You want to sell yourself and only talk about your strengths in an interview, so when it comes to talking about your weaknesses it can be difficult to know the right thing to say or not be too vague. Keep reading to see our top tips on how to approach this tricky question and get some ideas of the weaknesses you could talk about.
How to approach the weakness question?
The interviewer simply wants to know if you can recognise, reflect, and improve upon your weaknesses. Self-reflection is crucial in any role because no one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes, but it is recognising how to grow and improve from those which is the most important part. Therefore, this is the perfect opportunity to explain to the employer how you have learned from your mistakes or constructive criticism and that you are willing to make positive changes to better yourself within your role. Your weaknesses should actually be deemed as positives because you want the employer to think that you could be someone that they can work with, so be honest but not too honest.
Start by making a list of some of your known weakness that affect you in the workplace and practice talking about them in a positive way as well as what you are actively doing to overcome them. If you are stuck, see the list of examples below.
Examples of weaknesses
Unable to delegate tasks – this shows that you prefer to solely complete tasks to ensure they get done, however make it clear that you have been actively delegating more and more tasks to your team and plan to continue improving upon this.
Not as confident speaking to large groups of people – express that you want to feel more confident doing this and that you are up for the challenge if there would be any opportunities to come up within the role where you can improve upon this weakness, whether that would be speaking in large team meetings or presentations. Practice makes perfect.
Tendency to take on too much responsibility – this shows that you are always willing to help but could end up not getting things done or submitting things late due to the huge workload you have given yourself. Express to the employer that you are improving upon this weakness by planning out your week and seeing how much free time you have to complete extra tasks. Show that you are working towards setting boundaries and learning how to say no.
Focus too much on details – being detail-orientated is a strength, however sometimes you may take up too much time looking at the details. State that you have actively tried improving in this area by setting yourself a certain amount of time to complete tasks, which allows you to still ensure the high-quality of projects but maintain your productivity.
To summarise:
1. Pick one of your weaknesses
2. Acknowledge what you need to improve upon
3. Reflect on what you have done so far to improve upon this
4. Explain what you will do in the future to further overcome the weakness
Ensure to stay genuine and positive but don’t spend too much time covering the weakness and quickly move onto the positives of it. Good luck!
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