面试技巧：如何谈自己的优缺点
How to Answer Tricky Interview Questions: What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
It’s the question you know you’re going to get asked, but one of the trickiest to answer: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” On the one hand, you don’t want to sound arrogant. But on the other, you don’t want to reveal any dangerous chinks in your armor. So it’s vital you have a strong answer prepared.
Be honest about your weaknesses and avoid cliches like “perfectionism.” Or worse, claiming that you don’t have any. Avoid highlighting anything that might worry the interviewer.
Keep your comments short and positive and focus on what you’re doing to overcome your weaknesses. For example, you might say, “My biggest weakness used to be my communication skills, but I’ve been working on developing these. Now, I make sure that I touch base with colleagues every morning to share project updates.”
When you talk about your strengths, keep your answers relevant. Focus on the ones that most apply to the role and demonstrate how your strengths have a positive impact. For example, you could say, “I have particularly strong organizational skills. This means that I have a great track record of managing and delivering key projects to budget and on time.”
If you want to learn more about how to tackle tricky interview questions, check out our website at mindtools.com.
VOCABULARY
1. arrogant adj. behaving in a proud, unpleasant way, showing little thought for other people 傲慢的；自大的
2. chink n. a narrow opening in sth., especially one that lets light through （尤指光线可进入的）裂口，缝隙，裂缝
3. armor n. 盔甲
4. clichés n. 陈腔滥调
5. touch base: to talk to someone for a short time to find out how they are or what they think about something 跟某人碰头，简短的对话
QUESTIONS
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
We could follow the following rules when we answer the interview question “what are your strengths and weaknesses?” in an interview.
1. Be honest about our weaknesses and avoid cliches like “perfectionism.”
2. Avoid highlighting anything that might worry the interviewee.
3. Keep our comments short and positive and focus on what we’re doing to overcome our strengths and weaknesses.
4. When we talk about our weaknesses, keep our answers relevant. Focus on the ones that most apply to the role and demonstrate how our weaknesses have a positive impact.
5. If we want to learn more about how to tackle tricky interview questions, we could check out the website at mindtools.com.
KEY
Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F). Then correct the false statements.
We could follow the following rules when we answer the interview question “what are your strengths and weaknesses?” in an interview.
(T) 1. Be honest about our weaknesses and avoid cliches like “perfectionism.”
(F) 2. Avoid highlighting anything that might worry the interviewee. （正确表达）Avoid highlighting anything that might worry the interviewer.
(F) 3. Keep our comments short and positive and focus on what we’re doing to overcome our fears. （正确表达）Keep our comments short and positive and focus on what we’re doing to overcome our weaknesses.
(F) 4. When we talk about our weaknesses, keep our answers relevant. Focus on the ones that most apply to the role and demonstrate how our weaknesses have a positive impact. （正确表达）When we talk about our strengths, keep our answers relevant. Focus on the ones that most apply to the role and demonstrate how our strengths have a positive impact.
(T) 5. If we want to learn more about how to tackle tricky interview questions, we could check out the website at mindtools.com.
(封面图片来源于摄图网，版权归摄图网所有）