Are you getting ready for your interview and need a few last minute tips on interview questions
and answers, in this case to understand the question related to your weaknesses?
If so, you are in a right place!
What are your greatest weaknesses? is the most hated job interview question by candidates,
but it is still being asked in many interviews.
The majority of job seekers are not sure how to approach this question.
So in this video, I will share clear guidelines to help you structure your interview response,
and give you full answers and responses to weaknesses examples which you’d be able
to use.
I am Marat from EMMOTION, myemmotion.com, Human Resources Consulting Agency, look me
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There are several ways to answer - What are your greatest weaknesses or biggest weaknesses?
I personally prefer rephrasing it to - What are your most ñimportant development areas?
It’s easier to relate to and it also doesn’t make a reference to someone being “weak”
in any way.
The weaknesses question can also be asked in other similar ways:
- What would your manager or colleagues describe as your biggest weakness?
- Which tasks or duties do you struggle with the most?
- Which difficulties and issues have arisen in your current role?
- Is there any area of your skill set that you feel still needs work?
From my experience working in recruitment for a long time, I tend to ask this question
to candidates which make a big and noticeable effort in selling themselves during the interview.
Sometimes without realizing it.
For many hiring managers it is interesting to hear candidates analyzing their development
areas.
To hear how reflective they are about their skill set.
This question can trip a lot of people up, because no one wants to talk about the less
impressive parts of their skills or personality.
However NEVER say you don’t have any development areas.
I’ve had candidates saying this to me during interviews and the impact is the same as saying
as that you don’t have the ability to learn and to grow:
Important checklist before we proceed to full examples:
1.
Analyze your development areas It should be a weakness related to your professional
competencies and skills.
Answers like “I just don’t do enough exercise” or “I don’t speak a (certain) language
well” sound like you are trying to avoid the question.
2.
Don’t try to disguise a strength as a weakness I work too hard... or I am a perfectionist...
These are ridiculous because as a recruiter you hear them every day.
The hiring manager will see you through and might label you as someone dishonest.
3.
Be honest but don’t raise any red flags Giving an honest answer is really important
here.
If you make something up, you might not be able to handle all the follow-up questions.
Pick a weakness acceptable for the role.
Don’t say you are awful with numbers if you are applying for an accounting job, for
example.
4.
Explain the measures you took to correct this skill
First part of your answer should reflect that you detected this weakness.
The second part is how you had actively been working on it.
The weakness needs to be something that you could improve through a personal effort.
Here are a few examples which could be useful to you, some of these can easily be adapted
to your profile.
There is also a bonus example for candidates without professional experience.
Example for a position dealing with numbers and data:
“I never had much experience working directly with clients, that’s why my client-facing
communication skills definitely need some work.
I’m much more comfortable digging into the data and providing the analysis, rather than
talking about that with a client.
I realised that the experience of working with clients directly would be a big help
to the way I present my analysis, so I have used every chance to take an opportunity to
talk to a client and I will continue to improve this area of expertise”.
Example which is generic and can be adapted: “At the beginning of my career, I was overwhelmed
with the level and amount of work expected from me.
Projects came in at the same time and I didn’t schedule or plan each of the stages properly.
Eventually this made me overlook certain mistakes which I detected further on.
Since then I attended a number of time-management seminars and have found my workload much more
manageable.
Each time I am more productive and detailed, and I continue to work on it.”
“Public speaking is an area which I should still work on.
When I started college, it was a real problem, I was just terrified of doing it, and I ended
up ruining my speeches a few times.
I decided to take a small step of promising myself that I would speak up in front of small
groups, for example in a class.
Then, I worked up to taking a public speaking class, which made a big difference.
Now, even though I get nervous, I feel like it is something that doesn’t hold me back.
Recently I gave a speech at a conference.
I was still shaking during my speech, but it went great and I received a really good
feedback in the end.
I plan on continuing to seek out opportunities to improve in this area.”
“Sometimes I can be a little too honest when I provide feedback to coworkers.
My personality is naturally straightforward and most of my colleagues really value that.
However I have learned that there are times on the job when more diplomacy is required.
I took a training class on “How to Communicate with Power” and it really opened my eyes
to the need of communicating differently with different people.
So now I am much better at providing constructive and inspiring feedback, even if it doesn’t
always come naturally.”
“As a student I thought that taking as much responsibility as possible will help me learn
and grow faster.
Eventually it turned into not delivering any of my projects on time.
I was simply stretched thin in too many areas with not enough time to deliver with quality.
I learned that I'm not at my best when I have too many priorities.
I am doing my best to reduce some of the less important extracurricular activities and focus
on delivering my academic projects, with the higher quality.
This ability to prioritise also helps me in my recent internship.
I had several deadlines that were due last week, so I spoke with my supervisor to prioritize
the delivery schedule.
To focus on both the timing and the quality of the delivery.
In the end, all three projects were delivered with great results.”
Keep it short and to the point.
Practice a couple of times before the interview to make a stronger impact and to answer with
confidence.
Thanks for watching.
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