How to Talk About Weakness During Job Review

What Are Your Weaknesses?—How to Talk Well-nigh Yourself in an Interview

The next fourth dimension an interviewer asks, "What are your weaknesses?" be prepared. Here'due south our communication on talking about yourself in your side by side interview.

What are my weaknesses? Umm, can I phone a friend for this one?

Ah, the question nobody wants to answer—and rightfully so. Who really wants to talk virtually their weaknesses, specially when you're trying to impress a hiring director?

Well, permit's come across—I always let my vegetables rot in my fridge. I'm not the best parallel parker in the world. I constantly leave texts from my friends read only unanswered. I forgot to pay my cell phone bill on time last month. I never pair my socks.

In this article, nosotros are exploring why hiring managers and recruiters dear this question, what they absolutely don't desire to hear you lot say (hint: they don't want to hear about how particular-oriented you are), and how y'all can really dazzle them with a prepared reply.

How to Answer "What Are Your Weaknesses?"

When revealing a weakness, honesty and self-awareness are going to be your biggest allies. An interviewer is looking for an answer that isn't a canned cop-out (i.e., "I'm a huge perfectionist."). They're looking for a thoughtful, honest respond.

While you don't e'er want to prevarication in a chore interview setting, you also don't want to reveal a weakness that might disqualify you from the chore. If you observe that your biggest weaknesses are also a primary role of the job, yous take some work to practise—or yous might demand to consider that this isn't the correct job for you.

Why Are Hiring Managers Asking Almost Weaknesses?

Nosotros all detest this question. We hate thinking about weaknesses. We hate exposing them. At the same time, we meet the value in this question.

One respond hiring managers and recruiters have pretty much unanimously admitted to hating, "I'k so detail-oriented!"

Here'southward the reason: in that location is a much more interesting mode to talk nigh you and (yeah, even) your weaknesses.

If yous're maxim yous're bogged downwardly in details every bit a sort of humblebrag, you lot're likely not being honest with the interviewer—or, more than importantly, with yourself.

The contiguous interview is a existent opportunity to showcase who you are—more a printed resume or encompass letter of the alphabet ever could. We tin can't stress this enough—arrive count.

The interviewer is asking this question to see if you take the power to exist self-critical. Tin yous face up tough moments at work and recover? Can you lot work well even if the conditions aren't perfect for you? Tin you review your own work and beliefs and recognize your part in improving something—or is information technology always someone else'south fault?

This as well gives them insight into how you work and how you might fit into the squad and company culture you're interviewing for.

How to Talk About Your Weaknesses: A iii-Step Process

Nearly of us would rather glide right over our negatives and focus on our positives—our strengths—but this question is best when you don't avoid it just, rather, comprehend it. Here's a iii-step procedure for doing but that.

1. Cocky-Reflect

Outset past taking an honest await at your work functioning, interpersonal relationships at work, and areas for improvement. Have yous ever gotten disquisitional feedback? What was it on? What challenges have you run up against at work?

Are in that location deadlines yous've missed? Why do you miss them? Oftentimes when you take an honest look at where you've missed the mark at work, yous can showtime to place themes or triggers. These are areas to investigate farther equally weaknesses.

2. Name Your Weaknesses

Get specific and proper noun your weakness. This tin can help clarify what the weakness is, how yous've come to recognize it, and shows that yous can "own your stuff."

For instance, if you're not hitting your sales quota because you're not great at post-obit up, you might have a communication weakness, time management weakness, or arrangement weakness.

Naming the weakness vs. sharing that y'all struggle to meet your sales quota gives the interviewer more insight—and the ability to ask more than follow-up questions.

3. Tell a Story to Share How You're Actively Improving on Your Weakness

Particularly when talking about weaknesses, get one step further. No interviewer wants to hear a laundry list of weaknesses followed by an innocent shrug.

Rather, they want to hear about your dedication to working on this weakness. And how y'all share your weaknesses is almost more important than what your exact weaknesses are—interviewers need yous to not just tell, but also show them.

And just like with your strengths, utilise the job description as a guide when you're prepping your story. You will want to steer clear from naming a weakness that'southward essential to the job and visitor.

By telling a story, you'll be able to humanize your weaknesses. It's like walking into a business firm that has no furniture—it's hard to imagine living there. Interviewers being told "my weakness is time management" can't imagine what that means at work. Or, even worse, their imagination comes to more than extreme conclusions.

Yous'll also want to end your story on a positive annotation. This means it'south best to mention weaknesses that yous have overcome or can share enough about the steps you've taken to better yourself.

Sample Respond:

"Last quarter I missed my sales quota considering my client list grew when a coworker resigned and I didn't implement a better follow-up strategy. I reached out to a few senior colleagues who also had large client lists and started using a sales database designed to track communication, project status, and sync with my calendar. I'm still a work in progress, merely this quarter I'm on track to not but meet my quota, only exceed information technology."

Sample Answers for "What Are Your Weaknesses?"

Let's practice some more examples of stories using a variety of weaknesses.

How to Prove You're Working on Lack of Conviction

"My biggest weakness is a lack of assertiveness when I present in front end of a group. Even though I was the person running the project and creating the presentation materials, I would freeze when I had to present the results in person."

The Actionable Steps You're Taking

"To help, I recently enrolled in a public speaking form that uses improv techniques. It's been wildly uncomfortable but it's also helped boost my conviction with speaking in front end of people and thinking on my anxiety. When my screen wouldn't share for a contempo presentation, I didn't panic. Instead, I utilized the whiteboard and my notes to share the information then emailed it to them after. One exec said my whiteboard drawing was even easier to empathize! I really credit my improv piece of work to not losing my confidence in the middle."

How to Bear witness You're Working on Time Management

"One of my biggest challenges is time management. It's non that I can't see deadlines—it's that I often underestimate how long it will take me to become something done and then it'due south getting completed on the last day. This wasn't terrible when I was a squad of 1, but once I started working with a bigger team, if I left projects to the concluding minute, information technology would delay their work.

The Actionable Steps You lot're Taking

"To help, I buffer my time and projects and so I am meeting or exceeding expectations while also doing quality work. I'm now setting upward additional tools and workflows for my team and so we can automate some tasks and increase our productivity."

How to Show You're Working on Collaboration

"I'm currently working on improving my virtual collaboration skills. Before Covid, I had all my brainstorming sessions in person. When we started to piece of work from dwelling house, I noticed that Zoom meetings weren't leading to the same type of innovation."

The Actionable Steps You're Taking

"To help, I decided to concur fewer meetings which would hopefully clear up mental infinite for better innovation and collaboration. We turned weekly check-in meetings into emails, started to use Slack for ongoing communication, and fabricated i:1 meetings every other week. This cleared up a lot of space in people's schedules and and so when we did see on a Zoom video call, the squad was much more approachable and came upward with ameliorate ideas. Before we left every begin, we narrowed downwards three actions nosotros would accept and who would accept them to move things forrad."

How to Show You're Working on Leadership/Management kills

"I recently became a new manager and noticed that I really wasn't that great at giving constructive feedback."

The Actionable Steps You lot're Taking

"To help, I enrolled in some online learning courses, and I started a monthly volume club for me and the other new managers at piece of work. I was even able to accept some of these authors talk to our book social club. Now I experience much more confident in my feedback skills and I've noticed it's helped me create a civilisation of feedback where even team members are giving each other real-fourth dimension feedback. This has helped our performance and squad morale!"

Examples of Weaknesses to Explore

Allow'southward review some examples of weaknesses that you tin can employ in an upcoming interview.

Artistic Weaknesses

• Needing footstep-past-step instructions
• Unable to collaborate with others
• Struggling to finish projects
• Lack of technical expertise
• Rigid with processes
• Time-direction challenges

Leadership Weaknesses

• Bad advice skills
• Not delegating
• Micromanaging
• Failing to set articulate goals
• Non giving specific feedback
• Lack of confidence

Analytical Weaknesses

• Overly analytical
• Making decisions likewise rapidly—or taking too much time
• Unable to explain complex problems
• Close-minded
• Lack of critical thinking
• Impatient

Soft Skill Weaknesses

• Not assertive enough
• Cocky-critical
• Not "enough" feel
• Lack of organizational skills
• Lack of focus
• Insecure
• Trouble saying "no"
• Perfectionist

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Source: https://www.careercontessa.com/advice/what-are-your-weaknesses/

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