TheGrindstone: One of the most frustrating questions a potential employer can ask is what your workplace weaknesses are. It’s a tough question and a hard sell, because you don’t want to come off as arrogant, nor do you want to come off as incompetent. Unfortunately, that said, it’s one of the questions that interviewers value the most, so you may as well suck it up and learn to answer it in a way that won’t sabotage your shot at your dream job.
23 comments:
Well, I definitely wasn't expecting that. I've actually had many internally dialogues about what I would answer is my biggest weakness. I still don't know what I would say. I also don't think I can answer that question for the general world, because like the article says, you want to tailor it to the job for which you are applying. The author article uses wearing parents as an example, and although thats silly, its a valid point. If you were applying to be a fashion model, wearing pants, or the inability to, would obviously be a big problem. Conversely, if your applying for a very serious office gig, not wearing pants might be a problem, but the employer is just going to think you're crazy, and not in a good way.
I think explaining is the best advice here- say what you think your weakness it, tell a story about how it's adversely affected you, and then talk about how you've been working to overcome that and why it won't be a dealbreaker for them to hire you. Tailoring everything you do for each job is always good advice. Is your job description for one position at company A going to be the same as the position at company B? Probably not! So take some time for each and do the research you need to figure out how to answer interview questions well.
(Curious, this starts to sound just like college application essay advice now...)
I agree with Doci. This article (like many that have been on the blog about securing employment) really encourages preparation for a job application. It's not only important to know what your weakness is so you can work on improving that area, but it's how you function with it and actually overcome it that show's someone who truly knows how to work at their highest capacity of efficiency. And that's what employers are looking for, someone who not only know's a lot about the position they will be filling, but they know themselves and how to best navigate their process as well as others.
While I don't agree with this entire article, I do agree with one of its first points- you should know your weaknesses when entering the job market. While it can be painful, it's important to do some serious self-reflection before you begin to search for jobs. Not only is it important to know your strengths and weaknesses in order to be able to work to the best of your ability and work towards improving your weaknesses, but it's also important to know these in order to be able to discuss them with potential employers. It's important, also, to know your limits and know what you will or will not do to get or keep a job. Moving on through the article, I really don't agree with the idea of citing a weakness that has absolutely nothing to do with the job you're applying for. While the pie thing may come across as funny, which may score you some points with some employers, it can also come across as though you're not taking the interview seriously and as though you don't know or want to admit your weaknesses. There's certainly a fine line here, and knowing a little bit about the employer and interviewer can help you to figure out where that line is. My inclination would be to provide a weakness that could actually apply to the job, but that isn't the hugest deal. This would be difficult to figure out, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. Maybe I'm valuing honesty too much, but realistically, people have weaknesses and potential employers know that, so it's better not to beat around the bush. This sentiment aligns with the tip in the article that involves avoiding cliches. I completely agree with that point, because a canned or cliched answer can make you come across as unprepared, dishonest, trying to hide something, or trying to suck up. I also agree with the last piece of advice in the article; the "describe your weaknesses" question can provide a great opportunity to provide an example of how you've solved a problem or overcome some sort of personal challenge in the past. If I were to provide a story like this, though, I still think I would want to touch on my current weaknesses, in order to not ignore the question that was ultimately being asked. In the end, this is a challenging question to be asked, and I think I am even more confused about how I would answer it after reading this article.
This is a really useful article, as this is the question I've always been most nervous about since it's one of the most difficult. I think one of the best tips here is to describe how you've overcome a weakness- this allows you to be honest but not undersell yourself. I'm not sure how useful the tip is about saying a weakness that doesn't apply to the job you're applying for- shouldn't it be at least slightly related to the job, since that's what the interviewer is asking for? It seems like it would be an obvious way of circumventing the question.
This was a useful article to read, interviews make a person very nervous and then getting a complicated question like this makes a person even more nervous. Knowing how to answer this popular interview question will be a valuable skill to have. Even if you are not going for an interview it is good to know what you are weakest with and where there is room for improvement. Although it does make sense to not share a weakness that would limit you in a job it seems as though you should be more honest because if you do not have good grammar you should not be writing important documents. After reading this I am definitely thinking more about what I can improve in and how to honestly answer this question in an interview.
I usually find these types of articles to be surprising useful. This one I didn't find to be quite as much as others though. I definitely agree with the point that you should be aware of your weaknesses and be able to answer the weakness question in an interview. And I agree with the points about avoid cliches and about talking about how, although you have weaknesses, you are someone who is always growing and adapting. I guess this article is actually more helpful than I originally felt...
The part I found a little confusing I guess, was that about weaknesses that would not impact your performance of that particular job. Like the pumpkin pie example? I see that the author was trying to be funny, but she uses that example and then goes on to say that using cliches as an answer is something you shouldn't do. I guess I just felt like she was, in this one instance, sacrificing the content of her article to make a joke and it got a little confusing. Overall though, her advice does seem valuable.
What this article hasn't addressed is the possibility of some employers asking you specifically to address your weaknesses or strengths as it relates to your job. If this occurs, it will be impossible to not mention one that relates to the job, without seeming as though you are evading the topic. Also, nothing is worse that someone not answering a question, but answering around it. As Shannon mentioned, going into an interview, you should have example replies of your strengths and weaknesses, both personally and professionally. They don't need to be your deep inner most terrifying weaknesses, but something with substance, which people can identify with. I think that the article is too vague and gives very flaky examples of replies. Honestly, if someone gave that pants response as an example for adaptability, I would raise an eyebrow.
The idea of telling your interviewer what your weaknesses are seems counterintuitive because at an interview you want to put your best foot forward. But from an interviewer point of view, an employee who is aware of their weaknesses and how to adapt to remedy them is a very strong trait. Everyone has weaknesses but how you communicate them and account for them is what the interviewer is looking for. Although this article doesn't give extensive commentary, it helpfully points out that you should tailor your answer to this question based on what kind of job you're applying for.
I thought this article provides some good insight into this rather challenging interview question. When I was preparing for my interview here at CMU this was one of the harder questions to answer because obviously you dont want to sound like an idiot who doesnt know what their doing, but even more importantly for a school interview, you want to make sure that you dont come across as a know it all and that you show that you have something to learn. That would be the only part, that for a school interview would differ from this article. For a school interview you should cite something that has to do with what they have to teach.
I did a job training lecture for a different profession, and this was an important topic, figuring out what your actual weaknesses are and what you are going to tell the person interviewing you. What I took away from that lecture was to turn your negative attributes into positives, basically saying how you are working to get over the issues. Which is actually mentioned in the article funny enough. I just finished a class that required a lot of self reflection on my part, so I have a lot of material to work with.
This is good advice, this doesn't apply just to work place interviews, it goes for college interviews as well. And is esspecially important for us in the drama department because of how much we rely on internships and apprenticeships, most of which require some interview process. This article would have been helpful before I had gone through the college process.
I found this article rather contradictory. On one hand, it talks about admitting to weaknesses that don't have to do with the job (the pumpkin pie thing), then it turns right around and says to avoid personal stories and cliches. I don't see how pumpkin pie is any more relevant and less personal for an interview than saying a person is a perfectionist. Knowing your weaknesses and being able to talk about them in a positive way is an important skill, not just for interviews, but also for life in general, I just don't see how this article has added anything to this discussion and the author obscured her point behind weird, arbitrary examples.
Lindsay you do have a point that they are rather contradictory but a solid piece of advice that this article gives is cite a weakness and give an example of how you overcome that weakness. That is the only really helpful piece this article gives but it is a good thing to remember so that you don't get too nervous being asked this horribly cliche interview question.
I think this is very important thing to have in mind during interview. Whereas a lot of previous articles dealt with tips for interview that will strengthen one's strength, I like how this article talks about one's weakness. I think no matter how the interviewer's decision will be affected by hearing the weakness, it is important to point out rather than figuring out later at workplace and being disappointed. However, only thing I am curious about in this article is that it tells the reader to only mention weaknesses that do not have to do with the job he or she is applying to. I think this is hard because for a lot of times, interviewers are expecting to hear about weakness that is relevant to the job and how the interviewee is expected to overcome that. I think that just listing weaknesses that are irrelevant can affect negatively to the interview. Other than that, even though I wish that this article would explain each point further and deeper, this article efficiently emphasizes on the most important points such as knowing one's weakness and explaining how one overcame previous weakness.
Much like Shannon said, I don't agree with everything that this article talks about but one of the most useful pieces of advice that it offers up is just how powerful it is to be able to truthfully state a weakness of yours and how you strove to overcome it. Having been through many interviews myself, I know firsthand that this is a question that is asked almost every time without fail. This one question is the one that interviewers looks at most just to see what kind of person you are; to see if you are able to admit to your faults, and to see if you are actively taking the initiative to overcome your problem.
I absolutely do not agree with the statement that the personal weakness that you cite should have nothing to do with the job you are applying for. I do agree, however, that you definitely should know what your weaknesses are when searching and applying for a job. Obviously, you should not tell an interviewer a weakness that will completely kill any chance of you getting the job, but what you say should be in some way relevant to the job you are applying for. When reading the article, I couldn't tell if the author was being serious about the whole pants and pie thing. I am of the opinion that the weakness you cite should be something you are very aware of, and have some steps in place to deal with, which you can let your interviewer know about.
In the past I've found these kinds of articles to be pretty useful but I felt like this one was less so. Knowing your weakness is definitely important but I didn't feel like this article really gave any important information about them. Step one to finding your weakness is to find your weakness...duh. But this is still an important topic. I've thought long and hard about this issue in the past while I was looking for a job and might have needed to do interviews. In the process I actually learned about myself quite a bit. The answer I came up with is not cliche and definitely something I still actively work on improving upon. I think answering this question truthfully in an interview and having a well thought out response to it can really help you. If I were a potential employer I would think more highly of an applicant who has an intelligent answer that shows that they have put serious thought into the issue. Even if you aren't planning on going to a job interview any time soon this might be a valuable question to ask yourself to evaluate things you might want to work personally.
I liked how the article went straight to the point about what a person should and shouldn't say about their weaknesses at an interview. The one piece of advice I disagree with though is that the weakness should be totally unrelated. Yes, you don't want to give them reason to cross your name off of the list, but you should give an answer that doesn't seem like you're turning what they're saying into a joke (like eating pumpkin pie). Last week in basic PTM we had a Pino lecture about perfectionism, so reading about that reminded me about how bad it is to be a perfectionist in the workplace and that being a perfectionist is never something that you want to say at an interview. Also, I really relate to the author in that my weakness is wearing pants.
This makes a lot of sense. I think the bigger takeaway, other than not saying something that will actually damage your interview, is to use the question to enhance the interviewer's understanding of your (beaming) personality. Your weaknesses and your abilities to overcome them are just as important as your strengths. Hopefully I can walk into my next interview with a slight leg up!
I think that this article, while i don't agree with all of its tips, is overall correct. It is so important for you to be able to confidently discuss you weaknesses in a job interview without making you self look like a detriment to a work environment. It also lends to the importance of knowing yourself before you go into an interview, and being prepared to communicate the type of worker you are with confidence and poise.
As stated in the article you should be aware of any weaknesses you have, and come clean about them in an interview. Something the article forgot to mention was that the interviewer is a person, just like you, who has weaknesses of their own. Although an intimidating question, you should answer honestly, and not "sugar-coat" it. We aren't perfect people so we all have that thing we lack, however in an interview I feel it is important to stress the things that you have to make up for this weakness. Be honest when answering this question, because you don't want to get the job and not be ready if a situation arises and it involves one of your weaknesses you decided to skip over in the interview. It is important to know who you are and what you have to offer when applying and if your weak at something the company needs that may not be the job for you. I think when you are asked about your "workplace weakness" tell them what it is, but then counter it with your many "workplace strengths."
Let's be real. We all have weaknesses. It is just a fact of life. Just because you have a weakness doesn't mean that you aren't going to get a job. In fact, I think that some of the best employees are those who recognize their weaknesses, and are working hard to improve upon them. However, the problem comes when the employee doesn't admit to having a weakness, and as a result the work suffers.
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