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&lt;p&gt;When Yahoo Chairman Maynard Webb &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/business/corner-office-maynard-webb-yahoos-chairman-even-the-best-teams-can-be-better.html?ref=jobs&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;interviews&lt;/a&gt; you, he doesn&#39;t just probe your past for things like extracurricular activities, teamwork skills, and ability to overcome difficult situations; he also wants to get a sense of your level of &quot;self-awareness&quot; and &quot;openness.&quot; In fact, here&#39;s a two-part question Webb uses while probing prospective employees:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;“Six months from now, we’re going to know each other very well. What will your team and what will I say that you do really, really well? And then what will they say that we all wish you did better?”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Which is a bit similar to asking, What are your strengths and weaknesses? But the twist Webb puts on that ubiquitous interview question allows for slightly different answers. Which I&#39;ll get to in a minute. But first let&#39;s hear what Webb is looking for in the way of a response.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;You’d be surprised at the number of times I’ve heard people say: “Oh, nothing. You’ll just love everything about me.&quot; And I’ll say: “Dude, that’s not true. It’s not true for me. Let me give you some examples of the things you’ll wish that I did better.”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;So what exactly are strong answers to Webb&#39;s &quot;six months out&quot; question?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for the former part, about what your coworkers will say you do well, a good answer would highlight your most unique strengths—not necessarily your greatest strengths.&#160;&lt;span&gt;Given that job interviews are auditions of sorts—never forget that you&#39;re competing against tens if not hundreds of other candidates—you want to highlight the things you can do that others perhaps can&#39;t and that aren&#39;t so easy to find.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To that end, a recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-05/the-job-skills-that-recruiters-wish-you-had&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;survey&lt;/a&gt; of MBA recruiters found that the most difficult skills to find in candidates are (in order of difficulty): strategic thinking, creative problem-solving, and leadership skills. So, if you&#39;re particular strong in any of these areas, and you&#39;re given a question like Webb&#39;s above, it would be a great idea to mention them, as opposed to highlighting the strengths that are the easiest to find, such as (from the same survey): motivation, entrepreneurship, quantitative skills, and the ability to work collaboratively.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As for the latter part of Webb&#39;s question, about what your coworkers wish you would do better, a good place to start when answering would be these more common strengths. But, of course, make sure they&#39;re not integral to the position you&#39;re trying to land.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;For example, if quantitative skills are a minor part of the job you&#39;re applying to, and you aren&#39;t particularly quantitatively-skilled, you might mention that. But, if you&#39;re interviewing for a position that requires strong quantitative skills, you&#39;d certainly never want to mention that you&#39;re quantitatively-challenged (it perhaps goes without saying that, if this is the case, you probably wouldn&#39;t or shouldn&#39;t be in the interview in the first place).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Another thing to note when fielding questions like these, where you&#39;re asked to give positives/strengths as well as negatives/weaknesses, is to use this tactic: provide a few positives/strengths if you can but just a single negative/weakness.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Whatever you do answer, it&#39;s important to speak the truth. Along with &quot;value systems,&quot; truth is another thing that Webb says he looks for in candidates.&#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;And don&#39;t be afraid to be vulnerable. Here&#39;s Webb in a recent blog post on his &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://maynardwebb.com/2014/yahoos-chairman-of-the-board-on-keeping-a-level-head&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;personal website&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;I remember thinking that revealing any vulnerability would be a sign of weakness. I was so worried when I got hearing aids in my 40s, thinking my career was over. How wrong was I about that! ... It’s counterintuitive, but I found the more vulnerabilities I shared the more grace I received. As an executive you feel pressure to be perfect, but the more human you are, the more you are genuine and authentic, the more people relate to you and support you.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Follow me &lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;https://twitter.com/vaultfinance&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;@VaultFinance&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/business/corner-office-maynard-webb-yahoos-chairman-even-the-best-teams-can-be-better.html?ref=jobs&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Maynard Webb, Yahoo’s Chairman: Even the Best Teams Can Be Better (NYT)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-05/the-job-skills-that-recruiters-wish-you-had&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; These Are the Skills You Need if You Want to Be Headhunted (BW)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;http://maynardwebb.com/2014/yahoos-chairman-of-the-board-on-keeping-a-level-head&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board on Keeping a Level Head (maynardwebb.com)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;/blogs/interviewing/29-technical-interview-questions-top-tech-firms-ask-internship-candidates&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;29 Technical Interview Questions Tech Firms Ask Internship Candidates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot; href=&quot;/blogs/interviewing/101-interview-questions-top-internship-programs-ask&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;101 Interview Questions Top Internship Programs Ask&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Derek Loosvelt

Article

29 Technical Interview Questions Tech Firms Ask Internship Candidates

101 Internship Interview Questions Top Internship Programs Ask

The Library