What are your weaknesses? What to answer if this question is asked during the interview

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You can be honest, or you can cheat a little. Each strategy has its own pros and cons.

Everything seems to be going well, and then the HR or the manager suddenly asks: "Tell us about your weaknesses." This can lead to a stupor, because at the interview it is customary to praise yourself, otherwise who will want to hire an employee with disabilities. What's the catch here?

Don't panic. This is a standard question. There are several ways to answer it and be the winner.

Why the employer is asking this question

He wants to get to know you better

For most of the interview, you tell how good, professional, competent, and responsible you are. But it is important for an employer to know about your weaknesses in order to understand how critical they are and whether you can work together in the end.

He wants to see how you rate yourself

The ability to see your shortcomings and work on them is very important and speaks of your adequacy. It is much more pleasant to deal with a person who is capable of self-criticism and growth than with someone who is sure that he is good from all sides and does not need to grow. For the same reasons, you may be asked to talk about professional failures in the past.

How to respond to a question about deficiencies

There are several strategies.

1. Be as honest as possible

That is, directly and bluntly list all the main growth zones. This option is appropriate if it is important for you that the employer gets a complete picture of you before making a choice. And if your weaknesses do not relate to the basic skills that are required for the desired position, that is, when the lack of competencies and skills is not too critical.

For example, it is better not to tell the translator that he / she has poor command of the required language pair. As well as the nanny that she does not get along well with children. True, it would not be very logical and fair to get such a position, but that is another question.

But we can say that you do not have any specific experience. Or, for example, you do not own one of the programs that the company uses. Or you lack some “flexible” skills: leadership qualities, communication skills, the ability to make quick decisions, and so on. Again, if for the employer they are not included in the list of fundamentally important requirements.

Here are a couple more examples:

• “I don't always manage to maintain discipline in the classroom. Several times I came across very difficult and conflicting students and unpleasant situations arose."
• "I was engaged in book illustration, but I have little experience in creating illustrations for websites and media."
• “I'm not an expert in communication. Sometimes it is not easy for me to extinguish a conflict or come to terms with a person."

On the one hand, this approach is very risky: you can blurt out too much and bury yourself in the interview. On the other hand, there is a chance that the employer, on the contrary, will appreciate your honesty and directness and you, with all your disadvantages, will seem to him a more solid and trustworthy candidate.

2. Filter information

This strategy is suitable for those who really need a job and who are not ready to immediately reveal all their cards to the employer. Or for those who consider themselves an ideal candidate and simply do not know how to answer the question about weak points.

In such cases, you can list a couple of shortcomings that are relevant to you, but choose the most “safe” and insignificant ones. Perhaps even those that are more related to merit.

For example, to say that you are a perfectionist and in your desire to bring the result to perfection sometimes go too far and become too demanding of the rest of the team. Or admit that you are very meticulous and ask a lot of questions.

Here are some options for inspiration:

• "I lack the confidence to defend my position."
• "I find it difficult to distract myself from work and maintain a balance."
• "I should have improved my business writing skills, this is not my favorite pastime."
• "I am afraid to speak in public, including at planning meetings and meetings."
• "I get irritable if colleagues are irresponsible and missed deadlines."
• “I have not yet developed leadership qualities” (provided that you are not being hired for a leadership position).
• "I take on a lot and do not dare to delegate tasks."
• "I'm not familiar with Power Point well enough, my presentations could be more beautiful."

It is important to remember two points here. First, do not invent and attribute to yourself qualities that you do not have.

Secondly, the employer will still discover serious gaps in your knowledge and skills, and pretty soon. If it’s not something that can be learned in a few weeks, it’s better to admit it later in the interview, then you and your boss won’t end up in a stupid situation.

What else is worth considering

Do not fall into a stupor

Prepare and, if necessary, rehearse the answer in advance. Interviewing is always exciting, but the HR or manager relies on you not to be silent or in a panic trying to find the right words.

Stay positive

No need to apologize, sprinkle ashes on your head, use self-deprecating language. It is better to replace “I can’t”, “I can’t”, “I do badly” with more constructive and optimistic options:

• "My growth zone is …"
• "I should work harder on …"
• "I need to develop into …"
• "My focus is now on …"

Do not get carried away

It is not a good idea to list all - all your shortcomings and describe in detail, with examples, how exactly they manifest themselves. It is enough to choose a couple of weak points and say a few words about each without going into details.

Don't say you have no flaws

Overly self-confident people who are not capable of self-criticism are usually very wary.

Talk about how you work on yourself

The fact that you acknowledge your weaknesses is already a good thing. Better yet, show that you strive for self-improvement.

Tell us what you are doing to improve the missing skills and qualities, what you plan to take, what results you have already achieved.

• “I should pay more attention to presentations. I have been attending courses for a week now.”
• “My growth area is communications. I read articles on this topic, I try to communicate more with different people."