I feel bad/guilty

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  • Interviews are a bit like first dates. You can never get all of your good points across but you try your best.

    For the "Why would you hire you" question, have a preprepared list of your positive traits. Don't be modest. Don't use any negatives like "I probably wouldn't hire me but I'd be making a mistake, as would you". That implies you're not hireable, that you make mistakes and that the interviewer makes mistakes. Very bad. Make the list as long as you can without it being overlong. Some of them won't stick with the interviewer, but some will.

    My answer would be: I'm reliable, trustworthy, work well with or without supervision, deal well with pressure, have a positive "can do" attitude, deliver to deadlines, can communicate at all levels, have great attention to detail, work well in a team or individually, and am prepared to put in extra to make sure a job is done well. One of those isn't even true (I miss deadlines). But the person I'm describing sounds like a better option than someone who answers the question with "I don't get ill much anymore". And, yes, I genuinely had someone say that to me in an interview. His CV was so negative too. He described his leaving one job as "Having contracted every single variant of the common cold while in this post, I felt I had no further scope for development". Wittyish, but not what we wanted to hear.

    "What aspect of your role would you least like" is a dreadful interview question because it traps people into being negative. This is where you first use damage limitation. Pick something very small and inconsequential; something the interviewer won't care about. Then twist it around by saying that you're looking forward to the challenge of getting better at whatever small thing you confessed to. The interviewer is prodding you to reveal something and not only are you not revealing much, you're showing you are astute enough to deal with difficult questions and the negativity of others (another positive trait).

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    • Thank you for your reply, I find it really interesting. I've read it multiple times today actually, lol!

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