How to Identify a Weakness for a Job Interview

by Lisa McQuerrey, Demand Media

A well-known standard job interview question is, “Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.” The point of this question is for an interviewer to assess what a job candidate believes he is good at, and what he needs to work on from a professional standpoint. Job seekers often fret about how best to admit to a deficiency and still make a good impression on an interviewer. A bit of advance planning can help you nail this tricky question.

Step 1

Make an honest assessment of your personal traits and your job performance abilities and identify areas that you simply do not like, are not good at, and want to work on. For example, if staff meetings bore you and make you feel like you’re wasting time, a lack of patience and focus may be among your areas of weakness. If you dislike teamwork, your weakness may be your inability to give and take criticism, share and compromise. Identify your weaknesses and look for a way to put a positive spin on them, such as telling the interviewer your are working on improving in these areas.

Step 2

Explain why you feel you have weaknesses in certain areas. Using the above example, if you have a low tolerance for long meetings, you can honestly answer this interview question by responding, “I like to get the most out of every single work day. I don't feel productive when I am in long meetings, particularly when I feel I could be using that time toward meeting my professional goals and responsibilities.” This response admits to a weakness while also explaining the rationale behind it.

Step 3

Avoid sounding arrogant. While it's advisable to look for ways to positively spin your weaknesses, be careful that you don't sound like you are better than others. For example, avoid responses such as, “I'm such a hard worker, I see myself as a workaholic, and that's my weakness.” You will look like you are unwilling to admit to any shortcomings or areas that need improvement, which can turn off prospective employers. It also implies that others around you are not equally hard workers, which can put you in a negative light.

Step 4

Outline your development goals. Once you admit to a particular weakness, outline the ways in which you're actively striving to overcome the deficiency and make it work to your advantage. This will demonstrate your ability to meet issues head on, admit when something needs improvement, and take the steps to rectify the problem. For example, if you admit to preferring independent work over teamwork, you can follow up by saying, “I recognize that teamwork presents an opportunity to collaborate with and learn from my colleagues. I am working on being more open to these relationships by volunteering my time, offering to help on projects that are not related to mine and soliciting feedback from others as a way of improving my teamwork skills.”

Step 5

Use caution in admitting to a deficiency in an area that is a key element of your job description. For example, if you are applying for a job as a copywriter in an advertising agency, don't admit to a weakness such as poor grammar or spelling. If you know you have a major professional flaw that’s vital to your job performance, take steps to rectify the problem before entering the job market.

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