We tell you how to talk about your strength and weakness in a job interview.
You’re in the hot seat and have been performing well until now.
You tell the hiring manager a number of things about yourself, highlight your experience and talk about your previous work profile and responsibilities. Just when you think that things could be better, you’re expected to answer a question you dreaded the most- Tell me about your biggest strength and weakness.
Everybody has a weakness. But more than your weakness, the hiring manager is interested in knowing your confidence level when you talk about your weaknesses. We tell you how to talk about your strength and weakness in a job interview. Read on.
Assess your strengths
Think about your skills and you’ll know what you’re good at. This is something that must be analysed before any interview. Make a list of your skills and divide them into two different categories, namely personal skills and professional skills. As soon as you finish the list, choose one of the things which you listed down, that would help you in your career growth.
Talk of your strength with modesty
When you talk of something you’re excellent at, you may want to make sure that the way you’re talking about it does not exaggerate your strength. Interviews are designed to filter out bad candidates as much as they are designed to recruit the good one. A person has more than one strength. So while you mention about your greatest skill that’d be required in your job role, make sure you talk about a few of your other strengths as well. That will not just impress the recruiting manager, but will also enlighten him/her about the things you are proficient at.
Assess you weaknesses
There could be more than one thing you may not be good at. If you’re not sure about your weakness, try taking a personality quiz, and the results will tell you where do you lack. All you need to do is to come prepared to answer this question during your interview.
If you are very fluent while talking about your strengths, but start thinking about your weaknesses, it’s quite evident that you were prepared only to talk about what you are good at. And above all, never mention how your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. There probably was a time when recruiting managers used to get impressed by the diplomacy. But that’s long gone now.
How do you plan to overcome the weakness
When recruiting managers ask you to mention your greatest weakness, they are looking forward to the way you accept your faults and how do you handle a situation when you accept that it was your mistake. So avoid personal drama, as its completely inappropriate to justify your weaknesses at workplace. Talk about your weakness and mention how you overcame the situation at your previous workplace.
Here’s something that could work for you:
While talking about your strength- My strength is my ability to be flexible. I’ve seen organization go through changes in structure and management philosophies. However, never have I found myself struggling with the changes. It took some time to adjust, nevertheless, did not affect me much.
While talking about your weakness- As far as my greatest weakness is concerned, I guess I lack at managerial skills. Not that I can’t lead a team, but it takes me quite some time to turn a negative environment into a supportive team. I have improved on that since my last job and am still trying my best.
When confronted with this question, remember that the recruiting manager knows that it’s quite normal to have your strengths and weaknesses. All they want to ensure is that you acknowledge your weakness and can handle it, when a situation like that occurs.
