What are your weaknesses?
One of
the most common questions you will get during an interview when you are
applying for a job. Now and over the years,
This question has been asked to so many
applicants and the answers they give are shocking. So today I am going to teach
you how to answer that question properly.
First, let
us talk about what you do not do. So when your employer, your interviewer is
asking you, so what are your weaknesses?
Oh, I
have none. Do not ever say that. It is a lie.
You know it is a lie, I know it is a lie.
In
addition, do not say, well, I never thought about it or no one ever asked me
that. Maybe you think you are being smart with the ply. Do not do that. It just
shows you are dishonest and it shows you lack self-awareness. Those are not
good answers.
Here are
the most given answers that are a big No.
I am kind
of a workaholic and a bit too much of a perfectionist. I know that this is
familiar to you too.
That is not what you do. So here is how you answer, what are your weaknesses? The key is do not make that about your personality. If you are going to share something, make that about your skill set that you could work on.
Here is
what I mean by that. When you share something about your personality, to an
employer it could feel like, well, I don't know if you could fix that, that
maybe it's who you are. But if you make
it about a skill set,
Then it is something that you could work on.
So I will
give you an example, what are your weaknesses?
Well, you
know, I am more of an introvert and sometimes I notice that I am shy to share
my ideas when there is a room of people. Now, see that is a good reply if you
are an introvert because here is what is going through my mind.
My mind
is thinking, okay, this person is shy and introverted and that is okay. Therefore,
it means that in certain scenario, maybe I need to ask this person more to
speak up. I could say, hey, you know what? What do you think of this?
On the
other hand, in my mind I am also thinking, well, maybe through time once this
person becomes more comfortable with everybody else within a company, she could
share more ideas.
See that
is what is going through my mind. That is fixable. Alternatively, maybe this
person could go take Toastmasters, develop more confidence, and work on her
public speaking skills a bit.
See, in my mind, all that's fixable .That's fine that is perfectly fine.
Here is another scenario.
If you
share something about your weaknesses not in terms of your personality, but
your skill, but also your plan. What have you been doing to work on it or what
are you planning to fix this?
So let me
give an example, okay.
So what
are your weaknesses?
Well, you know what; I am a very creative person. I tend to come up with all kinds of ideas and when I get these ideas, I'm very excited and I want to share that with everybody, all my managers, my co-workers and I love to just to share.
In addition, what I realized over the years is sometimes these ideas, sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not so good. Therefore, it is something that I know I need to work on how to prioritize some of these ideas and work on filtering. Moreover, in fact, recently, I have been reading a few books.
One Richard Koch, 80/20, calls it Principle and Getting Things Done by David Allen. And through the book, I have picked up a lot of techniques and tools. Now they are helping me to filter out some of these ideas and how do I prioritize if there is something that I am working on all the time.
And of
course, I am always open to any coaching from you that can help me to channel
my creativity into higher productions for the company.
Boom, you
see how that sounds?
You are
not bragging, you are not lying. You are saying, hey, I know that I have this problem;
I know it is something that I need to work on it,
It is
something that I am working on, here is my plan, and at the end, you are asking
for coaching.
From my
perspective as a CEO, as an employer, I know, okay, first, you are reading
books. Damn, that is a big and right there. In addition, you are learning you
are self-aware and you know what you need to work on and you are coachable. To
me, those are all like plus, plus, from that simply reply.
So what
are your weaknesses?
Next time
when you get this question, what are going to do?
How are
you going to answer it?
Reply to
the best of your ability.
