How do you answer the question:
“๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ?”
โWell, I am a perfectionist!โ or, โI am a workaholic!โ
None of those canned responses will work, whether you are an entry level or an executive job candidate.
While most people do not struggle with talking about strengths, they do find it difficult to speak about the other half of the question โ “What are your weaknesses?” It can be terrifying. What do they really want to know? Are they looking for skeletons in my closet that will shut me out of the competition? Do I tell them the truth, even though itโs a central part of the role?
Interviewers who ask the weakness question want to know your level of self-awareness. Are you aware of the area(s) where you need to grow?
If you are an executive, manager or mid-career professional, donโt rely too much on getting a straight โTell me about your weaknessesโ question. Sometimes the question is disguised as:
๐Tell me two characteristics of your personality you have to improve, and how you will do it?
๐What skill would you need to work on most in starting this position?
๐If I should speak with your manager, what would they say are your areas for growth?
Those questions are asking about potential weaknesses without using the word ‘weakness’.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง?
Conventional wisdom suggests that you handle this question by minimizing the weakness and emphasizing the strengths. Identify a work-related weakness that you are working on or a weakness that would not interfere with your ability to do your job, then use the Sandwich Technique (courtesy of Carole Martin who contributed to my book “Tell Stories Get Hired”):
โ
Begin with a positive statement (+)
โ
Slip in the negative (or weakness (โ)
โ
End with a positive statement (+)
One Example:
โ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด.โ
Another example:
โ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ.โ
Both answers demonstrate authenticity and that you were able to turn a weakness into a strength.
It’s now your turn: “What are your weaknesses?
