Job interview-if a company asks you for your strengths and weaknesses?

Question

what do you give as your weaknesses as obviously you dont want to put yourself down but you dont want to sound too modest if you say "I dont have any"

Thanks

Answer 1

You have to make them sound like strengths/areas you can work on so 'I sometimes take on too many tasks at once' Whilst I have some knowledge of Excel, I would like to further expand my knowledge in this area'

Answer 2

Be careful with this one. Most interview guides will tell you to answer it with a positive trait disguised as a weakness. For example, "I tend to expect others to work as hard as I do," or "I'm a bit of a perfectionist." Interviewers have heard these "canned" answers over and over again. To stand out, be more original and state a true weakness, but then emphasize what you've done to overcome it. For example: "I've had trouble delegating duties to others because I felt I could do things better myself. This has sometimes backfired because I'd end up with more than I could handle and the quality of my work would suffer. But I've taken courses in time management and learned effective delegation techniques, and I feel I've overcome this weakness."

IMPORTANT: Be sure the weakness you talk about is NOT a key element of the position!

Answer 3

Know your strengths before the interview. Be honest withyourself and reflect on your past experiences. If you have a habit of being tardy don' t bend the truth just fix it. What do customers and employers like about your work-habits. Weaknesses are used to also clarify a strength. For example; State that you find yourself wanting to learn the job your applying for that you use alot of free-time to better understand YOUR JOB.

Answer 4

Whatever you do, don't say that your weakness is that you're a perfectionist - it's so cliche and they've heard it so many times.

For your strengths, just be honest, say if you're good at time management, handling a large workload, working under pressure, or part of a team or whatever. I think the strenghts question is easy because if gives you a chance to sell yourself. Don't be too cocky though because they'll just think that you're arrogant which isn't the best quality!

For weaknesses you could say that you like to micro manage projects and document developments and that it can be quite time consuming but that you consider it to be a valuable reference tool.

Good luck anyway x

Answer 5

I think you should site a weakness corrected for example:

I felt my career had suffered because I wasn't fluent in Spanish. After losing a job during a corporate reorganization, I then decided to signing up for a language courses.

or

You may know of a weaknesses or that does not interfere with your ability to perform well in the specific job. For example ......The fact that you aren't a great public speaker won't hurt you much as an accountant etc..

Answer 6

Of course you don't have to put your weaknesses down just like that. What you can do is to turn them into strenghts, if possible, or to minimalize them.

Here, have this source consulted:

http://www.cvtips.com/personal_strengths_weaknesses_interview.html

When it comes to strenghts, remember that the inteviewer is actually looking for the skills that better compliment the job you are applying for, so make a selection of the traits related to that matter.

When it comes to weaknesses, you must place them as far as possible from the nature of the specific job, meaning they must have little to none connection to it.

Good luck!

Answer 7

If I'm asked that one, I usually try to be as honest as possible, but also explain how I overcome it.

e.g. Although I am good at dealing with people and selling, my main problem is with paperwork, I really hate doing it! What I do is to make sure I get it out of the way as soon as possible, so that I don't have to put it off and can get on with what I enjoy doing without feeling guilty!

Usually works!

Answer 8

I was asked this in a interview and I replied by saying "I don't show my emotions readily, I'm a bit of a dark horse". Admitting that you have faults or weaknesses implies to a future employer that you are able to self criticise and improve on things as they develope.

Answer 9

ask your friends(if you have any) dont go into too much detail. try to give a strong weakness but avoid being too over the top, at worst be honest as long as its not too bad it shouldnt matter.

Answer 10

try to turn the question around, like for weaknesses:
" i sometimes commit to much to the job - and stay past normal working hours"
or
" i try to achieve perfrection at all costs when sometimes it is not [possible..."
and so on - something like that is the best way to answer. tailor it to the particular job you're going for.