Best Ways to Answer “What Is Your Greatest Weakness” in a Job Interview

Answering “What is your greatest weakness” in a job interview can be a slippery slope.

On one hand, you want to be respectful and honestly answer all interview questions.

On the other hand, a weakness is generally considered to be a negative. It’s not a good idea to offer negative information about yourself to potential employers.

Depending on the magnitude of the so-called weakness, interviewers may wonder whether you’re capable on other fronts, too.

Even though there’s not a person alive who DOESN’T have weaknesses, a job interview is a tricky place to have to disclose them.

You always want to put your best foot forward in interviews, of course.

You want employers to only see you in the best light.

And, you want to make that abundantly evident right at the beginning of each interview.

Thankfully, your answer to the “tell me about yourself” question, which is often the first one asked, will help you position yourself as a good hiring choice at the get-go.

Always remember these 3 things when interviewing:

1. Many interviewers are not particularly good at interviewing. Sometimes it’s because they’re not good conversationalists. Sometimes because they’re new to it and don’t have enough experience to do it well.
2. Both you and the employer are assessing each other for good fit. As part of your due diligence, come prepared with questions YOU will ask them, to help you determine if the company and the job are right for you.
3. Interviewers may be giving numerous interviews, with lots of different people, for any given job. They need to whittle down the pool, so they’ll look for reasons to reject you. Don’t give them a reason NOT to hire you.

Why are they asking “what is your greatest weakness”

Often, they want to know how self-aware and honest you are about yourself, and that you continuously work on self-improvement and personal growth, that you’re capable of learning new skills to perform better.

But they also want to find out what you didn’t tell them in your resume or LinkedIn profile.

You see, you’ve landed an interview with this employer.

They’ve already pre-qualified you by reviewing your resume, LinkedIn profile, and online presence.

So, obviously, you’re a person of interest.

Also obviously, you haven’t put anything negative or shown weaknesses in your resume or LinkedIn profile.

And, if you’re monitoring your online presence by self-Googling, they’ll find nothing negative about you online.

Along with affirming your good qualities and necessary skills sets, part of the interviewer’s job is to try to suss out the negatives.

That’s how they uncover reasons not to hire you.

The hiring process becomes even more costly if they’ve brought someone on board that they shouldn’t have because that new hire doesn’t work out.

Things you should NOT say to answer “what is your greatest weakness”

Now is not the time to say things like:

• My problem is that I work too hard
• I’m a perfectionist and I keep at things until I get it right

Job search expert Alison Doyle suggests:

Don’t go overboard. It’s important not to talk too much about your weaknesses or what you need to improve. You don’t want the interviewer to perceive you as a candidate who isn’t qualified.

• Don’t say that you’re perfect. It’s important not to come across as arrogant or dishonest by claiming that you don’t have any weaknesses.
• Focus on accomplishments. Try to shift the focus from what needs improvement to what you have accomplished.
• Keep it positive. Don’t use the word “weakness” in any of your answers. You always want to focus on the positive when interviewing.

Weaknesses you might use to answer the question

Keep in mind that, just because they’re asking for your “greatest” weakness, that doesn’t mean you have to actually state in so many words what you know to be a serious weakness of yours.

Hubspot offered this checklist of do’s and don’ts when choosing a weakness:

• Rule out any skills that are listed in the job description.
• Choose a weakness that will not prevent you from succeeding in the role.
• Find inspiration by looking through old performance reviews.
• Be honest and choose a real weakness.
• Demonstrate self-awareness and an ability to look to others to provide you with the resources necessary for growth.
• Think of where you’d like to be and what support you need to get there.
• Don’t be arrogant and don’t underestimate yourself.

The Muse offered 25 possible weaknesses you could use to build your answer:

• Attention to all the small details
• Cold calling
• Confidence
• Decision-making
• Delegation
• Explanations of complex or technical topics
• Feedback acceptance
• Feedback delivery
• Grammar
• Judgement of how much the small details matter
• Math
• Open-mindedness
• Organization
• Overly high standards
• Patience
• Perfectionism
• Phone conversations
• Public speaking
• Responses to vague instructions
• Self-esteem
• Sense of when to stop tweaking or perfecting something
• Sense of when to ask more questions
• Time management
• Understanding of when and how to say no
• Verbal, nonverbal, or written communication
• Workaholism
• Writing

Strategies to tackle the “what is your greatest weakness” question

It’s important to get across in your answer that the weakness will in no way impact your performance or the value you offer, because it’s no longer a weakness.

It may be easier to formulate an answer if you think of this as a behavioral question.

As you’re prepping your answers in advance of interviews, switch this question to something like:

“Tell me about a time when you turned a weakness into a strength.”

This will help you zero in on something that was a weakness in the past, but you’ve now overcome it.

Here’s how to approach this:

Select as a weakness something that you lacked experience with in the past, but taught yourself or got help from others to master.

Don’t focus on (or say out loud) how you’re not good at doing that thing.

Instead, frame it as a skill set or personality trait you knew you were lacking, but put in the effort to learn.

And focusing on a hard skill instead of a soft skill (or personality trait) is usually the better choice. It’s easier (and more believable) for someone to learn a new skill than change their personality.

Job-Hunt.org suggests you carefully choose which weakness you’ll use. Don’t pick one that could disqualify you for the job, even if you’ve overcome it:

• What weaknesses have you identified yourself that you have worked to overcome? What classes have you taken or books have you read to improve a skill?
• Have you earned any degrees or other professional certifications? These typically represent proof that you have learned a specific “hard skill.”
• What have you been criticized for in the past by managers and/or co-workers that you have overcome (completely or mostly)?
• What have your managers noted in past performance reviews as areas where you had “room for improvement” and you made the improvement?

Examples of how to answer “what is your greatest weakness”

Career expert Robin Ryan provided a sample answer, using “data analysis” as the so-called weakness. I would shorten this answer, but it gives you an idea of how to do this:

“When I first took on my latest position, I had no experience doing data analytics, and it was a fundamental weakness I had in performing my new director job. I quickly realized it was a necessary skill that I needed to acquire. However, it was not something I could easily pick up, and creating a dashboard was overwhelming. So, I researched to determine the best way to learn how to analyze data.

I began reading several articles, ensuring they came from reputable sources such as a top magazine, newspaper, or thought leader. I then found and watched some video tutorials on how to perform data analysis. These were helpful as I could see the steps and how the process worked. Next, I took a class so that I could become proficient.

I also sought out a mentor who was excellent at data analysis. She showed me her method for performing this task. Next, I practiced creating dashboards after I had gathered data from many different sources, recognizing that the goal was to prepare the information so that it could assist senior leadership and me in making more informed decisions.

Lastly, I approached a person inside our organization who was a data scientist. I got some hands-on coaching from him. The data collection part was very complicated, but I learned this new skill between the classes, the tutorials, and personal coaching.

Today, I apply this ability quite frequently, and recently my boss made a few positive comments about my ability.”

Answering using a personality trait

The Job-Hunt article suggests an answer like this if you’re an introvert, and considered that personality trait to be a weakness:

“I realized as an adult that being an introvert definitely has advantages. I am motivated to work based more on thought and reason than on emotion. Typically, I don’t usually require close management — give me a project, and I’ll dig into it. I’ll ask questions to be sure I understand what is needed and when I need more information, but I will get the job done, on-time, and without a lot of fuss.

I do make an effort to reach out to my co-workers, to be friendly and cooperative, and to have a good relationship with everyone I work with, but I’m happiest when I have work to do. If the office is too noisy for me, I have earplugs that block background noise so I can focus on my work when the noise is too great, which doesn’t usually happen very often.”

Here’s a sample answer for “workaholism” as a weakness, from The Muse article noted above:

“I needed to get much better at knowing the difference between working hard and working productively. It was easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that long hours in the office meant I was getting a lot done. But unsurprisingly, I actually do my best work when I’m not super tired or stressed. At my first job, I used to pride myself on 50+ hour weeks and the number of tasks I could get done rather than the quality of the work I was doing. But six months in, I was starting to feel burnt out and my first performance evaluation included feedback about how sloppy my work was.

“Nowadays, I’m making a huge effort to work smarter, not longer. I’ve begun responding to emails in batches so I don’t waste hours every day sorting through my inbox just so I could tell myself I responded to emails faster than anyone. I write down three goals every morning so that I’m focused on the priorities. I try to take my meetings outside so that I get some fresh air and exercise while we talk. These productivity changes have helped me compress the amount of work I accomplish into fewer hours—which also means I can produce higher-quality work.”

And a sample answer for “micromanaging” as a weakness, from the Hubspot article noted above:

“I used to work in industries where I had to cultivate a solid work ethic in my employees. This style of training has been so ingrained in me that I’d forgotten to discern who may need that coaching and who does not. I’ve been reading books on effective delegation and team building to work on this shortcoming. One technique that works for me is assuring myself that if I establish clear expectations, then my team will follow. I’ve also learned to trust my team members.”

Final thoughts on discussing weaknesses in job interviews

Turning a negative into a positive is the best approach.

• Show the interviewer that you are someone who learns from their mistakes and who takes self-improvement very seriously.
• Prep and rehearse your answers to this question and the other common interview questions you can expect to be asked.
• Use the Challenges – Actions – Results exercise to write the script for your answer, in the form of a story.
• Maintain eye contact with your interviewer.
• Be confident in your answers.
• Be sure to make evident your personality or personal brand, how you get things done, and how you operate on the job.
• If you’re having a virtual or Zoom interview, you can refer to notes as you answer.