Interviews have become an integral part of one’s career. Interview questions can be challenging. Be it to get into your choice of college/university, for visa application or to get your dream job, interviews are everywhere. It is a tool that more and more people are now using to get to know the candidate rather than just going through the jargon of academics. However, interviews can get rather scary as the candidates are expected to be their most candid selves. Several different kinds of questions are asked. In the present article, I will be discussing two of them: Situational Questions and Weakness Questions.  

Situational Interview Questions:

Let’s start by understanding what situational questions are. They could either sound something like “Tell me about a time you failed in the past,”  or it could be posed as a hypothetical question like “Tell me how would you handle it if something like this happens…” 

Such questions are generally thrown at your child to assess important life skills such as problem solving, efficacy, leadership, and teamwork. Preparing and grooming children beforehand for such questions gives them an edge over others. 

 A few examples of situational questions are:-
“Describe the circumstances that created the problem or challenge.”
“Talk about what you did in response to the problem or challenge.”

How do you tackle Situational Interview Questions?
  1. Research – Research about the university, college, or job thoroughly. Understand the position or the field you are applying for and then try to customize your response to that. 
  2. Concrete Conclusion – When answering past experience questions, make sure you end it in a manner that shows your potential. Keep the response realistic but at the same time concrete. 
  3. STAR Technique – STAR Technique is a good way to make your answer sound more relevant and to the point. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Understand the situation, choose the end goal of it, build on the actions taken to achieve the end goal, and demonstrate the results obtained because of the actions taken.

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Weakness Interview Questions:

Weakness Questions can sound something like “What is the one thing you would like to improve in yourself?” or “What do you consider to be your biggest weakness?” These types of questions are usually asked to learn if the candidates have the ambition of using their weaknesses as a chance to grow in their careers.

How to tackle Weakness Interview questions?

Weakness questions are often viewed as an opportunity for the candidate to boast about themselves and the qualities that they have. Answers like “My weakness is that I am extremely hardworking,” or “I have no weakness” might seem that they are making a good first impression, but it only makes them look like someone who is either conceited, unaware, or pretentious. The best way to deal with these types of questions is to address it head-on. Prepare children to make a list of the qualities that they believe require a little bit of working, beforehand. While addressing their weakness they should make sure to provide measures that they are taking to work on that weakness as well. Portray yourself as ‘work-in-progress’ rather than having no flaws at all. 

Conclusion

Having a high EQ plays a very important role in addressing, not just these, but any type of questions asked to you. Keeping your emotions in check, being mindful, having self-awareness, and being honest are some of the traits that will help your child excel in all their interviews.

You may also like to read Interview tips for Young Adults