hi it's Linda Rayner of Linda Raynor
comm career strategist speaker and coach
and in this video I'm going to teach you
three steps on how to prepare for an
answer the what are your weaknesses
interview question so that you can not
only make it to the next round of
interviews but also ideally land a job
offer now before we go in-depth into
what a good weakness is we need to first
understand what a good weakness is not
so there are two things that your
weakness is not your weakness is not a
personality trait and secondly your
weakness is not a strength in disguise
so firstly your weaknesses are not your
personality traits in the job interview
world's weaknesses are things that can
be improved on there are things that can
be fixed or corrected your personality
traits on the other hand are natural
inherent traits within you that really
nobody can fix unless you fix that
yourself or change that yourself so when
you say something like I'm impatient as
a weakness that tells your employer that
they're gonna have an employee who's
impatient pretty much all the time it's
not something that anybody can fix and
change it's just part of who you are
which is why using a personality trait
as a weakness is not a good idea and
secondly your weakness is not a strength
in disguise I've seen a lot of people
use this example and try to get away
with saying things like I work too hard
as being a weakness or I'm a
perfectionist and you know it's pretty
transparent and clear to the recruiter
and hiring manager what you're trying to
do when you use these it's it's almost
like a cop-out for really explaining
what your genuine weakness is and as a
result I would highly recommend you not
use those as examples of weaknesses so
now you know what a weakness is not
let's talk about what a weakness is a
weakness is an issue or concern that
occurs in a certain context that you
have improved and continue to improve on
so for example instead of saying I'm
impatient you may say something like in
situations where there's a deadline to
be met I tend to want things to be done
quickly and efficiently and in these
situations I've tended to finish my
tasks quickly and consistently ask for
status update
from my co-workers this has made me
appear to be impatient in front of
others so in this situation they're
describing the context when the weakness
occurs so that's what you want to do you
want it make sure that it's within a
specific context or situation so that it
doesn't appear that it's something that
you do on a consistent basis it's just
when this type of situation happens this
is the weakness that tends to come up
within me then you would say what you
did and are doing to improve on this
weakness so you would say as a result
I've learned to be cognizant of this
fact and no longer try to constantly
update myself on what my coworkers are
up to as often instead I've implemented
weekly meetings where everyone comes to
the table and with their updates and
that has led to greater efficiency for
everyone involved so what can you do to
figure out your weaknesses step one is
to brainstorm a list of your current and
past weaknesses or concerns that you
have about yourself these are private
lists so nobody needs to see them
literally take out a sheet of paper
divide them into two columns and start
coming up with things that you feel are
certain areas for improvement within
yourself just list them now step two is
to highlight the weaknesses that tend to
occur only in a certain context or
situation generally this is going to be
the majority of the weaknesses that you
list out but think of the ones that you
know can be applied in a professional
setting it's not something that happens
all the time but when the situation
comes up at work you tend to be a
certain way so that's what you want to
think of and finally step 3 pick one
current and one past weakness and
develop a story for each so remember
these weaknesses only occur when certain
situations happen so you want to think
of the situation and how you're going to
frame it in order to develop your story
and as a bonus I'm including some fill
in the blank lines that you can use to
help you develop your story so here are
some helpful lines to get you started
the first one is in situations where and
then this is where you would insert your
context or situation I have tended to or
10/2 and this is where you exhibit this
weakness not the weakness itself so
you're kind of describing what you
tend to do in this situation this has
made me appear and this is where you
would insert your weakness so in our
case it was this has made me appear
impatient in front of others but you're
again not saying that you are an
impatient person as a result I've
learned to be cognizant of this fact and
no longer insert the way you exhibit
this weakness so again it'll go back to
the second line that you filled in
instead I now insert your solution that
resolves this weakness and finally this
has resulted in insert your successful
results so it could be a quantifiable
result or it could just be an improved
efficiency or time savings in some area
whatever it may be so now you know how
to answer the what are your weaknesses
interview question but do you know if
your resume is still up to par feel free
to download a copy of my ten ultimate
resume hacks cheat sheet which is also
in the link in the description box below
and that way you'll get top tips from me
on how to land more interviews and
ideally job offers if you like this
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thank you so much for watching and I
will
in the next video
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