The Right Way to Answer "What Are Your Weaknesses?" in a Job Interview
One of my clients, Brennan, has been job searching for a few months. He's excited because his persistence paid offâhe landed a job interview for a position at his dream company. Brennan knows how important interview prep is from working with me, so he's been practicing his answers to common questions. However, he was unsure about how to word his response to "What are your weaknesses?" so he came to me for my expert advice.
The Outdated Approach đ
There's so much outdated advice out there on how to answer this question. I'll be honest, when I became a career coach 20 years ago after being in staffing and recruiting, the common strategy was to present a strength as a weakness. You know, stuff like, "Well, my strength is attention to detail, but taken to an extreme, it can become a weakness of being a perfectionist at times."
That kind of approach got widely adopted over the years, but I don't advise people to do that anymore. It's too canned and overusedâyou can spot it coming from a mile away.
My Proven Approach
What's been working really well for my clients is coaching them to focus on the specific job they're applying to. Let's look at all the skills the employer wants and how your skills measure up. Then, let's just be really honest about which area is your least strongest.
You're a business-of-one, selling your services to an employer. No employer expects you to be perfect! If you try to act like you are, they'll question your honesty.
Here's What to Do âïž
Make an inventory of everything required to excel in the role and rank your abilities from strongest to weakest for those requirements. You can do everything listed, but provide an honest assessment by saying:
"Based on the 10 skill sets you're looking for, I have all of them, but I ranked them from strongest to weakest for me. I would say [X skill] is where I'm relatively less strong than the others, though I still meet the requirements. Here's what I plan on doing to keep developing that area."
This shows you can be honest about your capabilities. You meet their requirements but are self-aware enough to point out your potential areas for continued growthâsomething every good employee should do.
The Rationale
More importantly, you avoid oversharing something too personal that could disqualify you. Keep your response focused on the actual work requirements for the role.
I've found this approach to be extremely effective for my clients. Employers respect the self-awareness and desire to keep getting better.
Now Itâs Your Turn đ«”
If you need expert guidance to nail your interview answers like Brennan did, check out Work It DAILY's free 7-day trial. My team and I will ensure you go into your next interview armed with great responses that highlight your strengths for the role.
Go get âem!
J.T. OâDonnell
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