What are your Weaknesses? 17 Best Interview Answers
The challenging job interview question, “What are your weaknesses?” needs a realistic answer that doesn’t show your job will be negatively affected in any way by it.
Your weakness should be work-related and in your answer, you should be able to prove yourself to be competent enough to improve on it while on the job.
As you are answering this question you should describe a true weakness that could be viewed as strength.
The interviewer wants to know how you are striving to conquer your weakness so that it won’t affect your performance on your job.
Employers know that everyone has a weakness, that’s the reason they ask the question hoping to get an answer that describes your true weakness.
Don’t try to bypass this question so that the employer won’t think you cannot improve on anything or grow in your job after being employed.
Also, make sure that your weakness has nothing to do directly with your job, and that it is something you have worked on or intend to improve.
17 Best Examples of Interview Answers to the “What are your Weaknesses?” Question
Here are our seventeen best examples of answers to the common interview question asking about your weakness.
You can model your answer against any of them and be sure it will be effectively on the interviewer.
1. I worried a lot about my weaknesses, and I have been working hard to get better at numerical analysis and spreadsheets. As I grew older I realized how much I needed to work on my strengths instead of things that I’ll never be great at.
2. My weakness is whenever I read depression on anyone’s face; it troubles my mind and affects my emotion. But I work hard not to allow this have a negative effect on my job, and I also endeavor to improve.
3. I sometimes push people too hard when I notice a sign of slackness on duties, but I usually consider the fact that everyone cannot always work on the same pace.
4. I used to not be so good at mapping out my time. But, my former job really forced me to learn how to manage time and I now feel much better at fixing a schedule and sticking to it. In fact, I now get help from a list that I prepared.
5. I used to set appointments late and thought it was better that way, but I realized that scheduling in advance makes much more sense.
6. I’m always working on improving as a skillful communicator and be more successful in my position. This took me to joining a communication company called CenturyLink, Colorado, which I find to be helpful.
7. I’ve been told I occasionally focus on small things and miss the larger target, so I took time to lay out the complete project every day to see my overall progress.
8. I used to find it difficult to work on two projects one after another hoping to get through one task before jumping to another, but I’ve come to learn through time management course how to manage my schedule more efficiently, easing up big tasks any time possible.
9. The area I would like to improve on is public speaking, and I have just enrolled in a toastmaster’s course. I believe this will help me by the end of the course.
10. Well, I used to be pretty horrible at public speaking. When I started college it was a massive problem, and because I was afraid of it I did very poorly. So first I took the small step of promising myself of giving speech to small groups. Then I stuck to the idea and did very well. I now feel bold at public speaking – warding off every fear. Not long did I deliver a speech at a conference to over 100 people and my hands started shaking the whole time, but I got really good feedback at the end.
11. I have not been so effective with deadlines, but to improve myself on it I now set a personal deadline of 24 hours in advance for myself.
12. I work very quickly and I’m thorough so I used to get quite impatient with coworkers if they committed an error. But now I’m much more patient and I realize that different people have different strengths and skills.
13. I usually get very passionate about my work and sometimes get frustrated if my colleagues don’t work at the same level as my enthusiasm.
14. I am a very conscientious worker and I get irritated by colleagues who are always off-duty, or do just little when they are present. I often leave this issue to my supervisor to handle these problems and address them whenever these people are discovered.
15. In the past, one of my weaknesses was not seeking for help when I needed to. I used to solve my own problems instead of asking for help from a colleague. However, I’ve now come to realize how efficient and less time-consuming it would be seeking help from a coworker.
16. I must admit that English is an ability I need to work on. I know it is only a problem that would last for a short period of time. So I now dedicate my time to studying hard to improve my grammar.
17. I am occasionally not as patient as I should be with fellow workers who do not get my notions right.
Conclusion
While discussing your weaknesses, you should describe in brief a real weakness that would not be a major handicap on the job, and then talk about your struggle to improve on it.
Doing so is a proof that you are aware of your weakness and are making efforts to correct it and be the best that you can be, therefore, your weakness would not be a barrier to your job.
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