is about getting along and getting the job done. When you attempt to answer what would your last manager told about you be honest and never volunteer any negative information about yourself - always end up on positive i.e. I believe that he would say that I was key employee within the department, reliable, honest and dedicated ready to go extra mile to satisfy the client; but the most important thing he would say would be that he could rely on me that I would do what I said I was going to do.
What motivates you?
Another frequently asked personality question that you may get asked during your employment interview. Some people are naturally motivated to do certain things than the others nevertheless in an interview you need to demonstrate that you have high degree of drive and motivation to succeed and achieve results within the department. Show that you are internally driven to overcome work related challenges. For example, mention something like being part of the organisation and team is motivating for me; having the pride in the quality of work I do is something that drives me forward. Some of the other motivating factors in combination with financial goals may include recognition, status, career’s advancement; promotion prospects etc…Show that you have strong need for these.