TRAPS: Thiscould be a make-or-break question. Theinterviewer mostly likes what he sees, but has doubts over one key area. If you can assure him on this point, the jobmay be yours.
BEST ANSWER: This question is related to “The Fatal Flaw”(Question 18), but here the concern is not that you are totally missing somequalifications, such as CPA certification, but rather that your experience is lightin one area.
Before goinginto any interview, try to identify the weakest aspects of your candidacy fromthis company’s point of view. Thenprepare the best answer you possible can to shore up your defenses.
To get pastthis question with flying colors, you are going to rely on your master strategyof uncovering the employer’s greatest wants and needs and then matching themwith your strengths. Since you alreadyknow how to do this from Question 1, you are in a much stronger position.
Morespecifically, when the interviewer poses as objection like this, you should…
- Agreeon the importance of this qualification.
- Explainthat your strength may be indeed be greater than your resumeindicates because…
- Whenthis strength is added to your other strengths, it’s really your combination ofqualifications that’s most important.
Then reviewthe areas of your greatest strengths that match up most favorably with thecompany’s most urgently-felt wants and needs.
This ispowerful way to handle this question for two reasons. First, you’re giving your interviewer moreammunition in the area of his concern. But more importantly, you’re shifting his focus away from this one,isolated area and putting it on the unique combination of strengths you offer,strengths which tie in perfectly with his greatest wants.