By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

In this video, Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. Explains how to answer this complicated question. PS, you’re probably answering it all wrong.

Tough Interview Questions: What Makes You Effective?

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Hi, I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’ve got a fun question for you today and your instinctive programming about how to answer this one is all wrong. The question is, what are you genuinely bad at? Catch that one.

What are you genuinely bad at? Now, most people are programmed to kind of turn the weakness into a strength. But in the realm of emotional intelligence, in the realm of . . . you’re gonna see the subtle flip in this but not the traditional one. You really need to divulge something that you’re not particularly good at.

Now, hiring managers who ask that question don’t want you to deflect it. They want something real. They want some meat on the bones.

And this is going to require some thought on your part because, in a sense, you don’t want to reveal something that relates to the work, right? You don’t want to reveal something that’s going to be problematic for you in their assessment but you also don’t want to give them something flimsy. So, the trick is to give them something and then pause by saying, you know, I don’t know if that’s particularly relevant for the job but one thing I know is relevant is that my focus really is on my strengths and trying to maximize my strengths pretty definitely so that, you know, yes, I’m working to improve but at the end of the day, I really try to focus on my strong points in order to ensure that you get the best from it while I’m still working to improve the other. So you get the point.

You’ve got to give them something and you’ve got to give them something with some significance that’s not going to harm you in their assessment but not giving them anything or giving them something trivial isn’t going to be good enough and then flip it to say you tend to focus on your strengths and playing to those while trying to improve the things that you judge are deficient at. So, I’m Jeff Altman. Hope you found this helpful.

Come over to my website, TheBigGameHunter.us. There’s a lot more there that you can watch, listen to or read. Plus, you can find out about my books and guides to job hunting. Pay what you want for them.

I do set a minimum price but I also tell you what I sell them for on Amazon. So, again, TheBigGameHunter.us. If we’re not connected on LinkedIn, send a connection request at LinkedIn.com forward slash I am forward slash TheBigGameHunter. I accept connection requests from people worldwide.

I don’t accept them from recruiters, third party recruiters. I don’t accept them from profiles that look like spammers or scammers. Lastly, if you have a question about job hunting, you’re not alone.

Most people do but they make the mistake of reaching out to the wrong people for advice, friends, family, maybe a former manager, people who know as little as you do, maybe a little bit more about job search. Instead, contact me through Presto Experts and the best link to use to reach me there bit.ly forward slash and this is in lowercase Presto Experts and reach out to me through that link. I’d be happy to answer your questions.

You can call me through that. You can IM me. I’ll respond through IMT if that’s your preference.

I’m Jeff Altman. Hope you have a great day. Take care!

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