Nail Your Answer to “What Are Your Weaknesses?”
| Yesterday’s Management Tip of the Day laid out the best approach to answering the first half of one of the most common interview questions: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” But what about that trickier second half? Here’s how to respond if an interviewer asks you to describe your weaknesses. First and foremost, your goal is to be authentic and honest—without self-sabotaging. Start by reframing weakness as a challenge, even replacing the word “weakness” with “challenge” in your response. Then, highlight a skill that’s easily correctable through training or commitment, rather than a personality trait. A few examples might be: needing more experience in data analysis or financial forecasting, feeling uncomfortable giving developmental feedback, or being unfamiliar with certain software. Then express your eagerness to grow in that area. Here’s an example of how this might sound when you put everything together: “One of my challenges is my lack of professional experience with presentation tools like PowerPoint and Canva. In the past, I’ve had specialists design these materials for me, but they don’t always know the content as well as I do. So, one of my goals this year is to learn these applications to create my own presentations and continually improve that skill.” |
| This tip is adapted from “How to Answer “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?”,” by Joel Schwartzberg |
