What Are Your Weaknesses? Sample Answer in 4 Simple Steps!
Maybe you are just starting your career now and you're just getting yourself out
there and knowing that you need to do interviews,
or maybe you've done hundreds of interviews before,
or maybe you have done interviews and haven't heard back
and you're wondering "how can I get more interviews?" How do I get more
invitations to interviews? Whatever your situation is,
it's quite common for people to hear that question.
I mean you know that they're going to ask "what are your weaknesses",
but it's quite common for people to get that question and then feel flustered.
Maybe you do have a strong resume.
Maybe you've had a ton of experience in a certain industry,
you're an expert in your field,
but that question can still get many flustered and stumbling,
and not knowing how to answer it because you don't want to come across the wrong
way.
You don't want to come across like you don't know how to answer that question,
or you also are worried at the same time what they might think of you if you are
vulnerable, or honest about your answers and that's quite common.
So I'll talk about four steps on how to address that question so you can be
honest and authentic at the same time.
This is a common interview question that you have to be prepared to answer.
It can disguise itself in different forms.
They may ask you in a different way but recognize it for what it is,
they're looking for an answer from you on what you know to be your weakness.
It's important to understand why interviewers like this question.
Well first of all,
this question gives them a glimpse into your level of self awareness.
In order for you to be able to talk about your weaknesses,
you would have been open to feedback, feedback from your environment,
feedback from other people and it would have to have been important enough to you
to get a feel for where that gap is between where you are now and where you want
to be and the gaps in your personal development.
So this question,
it gives them a glimpse into how self aware are you and how important it is for
you to have a higher level of self awareness.
The second reason why interviewers like this question is because it lets them
see
how well you can articulate yourself and talk about yourself and what better way
to do that than to talk about your weaknesses.
Because in terms of your strengths, that part is easy.
We all know what we're good at doing, we all love to talk about our strengths.
In order to talk about your weaknesses,
you have to have a high level of self awareness of them
and you have to be comfortable enough to be vulnerable and share what they are.
It's a very telling response and from what you say and how you answered that
question,
they can get a good read for whether or not you are the right culture fit.
So what they really want is to figure out whether or not you are the kind of
person they like to work with.
The good, the bad, and the ugly. So when you're answering this question,
the key is not to try to dodge the question or fake your way through it because
interviewers will sense that
and they'll wonder whether or not you don't have a level of self awareness at
all.
Or even worse yet that there's some red flags lurking in the background that you
just don't want to discuss.
So there is a way to answer this question that is honest and authentic and that
will increase your chances of getting an offer.
So I'm going to give you four things that you can do,
four steps that you can take to answer this question in a very honest and
authentic way.
The first step is to pick a weakness that is acceptable to the position at hand.
And that's also one that you're currently working on.
Be aware of the job requirements and don't talk about any weaknesses that relate
to the qualifications
that they are seeking or the qualities that they want for the position.
So for example,
let's say that you were interested in transitioning to a career in journalism.
So you wouldn't want, in that case, you wouldn't want to talk about, for example,
that you're shy in front of the camera or that you have a weakness in writing.
The second thing is to tell a story of how this weakness,
how it was challenging for you in the past.
And you want to tell the story in a very concise and in a very neutral way.
So let's say for example that your weakness is delegating skills.
Then you want to tell the story about the past so it could sound something like
this.
In the past,
I was so overly concerned about getting everything done right that I had this
mentality of
"if you want something done, you just got to do it yourself."
And over time I realized that this wasn't always possible,
and that I realized that I could really slow things down if I was too
controlling.
The third step is to share with them the work that you've done to overcome it.
This part is extremely important because it shows that,
first that you are self aware of it.
And secondly that you are a person who aims for improvement,
that you are proactive at it, you were first of all self aware,
you got the feedback and you know what your weaknesses are and more importantly,
you're doing something about it.
So sticking with the example of delegating skills, you can say,
"I realized that I could benefit from growth in this area.
So that's why I signed up for a management skills course."
The fourth step is to demonstrate how you've already improved.
Now this is a good thing to conclude with because it shows that what you've been
doing was able to get you results
and it puts their mind at rest that what you think about and when you set your
mind to it and you take action,
that it leads to a positive outcome in mitigating your weaknesses.
So in my example with the delegating skills, it could sounds something like this,
you can say,
"So now I'm always looking for opportunities to manage a project for my group.
And now my colleagues always come to me for direction and it means a lot to me."
So telling them that story gives them an indication that what you did worked and
you did overcome your weaknesses, it's not saying that you're perfect.
Not that you're perfect,
but that people recognize the results that have resulted from it.
They recognize that you've changed,
they recognize that you have dealt with your weakness,
and now it is no longer the weakness that it has been,
but it's been a growth point and you actually enjoy it.
Comment below what have you learned? Put it into the comments.
Any questions you have, I'm happy to answer them in my next video.
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