To ask for your interview advice?

[hgfasd]

I have 2 interviews lined up this week, both on Teams thankfully which makes things a lot easier.

Does anyone have any golden interview advice?

Also for the 'what's your biggest weakness' question, how does this answer sound: One of my biggest weaknesses is that I can struggle to say no to taking on extra work when asked to by colleagues at times when I am already at capacity. I'm very much a team player, so can find it hard to say no. This can lead me to being over capacity and needing to work late to get everything done. However, I have recognised that as a trait in myself and have improved on it a lot recently, and have worked on establishing better boundaries at saying yes to extra work only when I have the capacity to take it on

I'm worried it makes me sound lazy?

I tend to say something that's not required for the job, usually I know I should be able to master excel. But I just don't get it. So far I've managed all my career without it being any detriment.

That sounds like a good answer! Good luck at the interview. What field is this? Healthcare? AP?

Sorry I meant to write in the post the field. It's a copywriter position in a marketing agency, so lots of deadlines, managing multiple projects, working efficiently, working as a team, attention-to-detail

They won't ask you your weaknesses, but they could ask you to describe a situation when you had to prioritise certain tasks over others - explain why you had to make the decision, what you compromised on and what the outcome of that was.

Always have a solid example ready to discuss, with situations prepared that you can turn to fit various scenario-based questions. A time you had to use persuasion could also be used for a time you went above and beyond, for example. Be prepared to shoehorn what you want to tell them into the questions they ask.

As a hiring manager your example would raise a bit of a concern that you can't prioritise to manage your workload and that you may find it difficult to establish boundaries with colleagues.

If this is an example you want to use then rather than saying you work extra hours into your own time to do someone else's job, maybe talk about wanting to be helpful and supportive to colleagues and as such you review their request, offer a timescale for when you would be able to help, assist them in identifying alternative suitable resource in the team who is available to help there and then or signposting them to resources/tools/better practices that enable them to do the job quicker/easier.

My biggest tip would be to know what you've written on your CV and be prepared to answer questions about it. If you've 'embellished' then think of some good examples you can use that don't show you up.

I've spoken with 2 different applicants in the last couple of weeks who according to their CVs had "managed the external audit visits, being the point of contact for the auditors and directly participating in audit interviews". When questioned neither knew the name of the auditing body they used and one admitted they hadn't actually been audited but he would have been the contact if they had been...........

I don’t work in your field so no clue as to actual questions, however couple of things I have recently found helpful in preparing

1. Watch the Amy Cuddy “Your body language may shape who you are” Ted talk and do what she says. (Take comfort you’re doing this at home where you can pull the curtains and not in a strange cramped toilet cubicle.)
2. Ask ChatGPT to ask you questions and the best way to answer them. Take notes.
3. Take the ChatGPT notes and put buzz words on post it’s round your screen/desk out of the camera view but in your eyeline. Really helped me because I get terribly panicky and tongue tied.
4. Have a big fat clock to keep an eye on so you don’t spend too long on first question and have to rush your answer to the last question.
5. Don’t be afraid to have an annotated copy of your application and cv to refer to in the interview. Be very open about this if you’re worried but I have never been refused having it to hand once.

You’re awesome and use this as an opportunity to gauge the team/company vibe. GOOD LUCK!