Your Weakness Interview Question: How Do You Answer It?
By Carl Mueller
What is your biggest weakness?
This is one of those difficult interview
questions that interviewers ask from time
to time. The way you handle your response
to the question might be as important if not
more important than what you actually say.
The question is how to answer the
question without making it look like you
have a weakness that might prevent you
from getting hired.
At the same time, you don’t want to mention
a weakness that isn’t really a weakness
and simply tell the interviewer what you
think they want to hear.
Trust me, an experienced interviewer
has heard every clichéd answer to this
question and will know when you are feeding
them a line.
The purpose of asking this question is
firstly to see how you handle a stress
question and secondly how you actually
respond to it.
Here are some guidelines for responding
when an interviewer asks what about your
biggest weakness:
1. Answer the question honestly. It’s
always best to answer any interview question
honestly (obviously) but this is an especially
important one. Making up a weakness that
isn’t really a weakness will most likely
be very noticeable to the interviewer.
If they think you are lying, they may
ask you for another weakness which will
cause you even more trouble trying to
think of one off the top of your head.
2. Don’t mention a big weakness that
could cost you the job. Your goal here
isn’t to lie of course, it’s simply to
present yourself as best you can. We all
have weaknesses but it doesn’t mean we
tell an interviewer everything that we
do wrong. If for example you are interviewing
for a project manager job, it’s probably
best not to mention that you have trouble
getting along with people since you’re
going to be constantly working with others.
3. Don’t evade the question. Don’t try
to avoid answering the question. Also
be careful about giving a clichéd weakness
(ie. I work too hard) and then quickly
stating how you deal with it. That looks
too scripted and the interviewer has probably
heard it one million times before. Admitting
a real weakness but then stating what
you are doing to improve yourself is preferable
ie. "My presentation skills are not as
strong as I’d like so I signed up for
weekend presentation skills classes and
also joined a Toastmasters club." Remember
that the specific job you are interviewing
for will help to determine how you answer
the question.
4.Keep your answer factual and brief.
Typically, stress questions such as these
that put us on the spot tend to cause
us to ramble on and speak for longer than
we should especially if we’re nervous.
The best way to answer the question is
to be well prepared and to know how you
are going to answer the question before
the interview. This will avoid you trying
to think off the top of your head and
saying more than you need to which could
hurt your chances of getting the job.
5. Be careful about using "my biggest
weakness is my biggest strength" as your
response. Saying that "I’m a perfectionist"
or something like that is another of those
clichéd answers that people often give
to this question. It will probably come
across as being scripted and the interviewer
will most likely determine that you got
the answer from an interview tips book.
Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur
and professional recruiter who wants to
help you find your dream career.
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