4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

JOB INTERVIEWS INTERVIEW Q&A

Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest

Weakness?
Best Ways to Answer Interview Questions About Your Weaknesses

BY ALISON DOYLE Updated March 27, 2018

What's the best way to talk about weaknesses at job interviews? When you’re asked about
your weakness or aspects about yourself that you want to respond, It's important to respond
carefully. You don't want to cast any doubt on your ability to do the job. However, you also
don’t want to come across as arrogant or dishonest by claiming that you don’t have any
weaknesses.

 There are several di erent ways to answer when you're asked during a job interview what
your greatest weakness is.

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

You can mention skills that aren't critical for the job, discuss skills you have improved on, or
turn a negative into a positive.

How to Answer What Is Your Greatest Weakness

Even though the question is about weaknesses, your answer should always be framed around
positive aspects of your skills and abilities as an employee.

Discuss Non-Essential Skills

One approach to answering this question is to analyze the key skills and strengths required
for the position you are interviewing for, and then come up with an honest shortcoming that
is not essential for success in that job.

 For example, if you are applying for a nursing job, you might share that you are not
particularly adept at conducting group presentations. In this case, it will be critical to
underscore your strength in one-on-one communication with patients while providing an
example of your di culty with presentations to large groups.

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

Mention Skills You Have Improved

Another option is to discuss skills that you have improved upon during your previous job, or
that you are actively working on improving. This shows the interviewer that you’re committed
to self-improvement.

In this case, you can begin your answer by talking about where you started, discussing the
steps you took to better yourself, and then mention the outcome.

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

For example, you might say, “One skill I improved in the past was my salesmanship skills. As a
product manager who works with internal teams and does not interface with clients or sales
prospects, I don’t do much, if any, ‘selling’ in my role. However, since I do communicate quite
frequently with the sales team, I felt it might bene t me to have a greater understanding of
their sales strategies and tactics.

I took a sales skills course online and not only did it improve how I work with sales teams. Now,
when I join sales meetings, I have a much better idea of what’s going and feel more e ective
communicating with the sales team. This course also helped me build upon the skills I use to
‘sell’ my vision for the product internally. ”

If you use this strategy, be sure not to mention anything that you improved upon that would
be critical to the job for which you are interviewing, as you don't want your quali cations for
the job to be questioned.

Turn a Negative Into a Positive

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

Another option is to turn a negative into a positive. For example, a sense of urgency to
complete projects can be turned into a positive: e.g., you are a candidate who will make sure a
project is done on time. Or, perhaps you nd yourself with an attention to detail that leads you
to triple-check every item on a spreadsheet and proofread every email you sent two times.

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

Regardless of what you say, it is critical to indicate that you are aware and mindful of this
trait, and capable of preventing it from interfering with your productivity. For instance,
building on the example above, you might say, “I have a very strong attention to detail.
Sometimes, this attention to detail can turn into perfectionist tendencies. In the past, I found
this leading me to triple-check every item on a spreadsheet, or closely proofreading emails to
ensure I’ve communicated what I’m trying to get across in a clear, concise way, or ddling
with the layout of a presentation to ensure that it is perfect. I’ve since learned to successfully
budget my time and gauge which tasks require, and actually bene t from, this precise
attention to detail.”

 Keep in mind that how you answer job interview questions about weaknesses matters just as
much as what you say.

Examples of the Best Answers

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

It’s important to note that the term "weakness" isn't used in the sample answers — you always
want to focus on the positive when interviewing.
 

• Organization hasn’t always been my strongest point. I’ve always been inclined to prioritize
tasks that directly impact the bottom line, and maintaining a pristine desk or an organized
inbox didn’t seem to truly move the needle in terms of my output. Over time I’ve learned
that keeping a clean workspace— both physically, and digitally — do support my ability to
focus and enhance the e ciency of my work ow. I’ve implemented a time management
system that enables me to stay organized without encroaching on my other
responsibilities.
 

• When I'm working on a project, I don't want just to meet deadlines. Rather, I prefer to
complete the project well ahead of when it is due. While this means I never miss a deadline,
it also means that sometimes I can nd myself rushed when I’m working. I’ve since learned
to slow down, be more patient and give each project the careful attention it deserved.
 

• I like to make sure that my work is perfect, so I tend to perhaps spend a little too much
time checking it. However, I've come to a good balance by setting up a system to ensure
everything is done the rst time correctly. I also time myself when I work to prevent myself
from spending too much time on one project, and guaranteeing I’ll have enough time to
get to the rest of my work.
 

• I used to wait until the last minute to set appointments for the coming week, but I realized
that scheduling in advance makes much more sense. I’m now much more proactive about
scheduling meetings, and this allows me to plan and segment out my work for the week
without having to guess at when I’ll need to leave time for meetings.  
 

• I've learned to make my perfectionism work to my advantage. I have become pro cient at
meeting deadlines, and with my attention to detail, I know my work is accurate.
 

• Sometimes, I spend more time than necessary on a task or take on tasks personally that
could easily be delegated to someone else. Although I've never missed a deadline, it is still
an e ort for me to know when to move on to the next task, and to be con dent when
assigning others work. In my recent position, I implemented a project management tool
that allowed me to easily oversee the progress of all the tasks I assigned, which helped me

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

feel much more comfortable delegating work.

 

• Numbers have not always been my strong suit. Fortunately, as a copywriter, I can focus
most of my time on the creative process of writing rather. However, in recent years I have
begun to familiarize myself with the digital analytics tools used in the various websites and
apps I write for, and found that when you add context, “numbers” can actually be quite
enlightening.
 

• I used to like to work on one project to its completion before starting on another, but I've
learned to work on many projects at the same time, and I think it allows me to be more
creative and e ective in each one.
 

•  As an undergrad, I used to leave assignments until the last minute, but with the workload
of graduate school, I had no choice but to schedule my time very e ectively. This has
translated into an excellent sense of time and project management in my professional
work.
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Be Prepared for Variations of the Question

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You can use these samples as inspiration for your own response. Note that it’s important that
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your answer be authentic, and tailored to your own circumstances. Of all the questions that
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In addition, a question about your greatest weakness is often paired with an equally (if not
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more) important question about your greatest strength.

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

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4/6/2018 Interview Question: What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

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