Episode 37 Stress Test
During the recruiting seasons, I've been through many stress test interviews, that said, interviewers act intentionally aggressive to test whether candidates can think and behave well under pressure. One of the common case is, the interviewer asks a question, whatever you say, he keep asking "what else". Usually it happens when you are brainstorming sth. So that's fine.
The toughest situation I encountered is, the interviewer asked "What's your weakness?". Ok a typical tricky question needed to prepare and design beforehand. I have 3 weaknesses in my basket.
But the real show started when the iver asked the 5th "What else?" I kept repeating in my head "what else what else" and feel so helpless, because half of the weaknesses are real and I cannot tell, and the other half are fake and I cannot tell. The iver just didn't say or do anything, w/o any intention to let it go. The 20 seconds feels like forever.
Finally, I said, I need to be more confident.
The moment I heard these words out of my mouth, I thought this is going to be the reason I failed in this interview. And sadly, there is no many I can do to save myself.
And I shared what makes me not confident, why I feel I am not as smart as my peers, and how much I know I need to work on it. This is by no means the "right" way to answer weakness questions. I was just tired of packaging stories nicely, and I just didn’t care anymore b/c it's going to fail anyway.
Surprisingly, the iver said, acknowledging a real weakness in a real interview is confidence Gloria.
And I got a yes.
In real life there is usually not precisely right or wrong answer. What I learned is, truth is powerful, and being honest is compelling.
The toughest situation I encountered is, the interviewer asked "What's your weakness?". Ok a typical tricky question needed to prepare and design beforehand. I have 3 weaknesses in my basket.
But the real show started when the iver asked the 5th "What else?" I kept repeating in my head "what else what else" and feel so helpless, because half of the weaknesses are real and I cannot tell, and the other half are fake and I cannot tell. The iver just didn't say or do anything, w/o any intention to let it go. The 20 seconds feels like forever.
Finally, I said, I need to be more confident.
The moment I heard these words out of my mouth, I thought this is going to be the reason I failed in this interview. And sadly, there is no many I can do to save myself.
And I shared what makes me not confident, why I feel I am not as smart as my peers, and how much I know I need to work on it. This is by no means the "right" way to answer weakness questions. I was just tired of packaging stories nicely, and I just didn’t care anymore b/c it's going to fail anyway.
Surprisingly, the iver said, acknowledging a real weakness in a real interview is confidence Gloria.
And I got a yes.
In real life there is usually not precisely right or wrong answer. What I learned is, truth is powerful, and being honest is compelling.
(Originally posted on Feb 17th, 2016 on Wechat)
I indeed like this story. I was so touched with your sharing "what makes me not confident, why I feel I'm not as smart as my peers, and how much I know I need to work on it". These are exactly the same feeling I would encounter. Learning to be honest to the self is hard, and I'm so glad to read your story. Sometimes I would ask myself, what makes one to tell the truth and to be honest with him/herself. I think the ultimately, it's just a decision, whether you decide you face the real you.
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