How to Address Your Weakness in an Interview Freedigitalphotos.net
November 28 2012

How to Address Your Weakness in an Interview

While waiting for the coffee that would get me through the morning rush of Black Friday, I overheard a conversation a few college students were having about the hardships of job searching.  From the tone of their conversation, I gathered they’re graduating in the spring and are already in the process of applying to jobs.  Good for them.  Being proactive tends to pay off, but only if you have the right tools and information.

When one of them brought up how tough it was to answer the weakness question in an interview, his friend looked him square in the eye and confidently said, “That’s easy. Just tell them you don’t have any.”

Oy vey.

Bad response.

The best way to answer this question is to be truthful.  Everyone has a weakness and trying to hide it from an employer will only get the job candidate in hot water.  No one is perfect (despite what mom says) and employers understand this.

Think about it this way. It’s unlikely an employer will hire you for the thing you’re most weak at doing.  For example, I’m not great with numbers. Multiplying large figures without having a calculator handy would hurt my brain.  But because I’m a writer rather than a salesperson or an accountant, it’s very unlikely for an employer to find fault in something that isn’t part of your every day job description.

As a job candidate, you’ve made it to the interview due to your strengths, not your weaknesses.  If you need help distinguishing either of the two, try taking a personality quiz like this one.  After taking this quiz, I found my results to be accurate and very helpful in understanding what value I do bring to employers.

The next time someone asks you what your weakness is, answer honestly because there’s a very good chance your biggest weakness won’t compare to your greatest strength. And that strength is probably what got you the interview in the first place.

Need more help on the strength vs. weakness topic?  Read these posts:

Interview Prep: Identifying a Strength vs. a Skill

Defining Your Strengths and Weaknesses

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