TRAPS: If an interviewer has read your resume carefully, he
may try to zero in on a "fatal flaw'" of your candidacy, perhaps that
you don't have a college degree... you've been out of the job market for some
time you never earned your CPA, etc ...
A fatal flaw question can be deadly, but usually only if you
respond by being overly defensive.
BEST ANSWER: As every master salesperson knows, you will
encounter objections (whether stated or merely thought) in every sale. They're part and parcel of the buyer's
anxiety. The key is to not exacerbate the
buyer's anxiety, but diminish it. Here's
how....
Whenever you come up against a fatal flaw question:
(1) Be completely honest, open and
straightforward about admitting the shortcoming. (Showing you have nothing to hide diminishes
the buyer's anxiety.)
(2) Do not apologize or try to explain it
away. You know that this supposed flaw
is nothing to be concerned about, and this is the attitude you want your
interviewer to adopt as well.
(3) Add that as desirable as such a
qualification might be, its lack has made you work all the harder throughout
your career and has not prevented you from compiling an outstanding track
record of achievements. You might even give examples of how, through a
relentless commitment to excellence, you have consistently outperformed those who
do have this qualification.
Of course, the ultimate way to handle "fatal flaw"
questions is to prevent them from arising in the first place. You will do that by following the master
strategy described in Question #1, i.e., uncovering the employer's needs and
then matching your qualifications to those needs. Once you've gotten the
employer to start talking about his most urgently felt wants and goals for the position,
and then help him see in step-by-step fashion how perfectly your background and
achievements match up with those needs, you're going to have one very
enthusiastic interviewer on your hands, one who is no longer looking for
"fatal flaws."
