In this post, I will talk about one of the interviewers’ favorite questions – What is your biggest weakness? The question may come in many forms:
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What would your manager say is your key area of improvement?
- If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would it be?
- Etc.
I will expand on what the interviewer is really asking for, how to answer and how not to answer this question, as well as walk you through a sample answer, that you can use to tailor for your specific situation.
Does the Interviewer Want to Know About My Weakness or Strength?
Several students I have done interviews with think that this question is a strength question in disguise. The most common answers I hear are:
- “I work too hard
- I care too much about my work
- I get stressed when others don’t pull their weight
- And so on…”.
THIS IS NOT A STRENGTH QUESTION. Trust me if you were planning to answer in the same way as above, you have just lost your interview! This is also not a place to share personal struggles like relationship troubles, how you are a natural procrastinator or that you were caught last weekend for driving under influence. The weakness you share should also not be in direct conflict with the main skills required for the job. For example, if you are applying for a sales job, you don’t want to share how presentations make you sweat.
The interviewer is trying to understand if there are any show stoppers that will prevent you from succeeding in the role they are hiring for. They are also interested to know if you have the maturity to identify your development areas and take steps to improve upon them. You should share a genuine weakness that is posing a challenge to your professional or school life, what have you done to overcome it and a concrete example to corroborate your answer.
So How Should You Answer This Question
Everything seems to be going great, you feel like you are rocking the interview, and BAAAM! You are asked to share your deepest darkest weakness. So far you have a great relationship going with your interviewer and you feel compelled to share more information than needed with the person across the table. This is where the Skills Assessment Worksheet comes really handy. Use this worksheet to create an inventory of your top weaknesses, your action plan to address them and examples to present. Remember, sometimes interviewers like to ask for more than one weakness!
You can answer the weakness question in one of two ways:
1. Share a Soft-skills Weakness
Here you talk about a soft-skills area, or behavior that you are trying to improve. Some examples may include time management skills, delegation, public speaking, etc. Again the key is to ensure that the weakness is fixable and not a handicap on the job you are applying for.
2. Share a Technical Area of Development
Here you can talk about a technical skill like a software skills, language, etc that you are lacking and is a ‘plus’ for the job. This type of example also tells the interviewer that you have done your homework on the job description and company requirements. When using this type of example, it is good to highlight a parallel technical skill that you already possess and how it will help you learn quickly in your new role.
Whichever example you choose, BE HUMBLE AND GENUINE! Most interviewers are seasoned professionals and can see through a fake story pretty quickly.
Time for a Sample Answer
Below is a sample example I have used previously for a job interview:
“When I moved into my current role as an Engineering manager, I quickly identified that delegation is one of my areas of improvement. I moved from overseeing a team of two engineers in my previous role to leading a team of 15 senior engineers and technicians, including a remote team in India. With the increased managerial responsibilities, I also came to realize that I need to rely on my team for their diversified technical expertise, and delegate tasks to appropriate team members to ensure that the projects stay on track.
To improve upon my delegation skills, I took a week long management skills training course as well as took an online Udemy course. I also conduct weekly meeting with my team so that we keep track of our progress. I have become much more comfortable with delegating the tasks to my team, and have also received positive feedback from my manager in my last performance review.”
Why This Answer is Great
This answer is great because it covers 3 main points:
- It showcases that I have the maturity to identify my development areasand have an action plan in place to improve the problem area.
- The example is honest and relatable.
- It also highlights my leadership and teamwork skills.
What are some of the other examples you have used to answer the ‘biggest weakness’ question?
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Thanks for reading and see you next time!