Ditching the weakness script saved my phone screen in Denver

I had a phone screen last week for a data entry role and froze when they asked about my biggest weakness. I tried the usual canned responses about being too detail oriented, and the silence on the other end felt brutal. Then I remembered a trick my buddy in Denver told me: just say the actual mistake you made within the last month, then what you changed. I told them I mixed up two client spreadsheets on Tuesday and now I double check the file names before saving, and the interviewer actually laughed and said that was refreshing. Has anyone else tried being that blunt in interviews, or did you stick with the safe script and regret it later?

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david_rivera417d ago

Wait, you actually told them about mixing up spreadsheets that same week? That takes some real guts because most people would never admit something that fresh and specific to a stranger judging them. The fact that the interviewer laughed says a lot though, since it probably showed you were being real instead of pulling some scripted line about working too hard.

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