Answering the Toughest Interview Questions

A recent poll on Job Journey, Express Employment Professionals’ blog for job seekers, asked readers which interview questions they needed help with most. Below are the top three questions job seekers want help with, as well as guidelines for answering them.

What Are Your Top Three Strengths and Weaknesses?
When listing weaknesses, applicants should avoid saying they’re a perfectionist or they work too hard, as these may come across as cliché and inauthentic. Tell the truth. However, applicants should demonstrate they are successfully working on overcoming these weaknesses.

Focus on your strengths as they relate to work achievements (e.g., a strong attention to detail leading to correcting an error that saved the company millions).

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?
Most employers want an employee who plans on improving themselves over time. Someone who is in it for the ‘long haul,’ and thereby worthy of investment. Applicants must show they have a passion for learning and want to work at the company long-term (perhaps in a management position at some point).

Why Should I Hire You?
Applicants must show how their values line up with the company culture, that they have a history of success in similar positions, and that they have the soft skills (personality traits and behaviors) necessary to thrive in the position.

Successful job candidates are not necessarily those with the most impressive experience; they are the ones who truly understand what the company stands for, and how they can act as the puzzle piece necessary to solve a need.

About Express Employment Professionals
At Express Employment Professionals, we’re in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve, employing 552,000 people across North America in 2019. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com.

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