Negatively Phrased Questions

More times than not you will be asked a negatively phrased question that the interviewer hopes will reveal a weakness and a strength.

Describe a time when you missed a deadline on an important project.
Describe the type of bad decisions you have made as a manager.

Your answer not only reveals a mistake you made, but also says a lot about your ability to handle stressful or negative situations. This is your opportunity to turn a negative into a positive, because the ability to acknowledge a mistake is often seen as a sign of maturity and leadership.

Assuming that you can wing it is a bad approach to negative questions. More times than not that leads to disappointment—not to mention you probably won't get the job. When responding to negative questions, keep in mind these three points, which will help ensure thoughtful and winning answers:

--Briefly state the incident in which the problem or mistake occurred.
--Explain how you overcame the problem as it related to that particular situation.
--Describe the steps you took to ensure that such a problem would not happen again.

The end result is to convince the interviewer that you learned from this experience and have overcome this particular weakness.