Have you experienced a time when you felt you could not get your message across to your audience? What did you do to remedy the problem?
In a job interview, potential employers would want to know the communication strengths of jobseekers. This is especially true for job positions that require excellent communication skills such as that of a customer service representative. It is important that you have prepared yourself well in terms of this particular skill.
However, one important thing to remember is that employers do not only ask your strengths and competencies. You are also tested on your weaknesses and flaws. It is usually through questions like this that a potential candidate is easily tested for the job. This type of interview question is considered behavioral-based.
From the term itself, the question seeks to find out not only an interviewee's honesty but also a gauge of the employer to predict the future work performance of the job candidate by comparing the past and present performance in a similar experience. Be particularly candid in your response but also be careful in the construction of your sentences.
Be Honest
Interviewers would appreciate a rather honest answer more than a fabricated story. These experts can tell when the person is making up something because they are specialists in reading people's minds and actions, so they can hardly be goofed around with during interviews. After the question is thrown, give it a few seconds or a minute to recall a not-so-complex experience about your flaw or failure in proper communication. There is no denying that at some point in your life, you have failed to communicate well to others.
Notice that when telling a story based from truth, words come out naturally and delivery is spontaneous. You must know that interviewers who happen to be psychologists have a way of checking for validity or authenticity of your answer by repeating the same question in a rephrased manner at random parts of the interview.
Take it from Simple Experiences
In recalling past experiences to answer the question, think of a simple memory. The advantage of doing this is to keep your response brief and avoid too much sharing of information which can become a potential basis for more open-ended questions that would possibly lead to digging up other personal issues that ought not to be shared anymore. In sharing your story, highlight only the important aspects of it. Also, there is no need to mention the names of people who are involved in your story. Not to mean that they are insignificant, interviewers can just not make good use of such information.
Wrap it Up Positively
The most effective way to wrap up your answer to this question is to highlight your action plans to overcome such weakness or flaw. Interviewers are more than interested to find out how well you handle personal weaknesses in communication. They will use such information to assess your communication competence. Moreover, your reaction towards such experiences also reflects your personal character. To reiterate, end your short speech on a positive and striking note.
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