What would be a good answer when asked “what are your strengthes and weaknesses are?” during an interview?
I think when one talks about strengthes, he can just be honest and list those that are relevant to the job, like hard-working, willing to learn, fast-learner, self-motivated, easy-going, etc…
But what would I say about my weaknesses? The first one that came into my mind is that I am a perfectionist who wants the job to be done perfectly so that I sometiems worry too much. But it doesn’t seem to be a very good answer especially a lot of ppl say they are perfectionist already…
But to be fair, I do think this question is total bullsht, and the only times I would ask is if I come across someone really arrogant or looks like a dbag.
Think of the weaknesses part as a test of how you can spin bad news. The “perfectionist” response is a common one, and not bad as long as it comes across sincere. Ideally, you choose some weakness that can be spun in a positive light. Start off by acknowledging why it is weak, then quickly mention the positive aspect of that weakness, and then say how you plan to combat the downside when you work for them. It also helps to say you are a lot better about whatever topic it is than you used to be.
But it does have to be something real, and you have to be sincere. No one likes a completely bs response to this question because the interviewer walks away thinking your biggest weakness is that you are a BS-er or worse.
I usually mention a legit weakness, but that I am currently improving and follow it up with a couple of examples of how I’m doing it. Of course I can’t remember what I said last time…
If its a joke, say my only weakness is that I have no weaknesses. Also I HATE the perfectionist response. If/when I get to interviewing people, I very well might black ball a candidate based solely on that.
haha, really? the truth is I have an interview this coming Tuesday and I haven’t figured out what I should answer if facing this question…It is an interview with someone from a human resource company who looks for candidates for another company. Therefore, I don’t expect to face many technical questions. But these general questions like: why are are you interested in this position? How’s your excel? What is your perfect boss? These sort of questions might be asked…
^ Yes really. Couple reasons… I’ve worked with a ton of different people because I used to cycle through projects at my old job. Through years of school and work, guess what… very few people are actually perfectionists. Most people are lazy and will do the bare minimum to get the job done right. Many of the remainder will just get the sh*t done from a cosmetic “I did it” level and just BS it. Or you’re like me and you care about your work product, but at the end of the day, its a cost benefit tradeoff between bashing your head against a laptop for hours or just letting a very good, but not 100% perfect product, be done. So either you’re part of the very slim remainder that doesn’t fit those 3 groups, or you’re lying because you can’t think of an acual weakness, or your weaknesses are so embarrasing that you don’t want to admit them.
I deal with that everyday actually. When I update my models, they’re at a much more granular level than companies usually report, so there are usually quite a few assumptions that guide my decisions, and sometimes simply combining things that are separate, but the differences are so immaterial that even if I were to split things out, no normal person would care or even notice.
I like the “why are you looking to leave your current employer” question. There is room for BS, but if you respond correctly it can work really well. Ugh. Sorry I’m probably not helping, I just got on a roll there.
Yeah, I will then totally not mention “I am a perfectionist” cuz I am, like what you described, that type of person who would head home at the end of the day after doing a very good, but probably not 100% perfect, work…
I guess employers are not dump, they can tell when you are lying…hahaha
strength includes: self motivated, team worker, Excellent interpersonal skills, proactive etc. Weakness: stubborn,( sometime it became a strength becauese i donot compromise on principles),
If you say you work too hard, you’re too honest, or are a perfectionist, it’ll sound canned and BS. Employers want to know how well you know yourself. Areas of improvement are great areas to evaluate for ‘weaknesses.’
Stubbornness is a weakness that you shouldn’t bring up. I don’t see how you can spin that into a positive. Even if you say it’s because you have conviction in your principles, who in this industry doesn’t? Conviction is a survival skill, but stubbornness implies inflexibility, which often characterizes the kind of person that many others don’t want to work with.
If you’re looking to make a career transition, it’s fine to mention that one weakness is that you don’t have relevant work experience. However, you can attempt to overcome that weakness by teaching yourself necessary skills to get the job and put yourslef in the running. For example, when I was transitioning from private equity to hedge funds after business school, I mentioned one “limitation” I had was that I’d never worked at a hedge fund before. However, I highlighted certain skills I developed in private equity that I thought could make me a good public equity investor, and also noted that I continued to invest in my personal account every day during business school and read certain books to keep my mind sharp.
The purpose of this question is to not have you confess some sort of weakness that you’re hiding in the closet, but just to see that you’re aware of your own limitations and are willing to do what you can to overcome it. If you want to be jocular (as I do sometimes, depending on the tone of the interview), I’ll sometimes mention other “weaknesses” of mine. These include chocolate, re-runs of old sitcoms and key lime pie.
I think the best thing to talk about as your biggest weakness is something that you are naturally very weak at but have improved significantly… and focus on how you’ve managed to improve it.