When an interviewer asks this question, this is an opportunity to examine your self image. Do not get caught without an answer to this question that is short and effective. Do not oversell or undersell yourself. You can start with something like this:

“My strengths include problem solving, creativity, working well with others and other skills that contribute to success in the job. Is there a specific strength you are looking for that I can demonstrate?”

Notice the question associated with the sample response. As a job candidate, your objective should be to narrow down any vague generalities posed by the interviewer, into pinpointed specifics. There are a number of reasons why you should do this. An interviewer may simply be in the habit of asking general types of questions, because they want to see how people will react in a general way. By narrowing the question to specifics, you can test whether the person is looking for broad answers, or waiting to hear something specific from you that their question does not identify.

You might be surprised how many people ask you a vague question, but are actually looking for a specific type of response. When you attempt to narrow the vague general question to a specific example of what the interviewer wants to know, and the person does not give you more information, you can set your answers toward giving generalized, short responses like the one in the example above. These general answers sound good when given spontaneously, and do not have a lot of information that can damage the impression you are creating. When the interviewer does provide more specific information, you should listen carefully to what they are asking, and give the best response you can to meet their clarification. When specific needs are identified, you are getting insights into what the person is truly looking for, and it is your chance to fill in those needs with the information you give in return.

When you have successfully figured out what level of information the interviewer is trying to get from their line of questioning, you can set your approach to stay tuned to that level. If the depth of questions is general, keep your answers equally as general. If your own probing reveals the desire for more specific answers, you can confine your answers to meet those specifics, and continue to probe for clarification of vaguely worded questions, until you have a clear idea what they really want to know. Use a variety of probing questions to dig for clarification, rather than repeating the same question continuously. For example, saying things like, “I’m not sure what you are looking for here,” “Can you be more specific,” “Did I give you what you need to know,” “Is there more you need from me on that,” are all valid variations on such responses.

If you wish to set the tone for your conversation early, you can try going right to the point. You can do this by simply asking, “Are you going to be interested in looking at specifics in this conversation, or will we be discussing things from a general point of view?” By giving this perspective, you will be challenging the interviewer to make a clear distinction between vague general questions, and targeted specifics. In all likelihood, their response will let you know they intend to ask you both specific and general questions, which allows you to set your compass accordingly.

You should establish this practice early in your conversation with an interviewer. This way, you will not find yourself off track with the mentality of the person you are speaking with, while ensuring your best chance to make a winning impression. Sometimes people seem to be expecting you to read their mind rather than simply asking what they want to know. An inexperienced interviewer may be imitating the kinds of questions they have heard from a professional, without really understanding what to expect themselves from the answers they get in return! When this happens, you may be giving wonderful answers for the type of questions being asked, but missing the interviewer’s expectations.

The point of any interview is to make a good impression on the people you meet, and to get them to identify you as the best candidate. You must accomplish this without knowing what preparation steps took place leading up to your conversation. If the interviewer is asking you a list of questions that were prepared by someone else, they may not have a clear understanding themselves about why some of the questions are important to ask. Just as it is important for them to get acquainted with your qualifications for a position, you should be paying close attention to finding out their mentality, and what triggers a positive response from them. As you continue building your own interview notes, you should keep these principles in mind throughout the process.

If you can focus on discovering how to establish a successful two-way communication with the people responsible for selecting a candidate, the exercise will help you to forget about being nervous and tune you toward becoming more able to deal with the process. It is just as important for you to learn all you can about the kind of people working for an organization as it is for them to find out about you. If the people you meet during an interview are not the sort of people you enjoy working with professionally, it may be you who decides that you are not the right person for this opportunity.

When you come away from an interview feeling punished or inadequate, you should carefully consider the consequence if you later find that company is willing to offer you a job. If they have not made you feel welcome during the interview, what do you think it will be like when you go to work for them on a daily basis? Being controlled or manipulated by people who are difficult to read and understand is not a recipe for long term success. If a manager or personnel representative makes you feel small and unimportant, shake the dust from your feet and keep looking for what you want.

John Dir
LittleTek Center
Check out our information channel and free softtware at http://home.earthlink.net/~jdir/