Career consultant: The most popular career advice suggests emphasizing one's strengths to employers and downplaying ...

shunhe on August 13, 2020

Hi @anchelle,

Thanks for the question! So let’s walk through the stimulus first. We have this career consultant commenting on some career advice. You see, popular career advice says that you should emphasize your strengths and downplay your weaknesses in front of your employers. But the career consultant thinks this is wrong. Why? Well, they cite a study of managers that show that those who use self-deprecating humor in front of their employees are basically seen as more thoughtful/concerned/even-handed than by those who don’t.

Now we’re asked for a flaw in the passage. Immediately, something should strike you as strange. The original advice is for employees when they’re in front of their bosses. But the reason the consultant thinks it’s wrong is based on a study of how bosses act in front of their employees. There seems to be something suspect about that, and that’s what (A) catches on. The author bases a conclusion about how one group (the employers) will respond to self-deprecation on information about how a different group (the employees) responds to it.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.