Explaining Weaknesses in a Job Interview

This is probably the most dreaded question of a job interview, and many consider it a stupid
question. Why would anybody admit their weaknesses?

But it's a legitimate question. You can use this opportunity to shine ... or not. The interviewer
wants to see:

 How you approach a difficult question

 Whether or not you recognize your weaknesses (we all have them)
 What you're doing about them
 Whether your individual strengths and weaknesses (they're usually related) make you the
right candidate for this job

One common approach is to repackage your strength as a weakness, such as "I work too hard."
The idea of using a weakness as a flipside of a strength is a good one, but it shouldn't be
something so blatantly phony and self-serving. You need to make a real concession here, but one
that won't hurt you too much.

The best approach is to:

 First decide on how you want to position yourself. Ideally, you should also understand
what the interviewer is looking for.
 Then calmly and sincerely admit the weakness and what you're doing about it

Some examples:

 I'm sometimes a little too soft on the people who work for me. Usually I'm able to
motivate and lead people to do great work, but sometimes when I fail, I have a hard time
taking the hard actions to correct their behavior.
 Sometimes when trying to hit a deadline I'll get too tough on my co-workers, and then I
have to come back afterwards and apologize. I've been getting better about this, I know
the team is often more important than the deadline, and I'm trying to learn to make the
deadlines without pushing others too hard.

You want to be careful here. You never want to sound:

 Phony and self-serving

 Egotistic, as if you don't think you have any real weaknesses
 Defensive

Of course, you also don't want to admit a weakness that's too big to get you hired, like "I always
miss my deadlines." So play carefully, but try to admit a real weakness that's related to a
strength, and that won't sound too bad.
When asked what your weaknesses are during an interview always try to make the end of your
description a positive. For example, you can say that one of your weaknesses is that you
sometimes get easily frustrated with yourself or others if a job isn't done perfectly. However, this
is simply caused by your passion for your career and your desire to do everything as well as it
can be done. This way, while you admit to becoming frustrated, you show that it's only because
you care so much about your job.

More input:

 This can be a difficult one. The best way to answer would be to chose something that can
be turned around to look like a strength. Example: "My computer skills were lacking a
little, but I took a computer class and got my skills up-to-date."

 If this is for a job interview, then you should always turn your weakness into a positive.
Say, one of my weakness' is that I do not quit until I get the job done. Or, I am a
perfectionist. I want to make sure that everything I do is perfect and in the right order.
Good luck to you:) Find weaknesses that are also strengths- for example: I do not care for
paperwork, so I try to get it all done by 10AM so I can go on to other things.

 The question is how to answer the question without making it look like you have a
weakness that might prevent you from getting hired. At the same time, you don't want to
mention a weakness that isn't really a weakness and simply tell the interviewer what you
think they want to hear. Trust me, an experienced interviewer has heard every cliched
answer to this question and will know when you are feeding them a line. The purpose of
asking this question is firstly to see how you handle a stress question and secondly how
you actually respond to it.

 Here are some guidelines for responding when an interviewer asks what about your
biggest weakness:

1. Answer the question honestly. It's always best to answer any interview question honestly
(obviously) but this is an especially important one. Making up a weakness that isn't really a
weakness will most likely be very noticeable to the interviewer. If they think you are lying, they
may ask you for another weakness which will cause you even more trouble trying to think of one
off the top of your head.

2. Don't mention a big weakness that could cost you the job. Your goal here isn't to lie of course,
it's simply to present yourself as best you can. We all have weaknesses but it doesn't mean we
tell an interviewer everything that we do wrong. If for example you are interviewing for a project
manager job, it's probably best not to mention that you have trouble getting along with people
since you're going to be constantly working with others.

3. Don't evade the question. Don't try to avoid answering the question. Also be careful about
giving a cliched weakness (ie. I work too hard) and then quickly stating how you deal with it.
That looks too scripted and the interviewer has probably heard it one million times before.
Admitting a real weakness but then stating what you are doing to improve yourself is preferable
ie. "My presentation skills are not as strong as I'd like so I signed up for weekend presentation
skills classes and also joined a Toastmasters club." Remember that the specific job you are
interviewing for will help to determine how you answer the question.

4. Keep your answer factual and brief. Typically, stress questions such as these that put us on the
spot tend to cause us to ramble on and speak for longer than we should especially if we're
nervous. The best way to answer the question is to be well prepared and to know how you are
going to answer the question before the interview. This will avoid you trying to think off the top
of your head and saying more than you need to which could hurt your chances of getting the job.

5. Be careful about using "my biggest weakness is my biggest strength" as your response. Saying
that "I'm a perfectionist" or something like that is another of those cliched answers that people
often give to this question. It will probably come across as being scripted and the interviewer
will most likely determine that you got the answer from an interview tips book.

 The question demands personal/subjective answer depending on the reality of my own

trait and personality type: for instance mixing business with pleasure:

I spend both time and money on books , internet, technology and hardware on my free time for
fun even though it is job related because I am so interested in these topics...

 Simple. Light heartedly say hand made milk chocolates, fast cars and more hand made
milk chocolates. When asked my dislikes I usually say smoking (unless it is the tax man
on fire) and then it would be someone running up with a bucket of water to put him out.

 I have never been asked to give a serious answer.

 first of all, dont specify them as your weaknesses... just tell them you dont consider them
as strong and they could use some work... thats what i would say... good luck on your
interviews!

 You have to prepare an answer for this question for every job interview before you go.
the most important thing about what you say is for it to be something resolvable, or an
area in which you can improve and to show how you are trying to solve this or that issue.
For instance, you can say that your written communication skills are not amazing, but
you are currently (or planning to register) for a course in creative writing, or business
communication, or professional writing, etc...

 The question "What would you say is your greatest weakness" in a job interview is a way
to find out many things about you, Try to make it a positive reply. As a property manager
I say "I care too much about my communities" this equates to my spending additional
time on site at no cost to the company

What is your Weaknesses? job interview

1. when you're not good in typing but learning it: -Im not that good in typing but I'm learning it
right now, I'm taking training online to surpass my slow typing.

2. when you're not too confident: -just leave it alone, nerves can;t help you get a job

Remember to answer it with but... Highlight your strength, make your employer forget your
waeknesses..

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