"What are your strengths?"

Make your answer to this common job interview question relevant. Tailor your strengths to the job and highlight why they qualify you as the right candidate for the job opportunity.

Don't make the mistake of frustrating the interviewer as you describe what a great athlete you are and list your latest sports achievements during your sales job interview.

However, with some thought you can translate almost all of your strong-points into job-relevant attributes that will contribute to your success in the job.

When answering this job interview question you can point out how the determination and discipline you need to be a good athlete are certainly important strengths in a sales position. Free interview answers include:

"To achieve as an athlete I had to stick to a tough training program and make sure I kept myself motivated . I had to be disciplined and determined. I believe these strengths strongly contribute to my success in sales"

Candidates often find it hard to verbalize their strengths, so spend some time thinking about this before the interview.

What are your interests? Building beautiful doll house furniture may not immediately seem to have any relevance to that accounting position, but the attention to detail needed for this is definitely a job-relevant strength.

What have been your successes, what attributes did you have to demonstrate to achieve them? Ask your friends, colleagues and family to tell you what they appreciate about you. How will these attributes benefit a future employer?

Don't just list your strengths, back them up with facts. An attribute is far more powerful if it is rooted in a relevant example. Sample free interview answers include:

"I'm an adaptable person. I work for three different managers, they have very different management styles and expectations of me. I am able to adjust my approach to meet each of their needs"

Avoid over-used, vague terms such as "people's person". Be specific and pertinent.

"I am good with customers. I enjoy the challenge of turning a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one. Just last week I had an experience when ......." and quote a specific example of how you successfully managed an unhappy client.

Focus on three or four strengths. Good examples include organizational and planning skills, perseverance, persuasive ability, communication skills, leadership ability, stress tolerance, ability to learn and apply new information and skills, flexibility, independence, problem-solving, creativity, technical and professional knowledge, reliability, self-motivation and initiative.

Suggested reading - How to identify Your Strengths for a guide to finding out what your strengths are.

"What are your weaknesses?"

With this typical interview question the interviewer is assessing your self awareness and insight rather than your weaknesses. The ability to acknowledge a weakness is often seen as a sign of maturity and wisdom. Refer to a true weakness but then turn it into a positive by describing it as an area for development. In your job interview answer relate what steps you have taken to try and improve.

"I'm impatient with people who don't work at the same pace as me but I'm learning to manage this. I make sure that they have the right resources for the job, I follow up to see that they are on track and I step in and help when needed"

"I can be disorganized, I am aware of this and make sure I answer my emails and messages straight away. I update my calendar as soon as I have a new task or appointment, this really helps"

A good guide is to acknowledge one or two weaknesses, describe the efforts made to overcome these and end your story on a positive note.

"I've been reluctant to delegate. I have had to re-evaluate this as it was creating a big workload for me. I assign each person a specific, manageable task and then follow up to satisfy myself that it is being done properly, this seems to work well"

Some weaknesses can be interpreted as a strength. Examples include:

"I can be a bit aggressive in getting to my goals"

"At times I can get too involved in other people's problems, trying to help them"

These are two of the most difficult questions to answer in the job interview. Prepare using these sample free interview answers and stand out as the right candidate.