Job interview tactics advice

[hadwebutworldenoughandtime]

I have a job interview soon and know - based on the job description- that some of the questions will be about areas that I feel are weaker for me. I've been in the same situation before and struggled to give a strong enough answer because although I could do the job I haven't really got a lot of experience to back it up.

One of the areas is project management, I have been responsible for projects but only in terms of planning work, not in terms of dealing with budgets etc.

I think I am nervous of going into the interview and seeing it gradually dawn on them that I might not be a great candidate and then having to go through the motions for the rest of the interview.

How should I deal with these tricky questions without letting them put me off or sounding weak in my answers?

Part of the problem is that I'm pretty sure there will be internal candidates who have the advantage of knowing exactly what situations are being referred to whereas for me it is a bit of a hypothetical. Also, why would they not give the job to a good internal candidate who they already know?

You have my sympathy, job interviews are always stressful. I think you possibly are tying yourself in knots a bit, basically if they are interviewing you they must think you at least have the potential to do the role... I know it's not nice being rejected but even if you are, that doesn't mean you are a 'weak' candidate, it might just be that there were specific things they were looking for you don't have. Re internal candidates, I personally don't interview externals if I am sure I want to offer it to an internal (a waste of everyone's time), there are lots of reasons I might prefer an external, e.g. they are simply the best fit for the role, want to bring in new perspective, have more than one role to offer etc etc. So I wouldn't let that bother you, just focus on selling yourself the best you can. Also remember that there is very rarely such a thing as a perfect candidate, although the internals might have a slight advantage in familiarity with systems and situations, the interviewer probably also is very familiar with their CV gaps and areas of weakness which can mean they are more critical/sceptical of them than they are of an external candidate!

In terms of how to answer questions on weaknesses, I wouldn't bring these up unless asked. So if asked about project management skills and experiences, I would just talk about what you have done. If they then say 'what about budgets' I would then say honestly that you haven't directly been responsible for that before, but the skills required to manage a budget (e.g. forward planning, analysis, eye to detail, ability to challenge others constructively, problem solving etc) you do have, and give good examples. You could possibly also say that you would like to do XYZ (e.g training courses, shadowing a colleague) to develop in this area, so long as XYZ aren't massively onerous things.

Again they wouldn't be interviewing you if it was essential to have managed budgets (so long as you haven't misrepresented yourself on your CV) so they will hardly be writing you off on the basis of what one thing, so long as you can sell yourself well in other areas. To be honest as an interviewer the only things that make me completely write off a candidate during the interview itself are horrible personality traits like being offensive, arrogant, disrespectful of others OR where it's clear the person's CV is completely divorced from reality and they haven't got the experience or qualifications they say they have. Otherwise it all comes down to potential and who is the best fit for the role/team, so even if you are weaker in some areas/questions there's the opportunity to make up for it in other areas.

All the best, good luck!

My manager advised me she likes candidates to be honest if they haven't had much experience in doing something but then saying "however what I would do is... XYZ"

Thanks both that is really useful and reassuring.