Welcome back to the corporate Cowboys podcast today’s date Friday February 3 2023 you know a little Proof of Life my name is Alex I’ll be your host for the next half hour this is a free consultation right if you want to schedule something for yourself one to
One or you know a friend that could benefit from this podcast if not some personalized service feel free to follow us on Instagram that’s at corporate Cowboys with a z we’re on patreon as well that’s the corporate Cowboys podcast there are multiple tiers that you can sign up for
Some of them have question and answer functions some of them have exclusive uh face time so one-to-one time with members if ever you feel that you need some help could use a professional look second pair of eyes a second opinion right if you feel like you can’t walk through corporate
Having an adequate strategy having thought it out completely or having thought it out additionally right doesn’t mean that you’re incompetent you might just want another set of eyes set of ears another brain that you can trust a Brain Trust that’s what the corporate Cowboys are here for it’s to create more individuals
Who think like corporate Cowboys yeah we get it you could be in a large or a small organization we could be talking about something personal something professional but how you approach situations that involve conflict how you approach situations that involve Dynamic exercise of power and influence You’re Gonna Want some strategists
So this 30 minute console is for free of course I’m giving you the disclaimer that I won’t know all the facts you won’t know all the facts unless you are the person that wrote this question and today’s question we’re pulling off of r slash career guidance so unless you’re this person who wrote
This question you won’t know all the details needed to go into making an informed opinion and an informed answer something that is actionable at the end of a session right and typically sessions and in real life aren’t only 30 minutes no they go on for a couple hours a couple hours there are
Some back and forth the initial interview the follow-ups the strategy the plan and some action okay now this question is asking for advice it might be pretty obvious answer one that is easily searchable online with whatever search engine of your choice or your preference DuckDuckGo Google I don’t [ __ ] know right they’re asking
What do you think is the best response to quote what is your weakness in a job interview and there’s no body to this the body is just the question mark like question mark essentially if I’m going to rephrase the question what do you say how do you answer the question in an interview
When they ask what is your weakness like and typically you’ll hear it being asked like uh name a weakness like first they might ask you for a strength right and that’s to give an example and then they’ll follow it up with okay now describe a weakness that you might
Consider to be a weakness and give an example of such right notice how they don’t they don’t immediately give you the out of how to answer it right what they want is for you to expose yourself for you to show some vulnerability and then and then describe it
At no point in time are they asking you to justify it or to rationalize it which is what you should be doing if you’re going to expose yourself right it’s because they want you to think on your feet they want you to think critically
And want to they want to see how far you take this mental exercise that’s where the interview is an interview is like a mental exercise of sorts like a workout that’s how I’m going to analogize this one and I think it’s smart if you think of
It as a workout you ever go to the gym with a friend who’s a gym rat and you might not frequent the gym as often you might not go to the gym as often as they do so you know your strength might not be where you want it to be your conditioning isn’t
How you would like it and so when you go you go through the motions of your buddies they could be male or female right I mean this this podcast is all inclusive we don’t give two [ __ ] you’re in a corporate War regardless so either you [ __ ] around and find out
Or you don’t do [ __ ] and you’ll never know you go to the gym with your gym buddy with your gym partner and you do their workouts right you’re following their lead and you are gassed you are exhausted you can’t keep up because your strength your conditioning isn’t all there
How else could you analogize interaction with this potential client with this potential employer of yours who’s going to be paying you right that’s a client who’s going to be paying you for a service who’s going to be paying you an agreed upon amount for agreed upon Services hopefully negotiated hopefully by this
Point you know the basics the fundamentals to negotiating your worth you know how much you’re worth and you’re capable of negotiating your compensation for it taking a little sip of H2O so in an interview you also get ready I don’t know if you take a pre-workout
Right if you’ve had a little coffee or a little tea or maybe you don’t really need that because in your mind you’re not doing anything physical right some folks still do because they want to sharpen their alertness they want to tighten up their alertness during the interview
So you know they’ll drink coffee and that’s not a bad thing coffee is not a bad thing coffee can be a bad thing if you if you believe in your mind and you think you can’t operate without it yo there’s something psychological going on there but
That’s a tangent we don’t need to go down that in an interview what you’re doing interviewing is with the partner this person sitting across from you or this panel of people sitting across from you depending on on the objectives of the company and depending on your own
Objectives this is an exercise this is an exercise in conditioning in strengths and because it’s almost strictly mentally also creativity flexibility adaptability and critical thinking which is why they’re asking you to think critically about yourself I mean that’s about as deep as it gets right they want you to expose yourself
Something about yourself that you see to be as weak and as a corporate Cowboy well we know to identify weakness with opportunity always if you can’t that weakness is your vulnerability right corporate Cowboys don’t really want to be vulnerable otherwise we stand to lose we stand to
Lose the bag we stand a loser the check we stand to lose reputation we stand to lose our [ __ ] head literally I do mean not figuratively so when that happens we could lose out on our career could be career suicide career homicide some type of self-sabotage that we didn’t think out thoroughly
When we were thinking about ourselves critically they ask you what your weakness is you what am I thinking oh this shit’s obvious I’m gonna say oh I’m a perfectionist oh I’m uh I’m I’m really punctual I’m early everywhere oh I ask too many questions thinking thinking that by doing so it’s
Like a sarcastic way of saying like I’m not weak my strength is my weakness I I don’t know how to measure my strength like trying to be ironic sarcastic funny even and that might work it could work the possibility is always there I mean I’ve heard crazier during interviews when folks get asked
Oh I’ve heard crazier it’s not it’s not impossible Anything Could Happen All is fair incorporate I mean we’re in the corporate war after all so before the interview obviously you want to go in and uh geez I forget what the episode what episode I spoke on preparing for interviews
Think it was like the LinkedIn episode whether or not LinkedIn Pro was actually worth it right because LinkedIn is really just a tool it shouldn’t be like a platform for your whole career it’s I think it’s more a tool than it is a platform but that being said you want to
Prepare going into the interview learn who you’re interviewing with and this is as easy as asking some questions asking those asking those people who are coordinating the interview who you’ll be interviewing with doing a little research doing a little due diligence As You Are to find who you’re interviewing with not
Just the company right what their history is what their motives are what their Credo is if any what their mission their values what their vision is like this will all let you know this will all inform you about what the company is out for and if you know who is interviewing you you
Could further process that down into something worthwhile something easily digestible something sweet if you will to the interviewer something that will turn up their ear right something that’ll cause them to perk up and take interest in you as a candidate make your candidacy stronger through exposing your weakness
Funny how that works right now if if I were to give a a more generalized interest to what is my weakness I think it depends on industry but by and large and this may be the I mean in my opinion the most perfect way right and it’s not really an answer it’s an
Approach it’s a strategy we’re corporate Cowboys here remember this is The Art of War and I’m describing to you the brush Strokes the consistency the tempo the frequency required to put that paint down on the canvas to actually have the time and the respect while you’re painting
So that at the end of your answer I mean you haven’t been interrupted excessively right because they may have follow-up questions to that while you’re answering but at the end of your answer when you turn the easel around to show quote the client right to show this prospective employer
It’s something coherent it’s something they can appreciate it’s something that’s been tailored to their organization to their values to their corporate culture to them personally if you went above and beyond during the interview to them personally as a person as a human that they want to hire you that they
That they want to stop all future interviews with anybody else and say Alex is the guy Alex is our guy we’re hiring Alex today Alex when can you start [Laughter] Flex when can you join us when can we expect you to start right it’s almost as if they’d ask Alex
When could you when can we have you grace us with your presence right I’m already tooting my own horn I haven’t been interviewed for anything I’m not I’m I’m right the perfect approach is going to be to speak in a manner that doesn’t allow them to interrupt you unduly right unnecessarily
I think most all jobs nowadays require some person-to-person interaction regardless if you’re working B to b or B to C right there’s service involved there’s human interaction there’s client interaction between humans you have to know how to talk how to socialize this awe comes back to
What the whole points of this podcast is about which is a social experiment it’s an exercise in professional development now I don’t know how much I’ve progressed because I rarely go back I don’t think I’ve ever listened to one podcast episode in its entirety My Hope Is that I’m not repeating much
But if I am that’s fine some folks might might not want to go back to season one episode one and start from the beginning they might start at the very end here and then travel back one or two seasons to uh to catch themselves up to bring
Themselves up to speed as to what a a corporate Cowboy could be my recommendation is to start at one one season one is probably some of the best stuff season two also season three four five six seven they’re all great they’re all great but they weren’t 30-minute consults back in
The day back in the day this [ __ ] was what four three years three years four years I was doing hour-long joints sometimes longer of all new all-fresh material unscripted good [ __ ] now we have a little bit more we have a little more sense of the direction we want to take the podcast
So we’re answering questions we’re helping people directly and it’s our hope that by answering this question we’re helping you maybe you’re looking forward to an interview and if you’re this far into the podcast and you’re probably frustrated why the [ __ ] Alex hasn’t answered the question already I want to know the perfect approach
I already told you it’s knowing how to talk and you’ve been interested you’ve stuck around this long so I know a little bit I know a little I’ll concede that I know a little bit about what I’m doing personally I think the weakness the best the best
Answer to a weakness that we as corporate Cowboys could translate into opportunity and that is continuous opportunity it’s unending unceasing opportunity opportunity to be grasped to be taken advantage of every chance this opportunity presents itself it’s Rapport building Rapport building now that’s specific right this this is under the category of
Like client interaction and customer service but if you come to the interview and tell them your weakness is clients interaction nah you ain’t getting the job that’s too General they’ll think you’re [ __ ] at handling clients they’ll think damn well we can’t put Alex in a position to face clients to
Face down the public to interact with other human beings because Alex lacks the competency the capacity to interact with clients no no no no no no no what you want to say is Rapport building and immediately because Rapport building will knock them onto their heels it’s very rarely brought up
And you have that opportunity to follow up with immediately follow up with the justification a rationalization of why this said weakness is in reality an opportunity that’ll take him for a spin that’ll take him for a ride very rarely will they see it coming the hope is our hope is
Every every time they hear it they’ll be impressed why is building Rapport a weakness because you build rapport every time every time you interact with the client whether it’s the first time an initial interview and initial impression or the second the third the fourth the fifth years later Rapport is something you build
Continuously and it’s a challenge sometimes it is a challenge sometimes it’s difficult to find common ground with the clients where you can build that Foundation of trust and have enough rapport with them to close them as a as a customer on a sale on some service if you want to convince them persuade
Them that your word is worth more your services are what they need that your opinion is the one they should follow like me as a corporate Cowboy now I’m speaking to you and you aren’t answering back you have no way of doing so but I can’t stutter step and second guess every moment
Some folks do enough of that in the mirror they second guess themselves but were they second guess all I see is more opportunity additional opportunity to improve and be better to develop professionally by building rapport from season one episode one to now season seven episode 13. this has been an exercise in building
Rapport whether or not listening whether or not communicating whether or not this juice is worth the squeeze whether or not developing yourself is worth the effort put into developing yourself and what your prospective employer wants to see is not only you being vulnerable but you being aware of your vulnerability
And by aware I mean you addressing it you recognizing it you knowing you knowing what it is you are working on yourself in real time not just oh I want to be a better salesperson no it’s knowing how to work with people knowing how it’ll work yeah they’re going to hire you because
They need somebody who works but you give them that answer and again I didn’t give you a script I’m telling you the opportunity to take advantage of is going to be answering in a way that allows you to be vulnerable and at the same time aware That You’re vulnerable and continuously developing yourself
That weakness that weakness is opportunity you see it as opportunity where others may see it as weakness right but everybody everyone is faced with this even those individuals interviewing you even the hiring manager even the CEO you don’t think when they speak to their subordinates they’re trying to build rapport
It’s what they do it’s what as they should be doing otherwise they wouldn’t be a leader otherwise they would not have that Rapport as an executive as a manager as a supervisor as a leader and that’s a challenge that’s a weakness we all face every day it’s just that some people
Don’t recognize it some people don’t identify it as such how easy it is how easy is it do you think to lose somebody’s Trust immediate immediate but building rapport forever it’s as if your entry level forever in everybody’s book that’s a weakness but you think about it long enough it’s
A weakness we all have and in that sense we’re even and this weakness like I mentioned before you can interpret it and translate it for others into opportunity if this is a if this is a weakness we all share equally it’s an opportunity we also share equally that’s the best
You’re going to get equal opportunity not equal outcome everybody ain’t out there grabbing each other’s asses sucking each other off that’s not happening but everyone has the opportunity to create better relations through personalized interaction and that’s going to be different for everyone that’s equal opportunity as such it’s a weakness for some
More than others but it is a weakness for all you see it almost it almost sounds poetic it almost sounds poetic and I I won’t give it to you in a script that costs money our time is money is it not you want the keys to the kingdom
Go listen to season one episode one and follow your file yourself a skeleton key you want a consultation you want some type of counseling hit us up like I said our rates are reasonable we appreciate all the donations you guys family we appreciate uh your contributions also the links are
Available if you feel like sending a dollar sending a thousand or sending a million all that is just reinvested back into you really it’s just keeping this keeping these consults free the best way the best way to answer what is your weakness is you knowing everybody’s weakness
And relating to it identifying with it because even your interviewer is building rapport you think they’re some type of NPC just asking questions if they are they hate their job if they are [ __ ] you could probably hire them away from the organization you could probably head head hunt them for another organization
If they’re not careful right if you really chose to move like a corporate cowboy an independent contractor you could probably pick them off poach them before they hired you before they had a chance at hiring you but that’s another episode that’s more advanced level you can share this friends family
Other individuals who are stuck inside corporate you aren’t really stuck you’re just chilling you’re just floating sometimes chilling is good sometimes floating is too more often than not it isn’t why because you’re sitting still you’re only treading water while other folks are swimming forward there are many ways to swim front stroke
Backstroke breaststroke butterfly if you want to show off right but the point is to continue moving continue developing professionally of course the best way to answer what your weakness is to know to recognize to identify and then justify it’s something you do every time you communicate with a client you interact with them
Continuously building rapport I’m not going to say it comes from a place of nervousness I mean a small degree of of worry or concern is always there but that’s because it could be that you actually care about the client and you want to know about their problems in order to solve them right
You want to ask what the organization can do for them in terms of product or service to help them solve an issue in their lives in their organization sure that’s the basics of sales but that’s building rapport that’s Uncharted Territory every time you have to do it every time
I hope you enjoyed this episode share the corporate love don’t be a bum I’ll catch you next time
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