What are your strengths?

"I am an outstanding coach and mentor. I take teamwork very seriously and always do all I can to get everyone up to speed or at the same performance level. I will never throw my teammates under the bus and would rather go to them first and try to help them improve their performance. It is never about me; it is about the team - all for one and one for all. If the team is performing up to speed, and I had a hand in it, I know I have done my job. This attitude, and my ability to share and be trusted by those on my team, is one of my greatest strengths."

Your interviewer is curious about how your personal and professional strengths will benefit HSBC. This will help them determine how good of a mutual fit a professional partnership with you would be. As they state on their website, "We conduct interviews in order to assess your compatibility with HSBC's values, as well as your general skills and motivation for applying. Focus on our strengths. To achieve our ambition, we are focusing on the areas where we have distinctive capabilities. This pillar of our strategy outlines where we are prioritising our efforts and investing for the future."

Examine your professional history, and focus on those strengths that seem aligned with theirs, what they are looking for, and those strengths which will help them with their goals. "Our customers range from individual savers and investors to some of the world's biggest companies, governments, and international organisations. We aim to connect them to opportunities and help them to achieve their ambitions."