Strength-based Interview
Strength-based questions are becoming more common during interviews, and they are used as
a way to assess how your core qualities and abilities are a match for the job you are being
interviewed for. On the surface, strength-based interview questions appear to be very easy to
answer; however, they are quite difficult to respond to, simply because the interviewer is looking
for a specific response that matches the person's specifications.
Many employers are moving towards a strength-based approach to interviews. The
competency-based interview says past behavior can predict future ability while a strength-based
interview looks at a constant potential. Identifying someone’s strengths can look at how
successful they might be in a role even if they haven't had any previous realistic experience. A
strength-based interview is sometimes a little faster pace than a competency interview and can
be more challenging to prepare for but that’s the point, they are hoping to see the authentic you.
What to expect
Often employers start with opening questions about what you like and what you’re good at such
as tell me about a really good day you’ve had recently, this might seem odd but they’re trying to
look out for indicators of when you’re talking about something you enjoy under energized body,
for example, you might use your hands a lot, you might set up straighter or smile more. A real
and personal response is appreciated. The employer is trying to find out what energizes you.
This measure is used throughout the interview to identify when you’re discussing true strength.
Some questions and answers
1. What do you do in your spare time?
Some positive things to say to this question include:
● Fitness or outdoor activities
● Part of a group or team
● Learning a new or different skill
● Self-development
For example “I love to keep my body in good shape and prefer living a healthy lifestyle,
so I spend a good 20 minutes in the gym 3-4 times a week, also I enjoy reading books and
believe they are the best when it comes to self-development. When I’m not doing any of these I
prefer to spend the time with my family and friends.”
2. What energizes you?
The answer should be specific to the work scenarios, people tend to answer something
which is entirely out of context.
The things which should be avoided when answering this question:
● When someone brings coffee for me
● When it’s a long free weekend
● When a meeting ends.
For example, “The thing that energizes me the most is when I’m the first person to arrive
at work, or I’m the first to finish a task, or I stand out of the crowd for some good work. These
are the things that keep me going.”
3. Give me an example of a successful day at work.
Some positive things to include in the answer are:
● The completion of important tasks or projects
● When you help someone within your team
● When the team you’re working for wins an important sales or contract
● When you solve a customer problem
For example, “A successful day to me at work is when I complete all the given tasks and
assigned projects within the deadlines, a day in which I help someone in my team overcome a
problem they might be facing or when my team cracks a sales call or wins some contracts. I get
great job satisfaction when I’m contributing to the objectives of the team or I solve a customer
problem.”
4. Do you find there are enough hours in the day to get your work done?
Things that are not advisable to say while answering this question:
● Not really,
● It’s hard sometimes
● My boss wanted me to
For example, “Yes there are enough hours in the day to get my work done. If I have to
complete a certain task within a time limit, I’ll work harder to achieve the completion goal within
the time limit, if I see myself struggling while doing it alone, I’ll involve more people from my
team to help me out, or I will stay late, get in early to finish the task. All it takes is being creative
while solving a problem and the hours will always be enough.”
5. What is your greatest strength?
The answer to this is hidden in what all hiring managers and bosses want from their
employees. What’s the one thing that they want?
They want employees to finish their jobs properly, to a high standard, and on time,
somebody who can be entrusted with finishing a job at its best and on time, and that is a
massive asset to have.
For example, “My greatest strength lies in the fact that I’m a ‘completer-finisher’. I'm
someone who can be entrusted with a job and I’ll finish it on time and to a high standard.”
6. What are times when you feel least confident?
Some positive things to include while answering:
● A situation that makes you feel less confident.
● How you have tried to overcome this
● What do you feel about facing that situation now
For example, “I’m naturally an introvert, so I find it difficult to interact in a gathering and
that’s when I feel least confident. However, to improve my social skills and to be able to interact
with people with less awkwardness I worked on myself and joined social clubs in my college
which helped me overcome my situation. Currently, I feel confident enough to lead a
conversation in any social gathering.”
7. What do you think are your greatest weaknesses?
While answering the question one should include:
● A skill, trait, or habit that is useful to tackle the weakness.
● Mention the weakness with the context.
For example, “I admit that I am extremely doubtful of myself. I became aware of this
habit in school and it happened until my graduate days. One solution for this habit of being
doubtful is that I started celebrating little achievements. This new habit has helped me with
raising my confidence and has helped me perceive and value the accomplishments of my
colleagues.
8. Do you think this role will be a good fit for your strengths? How?
Don’t be generic while answering this question, try making the interviewer aware of your
strengths and how these strengths will help in fulfilling the duties of the job. Make them
believe that their strengths will add to the quality and efficiency of the job. The goal
should be making them believe that you’re the best candidate because your strengths
align perfectly with the requirements of the job.
What not to include in the answers:
● Common words like Hardworking, punctual, etc
● Making the job sound easier to be done.
● Bragging about a particular strength.
9. Can you say that you’re a good listener?
Points to include in the answer:
● Present at the ground zero
● Being attentive
● Inquisitive
● Not being defensive
For example, “I believe that I’m a good listener, as I’m always present at ground zero
and I’m always attentive towards what’s being said and in which context. I try not to play
defensive while interacting with people so that they can openly put their point in front without
leaving any relevant information. I show empathy towards people so they open up to me.
10. What do you think of networking?
Things to include in the answer:
● A real-life example
● Something which backs up the type of answer
● How it is useful for the current job opening.
For example, “Networking for me is something that I enjoy actually as a part of my job, I
love it when I do it so for example for me meeting new people is something I enjoy, last week
when the workload was not that much that spare time I had I spent it with interacting with people
and networking with different departments.”
Things to watch out for
1. Not sharing lessons learned
People often do not share the lessons learned from their experience, the projects they
did, or the trips they had, all of them must include something that you learned, things that
you can use going forward and this should be included wherever it seems fit. Doing this
makes the interviewer see that you can reflect and that you’re continuously looking to
improve.
2. Getting thrown off track by probe questions
Probe questions are the questions that are followed up after the example question. The
trick is to not take it personally and to understand that the interviewer is most likely trying
to help you by digging out some details on one of the things that maybe you didn’t think
was important but they are interested in it.
3. Not studying the job advert
People not studying the job advert in detail. Job adverts help in getting an idea of the
strength that the candidate should fulfill to secure a job and that means job adverts hint
towards the type of questions that can be asked during a strength-based interview.
