Weaknesses job interview: How do I answer the question

Tips on weaknesses in job interviews

HR employees immediately recognize phrases and standard formulations about weaknesses in job interviews. Typical phrases, such as "chocolate" or "I have no weaknesses.", but also standard formulations, such as "I have a poor sense of direction." or "I am a very impatient person." are not good answers and should be avoided.

Applicants should be honest with themselves and their counterparts and admit their flaws and small mistakes because nobody is perfect. It is not always positive when only strengths are mentioned in an interview and no weaknesses are pointed out. This conveys a lack of self-reflection and poor handling of deficits to the personnel officer :inside. Also with negative points in the past life should be dealt openly and solution-oriented. After all, job seekers will always face new challenges in their new jobs in the future, which is why the question about weaknesses comes up so often in job interviews. Applicants should therefore be open about their weaknesses, but not those that are directly related to the job. What does this mean in concrete terms? Core competencies or key qualifications should never be discussed, but instead weaknesses should be backed up with strengths. In this case, secretaries should never talk about spelling problems and marketing employees should never talk about a lack of creativity. It is advisable to prepare a list of weaknesses in advance.

Examples of suitable answers to weaknesses in job interviews

1. "Speaking in front of larger audiences and delivering presentations is difficult for me. Here I am very insecure. To improve this situation, I'd be happy to take on small speeches in the company, or I'll attend a course on how to better control my discomfort and nervousness, or I'll take on more function in a meeting and lead through the meeting."
2. "I am a very punctual person and always complete my tasks on time. When I'm working in a group and the deadline is getting closer and closer, I tend to feel uncomfortable when I see that there is still work to be done. I try to become more relaxed in this situation and motivate my team members."
3. "When writing longer texts, I often need more time to find the right words. Here, if necessary, I can write more for the company or deal with more emails."
4. "I am very perfectionistic and quickly get lost in details, so I sometimes lose the big picture. I'm trying to structure myself better here in terms of how much I want to cover each topic."
5. "I have a hard time selling things and getting them to the right person. In return, I can score points in other areas with my communication skills and manners."
6. "I am a very helpful person, so it is often difficult for me to say no once in a while as well so I take on more tasks than possible. I now try to be more consistent and try not to answer immediately, but weigh it first and then give an honest answer, even if it is no once."
7. "In some situations, I have a hard time getting organized. To keep a better overview, I have created a daily list of my tasks that I can then cross off."
8. "I have somewhat lost my knowledge of foreign languages, as they were not relevant in my old position. To refresh my knowledge, I am taking an online course."
9. "Since I'm fresh out of college/training, I unfortunately don't have that much work experience. Nevertheless, I can shine with my theoretical knowledge and would like to put it into practice to gain more practical experience."
10. "I don't like to talk on the phone, because I prefer personal contact with the person I'm talking to. Here I can convince the counterpart more. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work due to the distance, so I try to look after my conversation partners more over the phone in order to soon develop this weakness into a strength." 

Other possible questions for weaknesses in job interviews

Personnel officers do not always ask directly about weaknesses in job interviews. Many interviewers formulate suitable alternatives for this, but want to aim at the same thing - to find out whether applicants can self-reflect and also deal with their own shortcomings. To be prepared for this, here are some examples of how the question about weaknesses can still be:

• What is your biggest flaw?
• What personal characteristics do you still need to work on?
• How would others describe you?
• From a scale of 1 to 10 how responsible are you?

Conclusion 

The interview question about your weaknesses can be nerve-wracking, but with a few tips, tricks and preparation, it too can be mastered. Take your time when answering, come across as authentic and not as if you have memorized some sentence. Give an honest and positive answer and always give examples for the weaknesses mentioned or signal that you are working on your deficits. This way you can convince the interviewer that you are the right candidate for the position. 

However, there is something positive about asking about your weaknesses in the job interview: you learn self-reflection and which things you can still work on personally. You may not have been aware of these yourself. If you want to be better prepared for your next job interview, take part in our applicant coaching.

Sources: Karrierebibel | workwise.io