Interview Questions – ‘What would you like to change about yourself?’

For Service-leavers who haven’t got recent interview experience, the prospect can seem daunting. Here, we dissect another of the more common but no less difficult interview questions so that you can show your best side to interviewers and land your next post-Services role.

‘What would you like to change about yourself?’

Self-awareness
This character question challenges you to consider your whole self and examine where you are going, as well as what your motivations are. Additionally, it also serves to answer one of the two principal questions that are inherent in all interviews: ‘Will you fit in with the way we do things?’ (The other being: ‘Can you do the job?)

Don’t go overboard
First things first, this is a job interview, not a session with a psychiatrist. There is no need to present your darkest secrets or deepest desires.

Pressure
There are several ways to ask this question. For instance: ‘What do you most dislike about yourself?’ is the negative way of addressing the same point. This could be a way to put you under a bit of pressure to see how you cope.

The answer
The meat of your answer should outline a personal trait that will not affect the way you tackle the role you’re being interviewed for. This will enable you to speak freely and authentically without risk of becoming uncompetitive next to other candidates.  

Maintaining objectivity demonstrates that you are able to endure professional scrutiny and feedback.

Growth
The interviewer is likely in it for the long haul. They want to see a person prepared to grow professionally. By discussing what you want to change and how you’ll go about it you demonstrate your ambition to develop.

Reframe
Any interview can be reframed to make it fit your agenda. For instance, you could suggest that you intend to work on an existing strength to get more out of it.

Refrain from the disguise method or using the cliché of presenting a strength as a weakness, such as: “I’m a perfectionist”, blah, “I often work too hard”, blah, blah…

Don’t say 
Saying that you’ve never thought about it suggests either arrogance of that you aren’t self-aware, or worse still, that you can’t be bothered with improvement.

Plans
Seal your response with a plan for growth. Describe briefly what actions you’ve already taken and what you’ll do in the future. Ideally, you would strap the plan to the vacancy you’re going for by suggesting that some aspects of the role itself will help you along the way. 

Character questions…
A good interviewer not only examines what your skills are and how they might be applied to a particular role, but also your character.

Your character will be central to your success or failure in anything you take on, such as a job. It’s essential to be able to express not only what your competencies qualify you to do but also what type of a person you are and how you like to go about things.