Author Topic: Interview - What is your weakness?  (Read 4457 times)

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kathymountz

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Interview - What is your weakness?
« on: Mar 19, 2008, 01:06 pm »
I just got off of an interview for an internship, and, as usual, he asked what my greatest weakness was, and, as usual, I didn't know what to say!  What would be a good thing to say during a stage management interview about your greatest weakness as a stage manager?

MatthewShiner

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Re: Interview - What is your weakness?
« Reply #1 on: Mar 19, 2008, 03:21 pm »
Well, the key is to be honest.  What is your weakness?

The next step is to spin it.

Besides the "I work too much", which is sort of the cliche SM answer to this question, my answer is "Cheerleading casts does not come naturally to me..  I expect actors to come in and be ready to work and come in with a good attitude.  In my experience, I know this isn't always the case.  So, what I do do is try to creative a positive upbeat work atmosphere, where actors like to come to work.  Using a light touch and a sense of humor helps me avoid the situation where I need to cheerlead.

Taking a negative, spinning it, and explaining how I compensate for this.

Saying "I take really lousy blocking" is probably not the best thing to lead with.

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ScooterSM

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Re: Interview - What is your weakness?
« Reply #2 on: Mar 19, 2008, 07:11 pm »
I would absolutely agree with what Matthew said.  You want to be both honest and positive with your answer, and then say what you are doing to try to improve whatever it is.

My answer to this question is more skill based than personality based.  It is that I don't know as much about lighting and sound as I would like to, but am working on learning more by reading and observing designers.
“I've never been paid a lot, but the theatre has kept me, and for that I shall be eternally grateful.” Tony Church

MatthewShiner

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Re: Interview - What is your weakness?
« Reply #3 on: Mar 19, 2008, 07:26 pm »
One more thing . . .

How you answer this question as an intern applicant versus a professional interview should be different.  I think as an intern, it being an education position, you can go a little more at length at things you hope to learn and gain from an internship.


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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

 

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