Best Answers for “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?”

Of all the questions a hiring manager may ask during a job interview, “What is your greatest weakness?” is one of the most daunting. No one likes to talk about their weaknesses, much less to someone who has the ability to decide on their potential job status. When an interviewer asks you to share your biggest weakness, you need to have some good answers that don’t raise red flags in the manager’s mind. Here are a few ways to answer this question in the smartest, most effective way.

Why do employers ask you this question in the first place? There are typically three reasons a hiring manager is going to ask you these questions:

• Trying to put you on the spot
• Trying to see whether you’d be a good fit for the job
• Trying to see how well you know yourself

Everyone has weaknesses. However, recruiters want to know that you understand those weaknesses and that you’ll be able to work on and improve them during your time with the company. Additionally, they want to make sure their team’s weaknesses are spread out in different areas. One team member’s weakness may be another team member’s strength.

To answer this question successfully, you need to have three important components.

1. Self-awareness

First, you need to have self-awareness. This isn’t a question that you can wait until the last minute to answer. You should take some time to think about your weaknesses and decide upon what your biggest weakness is. If during the job interview you’re struggling to come up with an answer, the recruiter may think you do not know yourself well enough.

2. Honesty

Next is honesty. You need to talk about a genuine weakness, not a strength disguised as a weakness. Everyone’s heard the classic trick of trying to insist that “being a perfectionist” is truly your greatest weakness. A good weakness to list in this section is something that’s actually had a negative impact on your life. Although you don’t want to list anything that really gets in the way of your ability to do a good job, you do want to list something you’ve noticed in your life.

3. Self-improvement

Lastly, you need to include how you’re improving in this area. The greatest weakness question is technically only asking you about the trait you have a hard time with and how you’re trying to improve yourself in this area. A thoughtful answer can actually impress a recruiter. Talk about the steps you’ve been taking at your last or current job to improve and what you’re hoping to do in your new job to continue improving.

If you’re not quite sure where to start, looking at a list of areas where many people struggle may help you find skills you’re not great at. Here is a list of weaknesses you might want to discuss:

• Time management
• Managing team meetings
• Sharing responsibilities
• Self-criticism
• Patience
• Focus
• Public speaking/public presenting
• Delegating tasks
• Multitasking
• Command of a specific language
• Usage of a specific program

Remember, you can’t just choose a random item from this list and say it’s your weakness. Chances are, an interviewer is going to ask follow-up questions about this weakness. If you can’t answer those follow-up questions, the interviewer is going to know you’re not being truthful, and that’s never a good result. Find a genuine weakness and talk about it.