Today you're going to learn how to answer one of the most commonly asked
interview questions, "what are your greatest weaknesses" and because this
question can be one of the most intimidating, I'm going to show you how
to answer this question with confidence and control and if you stick around
until the end of the video, I'm going to show you exactly responses that you can
give in your next interview. If we've never met before, I'm Heather Austin from
ProfessorAustin.comm and The Career Club on Facebook and on this channel I
teach simple solutions to help you build a business or launch a career you love
so if you're new here consider hitting the subscribe button down below and the
bell notification so that you don't miss a thing and real quick comment down
below with what your biggest question is when it comes to doing well in a job
interview. Before we tackle the best method for answering the common
interview question "what are your greatest weaknesses", there are a few
things to keep in mind. First, this question is asked because the interviewer wants
to get a good idea on what your self-awareness is. They want to gauge how
you see yourself and they want to get a good idea of what your personality and
your character is. So when it comes to answering this question just relax and
be yourself. Second this question comes in many forms.
You might hear it as, "what are your weakest skills" or "tell me about a time
that you failed" or "what area would your current boss say you need improvement in."
No matter the form that this question comes in, use the tips I'm about to share
with you to answer it well. So let's jump into it. Tip number one is to be honest.
The last thing you want to do is make something up. This will only make it
harder for you to be yourself and answer the question naturally. Pick a few common,
legitimate weaknesses that don't actually relate directly to the job you
are applying for. For example, if you're applying for a position in customer
service, you probably don't want to mention that sales is your greatest
weakness. However, you could mention something like public speaking or
creative writing and don't find a strength and turn
into a weakness such as "I'm a perfectionist"
or "I'm a hard worker." Interviewers will see right through this. Now this question
is normally asked with another popular interview question, "what are your
greatest strengths" so I made a video all about that. I'll go ahead and link it up
in the card up here and then I'll link it up below as well. Tip number two, keep
it positive and in the past. You want to find a weakness that you can discuss
that's in the past that you can put into a positive light. Be able to construct
a story around your weakness without actually mentioning the word weakness or
failure. For example, if you struggle with creative writing and creative writing is
not a skill needed for the position, you can mention that you've always been
a really good technical writer but you've struggled in the past with
creative writing. This leads us to tip number three, show improvement. You want
to be able to demonstrate what you are doing or what you've done to overcome
this weakness. This can be something like of course you enrolled in a workshop you
took or maybe a behavior you changed. By demonstrating your improvement, you are
showing that you're willing to take initiative when you know that you have a
weakness or something that you need to work on. Another key point here is to
discuss the results you've seen because of the action you've taken. So let's look
at a quick example of how you can answer the question "what are your greatest
weaknesses." In the past, I had to overcome my creative writing ability. I've always
been a strong technical writer, however it used to be more challenging for me to
write fictional stories. To improve my creative writing skills, I enrolled in a
creative writing class. Each week I submitted a paper to my instructor to
get feedback. I also had the opportunity to critique my classmates work. Going
through the process opened up my eyes to different writing styles and I now find
it easier to use my imagination to write. Now if you want to turn your
interview into a two-sided conversation, make sure you take a look at the video I
made with five questions that you can ask during your interview. I'll go ahead
and link it up in the YouTube card above and then I'll link it up below as well
and if you're not sure if your resume is up to par, make sure you download your
copy of the 6-second resume. It's a downloadable template that you can use
today and tailor for the next position you apply for. I'll go ahead and link it
up below and if you want to build a business or launch a career you love
make sure you hit the subscribe button down below if you haven't yet done so. if
you know someone that might benefit from this video, feel free to share it with
them. Don't forget to hit the like button below and I will see you guys next time.