How to answer – “What are your strengths”

A job search process can be divided into four steps –

1. Application Submission – Application Submission to get more interview calls
2. Interview Alignment – When you engage with a recruiter or hiring manager for the first time
3. Interview Cracking – When you appear for an F2F, video or telephonic interview
4. Offer Negotiations

As you reach the third step – Interview Cracking, there are certain mandatory questions which you should prepare beforehand as it becomes to answer these questions instantly.

One among them is – What are your strengths?
This post is about approach to answer this question.

The main reason interviewers ask this question is to identify whether your strengths align with the needs of the company and the job’s responsibilities. The company wants to learn whether you’re a good fit for the role you’re interviewing for

APPROACH

– Go through the Job description thoroughly and make a list of the qualifications and skills required for the role. This list can include education, past work experience, soft skills and hard skills

-Look up professionals with the same titles on LinkedIn. What do they list as skills and qualifications on their profiles

– Narrow down your list of skills to between three and five particularly strong skills

– Next to each skill, note an example of how you have applied that strength in the past. Stating a genuine example in front of interviewer is the best way to demonstrate your strengths. You have to be really specific in your responses

Examples

What are your Strengths?

• Ability to learn from mistakes
• Creative Thinking
• Task prioritisation
• Discipline and determination
• Analytical Thinking
• Communication skills
• Dedication and enthusiasm
• Interpersonal Skills and respectfulness
• Ability to multitask

But you don’t have to memorize the full list.

Strengths are work related skills that you need to do the job. So, the best place to find the required skills is the job description. Underline or highlight all the skills and qualification that you see listed. 

Example 1:
I’m very collaborative and have always preferred to work in groups. In the project teams I’ve directed, members work with a variety of people and are motivated by diverse creative tasks. Since I began managing my current team, I’ve increased productivity by 15 percent and retention by 25 percent over three years.

Example 2:
I have an extremely strong work ethic. When I am on a project, I don’t just aim to meet deadlines, I aim to complete the projects ahead of time. Actually, at my last job, I did get a bonus for completing two projects more than a week ahead of schedule

Example 3:
I am a skilled salesman with over 3 years of experience into banking sector. I have exceeded my sales goals every single quarter and I received bonus each year for last three years at my previous companies

You can observe in these examples that these sync with the skills required for the job and corresponding achievements in the similar role you previously held.