Responding to the classic
interview question, "What is your biggest weakness?," is tricky.
Everyone has weaknesses, but sharing your worst attribute can ruin your hiring
prospects.
The trickiness of the question
is why I advise job seekers not to share their actual worst job-related weakness,
but rather to pick a weakness that they are already fixing that is NOT a core
duty.
So instead of dwelling on the weakness, I encourage you to ...
1) emphasize steps that you
are taking to overcome the weakness.
2) discuss progress that you have made toward proficiency.
With that thinking in mind, a
strong response to the weakness question might be ...
"Math [a non-core duty] is challenging for me so I thoroughly document how to handle
math-related functions and reference the documentation often. I've also taken
math and Excel classes recently to improve my proficiencies (and have made
great progress!) I double check my work and, when appropriate, ask someone else
to review my calculations. By taking all of these steps, I successfully handle
math duties well."
What makes for a “good” weakness?
It depends on the types of
jobs you seek, but in general, your weakness should involve a skill that you
will rarely use in the position. For example, mention not having worked with a
legacy system that you know the company is phasing out. Then share that while
you haven’t used that particular system, you have researched the program and learned as
much as possible on your own including [share brief system knowledge]. Then state your proficiencies with similar systems and
express how quickly you learn new technology.
Pro Tip: Have an influential person contact the company to vouch for your abilities.
In a similar way, you could
explain that you have not had the opportunity to handle social media on the job
so you strengthened such abilities on your own. For example, you could say that
you have a well-established LinkedIn account (with ### number of connections), have
created accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and regularly post
business-related articles on behalf of a local nonprofit. Share your number of Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc., if the number is impressive.
Pro Tip: Don't balk at creating social media accounts that could be useful for your career! They are easy to set up and to learn how to use, so start today: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest
Don’t try to BS ‘em
Interviewers will not believe
you if you say that you have no weaknesses so come up with something! They will
also not believe you if use a suspicious “my weakness is a plus” response like, “My
biggest weakness is that I am a workaholic.” Yeah right.
Pro Tip: Promote your strengths in your LinkedIn summary section. Recruiters WILL check out your profile if they are interested, so be ready!
Of course stating a minor
weakness in the interview is no excuse for remaining weak in a core duty. Your
new boss will quickly realize such shortcomings, so take active steps now
to overcome weaknesses that may be keeping you from getting … or keeping a job.
Related articles
The bottom line: Respond well to the weakness question!
How do you respond to the
“What’s your greatest weakness?” question? Share your thoughts and questions! Thanks, Kathy
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