This is the most difficult job interview question to handle and most of the candidates are not sure how to articulate this answer. The reason is that majority of the students and professionals fail to understand the difference between a weakness and personality. This leads them in a different direction. So, we will see how we can overcome that.
First of all, one thing should always be kept in mind. Never shy away from acknowledging your weaknesses. All of us need to improve in life so it’s important to come to terms with areas where we need to do better. That’s just how humans grow and have richer personalities. So let’s explore your aspects that need improving.
Like many of our previous blogs, we have narrowed the answer to this job interview question in three steps. We will help you understand the intent of the companies for asking this question, then things to avoid while crafting this answer and finally how to write your perfect answer.
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1) Why do companies ask this job interview question?
Frankly speaking, no company is really interested in knowing your list of weaknesses. But they do want to see if you’re self-aware or not. And if you are then they are interested in knowing the steps that you are taking to improve yourself, how you deal with certain situations, how you face challenges, et cetera. Secondly, they would also want to assess your weaknesses with respect to the job or role that you have applied.
The assessment of your weakness is not always with this question, but also with a lot of other questions, which the interviewers generally ask. For example, you might not mention a weakness, but they can figure out through your overall interview. A classic example is communication skills. You might not be outstanding in this area and if you will not acknowledge this, still it can be judged through all the other questions.
2) Things to avoid in this job interview question
It’s possible you’ve either done this before or you might do in the future. So avoid these 3 things:
- Don’t act smart – Many people follow this strategy during the interviews, but in most of the cases, it is not recommended. Portraying your strengths as your weakness, not accepting that you have any weaknesses. (Example – I’m a perfectionist, I’m detail-oriented and this becomes my weakness at times) This exuberates a negative vibe of the person. You should be honest enough to accept your areas of improvement.
- Understand the difference between personality and weakness – Personality could be a trait that you can’t change (like being an introvert). It has no context or situation attached but weakness does. ‘Struggling to perform under strict guidelines, though you could be a good performer if given some freedom’, can be termed as a weakness. If you can understand this, then only you will be able to figure out your areas of improvement.
- Try not to mention a weakness that is actually a requirement for the job – You need to be extremely careful while reading and assessing the job description else you might commit this blunder, which can eventually hamper your chances of selection.
(Example – they tell you that you need to be a multi-tasker and you say that that has been an area that needs improvement.) It’s fair enough to mention something like that if you absolutely need to but still, best not to tick them off.
3) How to craft the perfect answer for this job interview question?
As you may have read in our other blogs, we ask you to focus on your experiences. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fresh graduate or someone with work experience, you can go back and analyze your projects, internships, participation in competitions, and think exactly where you have struggled.
(Example – struggle in working with people, in teams or groups; struggles with multitasking… these can be presented as points of weaknesses or areas that need improvement)
Now while you have explored your weak points and made yourself aware of them, you need to showcase to your interviewers, how you have tried to make yourself better. You have to prove to them with your words that you have worked on yourself, that you have put yourself in situations that used to make you uncomfortable. Understanding your weaknesses and presenting it to your interviewer are two different things. In the first phase of introspection, make an exhaustive list of weaknesses and then in the second phase, choose the best which you want to express. The key here is your struggle and how you’ve improved them. Because if you are not working on your weakness, then there is no use of just identifying and saying it for the sake of mentioning it. This might put you in a tough spot.
There could be a case where you might not have any past experience for this, so in that case, you can always mention that you are currently working that area of improvement, along with any current supporting example.
Probable Answer for this job interview question
A couple of years ago, I noticed that I talk too much. I was told by many people – friends, workmates – and I gave it much thought. I worked on it and now I basically think before I speak. This has not only improved my communication ability but also my ability to ask better questions. This is just one example to express, you can add anything or any area where you need improvement. So, be honest, but at the same time, be smart as well.
We hope this is going to be helpful if you are preparing for any job or college interview. For more guidance, feel free to connect with us and provide your feedback as well, so that we can also improve in the future.
We have also answered a few more questions such as, Why do you want to join our company? Why should we hire you? What are your strengths? Interview tips
