Which areas of the job description are you weakest at and how would you compensate for this?

The employer does not want to hear that you fall short of the requirements in many respects so evaluate which of the areas asked for is your weakest. You need to show what you have done already about boosting your skills and experience in this area and what else you can do in the future. If budgeting is the area you like least you could say: ‘I know that the area I need to work hardest on is managing budgets as I have least experience here. It is also the most important area for having control over the work of the department. I recently went on a course for budgetary management which gave me more confidence in this field and I would be keen to work closely with the finance manager for the first six months to ensure that I was on top of this part of the role.’ Showing selfknowledge plus an interest in learning and development is impressive.