How to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

How to Answer “What’s Your Greatest Weakness?”

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How to Answer “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?” In Two Parts

Notice in the example answers below, each answer has two parts: 1. The confession of the weakness, and… 2. The recovery — how you managed yourself to minimize the impact of the weakness, or (much more risky) the plan you have for recovery. Be sure to present these weaknesses in terms of how

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How to Answer “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?” In Two Parts

they impact the employer. Stay positive. Avoid trashing anyone, particularly a former employer. See the examples below. Adapt them to your situation and the employer.

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The Hard Skill Weakness

Hard skill weaknesses can be the best weaknesses to choose. These are skills that you typically acquire through training and/or experience. What do I mean by a “hard skill weakness”? These weaknesses are pretty clear, like the inability (or minimal ability) to: – Code in a particular programming language.

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The Hard Skill Weakness

– Create a spreadsheet with pivot tables or design a PowerPoint presentation. – Track different categories of expenses for a business using Numbers. – Understand and correctly use medical technology terms. Do NOT choose a weakness that is a stated job requirement. For example, if you are interviewing for an 

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The Hard Skill Weakness

administrative job, your inability to use Excel would not be a good weakness to share if skills using Excel is a stated requirement of the job.

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The “Strength in Disguise” Soft Skill Weakness

What do I mean by a “weakness that is really a strength in disguise”? The weakness is really a good characteristic that has been taken a bit too far.  These will give you an idea of the kinds of weaknesses you can confess to and the way you have overcome it.

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Flipping a Strength into Weakness (and then Recovering!)

Consider how or why you developed a particular strength or achieved an accomplishment. Tell a narrative (in two parts, as usual) about how you converted a weakness into something positive. Frame this description as how you have overcome a weakness you have. For example, if one of your strengths is expert usage

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Flipping a Strength into Weakness (and then Recovering!)

of Microsoft Office (and that is relevant to this job), you could confess a weakness like this confession (and recovery).

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The “Irrelevant” Weakness

Perhaps you would prefer to use the harmless weakness strategy. This can signal that you think the question is absurd or that you don’t take it seriously, so be VERY careful when you use this. These weaknesses can be very personal — like a hobby or a favorite type of book, music, movie, or video — or less personal like a love of travel 

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The “Irrelevant” Weakness

or a specific model of car. If possible, find an irrelevant weakness that shows you are a good choice for the job. This could be a good “weakness” for someone interviewing for a job that requires creativity, or it might be completely irrelevant to the job. As usual, we have a (1) confession and a slight (2) recovery.

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

The list below includes 70+ examples of weaknesses that have been used successfully in job interview. When you have your list of possible weaknesses, consider how to present them as done in the sample answers below. – Aggressive – Analytical (too analytical) – Anxious – Apathetic – Arrogant

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

– Blunt – Boisterous – Boring – Bossy – Cagey/secretive – Careless (careful!) – Cautious (too cautious) – Controlled (too controlled) – Cranky (careful!) – Critical – Cynical – Deferential – Demanding – Diffident

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

– Direct – Disorganized (careful!) – Driven – Eccentric (careful!) – Emotional (careful!) – Emotionless – Extroverted – Fast (too fast) – Formal (too formal) – Frank – Impatient – Impulsive – Inactive – Inconsistent

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

– Indecisive – Independent – Informal – Inexperienced – Intense – Intimidating – Introverted – Late/tardy – Meek – Miserly – Negative – Obnoxious (careful!) – Optimistic (too optimistic) – Passive

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

– Patient (too patient) – Pessimistic – Polite (too polite) – Positive (too positive) – Quiet – Reserved – Reticent – Resigned – Serious – Self-critical – Shy (too shy) – Slow – Stubborn – Submissive

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

– Tactless – Technology (careful!) – Thoughtless – Timid (careful!) – Trusting – Unambitious – Unconcerned – Undiplomatic – Unflappable – Unmanageable – Unrealistic – Unsociable – Untrusting – Unyielding

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70+ Examples of Weaknesses to Consider

– Vigilant (too vigilant) – Worrier – Yielding

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