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A Better Way for Modest People to Answer "What Are Your Greatest Strengths?"

Nearly every interview includes the question: “What are your greatest strengths?”

Even though you know it’s coming, it always still seems like a trick question. Do you brag and risk sounding arrogant? Play modest and chance not presenting your incredible accomplishments?

For a seemingly straightforward question, it sure is tough to come up with an answer that doesn’t make you look a little too proud of yourself. But it is possible! My solution, which I’ve used dozens of times with my clients, is to take the focus off your accomplishments.

After all, hiring managers don’t really care if you think you are great at X, Y, or Z. Instead, they want to know how your particular bag of skills, personality, and experience can help the company. They care how those skills are applied, not what they’re called or how you feel about them.

That’s why it doesn’t work to say, “I’m an awesome graphic designer,” or even “I’m the best software engineer in the world.” How good you are means absolutely nothing if it doesn’t help the company with the challenges it faces every day.

To get at that concern, I’ve developed a three-step framework to move you from the skill to the application of the skill, and in doing so uncover hidden strengths you might not even have known existed. I call this exercise “Past, Present, Future.”

This practice, which gets you to a) identify what you’re good at and b) talk about it in a natural, compelling way takes the confusion out of this classic interview scenario.

It requires approximately 30 minutes of prep on your part, but do the work, and you won’t be disappointed with the results.

Start by carving out quiet time and space where you won’t be disturbed or easily distracted and answering the following questions. Note: Don’t think about it too much! Just answer without censoring yourself.

1. Look at the Past

What have you been really good at in previous jobs? What skills and experiences do you rely on over and over again to tackle challenges in your personal and professional life? What events stand out in your past as particularly meaningful, fulfilling, or powerful?

2. Look at the Present

What do your friends and family come to you for? What compliments do you regularly receive? What do you genuinely love doing? Which activities do you find so absorbing that you lose track of time when you’re engaged with them?

3. Look at the Future

If you were to design your ideal job, what would you do all day? (Remember, no self-censoring or qualifying your answers. Write it all down, even if it seems impossible or unrealistic!)