How to Answer Whats Your Biggest Weakness in an Interview

What exactly is the right way to reply "what is your greatest weakness?"

For such a pop interview question, the answer was never actually clear!

Are y'all supposed to deny that you have one? Or go all confession fourth dimension on recruiters and share your nearly genuine weakness?

The answer is neither. What you do is plow the state of affairs to your reward by framing your weaknesses positively.

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

So, wanna know how not to miss a vanquish when recruiters ask y'all "what is your greatest weakness?"

This commodity volition show you lot only that!

Why Do Interviewers Ask "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"
How to Respond "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"
5+ "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?" Answer Samples
49+ Skills Y'all Tin can Mention as Weaknesses in An Interview
Tips to Place (and Address) Your Weaknesses

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

The commencement pace to answering "what is your greatest weakness" correctly is to empathise why recruiters enquire the question in the first place.

When recruiters ask you lot to identify your greatest weaknesses, they are looking for the following three things:

Honesty. They want to know if you lot're honest enough to give a existent weakness. Keep in mind that if you get hired, your professional weaknesses will come up up in i way or another, so existence open about them in advance is the best option.
Self-awareness, or the ability to analyze yourself and recognize the areas where you need to piece of work on.
Willingness to meliorate. Everyone has weaknesses - even recruiters themselves. That'southward why they don't expect you to lie near it. What recruiters do expect, nonetheless, is that y'all're willing (and trying) to better.

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

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

How to Answer "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?"

Let's showtime state the obvious.

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

Everybody has weaknesses. Denying yours only shows you're not self-enlightened, which is, as nosotros mentioned before, a cerise flag for recruiters.

Instead, you should frame your weaknesses positively.

And no, that's non the same as disguising a strength every bit a weakness ("I'yard only Too item-oriented").

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

Don't prevarication about your weakness, but choose one that's not super relevant to the position you're applying for. You can't say "my weakness is that I'm bad at writing" if you're applying for a chore as a creative writer, right?
Talk near the steps y'all're taking to improve yourself.

Here'south a concrete case.

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

job description example

Source: glassdoor.com

For starters, you wouldn't desire to answer "what'south your greatest weakness?" with any of the following: effective communication, accuracy, attention to detail, or teamwork.

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

Rather, you want to identify a real weakness that you have, discuss information technology genuinely, and highlight how you are addressing it (or planning to).

Here's how you can do that:

My greatest weakness is time management. I have always been very detail-oriented, so it sometimes takes me longer to terminate a projection than I initially call back it will. This is why I started using fourth dimension-tracking software in my last job. It made me more than conscious of the time a task takes me and helped me never miss a borderline once again.

This is a skillful answer because:

It answers with a real weakness, but ane that'due south not essential to the position.
It highlights exactly what you've done to amend yourself.

Moreover, this answer finer mentions a strength that is essential to the job: being particular-oriented. If you lot can also fit one organically into your respond, that's a huge plus.

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

#1. Lack of experience

This one's usually a very proficient answer if you're a recent university graduate or if you lot're switching careers.

For example, let's say yous're a recent college graduate applying for a job as a graphic designer.

You tin can say that y'all lack feel with a certain software because you lot've practiced on a different ane.

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

"I'1000 non experienced with the latest version of Adobe Illustrator, because I've practiced my skills using CorelDRAW. Withal, considering they are both pattern software, I think I could learn how to use Adobe in no time. "

Or, like this:

"I'm not experienced in analyzing large amounts of fiscal data because I have yet to properly practice the financial literacy skills I acquired at University. I'm confident I will get the hang of information technology as before long as I go get-go-hand work feel."

#ii. Teamwork

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

But brand sure non to mix up teamwork skills with constructive advice skills, fifty-fifty though the ii are connected.

See, there are inappreciably whatsoever jobs out there that don't require advice skills, then straight-on mentioning communication as your weakness might not be the best idea.

Teamwork, on the other mitt, involves close collaboration with a team to achieve a common goal, which is non necessarily required in every field.

Here's how yous can tell the recruiter about this weakness:

"I'thou not a team player, honestly. I've always been less productive working with a group of people, while I exercise my best when I'thousand alone. This is one of the reasons I chose to become a writer."

#iii. Procrastination

You'd be surprised how many people struggle with procrastination. It's a (bad) habit that's been around for so long, there'southward even a Goodreads quote page defended to it.

Equally a weakness, procrastination tin be a ii-edged sword. If you don't frame it properly, recruiters might presume you lot're likely to miss deadlines or submit low-quality work.

The central 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 take struggled with procrastination. Before I worked my first job, I didn't think information technology was a weakness, considering I never missed a deadline. I but had to pull an all-nighter here and there. But after I saw how my procrastination on a task affects the productivity of the entire team and the quality of a project'south issue, I realized information technology's a weakness I should ameliorate. I changed my work ethic, how I tackle tasks, and how I motivate myself to work and have seen considerable improvement. I no longer rely on last-minute panic to complete my work."

#4. Impatience

Struggling to remain patient is 1 of those weaknesses that is nearly justifiable to have.

Think nearly it. It's almost incommunicable not to lose your patience at some point or some other when you're working. Information technology might happen because of a difficult task you tin can't complete, or a colleague missing a deadline. The signal 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'south essential to be patient (such equally being a teacher), yous can apply impatience as a weakness as long every bit you frame it positively.

Here's how to do that:

"At times, impatience gets the best of me. If I'thousand working on a squad projection and I retrieve that we're not handling the job at hand in the best way, I tend to get fidgety and annoyed. In my concluding job, this weakness impacted my relationship with coworkers, so I've now enrolled in a preparation grade to cultivate patience in the workplace. I'grand likewise actively practicing patience outside of work to make information technology a addiction in my daily life."

#5. Self-criticism

Many people grapple with self-criticism.

At one point or another, we experience like we could have washed more, or that we didn't give our all towards a sure job.

For this reason, self-criticism is a weakness that you can apply in near situations when recruiters ask you what your greatest weakness is.

Here'south how you'd go almost it:

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

#6. Multitasking

Multitasking might non exist as smashing equally you think.

Yes, our increasingly busy lifestyles can sometimes trick usa into thinking multitasking is amazing, but recent studies show multitasking can seriously harm work performance.

Multitasking makes you more probable to brand mistakes at piece of work, exist less efficient with your tasks, and overall actually hurts your productivity.

Hence, you can easily utilize multitasking as an respond 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 concluding job - I was too distracted and tackling two or three tasks at once ruined my productivity. I've been minding how I work ever since and I make sure to e'er define and prioritize all my tasks. Then, instead of juggling three at the aforementioned time, I try to go through them one by one."

Skills Yous Can Mention as Weaknesses in An Interview

Past now, you lot should understand that it's not really about the weakness, merely about the way you nowadays the weakness and the steps you're taking to meliorate on it.

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

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

Creativity
Job delegation
Humour
Spontaneity
Organization
Impatience
Taking on risks
Creative writing
Financial literacy
Foreign languages (or a particular foreign language)
A particular software
Being also 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 tin can mention any of these weaknesses as long as they're non directly related to the job yous're applying for.

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

Instead, you lot could say the following:

"Some of my weaknesses? Allow'south see...Kickoff, I'd say I'm not a very spontaneous person. I adopt to work prepared and co-ordinate to a well-defined program. This sometimes works to my disadvantage, considering information technology's impossible to always be prepared. Another weakness is that I sometimes take on too many projects at once. This can 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 projection and share more responsibilities with my colleagues."

Tips to Place (and Address) Your Weakness

Now, in case we didn't stress this plenty, it's important to be as genuine as possible when recruiters inquire "what is your greatest weakness?"

This means that your weakness should exist accurate, not just a skill that you picked out of a list because you think it'southward harmless to the position you're applying to.

The more authentic the weakness you lot mention (and the steps you're taking to address it), the easier you'll come up across equally a cocky-aware and self-improving candidate.

In this department, we'll teach you simply how yous tin do this.

Identifying Your Weakness

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

Did my past supervisors criticize me on a particular aspect of my piece of work?
Was I ever asked to ameliorate something and how did I arroyo it?
How accept I failed to complete work tasks and what have I done to improve?
What is something I'm actually not addicted of doing in terms of work?
What were some of my weaknesses back when I was a student?
Was there something specific that professors criticized me almost during my academic studies?

The answers that come up up more than oftentimes will exist your main 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 yous're doing something to address your weaknesses merely for the sake of replying to the interview question correctly, but sooner or later that could harm your work functioning.

That's why, instead of simply mentioning it during the chore interview, we propose you lot to try out ane of the post-obit ways to address your weakness:

Use tools that can aid you meliorate your weaknesses
Enroll in a class
Ask for feedback
Consult an counselor
Practice the skill/s exterior of work
Join a workshop
Get grooming
Become advice from someone whose strength is your weakness

Key Takeaways

Well, that was a lot to take in!

Hopefully, now y'all're more than prepared to reply "what is your greatest weakness?"

Simply in case, allow'southward get over some of the main points we covered in the commodity:

When recruiters inquire "what is your greatest weakness," they are looking to see if you are honest, self-aware, and willing to improve.
Answer "what is your greatest weakness" by choosing a skill that is not essential to the chore you're applying to and by stressing exactly how you lot're practically addressing your weakness.
Some skills that you tin use as weaknesses include impatience, multitasking, self-criticism, and procrastination.
An authentic answer goes a long manner. That's why the best solution is to place your real weaknesses and have proactive measures to address them.

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