Job Interview Weaknesses

Talking about your weakness during a job interview it 's not something you would want to do. You are supposed to be selling yourself, after all, and enumerating your negative characteristics and the not-so-good side of your personality defeats the purpose.

But the question what are your weaknesses has become a cliché, and interviewers continue to ask it even if they know they are unlikely to get an answer that is 100% honest. So why do they even bother?

3 Reasons Interviewers Ask About Your Weaknesses

1. They are trying to get a sense of what you really are like as an employee. They want to get past that nice and presentable facade that you have shown to them. In other words, they want to see the good, the bad and the ugly side of you.

2. They

• I am not a morning person.

Answers such as these may come off as honest, but could cost you the job. No employer would want an employee who doesn 't have work-life balance. Someone who is not a morning person may have a hard time getting up in the morning and coming to work on time. No one wants this either.

Going into great detail

Didn’t they say that saying too much could mean making a lot of mistakes? In revealing your weakness, keep it brief, concise and neutral. If you prepare a rehearsed answer, going into detail may give you away. Most importantly, don’t sound overly negative or defensive, as this could give a wrong impression. Remember hiding something?

How to properly answer the question what are your weaknesses

Take the STAR approach

ST - Situation or Task

Talk about a particular situation or tasks where your weakness showed. Make sure to keep it professional rather than personal. Who cares if you have a weakness for chocolate? Unless, of course, if it’s relevant to the job.

• I used to have problems in the past in delivering quality deliverables on time because I was stretching myself too thin. I tend to take on too many

• I categorized my work according to priority, and then cut back on some of the less important extracurricular activities. This way, I was able to deliver core projects with the highest quality.

• I enrolled myself in a time management course to find ways to reduce my stress, and to help me organize myself and my work.

R - Results

With the actions taken and the changes you made, talk about the positive results that followed.

• I was able to tackle key deliverables and complete them on schedule. This also helped me improve the timing and quality of my work.

• With my newfound ability to deal with stress and cope with pressure at work I am happier with my job and more engaged.

With the STAR approach, you can cover what most interviewers would do:

• Ask about your weakness.

• Make a follow-up question about what you are doing about your weakness.

• Ask you to tell more about it.

But how do you pick a weakness that is “good”?

• Choose a weakness that won’t be considered a major handicap for the job that you are applying for. As an accountant, for example, avoid talking about your lack of attention to detail. This can have a negative impact on