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Every interview is hard. If you've applied for a job, then the chances are you really want it and are keen to show your interviewer just what you can do. That makes for a nerve-wracking situation and is clearly not something you can just sail through stress-free (unless you're completely unflappable!).However, some parts of the interview are harder than others, including the dreaded question about weaknesses. With a bit of preparation and thought beforehand, this doesn't need to be as daunting as many candidates believe. Trust us, you can get through unscathed and still demonstrate that you're the perfect person for the job.So what should you do the next time you're asked 'what is your biggest weakness?' in an interview?Let's face it, the last thing you want to do when you're trying to imply you're the best thing since sliced bread is admit that you have some kind of flaw. You don't want to give your interviewer any indication that you can't do the job by saying something like 'I'm not a morning person and struggle with 9am starts'.The problem is that you also can't tell them you don't have any flaws, because a) it will look arrogant and b) the panel knows that everyone except Mary Poppins possesses them.And these days, you can't fall back on the old favourites 'I work too hard' and 'I'm too much of a perfectionist' because they're over-used enough to be completely clichéd.So, what can you say? Well, the main thing to remember is that you have to turn a negative into a positive. Before your interview, start by thinking about areas of your professional life that you haven't found easy yet have worked on.Your potential employer wants to see self-awareness and self-improvement, so look for times when you made a mistake and corrected it or got praise from a manager for turning something around.Have you ever enrolled in a class or applied for workplace training or workshops, for instance? This would indicate that you had identified a weakness and worked to make it better.One great example would be something many people struggle with: speaking up in group situations. You could mention this and then say you have taken part in public speaking groups or open mic nights (as long as you have), or that you have made an effort to raise at least one point in meetings.You can then conclude by explaining that this has helped your shyness and boosted your professional confidence.To nail this question, remember that good candidates are always looking for ways to improve themselves and taking the initiative to ensure it happens. As long as you're self-aware and can show that weaknesses lead to improvements, you won't scupper your chances.

Dominic Blakemore, Chief Executive of Compass Group, delivered this year’s keynote City Food Lecture entitled ‘Trust & Tech – the future of food’, providing his insights into what the food industry might look like in 2050. Based on the trends and technologies that are evolving today, he painted a picture of a time when the world’s population is expected to have grown to over 9 billion people, living in a world that is wealthier, more demanding and increasingly digital. Acknowledging that impact on the environment and public health would still be critical issues for the food industry, he stressed that there were huge opportunities ahead but with a need to think differently to avoid further damaging the planet and to create a healthier and more sustainable world. ‘Millennials’ were cited as the key drivers of change, often described as the ‘me, me, me generation’ whilst also being open-minded, liberal and passionate about equality. He looked further ahead to the influence of ‘Generation Z’, a more resilient generation with a higher self-belief and a different outlook. ‘Generation C’ was mentioned as a powerful new force, defined not by age but by attitude and mindset. Also referred to as the ‘YouTube’ generation, these consumers are trend makers who place high value on community. Some of the trends of these consumer groups: Food is becoming about social identity and individual expression The experience of eating out is often more important than the food itself Other growing themes are health and wellness, veganism and urbanisation. Trust, in particular trust in businesses, was described as “the currency of the next decade”, with recent surveys showing that 6 out of 10 consumers won’t buy from companies they don’t trust and 9 out of 10 millennials looking for companies with whom they share values. The way to build this trust, he suggested, was through transparency and sustainability, which includes paying a fair price for goods, caring about workers’ rights, prioritising animal welfare and protecting resources. The more worrying trends highlighted in the lecture included today’s obesity rates that are creating a national health crisis, rising inequality in society, poor diets in children and a rise in both food miles and waste. So, what needs to change? Locally produced food should be embraced, educating children from a young age about ‘farm to fork’ and creating relationships between farmers and consumers With a global demand for protein expected to increase by 80%, we need to be eating more plant-based protein Future initiatives need to be more future-proof as today’s agriculture model sees a third of food being wasted in the supply chain Partnerships between growers, suppliers and those who serve consumers will become increasingly important with ‘big data’ enabling these partnerships to accurately link demand with supply. Moving onto the subject of technology, he explained that the food industry has been slow to adopt new technologies, however advances in robotics are starting to have an impact. The example he gave was ‘Mr Flippy’, the burger flipper which is being used in sports stadiums in the US and is now proving to be more efficient than humans. While science and technology will inevitably play a much bigger part in the future of food production, he commented that the pace of change made it impossible to predict future technologies. Augmented reality, however, was highlighted as a likely next big thing. He gave the example of the ‘Spyce’ robotic restaurant, which programs taste preferences to predict food desires - “Consumers will get projected 360-degree visualisations of food right in front of their eyes.” Developments in Artificial Intelligence could mean that we have a ‘digital self’ to store our medical and dietary information along with our taste preferences. 3D printing could also have huge impact on food - “If it can be pureed, it can be printed” – making it a potential reality that we could see food robots downloading a recipe for consumers to 3D print the meal from cartridges of ingredients. Although very impressive ideas, there was an obvious feeling in the audience that this use of technology could actually take the joy out of eating! To conclude the lecture, Blakemore stressed that the food industry needed to evolve, with the speed of change determining which businesses survive. He asked for a change in mindset across the industry and a willingness to collaborate – “no business can tackle this challenge on its own”. MorePeople were a proud sponsor of the City Food Lecture. Photo courtesy of City Food Lecture 2019

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