If you ask me which question in an interview, that is probably an elephant trap – that you can’t see. It’s this one, loaded with loads of connotations, and pitfalls, and also can be overthinked.
MY cheat sheet to get through this question.
1. Don’t say “I don’t have any weaknesses” – because part of this question is to see if you say that. You can believe if you want, the reasons why you’d say that, maybe you are not self-aware or coachable, or difficult, or arrogant, which could be true. Often, it’s because not everyone thinks about their weaknesses, or doesn’t want to engage with it or admit them, especially in an interview. So we reach for the easy answer – which is the worst answer.
2. We all have weaknesses – but which one is acceptable to say in an interview? You’ll hear the advice – “Pick one that hasn’t anything to do with the job?” – Like it’s a sales job, and you say “My weakness is business development” – Stop that. And stop a second.
The question is asking “What is your weakness” – and it’s asked in a job interview. No one wants to know about your chocolate addiction, shouting at the kids or “I struggle to get up in the morning” (all real answers I have had in an interview).
Your weakness needs to be a self-aware issue.
But also, and this is the bit that will raise the eyebrow of the Hiring manager – Your weakness is also, something you are working to solve – That’s true self-awareness.
My weaknesses are Grammar and spelling. Throw a maths or engineering problem at me, I am like a pig in excrement. I type too fast, I blurt words out of my head too quickly, and right now, Grammarly has underlined most of these words with red lines. But my solution to my weakness is, that I read more, I use Grammarly – sometimes I run things through an AI to check spelling and grammar – AND I check 3-4 times before hitting send on the email.
It’s a weakness I am getting over, daily. I’ve always had a maths, engineering, and science brain. It’s not a language brain. But I fix it like an engineer. And refuse to make it my excuse.
And that is how you answer that question –
– What is your self-aware weakness?
– How are you overcoming it?
– And how will you manage it into the future?
My favourite answer to this from an Engineer was a guy who was 28, got his first management job, and had to run team meetings. He hated public speaking to a forum of people/team meetings etc. Because he’s 4-5 years out of uni, the guys he was managing 20/30 years of experience. So, he told the boss, and said “Can I open every meeting” so that he had to be the first person to speak and try to get 10-15 people’s attention.
I told him to say this in an interview if the question comes up.
The feedback – “The answer that impressed us, was his worry about speaking to a large team, and determination to be better at it”
Showing humility, but solving the problem is what they are seeking.