“What are your strengths and weaknesses” is one of the most common and challenging job interview questions. The interviewer will usually ask for the top two or three of each. So you’re going to talk about your weaknesses? No need to panic. This question is a lot easier to answer than you may think — provided you’re ready for it.
In most cases, this is a question asked by someone in staffing or human resources. Although it can also come from potential bosses and peers. It makes a difference who asks it, and if multiple people ask it throughout the interview process, you’ll want to make sure that your answers are consistent. So let’s get into how to answer it.
Preparation is key:
This is a common textbook question, so you need to be ready for it. You should know your key strengths and weaknesses as this knowledge is critical for you to grow. That being said, you might not want to share these strengths and weaknesses with a potential employer, as they may not cast you in the light you need to be in to get the offer — especially when the job market is highly competitive.
So first, you need to sit down and write out your answer. Answering this question well (remember, there are usually no right or wrong answers to interview questions) will keep you in the running. But a poor answer may cause the employer to not consider you. So you’ll want to put a lot of thought into this.
Listing your strengths:
Ideally, your strengths should match the key qualifications for the position. You can usually tell what’s most important to the employer from the job description, but sometimes, you’ll learn it during your interview. If during the interview the interviewer keeps emphasizing the importance of experience, then experience might be the strength you go with.
So how do you prepare for this if it could change during the interview? Well, start by looking at the qualifications and listing out a strength for each one. That way you have at least one strength (and a story you can tell about it) for whatever might come up in the interview. And yes, you’ll want a story to share with the employer so they know you’re sincere.
The last time I was asked this question, I had learned through the interview process that they were looking for good communication skills for the position. So one thing I listed as a strength was, you guessed it, my communication skills. I was President of my Toastmasters club at the time so I explained that I was comfortable giving a speech and also work well with people from all walks of life. This was for a computer programming job so the other strength I listed was my programming experience. They may have wondered how good I programmer I was if I only talked about my strength as a speaker.
Since they asked for my top two strengths, I could talk about both. If they only asked for one, I would have gone into the technical challenges that I overcame as a programmer. And then, snuck in the communication skills by saying, “but as challenging as some technical problems are, sometimes getting people to work together can be just as difficult. There have been days where I’ve felt my skills as a communicator were as important as my skills as a programmer.”
Again, you want to read the interviewer a little. I had interviewed once for a contract position for programming where they just wanted you to sit at a desk and pump out code. So in that case, I would have stuck with just the technical skills. In another interview, the hiring manager told me that his team lacked someone they could groom for management. So in that case, communication skills are important. So keep these possibilities in mind as you prepare your list of strengths.
Listing out your weaknesses:
This is the part of the question where people have the most trouble — and it’s also the part that the person on the other side of the desk is paying most attention to. The strengths piece is more about trying to figure out what the candidate is most proud of. The weaknesses piece is about getting a candidate to tell you things you typically don’t find out until their first day on the job. So you can see why so many employers ask it.
The trick here is to only list weaknesses that are actually strengths in disguise. The common textbook examples are “I’m very thorough with my work to ensure there are no mistakes,” or “I work long hours because I’m so dedicated.” Even the most novice interviewer can see through answers like these. The best answer I’ve ever heard for this is “I’ve been working in this field for over ten years but my major in college was in a different subject area. I’m currently taking classes at night so I can have the formal education in addition to my work experience.”
This answer is great because:
- He slipped in a strength (his work experience).
- He’s showing that he did something about the weakness.
- He chose a weakness that’s not a significant deficiency in his skill set. In this case, it was for a technical position where work experience is much more valuable than formal education).
This is the type of weakness you want to share. A great tip for college students is to use their lack of real-world work experience as a weakness. When I was finishing up college, I once said in an interview, “I’ve had an internship at a software company and worked in the Computer Information Systems Department part-time. But I currently don’t have the years of experience that other candidates might have.” As the employer knew I was still in college, this worked out to be a decent answer.
So again, make sure that each weakness you list out meets these criteria. Make sure it’s not a critical qualification for the job, show that you’re taking action to work on the weakness, and slip in a strength while giving the weakness.
So now you should be armed and ready to take on this question at your next interview. Remember that preparing for this (and many other questions) ahead of time will help you feel less stressed during your interview. Take each interview seriously and prepare well — you often only get one shot.
If you’ve found this article useful, you might want to check out my audio program on Job Interviewing. It’s packed with tips like these that you can listen to over and over again.
James Feudo owns the Boston Web Design Agency JVF Solutions and loves blogging about personal development and communication in his spare time.
Nobody is perfect!!
You must remember that nobody is perfect and that this possible employer knows that.
A really great way of telling someone about a flaw is to always add a suggestion of improving that flaw. For example you could say, ” I’m always told that I am a bit too slow… but that’s only because I want to do the best job I can. I guess you could say I’m a bit anal when it comes to perfection.” An employer can only look at that as being a great characteristic, and in no way a negative quality to possess.
Talking about your strengths is a tricky one; you do not want to come across as egotistical. From my interviewee, an excellent answer I like to get is this: ” I am very headstrong. I really like to be challenged in my job, and I just want to learn as much as I can in my position. At the end of the day I need to be able to look back on my day and feel good about the job that I’ve done. I guess you could call it sense of self worth. That’s why I always put my all into everything I do.”