Job Seekers Hub | How to handle – “What are your weaknesses?”

In my opinion, it’s a loaded question and a little outdated, but if you are ever asked this question in an interview, remember to be honest and never say that you don’t have any weaknesses. 

On the other hand, if you make up a weakness you don’t have, you will sell yourself short and probably dig yourself a hole.

The best responses are honest and shine a light on your “skill” and not your “will”. In other words, they don’t relate to your motivation or attitude but more to a skill that you’ve had difficulty with and corrected. Such as working too fast, time management issues or the use of a CRM system.

Do not say you are a perfectionist or a workaholic.

You may think these labels are actually strengths, but you would be incorrect. For example, being a perfectionist can be seen as code for “I will procrastinate over sending that client email for hours so that I can nail the exact wording”. The reality is, the email just needs to be good enough so that you can move on with other tasks.

The important thing is to recognise the weakness, demonstrate how you corrected it and turn the weakness into a strength. An example would be;

“I tended to work too fast on certain tasks because I was eager to complete them before their deadline. Unfortunately, this would often leave my team behind and create a disconnect in certain projects. I rectified this by implementing my own personal “audits” after each step of the task so that I made sure the quality of work was always high and I kept within timelines without leaving my team behind“.

This example shows that you recognise the importance of teamwork and are innately conscientious, but your weakness could be that you were overzealous. You were also strategic and self-aware enough to rectify this yourself and put in a process that helps you do this.

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