What are your weaknessesLooking for "good" answers to this difficult question... ideas? think about your "strength" one of mine is attention to detail (hey I work in health and safety, isn' t that important?) it is kind of annoying to many of my colleagues....who have different specialties. So, I have worked on a way to express it as both my strength and weakness in interview situations....I do not come right out and suggest I annoy my co-workers, but I do try to find a coherent way to express how valuable it is in my doing my job correctly the first time around, and also that as a weakness, I may get too preoccupied with the specifics of a situation, and I may need to be reminded by my manager to step back and view the "big picture" of the situation so far it' s worked for me....
There are a few different strategies you can use to answer this question. You can either answer honestly about a MINOR issue you have- for example, "I'm not familiar with the software your company uses, however I'm fluent in very similar programs, and I'm a quick study." You can also use an example thats actually a positive, such as "I tend to be overly organized. My biggest pet peeve is a messy desk, so I make it a point to keep things neat and in their places." My favorite answer is "I don't think too fondly about people who just show up for the paycheck- always doing the minimum and never going the extra mile. I've always taken great pride in my job, so I find it difficult to understand that type of mindset. However, I've found that in most cases, these people are just not properly motivated. I've had great success in finding ways to motivate my colleagues... (then give an example)." I always score points with that one, but I suppose it depends on the job. You can either answer honestly about a MINOR issue you have- for example, "I' m not familiar with the software your company uses, however I' m fluent in very similar programs, and I' m a quick study." Minor to you might not be some minor to the company. Stick with the answers that don' t mean anything... like "I sometimes check my email and voice mail on weekends even when there is nothing critical due." or while I can always pace my hands on documents, my desk tends to be messy."' or I often just cut the cr@p out of the question and say: "Chocolate." and let there be silence or snickers for 5-10 seconds and after the pregnant pause say, ' Related to this position, from everything I know about the job description and our interview so far, I can assure you that I have the skills, knowledge and experience to meaningfully contribute to this position and organization. I will have a normal learning curve on the business processes and procedures of the company, and I will have to learn the wiring of the larger stakeholder community. But I am confident that there is nothing related to this position that I can' t hit the ground running with. In my book on how to handle various interview questions, I address this exact one, which can be a "toughie" for some. The KEY here is to identify an actual weakness and explain how you're dealing or have dealt with it. That way, the interviewer can see that you've done something about it, thus making you look good!
For the technical IT field I am in, I try to covertly kinda turn it around a little when asked that question in an interview. My response to what a weakness has been is: "I must admit that I have had no official/formal training or certification on product X - all of my experience and expertise has been learnt from hands-on, in-the-trenches usage." Always seems to get a nice thoughtful nod from the interviewer when they process it. | |
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