Wednesday, July 08, 2009
"What is your greatest weakness?"
Believe it or not, there is a good way to answer this question. Here are the four main points you need to discuss to show your interviewer you have control of your weakness:
- What your weakness is
- How you discovered it
- Why it's important to fix it
- How you're trying to improve upon it
We asked our Twitter followers about their biggest weakness, and here's what we heard.
Natalie_Gover: My biggest weakness is that I have no patience for ignorance or stupidity.
Natalie, here is an example of how you can frame your answer:
There is one thing in particular that I struggled with in the past: Patience. In my last position, I found myself becoming frustrated by team members who I felt weren't performing up to par. Rather than addressing issues constructively, I would get upset about the situation.
I recognized that this was something that I needed to work on when my feelings about other people's work began to affect my performance and the team's performance. As a result, I have started to take a step away from the situation before I react. For example, during (insert recent project you have worked on), I worked with someone who didn't seem to be listening to others' opinions. Instead of getting upset with the situation, I found that when I took a step back and looked at the issue with a more objective opinion, I was better able to understand the person's perspective. I'm not perfect at it yet, but I've really found that tempering my "internal criticism" of others has actually improved my own productivity.
Another Twitter follower answered the call for weaknesses:
baconw: Get tunnel vision on a project, work too hard (hah), then burn out and take my time (on occasion seeming lazy). It's tough to pace.
That is likely a problem for a lot of people. The question is, how can you position yourself differently from everyone else, without saying that you "work too hard"? Because let me tell you, with an answer like that, you are telling the recruiting director that you're looking for the easy way out. Here's a good way to approach the question:
One thing that has been difficult in the past is pacing myself on a project. I tend to really focus a lot of my time on one task, so when I have completed it, I feel burnt out. I knew that this would be a problem because I cannot afford to lose time between projects.
I know that working at ____ would require that I better pace myself, so I can be a more effective when I work. To improve this trait, I have tried to avoid dedicating 100% percent of my time soley to one project for an extended amount of time. I have found that if I keep up-to-date on other tasks as well, I am eager to begin them after I complete a project. This process has been working really well for me, and it's helped me improve upon that weakness.
Remember, interviewers are far more interested in your "whys" and "hows" than "whats". Of course, you are going to have at least one weakness. What's important is telling them how you acknowledged it and how you are working to improve the problem.
Good luck!
Have a question for us to tackle? Ask us on Twitter!
Posted by Brad Karsh on July 08, 2009 at 03:31 PM
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