Although candidates hate answering, employers keep asking about negatives: What are your weaknesses? Or, tell me about a time when you failed?

Employers like to see which candidates can handle these tricky questions and answer candidly. What they don’t want - paradoxically - is for candidates to talk themselves down. Preparing good - and honest - answers is much easier than you might think.

In this webinar, Steve Dalton, author of the 2-Hour Job Search and The Job Closer explains how to answer these questions.

This webinar is organised and delivered by SensibleMedia who offer online courses to teach alumni and students the skills they need to get the careers they want. SensibleMedia have hosted some of the world’s leading academic thinkers in the area of careers, you can see the full list of current and past webinars here.

We are pleased to partner with SensibleMedia and offer alumni discounted tickets for these online webinars. Cranfield Discounted tickets are £14.95. Please book your ticket here.

Programme & speakers

Steve Dalton is the former head of daytime careers at Duke Fuqua School of Business and is the author of The 2-Hour Job Search and The Job Closer published by Ten Speed Press. In 2014 the MBA-CSEA awarded Steve their innovation award for his work. He holds his own MBA from Duke and a chemical engineering degree from Case Western. Steve writes about careers for the Huffington Post and the Financial Times and presents his method at business schools around the world. You can follow Steve's thoughts on job search and its intersection with science and popular culture at www.2hourjobsearch.com and on Twitter (@Dalton_Steve).

Although candidates hate answering, employers keep asking about negatives: What are your weaknesses? Or, tell me about a time when you failed.

According to Sensible Media research, you have a 50% chance of facing one of these questions when applying for a role. Employers like to see which candidates can handle these tricky questions and answer candidly. What they don’t want - paradoxically - is for candidates to talk themselves down.

Happily, preparing good - and honest - answers is much easier than you might think. In this webinar, Steve Dalton, author of the 2-Hour Job Search and The Job Closer will explain:

  • Why employers keep asking these questions
  • What kind of response they are actually looking for
  • Why textbook answers don’t work (note to all the “perfectionists” out there)
  • How to quickly construct authentic answers about both failures and weaknesses
  • How to answer the other most common “gotcha” questions
  • Why these questions matter less than the “soft” questions that kick off most interviews.


The key to answering all these questions is to prepare the right kind of achievement stories before the interview. In this webinar, Steve will explain his CAR (Challenge-Action-Result) formula and show how we can all create good stories AND adapt them to address negative, as well as positive, situations.

BONUS content: all participants receive:

  • Access to the webinar and the chance to ask questions live
  • Catch-up recording of the webinar
  • A bonus materials resource pack including slides and support materials
  • A copy of Steve's CAR matrix
  • Two bonus webinar recordings covering Tell Me About Yourself and Why questions.

Location & travel details

Online

Who should attend

All alumni interested in the subject area

Cost & concessions

Cranfield Discounted tickets are £14.95. Please book your ticket here.

(use code "cran-disc" if discounted ticket does not show)