When answering the question "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" in a job interview, it is important to be honest and focus on qualities that are relevant to the role. Familiarize yourself with the job requirements and highlight your skills that are listed in the job description, and explain how you will gain or improve critical skills that you lack. It is also important to show self-awareness and provide examples to illustrate your points. Some examples of strengths that employers look for include communication skills, analytical skills, leadership skills, ability to work in a team, and hard and soft skills. As for weaknesses, try to avoid giving a negative answer and instead focus on how you are working on improving a certain skill.
Written by Chatsonic
Firstly my positive points are iam positive in any kind of situtation and i firmly believe in solutions not problems or just complaints. Secondly the weak point is only one that is i believe in correctness in the first instance so i may be little harsh to the down level of my accounting team.
This can be the most difficult question asked by the interviewer to evaluate your honesty and your confidence level. Such questions are fairly typical when applying for a job. The purpose of asking this question is firstly to see how you handle a stress question and secondly how you actually respond to it.
As with most things, it is all about preparation. You have to prepare an answer for this question for every job interview before you go. Think about such questions in advance and have your answers ready. If you fail to prepare then be prepared to fail. There are many 'standard' questions. There are no standard answers as most are asking about you personally. Because of that no one but yourself can answer many of the questions you will be asked.
Be positive; do not repeat what you have read in books or on the internet. By all means read sample answers, but do not repeat them verbatim. The person interviewing you will have read all those answers too. An experienced interviewer would have heard every clichéd answer to this question and will know when you are feeding them a line.
First impressions count for far more than many realise. There is more to having a successful job interview than just answering the questions asked. Many would say much more. Listen to what is being said. Answer only the question asked. Don't ramble.
The most important thing about what you say is for it to be something resolvable, or an area in which you can improve and to show how you are trying to solve this or that issue.
Weaknesses do not exist, just challenges and solutions:
Try to tailor your responses to your specific job or task. You should always turn your weakness into a positive attribute. The trick is to talk about your weaknesses so that they can also appear to be a strength.
Focus on your strengths, but have an answer regarding a challenge you have met and overcome. Think of any trait or skill you have that pertains to the job you are applying for. Think of instances when you have shown a lot of skill in that area.
It is important to answer the question without making it look like you have a weakness that might prevent you from getting hired. At the same time, you don't want to mention a weakness that isn't really a weakness but confidently answer the question by telling how you want to improve yourself by constantly learning from your own self-analysis.
Create an honest list of what you think are your strengths or weaknesses and then select a few of them you can remember. Practice your responses so that they sound natural and you are prepared for the question.
Don't come up with statements such as I am a perfectionist or I have no weaknesses. Keep your answers career-related and precise. So, don't try to portray yourself as Mr/Miss perfect, as we all have some flaws. Just be careful, and state your weak point by adding that you are working towards overcoming it.
The best way to answer would be to choose something that can be turned around to look like a strength. The key is to turn the weakness - a negative character trait - into something positive.
Examples:
"One of my weaknesses is that I do not quit until I get the job done. I want to make sure that everything I do is my best and in the right order".
"My computer skills were lacking a little, but I got trained and got my skills up-to-date."
Or, you can say that your written communication skills are not amazing, but you are currently (or planning to register) for a course in creative writing, or business communication, or professional writing, etc...
Weaknesses that can also be strengths:
Tell about your weaknesses that are also strengths.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
"I do not have much experience with customer service, but I would like to gain experience in this area. I get along well with people, I am able to listen and am a good communicator so I feel that I would get on well in a customer based environment."
Example 2:
"I am not too experienced with computers, but I am always willing to learn new skills. I have used computers a little in the past and this is one area which I would like to improve on. I am usually very quick at picking up new skills especially when it is something that I need to learn.
Notes on interviewing
Honesty is the best policy
No Trick: Honesty is the best policy. Whatever you do, tell the truth. While there are certainly answers that interviewers prefer to hear, it has to match reality. Why? First, it's generally not good to get hired for a job that you're not matched well for. If you like new, exciting, dynamic situations but you're looking for a job on an assembly line, you're not going to be happy; saying that you like repetitive work doesn't make sense. Second, any good interviewer will check your references. If your answers don't match what they hear, you're almost certain to lose the chance for job.
Don't ever list as a weakness the following: "I take on too many things and work too hard, and just don't know where to stop." It's a cliché, completely transparent, and I can tell you that it rarely makes the desired impression.
One interviewer's perspective
I ask this question and whenever I get an answer like "I work too hard" I know I'm dealing with somebody that I can't really trust, and that I'm going to have a hard time developing an open and honest working relationship with. And I know that I still don't know the person's other weaknesses.
At least with me, an interviewee has a much better chance if I think he or she is honestly telling me about a weakness. And then I can decide whether or not I can work around that weakness. One person told me that he needs fixed deadlines because otherwise he keeps finding additional things to add and it's hard for him to finish the project. I decided this was something I could live with and I hired him. We all have weaknesses. And if you think you're going to outsmart me with nonsense or evasion, you're hurting your chances with me.
Strengths are a combination of talent and behaviour that a person is born with and cultivates over a period of time, they should not be confused with skills. Skills are something that you can develop over time. For example, if you don't know a computer language, you can possibly learn it but you cannot learn strengths.
The interviewer is probably not really interested in your weaknesses, but is just testing your ability to deal with a difficult and unexpected situation.
As with most things, it is all about preparation. If you fail to prepare then be prepared to fail. There are many 'standard' questions. There are no standard answers as most are asking about you personally. Because of that no one but yourself can answer many of the questions you will be asked. Think about such questions in advance and have your answers ready. There are many sources of the type of questions you may be presented with. The internet and your local library being the main ones. Be positive; do not repeat what you have read in books or on the Internet. By all means read sample answers but do not repeat them verbatim. The person interviewing you will have read all those answers too.
The best approach is to:
You want to be careful here. You never want to sound:
Of course, you also don't want to admit a weakness that's too big to get you hired, like "I always miss my deadlines." So play carefully, but try to admit a real weakness that's related to a strength, and that won't sound too bad.
When asked what your weaknesses are during an interview always try to make the end of your description a positive.
For example, you can say that one of your weaknesses is that you sometimes get easily frustrated with yourself or others if a job isn't done perfectly.
However, this is simply caused by your passion for your career and your desire to do everything as well as it can be done. This way, while you admit to becoming frustrated, you show that it's only because you care so much about your job.
Here are some guidelines for responding when an interviewer asks what about your biggest weakness:
The question demands personal/subjective answer depending on the reality of my own trait and personality type.
For instance mixing business with pleasure:
"I spend both time and money on books, internet, technology and hardware on my free time for fun even though it is job related because I am so interested in these topics"
Simple. Light-heartedly say handmade milk chocolates, fast cars and more handmade milk chocolates. When asked my dislikes I usually say smoking (unless it is the tax man on fire) and then it would be someone running up with a bucket of water to put him out. I have never been asked to give a serious answer.
That is always a difficult question to answer in an interview without sounding full of yourself. As a supervisor, when I interview a person and ask that question what I am looking for is, "What are you good at?" and "What do you need to work on?" When someone only gives me strengths, their application goes to the bottom of the pile.
Be honest; tell the interviewer your strengths and weaknesses. Don't down yourself in stating your weaknesses either. They are what they are and there is always room for improvement there.
my greatest strengths are i am hardworker, honest and quick learner these are the 3 key greatest strengths i have which helps me to succeed in my job.
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أذا ممكن تقرأ الأنجليزية، تقرأ هذا: فHow do you answer 'What are your strengths and weaknesses' in a job interview?
To be on the safer side, for your job interview preparations -this article attached provides examples on how to answer the question "what are your weaknesses and strengths?".
The most common job interview questions are, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses? Another one is, 'Why should we hire you?'
Answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses by focusing on your strengths as they relate to the job. Minimize weaknesses by briefly telling a non-job related weakness.
When you are asked about your strengths and weaknesses on a job review you should work to build up your strengths. Do not be shy and modest, list all of them. You should have a smaller list of weaknesses. You do not want to play up weaknesses during a job review.
tell me something about yourself, what are you strengths/skills/weaknesses? Where would you like to be in 3 years? 5 years?
If you mean in a job interview, don't forget to clearly point out all certificates, GCSEs and degrees that you have to your name. Also, make sure to point out your strengths, especially the strengths relevant to the career you are applying for. Finally, be fair and truthful, by stating your weaknesses. This will prove to the business manager (or whoever you are applying to) that you are a truthful, honest person. Also, by declaring your strengths and weaknesses, if you do get the job, your boss will know what tasks and missions to appoint you for and which ones you should stay away from. This advice should lead to a joyful, successful job interview, followed by a great job.
The common interview questions are, what are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? How would you handle a difficult co worker? Why do you think you are the best person for this job? There are many more, but it is best to answer honestly and be straightforward.
This can be a tricky question to deal with. In terms of strengths you want to show that you have the abilities needed for the job. In terms of weaknesses you want to show that you are honest enough to admit weakness (a person who says I have no weaknesses is not likely to be believed, and chances are if you are a paragon of perfection you wouldn't need to apply for a job, you would already be the owner of your own company, or would otherwise be a roaring success in some field) but you also want to convey that your weaknesses, whatever they may be, will not prevent you from doing the job for which you are applying. So choose your words carefully.
Strengths and weaknesses of globes? What is it
In an interview for a customer service executive you will be asked questions about your job history. Questions include your past jobs, strengths and weaknesses.
This looks like a question from an application form for a job. Only YOU can answer this - because only YOU know YOUR strengths and weaknesses !