- What are your weaknesses?
One of the most common questions you'll get
during an interview when you're applying for a job.
Now, over the years,
I have asked this question to so many applicants
and I am shocked by the answers.
So today I'm gonna teach you how
to answer that question properly.
First, let's talk about what you don't do.
So when your employer, your interviewer is asking you,
so what are your weaknesses?
Oh, I have none.
Don't ever say that.
It is a lie.
You know it's a lie, I know it's a lie.
When people say that, I just say get out of here,
don't let the door hit you on the way out
when you say I have none.
And don't say, well, I never thought about it
or no one ever asked me that.
Seriously, no one ever asked you that?
Maybe you think you're being smart with the ply.
Don't do that.
It just shows you are dishonest
and also it shows you you lack self awareness.
Those are not good answers.
Also, here are the ones I hear all the time
that are also it's a big no-no.
I'm kind of a workaholic
and a bit too much of a perfectionist.
Give me a break.
Don't try to turn it and put a positive spin on it
when you're being asked what are your weaknesses.
Another one I hear all the time, oh I love people,
I love working with people.
Really, I don't like you that much right now.
Okay, that's not good.
That's not what you do.
So here's how you answer, what are your weaknesses?
The key is don't make that about your personality.
If you're gonna share something,
make that about your skill set that you could work on.
Here's what I mean by that.
When you share something about your personality,
to an employer it could feel like,
well, I don't know if you could fix that,
that maybe it's who you are.
But if you make it about a skill set,
then it's something that you could work on.
So I'll give you an example, what are your weaknesses?
Well, you know, I'm more of an introvert
and sometimes I notice that I am shy to share my ideas
when there's a room of people.
Now, see that's a good reply if you are an introvert
because here's what's going through my mind.
My mind is thinking, okay, this person is shy
and introverted and that's okay.
So it means that in certain scenario,
maybe I need to ask this person more to speak up.
I could say, hey, you know what?
What do you think of this?
Or in my mind I'm also thinking, well, maybe through time
once this person becomes more comfortable
with everybody else within a company,
she could share more ideas.
See, that's what's going through my mind.
That is fixable.
Or maybe this person could go take Toastmasters
and develop more confidence
and work on her public speaking skills a bit.
See, in my mind, all that's fixable.
That's fine, that's perfectly fine.
Here's another scenario.
If you share something about your weaknesses not in terms
of your personality, but your skill, but also your plan.
What have you been doing to work on it
or what are you planning to fix this?
So let me give an example, okay.
So what are your weaknesses?
Well, you know what, I'm a very creative person.
I tend to come up with all kinds of ideas and when I get
these ideas, I'm very excited and I wanna share that
with everybody, all my managers, my coworkers
and I love to just to share.
And what I realized over the years
is sometimes these ideas, sometimes they're good
and sometimes they're not so good.
So it is something that I know I need to work on how
to prioritize some of these ideas and work on filtering.
And in fact, recently, I have been reading a few books.
One it's called by Richard Koch, 80/20 Principle
and also Getting Things Done by David Allen.
And through the book,
I've picked up a lot of techniques and tools.
Now they are helping me to filter out some of these ideas
and how do I prioritize if there's something
that I'm working on all the time.
And of course, I'm always open to any coaching from you
that can help me to channel my creativity
into higher productions for the company.
Boom, you see how that sounds?
You are not bragging, you're not lying.
You're saying, hey, I know that I've got this problem,
I know it's something that I need to work on it,
it's something that I am working on and here's my plan
and at the end you're asking for coaching.
From my perspective as a CEO, as an employer,
I know, okay, first of all, you're reading books.
Damn, that's a big plus right there.
And you're learning, you're self aware
and you know what you need to work on and you're coachable.
To me, those are all like plus, plus, plus, plus
from that simply reply.
So what are your weaknesses?
Next time when you get this question, what are gonna do,
how are you gonna answer it?
Comment below.
Share with me if someone was to ask you this question,
what are your weaknesses, how would you reply
to the best of your ability.
And also let's collaborate.
Maybe my other fans they could see in the comment
and see who can come up with the best response.
Go ahead and do that.