Intelligent answers to weakness interview questions
You are competent, you always complete your tasks, but you feel confused when faced with the question “What is your greatest weakness?” requested by the employer.
Some people are cautious. They don’t rush to give their answer but they think for a moment and it is not difficult for the interviewer to notice that you are not sure of your answer. That’s a bit of a disadvantage for you.
Some people are rushed. They don’t think but immediately answer “I have no weaknesses” and try to prove that argument in terms of confidence in their competence. But the employer will surely know that you are lying, for a simple reason, nobody is perfect, neither more nor less, and each one has their weak points. Not mentioning the interviewer will gauge his sincerity from his answer. Whatever, that’s not an impressive way to answer this question.
So how do you answer this difficult but common question? Here are some tips to help you select the right answers.
1. Talking too much:
Don’t be afraid that your interviewer may gauge that you are a talkative person who usually wastes time chatting with colleagues at work. The problem is how do you show your weakness so that the employer can consider that your “chatty” will be used when assigning you a position.
You can send a long but effective email by replying to a colleague. You can talk for hours with customers, but you are persuasive to get them, it is natural but also necessary to provide the customer with the right information. Although he can be a bit talkative, he is still acceptable in business. Certainly, communicative people will be better suited for jobs like sales, marketing, or public relations rather than technical jobs.
2. Being a perfectionist:
By mentioning this, it shows that you are a person who always expects high performance from the people around you as well as from yourself, that you always seek overall perfection but not individual perfection for yourself. You need to show that you know that everyone has their own abilities and strengths, and that you would like everyone to be very focused on the job and give their best performance.
3. Being too attentive:
This weakness will sometimes annoy your colleagues when you interrupt them even during your busiest time. In addition, he can make comments or complaints about the smallest details that his colleagues do not do “perfectly.” This trait can annoy others but, in return, it helps get the job done better and they themselves become more responsible people. When you choose this weakness, you must show that you are detail-oriented at work but in normal life.
The importance when addressing this issue is that you have confidence and try to impress your professional so that they see you better than other candidates.
4. Being addicted to supervision
You are addicted to supervision, you like to command others even if you are not the manager, and this often annoys your colleagues as well. Try to demonstrate this weakness in a humorous way in which you show your desire for improvement as well as your desire for the future of work. Also, try to make the employer understand that just because you like to command does not mean that you become a power addict and that you like to impose your opinion and feelings on others.
5. Being a workaholic:
If you give this answer, be careful or the employer expects too much from you as they may assign you too much work while you still don’t get the job. You should not say that you spend a lot of time at the workplace to work; instead, you should say that you often think about work even during your free weekends. Your mind often revolves around work, new strategies, etc.
Even when you live apart from your family, sometimes you spend time on the Internet, checking the mail to see if there is something new. The purpose of this answer is to show that you are a responsible and serious person but not that you appear frequently in the workplace.
“What is your greatest weakness?” that’s a common question in any interview. In general, with this question, you should indicate a weakness related to the job. Certainly you must be sincere as will be demonstrated during the answer. For example, during the interview, you express your weakness for talking too much, but you hardly say anything in the interview when asked by the interviewer or you are quite quiet and rarely get along with others when you are employed. They will affect your image. The important thing when you are faced with this question is that you have confidence and try to impress your professional so that they evaluate you better than other candidates. With that, surely success will be in your hand.