#03: What are your greatest weaknesses?

TRAPS: Beware - this is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for honesty, but an “F” for the interview.

PASSABLE ANSWER: Disguise a strength as a weakness.

Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”

Drawback: This strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it's so widely used, it is transparent to any experienced interviewer.

BEST ANSWER: (and another reason it's so important to get a thorough description of your interviewer's needs before you answer questions): Assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this position with excellence. Then, quickly review you strongest qualifications.

Example: “Nobody's perfect, but based on what you've told me about this position, I believe I' d make an outstanding match. I know that when I hire people, I look for two things most of all. Do they have the qualifications to do the job well, and the motivation to do it well? Everything in my background shows I have both the qualifications and a strong desire to achieve excellence in whatever I take on. So I can say in all honesty that I see nothing that would cause you even a small concern about my ability or my strong desire to perform this job with excellence.”

Alternate strategy (if you don't yet know enough about the position to talk about such a perfect fit):
Instead of confessing a weakness, describe what you like most and like least, making sure that what you like most matches up with the most important qualification for success in the position, and what you like least is not essential.

Example: Let's say you're applying for a teaching position. “If given a choice, I like to spend as much time as possible in front of my prospects selling, as opposed to shuffling paperwork back at the office. Of course, I long ago learned the importance of filing paperwork properly, and I do it conscientiously. But what I really love to do is sell (if your interviewer were a sales manager, this should be music to his ears.)
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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

i guess saying something good as a weakness and then showing it as your strength works

Anonymous said...

This...

THIS is why job searching is bullshit.

You have to bullshit your answers like this. I'd rather be upfront about what my exact strengths and exact weaknesses are. Any company that won't hire me on my weaknesses no matter what my strengths are? Their loss.

You can be a phony if you want, but I'm going to keep my dignity and not tell lies.

Anonymous said...

"I am very bad at being a slacker."

Anonymous said...

I work so hard and so late at night that I run up the electricity bills keeping the lights on.

Anonymous said...

I'm so efficient that sometimes I burn out keyboards with my typing speed.

Anonymous said...

I have a tendency to go postal after a couple of months after starting a new job...

Anonymous said...

My main strength is I have no weaknesses at all, my main weakness is that I am a compulsive liar!

Anonymous said...

u can say ....
m bit emotional........
not proficient in english and making efforts to improve.............

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

I think a better answer is, "Kryptonite".

Anonymous said...

My weakness is that I am too good looking and tend to distract my coworkers.

Anonymous said...

I don't even understand why they ask this question because everyone will have to lie about it. My greatest weakness is my lateness. I don't mean to be late or want to be late or even try to be, but at my last job I was sent all the way downtown to wall street and it took me 1 hour 1/2 between the walk and trains to get there from the Bronx daily. There were inexplicable train delays that would make me 10-20 mins late daily. Between sick passengers and train traffic, there was no way I could ever get to work on time. Leaving early didn't really matter because I just had that type of bad luck.
I had explained to the staffing agency that the job was way too far... but because the economy was so bad, that's all I could get so I took it. Then I got fired for being late all the time and I was not surprised it happened.

Anonymous said...

my weakness is i get crush on my female co-workers

Anonymous said...

Concordia University has a good answer to this question. Sandwich your weakness by starting with a related strength, stating your weakness (weak skills are better than personality flaws), then state what actions you take to correct for this. This shows that you are humble, self-aware, and working on improving your skills.

Anonymous said...

Dressing a strength up as a weakness is a bad way to answer this question. I can't stand it when an interviewee says coyly 'i'm a perfectionist!'. I would advise being honest in highlighting a mild weakness (e.g messiness) but make it clear that you're working on it and have made steps to address it.

Unknown said...
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