how to answer interview question what is my greatest weakness

What exactly is the right style to answer "what is your greatest weakness?"

For such a popular interview question, the reply was never really clear!

Are yous supposed to deny that you lot have one? Or go all confession time on recruiters and share your about genuine weakness?

The answer is neither. What you do is plough the situation to your advantage past framing your weaknesses positively.

And no - nosotros don't mean proverb "I'm a perfectionist" or some similar nonsense.

And then, wanna know how non to miss a beat when recruiters ask you "what is your greatest weakness?"

This commodity will bear witness you but that!

Why Do Interviewers Inquire "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"
How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"
5+ "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?" Answer Samples
49+ Skills You Tin Mention as Weaknesses in An Interview
Tips to Identify (and Address) Your Weaknesses

Why Do Interviewers Inquire "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"

The offset footstep to answering "what is your greatest weakness" correctly is to understand why recruiters ask the question in the get-go place.

When recruiters inquire you to identify your greatest weaknesses, they are looking for the following iii things:

Honesty. They want to know if you're honest enough to give a real weakness. Keep in heed that if yous get hired, your professional weaknesses volition come up up in one mode or some other, then being open near them in advance is the best option.
Self-awareness, or the power to analyze yourself and recognize the areas where y'all need to piece of work on.
Willingness to improve. Everyone has weaknesses - even recruiters themselves. That'due south why they don't expect y'all to lie about it. What recruiters do expect, nevertheless, is that you lot're willing (and trying) to improve.

When you lot know just what the recruiters are expecting from yous, the interview question doesn't seem equally hard, does it?

Now, allow's move on to the next important step:

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"

Let's first state the obvious.

No matter what, your answer should never be "Weakness? I don't have a weakness."

Everybody has weaknesses. Denying yours simply shows you're not self-aware, which is, as we mentioned earlier, a red flag for recruiters.

Instead, you lot should frame your weaknesses positively.

And no, that'southward not the same every bit disguising a strength as a weakness ("I'one thousand just TOO detail-oriented").

What we hateful by "frame your weaknesses positively" is the following:

Don't lie about your weakness, but choose i that's not super relevant to the position you're applying for. Y'all can't say "my weakness is that I'chiliad bad at writing" if you're applying for a task as a creative author, correct?
Talk near the steps yous're taking to improve yourself.

Here's a physical instance.

Say yous're applying for a chore as a copy editor. This is part of the job description:

job description example

Source: glassdoor.com

For starters, you wouldn't want to reply "what's your greatest weakness?" with any of the following: effective communication, accuracy, attention to particular, or teamwork.

All these skills are essential to the job and mentioning them as weaknesses would do more damage than good.

Rather, you desire to place a real weakness that y'all have, discuss information technology genuinely, and highlight how you are addressing it (or planning to).

Hither's how you can do that:

My greatest weakness is time direction. I take ever been very particular-oriented, so it sometimes takes me longer to finish a project than I initially recall it will. This is why I started using time-tracking software in my terminal job. It fabricated me more witting of the time a task takes me and helped me never miss a deadline again.

This is a good answer considering:

It answers with a real weakness, but 1 that's not essential to the position.
It highlights exactly what you've done to improve yourself.

Moreover, this answer effectively mentions a strength that is essential to the job: existence detail-oriented. If yous can also fit one organically into your reply, that'southward a huge plus.

five+ "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?" Answer Samples

#1. Lack of feel

This 1'due south ordinarily a very expert respond if you're a recent university graduate or if yous're switching careers.

For instance, let'southward say you're a recent college graduate applying for a job as a graphic designer.

You can say that you lack experience with a certain software because y'all've practiced on a different one.

In such a case, if you lot're asked "what is your greatest weakness?" you can answer like this:

"I'm non experienced with the latest version of Adobe Illustrator, because I've practiced my skills using CorelDRAW. Still, considering they are both pattern software, I think I could larn how to use Adobe in no time. "

Or, like this:

"I'm non experienced in analyzing large amounts of financial data considering I take withal to properly practise the fiscal literacy skills I acquired at University. I'thou confident I will get the hang of it as before long as I get first-hand work experience."

#two. Teamwork

Teamwork (or lack thereof) is a completely valid weakness, especially if your job doesn't involve working with many people.

Just make sure not to mix upwards teamwork skills with constructive communication skills, even though the 2 are connected.

Meet, there are hardly any jobs out at that place that don't crave advice skills, so straight-on mentioning communication equally your weakness might not be the best idea.

Teamwork, on the other hand, involves shut collaboration with a squad to attain a common goal, which is not necessarily required in every field.

Hither's how you can tell the recruiter about this weakness:

"I'm non a team actor, honestly. I've always been less productive working with a group of people, while I do my all-time when I'm alone. This is one of the reasons I chose to go a writer."

#3. Procrastination

You lot'd exist surprised how many people struggle with procrastination. It's a (bad) habit that's been around for and so long, there's fifty-fifty a Goodreads quote page dedicated to it.

As a weakness, procrastination can be a two-edged sword. If you don't frame it properly, recruiters might assume yous're probable to miss deadlines or submit depression-quality work.

The fundamental here is to mention exactly how you've improved or are planning to improve this weakness.

Here's how to frame your answer:

"Since I was in university, I accept struggled with procrastination. Before I worked my commencement chore, I didn't think it was a weakness, because I never missed a borderline. I just had to pull an all-nighter hither and at that place. But afterwards I saw how my procrastination on a task affects the productivity of the entire team and the quality of a projection'southward result, I realized it's a weakness I should improve. I changed my work ethic, how I tackle tasks, and how I motivate myself to piece of work and have seen considerable improvement. I no longer rely on last-minute panic to complete my piece of work."

#4. Impatience

Struggling to remain patient is one of those weaknesses that is near justifiable to take.

Recall well-nigh information technology. It's almost impossible not to lose your patience at some bespeak or another when y'all're working. It might happen because of a difficult task you can't complete, or a colleague missing a deadline. The point is how you react to your impatience and whether you let it impact your relations with your coworkers or customers.

So, unless you're working a job where information technology's essential to exist patient (such as being a instructor), you lot can utilise impatience every bit a weakness as long as you frame it positively.

Here's how to do that:

"At times, impatience gets the all-time of me. If I'thousand working on a team project and I think that nosotros're not handling the job at hand in the best way, I tend to become fidgety and annoyed. In my concluding job, this weakness impacted my relationship with coworkers, then I've now enrolled in a training course to cultivate patience in the workplace. I'1000 also actively practicing patience outside of work to make it a habit in my daily life."

#five. Cocky-criticism

Many people grapple with self-criticism.

At one point or some other, nosotros feel like we could accept done more, or that we didn't give our all towards a certain task.

For this reason, self-criticism is a weakness that you lot tin can use in most situations when recruiters ask you what your greatest weakness is.

Here's how you'd become nearly information technology:

"My greatest weakness is that I'chiliad also disquisitional of myself and often feel like I'm non giving my best, or similar I disappoint the people I work with. This oft led me to overwork myself, burn out, or feel inferior to my colleagues, although my supervisors hadn't complained about my performance. During the past year, I have been working on myself actively, trying to be fairer with myself."

#half dozen. Multitasking

Multitasking might not be as corking as you lot call up.

Yep, our increasingly decorated lifestyles tin can sometimes trick us into thinking multitasking is amazing, simply recent studies show multitasking can seriously harm work performance.

Multitasking makes you more likely to make mistakes at work, be less efficient with your tasks, and overall really hurts your productivity.

Hence, you tin can hands use multitasking equally an answer to "what is your greatest weakness?"

Here's how you'd reply to the interviewers:

"My weakness? I multitask too much. I first noticed it was an issue in my last job - I was too distracted and tackling two or three tasks at one time ruined my productivity. I've been minding how I work ever since and I brand certain to always define and prioritize all my tasks. Then, instead of juggling 3 at the same time, I effort to go through them 1 by one."

Skills You Tin Mention as Weaknesses in An Interview

By now, you lot should understand that it'southward not actually nearly the weakness, just well-nigh the way you present the weakness and the steps you're taking to improve on information technology.

If y'all are true and proactive about your weakness, it shows that you lot're the type of person who shows drive and initiative - both must-accept skills for a lot of employers.

Having said this, you can have a look at the list beneath of soft skills that you can mention as weaknesses to get you thinking on what your weakness is:

Creativity
Task delegation
Humour
Spontaneity
Organization
Impatience
Taking on risks
Artistic writing
Financial literacy
Foreign languages (or a particular foreign language)
A particular software
Existence too honest
Multitasking
Public speaking/Presenting
Shyness
Time direction
Sharing responsibility
Self-criticism
Teamwork
Sensitivity
Taking on too much responsibility
Taking on too many projects at once

As we mentioned earlier, you can mention any of these weaknesses as long every bit they're not directly related to the job you're applying for.

If yous're applying for a position as a Tv set reporter, your weakness shouldn't be public speaking, shyness, or teamwork - lacking these skills will negatively impact your ability to do the job (and will lead to you not getting hired).

Instead, you could say the post-obit:

"Some of my weaknesses? Let's run into...First, I'd say I'yard non a very spontaneous person. I prefer to piece of work prepared and according to a well-defined plan. This sometimes works to my disadvantage, because it's incommunicable to e'er exist prepared. Some other weakness is that I sometimes take on too many projects at once. This tin sometimes hinder the quality of my work. This is why I've made it a practice to set realistic goals every time I take on a project and share more than responsibilities with my colleagues."

Tips to Identify (and Accost) Your Weakness

Now, in example we didn't stress this enough, it's of import to be as genuine as possible when recruiters ask "what is your greatest weakness?"

This ways that your weakness should be authentic, non just a skill that you picked out of a list considering you think information technology'south harmless to the position you're applying to.

The more accurate the weakness yous mention (and the steps you're taking to accost it), the easier you lot'll come across every bit a self-aware and cocky-improving candidate.

In this section, we'll teach you just how you tin do this.

Identifying Your Weakness

Struggling to pinpoint your weak points? Enquire yourself the following:

Did my past supervisors criticize me on a particular attribute of my work?
Was I always asked to improve something and how did I approach it?
How have I failed to complete work tasks and what have I done to better?
What is something I'm really not fond of doing in terms of work?
What were some of my weaknesses back when I was a pupil?
Was in that location something specific that professors criticized me near during my academic studies?

The answers that come up more frequently will be your master weaknesses.

Addressing Your Weaknesses

At present, identifying your weaknesses doesn't mean much unless you go the extra mile and improve on them.

And sure, you can take a shortcut and say you're doing something to accost your weaknesses only for the sake of replying to the interview question correctly, but sooner or later that could harm your work performance.

That'south why, instead of just mentioning information technology during the job interview, we advise you to attempt out one of the post-obit ways to address your weakness:

Utilise tools that can help you ameliorate your weaknesses
Enroll in a class
Ask for feedback
Consult an advisor
Practice the skill/s outside of work
Join a workshop
Get grooming
Become communication from someone whose strength is your weakness

Key Takeaways

Well, that was a lot to take in!

Hopefully, now you're more than prepared to respond "what is your greatest weakness?"

Simply in case, allow'due south go over some of the main points we covered in the commodity:

When recruiters ask "what is your greatest weakness," they are looking to see if you are honest, self-aware, and willing to improve.
Respond "what is your greatest weakness" past choosing a skill that is not essential to the job you're applying to and by stressing exactly how you're practically addressing your weakness.
Some skills that y'all tin can utilise as weaknesses include impatience, multitasking, self-criticism, and procrastination.
An authentic respond goes a long way. That's why the best solution is to identify your real weaknesses and take proactive measures to address them.

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Source: https://novoresume.com/career-blog/what-is-your-greatest-weakness