What Are Your Weaknesses? What To Answer If This Question Is Asked At The Interview

Everything seems to be going well, and then HR or the head suddenly asks: "Tell us about your weaknesses." This can lead to a stupor, because it is customary to praise yourself at the interview, otherwise who wants to hire an employee with shortcomings. What's the catch here?

There is no need to panic. This is a standard question. There are several ways to answer it and win.

Why is the employer asking this question

He wants to get to know you better

Most of the interview you tell how good, professional, competent and responsible you are. But it is also important for the employer to know about your weaknesses in order to understand how critical they are and whether you will be able to work together in the end.

He wants to see how you rate yourself

The ability to see your shortcomings and work on them is very important and speaks about your adequacy. It is much more pleasant to deal with a person who is capable of self-criticism and growth than with someone who is sure that he is good from all sides and does not need to grow. For the same reasons, you may be asked to tell about professional failures that have befallen you in the past.

How to respond to a question about shortcomings

There are several strategies.

1. Be as honest as possible

That is, to list all the main growth zones directly and without ambiguity. This option is appropriate if it is important to you that the employer gets a complete picture of you before making a choice. And if your weaknesses do not relate to the basic skills that are required for the desired position, that is, when the lack of competencies and skills is not too critical.

For example, it is better not to tell the translator that he has a weak command of the necessary language pair. As well as the nanny that she does not get along well with children. True, it will not be too logical and honest to get into such a position, but that's another question.

But we can say that you do not have any specific experience. Or, for example, you do not own one of the programs used in the company. Or you lack some "flexible" skills: leadership skills, sociability, the ability to make decisions quickly, and so on. Again, if they are not included in the list of fundamentally important requirements for the employer.

Here are a couple more examples:

• "I don't always manage to maintain discipline in the classroom. Several times I came across very difficult and conflicted students and unpleasant situations arose."
• "I was engaged in book illustration, and I still have little experience in creating illustrations for websites and media."
• "I'm not an expert in communication. Sometimes it's not easy for me to settle a conflict or negotiate with a person."

On the one hand, this approach is very risky: you can blurt out too much and bury yourself at the interview. On the other hand, there is a chance that the employer, on the contrary, will appreciate your honesty and directness and you, with all your disadvantages, will seem to him a more integral and trustworthy candidate.

2. Filter information

This strategy is suitable for those who really need a job and who are not ready to immediately reveal all the cards to the employer. Or for those who consider themselves an ideal candidate and simply do not know what to answer the question about weaknesses.

In such cases, you can list a couple of disadvantages that are relevant to you, but choose the most "safe" and insignificant. Perhaps even those that are more likely to relate to the merits.

For example, to say that you are a perfectionist and in your desire to bring the result to perfection, sometimes you go too far and become too demanding of the rest of the team. Or admit that you are very meticulous and ask a lot of questions.

Here are a few options for inspiration:

• "I don't have enough confidence to defend my position."
• "It's hard for me to distract myself from work and keep a balance."
• "I should tighten up my business correspondence skills, this is not my favorite activity."
• "I'm afraid to speak publicly, including at meetings and meetings."
• "I get irritable if colleagues behave irresponsibly and break deadlines."
• "I have not developed much leadership skills yet" (provided that you are not taken to a leadership position).

• "I take a lot on myself and I don't dare delegate tasks."
• "I'm not familiar enough with Power Point, my presentations could have been prettier."

It is important to remember two points here. Firstly, you should not invent and ascribe to yourself qualities that you do not have.

Secondly, the employer will still find serious gaps in your knowledge and skills, and soon enough. If this is not something that you can learn in a few weeks, it's better to admit it at the interview, then you and your supervisor will not find yourself in a stupid situation.

What else is worth considering

Do not fall into a stupor

Prepare in advance and, if necessary, rehearse the answer. An interview is always exciting, but HR or the manager expects that you will not remain silent or try to find the right words in a panic.

Stay positive

No need to apologize, sprinkle ashes on your head, use self-deprecating language. "I can't", "I can't", "I don't do well" should be replaced with more constructive and optimistic options:

• "My growth zone is..."
• "I should work more on..."
• "I need to develop in..."
• "My attention is now focused on..."

Don't get carried away

It is not the best idea to list all your shortcomings and describe in detail, with examples, exactly how they manifest themselves. It is enough to choose a couple of weak points and say a few words about each, without going into details.

Don't say you don't have flaws

Overconfident people who are not capable of self-criticism are usually treated very cautiously.

Talk about how you work on yourself

The fact that you recognize your weaknesses is already a good thing. But it's even better to show that you strive for self-improvement.

Tell us what you are doing to pump up the missing skills and qualities, what you plan to do, what results you have already achieved.

• "I should pay more attention to presentations. I've been taking courses for a week now."
• "My growth area is communication. I read articles on this topic, I try to communicate more with different people."