Strengths based interviews more top tips!

Strengths based interviews more top tips! Strengths continue to  be a  hot  topic  for  our readers (see our other post on  strength based interviews)  and the number of employers choosing to move away from traditional competency based interview to look instead at Strengths is increasing. Many of you Finalists are now in the midst of   interviews and assessment centres and  you dont want to find that you are suddenly faced with questions for which the STAR format just doesnt seem to work!  I thought it might be timely to  revisit the subject of Strengths from a different  perspective*. This may  help when youre wondering how  to respond to those unexpected interview questions. One way of identifying your strengths is to imagine a sliding scale. In the middle of the scale  sits a quality.  Lets imagine that quality  is  confidence. If the  scale tips too far one way, confidence can become arrogance. If it tips too far the other way, it becomes timidity. The trick of developing the quality of confidence into a strength is to be able to  use it  to the right level, at the  right time and when its right for you. Of course each end of the scale represents the extreme expression of the quality where it could be described as being  off-balance. Most of us dont operate at the extreme ends of the see-saw. However therell be times when you recall doing something really well when your confidence level  was just right and you felt your handling of  a particular situation was spot on. You were demonstrating  confidence as a  strength. In sport, this might be described as hitting the sweet spot. The feeling you get when you  play a ball just right! Here are  two  more examples: Determination, when overdone becomes ruthlessness. When underdone, spinelessness.  When you apply determination  to a long term goal in order to  achieve success,  youre harnessing that value  and illustrating what it looks like as a  strength. Reliability, when overdone becomes indispensability. This can mean others become overly reliant on you.  Sliding to the  other end of the scale, reliability becomes unreliability. You become the flaky person  of whom  people eventually tire. Youre never there when needed!  In the sweet spot your demonstration of reliability means youre likely  be given greater responsibility  in  your role. Understanding qualities in relative rather than absolute terms can help  you explore your approach  and how you might describe yourself and your behaviours in different situations. Try thinking of  your qualities  in more  fluid terms  rather than as absolutes and as a possible spectrum of responses that are content and person-dependent, rather than as innate and  unalterable strengths or weaknesses. How does this work in practice? So when a recruiter asks: Give us an example of a weakness? You might say: Generally I would describe myself as very determined. However when I really want to win at something, then I can become pretty ruthless. I know thats fine on the  hockey pitch but its something I need to pay attention to in a work environment; its not always appropriate. If the recruiter says Tell me a bit more about that, youll need to have an example of a time when you did overplay your determination where the context was  not appropriate.  You can use the  CARE  structure to prepare for questions like these. If youre able to expand on your example you should get  points for demonstrating both credibility and authenticity. (N.B. If youre applying for a job in sales or to be Lord Sugars apprentice dont use this example- ruthlessness can be good!). When you have to field a question about your personal development and what youd like to develop, you can  draw on areas where you genuinely know you need to be more in the middle of the scales. Use examples to qualify your response and to demonstrate your self awareness and willingness to develop. Some examples. If youre invited to give examples  of your  strengths, for example: What are your top  three strengths? or, How would  your friends describe you? Try providing authentic and relevant supporting evidence by selecting qualities you know theyre looking for and considering examples where you can provide evidence of your ability to apply a particular quality in a timely and appropriate way. (i.e. as a strength). For example: My friends would say that  Im an eternal optimist. I can always see a positive side to a situation and that helps me cope fairly well with disappointment. For example, if I dont get the high mark Im expecting for an assignment, Ill take a deep breath and then  find out  how I could have improved it.  Im not unrealistic; there are times when its not helpful to be cheerful, for example if a friend is distressed, but people say I am a generally positive person to be around. Your  ability to go into more detail in order to evidence the under or overdoing of a quality will demonstrate that you understand that  human behaviour  cannot be simply divided into black and white, good or bad. It will  show that you understand that theres a time and place when you can demonstrate a quality effectively, thus  showcasing your ability to  identify times when you have turned a quality into a personal strength. Occasionally there are times where underdoing or overdoing a quality,  (operating from  the far  end of  a scale), may be  the  appropriate thing to do.    For example, the quality of being interested, when overdone, becomes nosiness. For a  tabloid journalist thats a strength which will help to  nail a good story. Obsessive attention to detail in order to ensure the accuracy of end of year accounts will similarly come into its own as a strength at the right time and place. The Quality Spectrum Here are a few more examples on the quality spectrum:  UNDERDONE  QUALITY  OVERDONE  timid courage  foolhardy  boastfulness humility  obsequiousness  unreliable reliable  indispensable  laziness drive  work-aholic  bogged down in detail strategic  out of touch  rigid thinking flexibility  aimless  pessimistic optimistic  impractical/unrealistic You can create your own chart based on the Person Specification for the job role youre applying for in order to identify different ends of the spectrum and then consider  those qualities  you can  illustrate with  Strengths  examples. Have fun using a thesaurus if its not immediately obvious which values should be represented at the far end of the scale. Make use of the recruiters webpages to identify the qualities they consider to be important and add these to your list. These may not always be explicitly stated, but the impression you gain from the kinds of people theyre hoping to attract and the values they express will give you some valuable clues. * ©Sprint Women’s Development Workbook   quoted with permission. The Springboard Consultancy.