At some point in our lives, we are all asked to talk about our weaknesses. It is a question often asked during interviews of hiring for example: "what are your weak points? "And the answer is often the hardest to give because after all, there is not a good answer. If you are not prepared to respond, what you are going to say is likely to be poorly worded and therefore misinterpreted. First, learn what your weaknesses are and then talk to others.
🔻Do you know yourself?
Understand the issue. When you are asked what your weaknesses are, for example during an interview, it is not what you are weak about, but rather the fact that you are aware of weak points. If you reply that you do not have one ... That is a weakness; Your inability to recognize that you have, which is a lack of knowledge of yourself. It is also important to realize that knowing what your weaknesses is is not in itself, on the contrary, it is even rather a strong point.
Be prepared. Be attentive to yourself to identify your weak points. If you do not know them, how can you talk to anyone? While if you know the answer, you will not have to stammer a semblance of response and you will gain esteem from the people in front of you.
Be honest but strategic. If you say "I am a perfectionist" and you are not, it is not a very good idea. Say only the truth and at the same time, learn to round off the angles to put you also ahead. This will make you an ideal candidate.
Regularly analyze your weaknesses. As mentioned earlier, this does not happen only once, so you should practice this exercise on a regular basis as about every 3 months and if it seems too often, try every 6 months.
🔻Talking about your weaknesses during an interview
Talk about "real" weaknesses. Turning your answer so that you think your main flaw is that you are already perfect will never work. By saying "my biggest flaw is being too perfectionist" will remind the interviewer that you do not really admit that you have any. If it is really a defect you possess to be a perfectionist, be honest and reliable and respond in this way "I sometimes check a task several times and sometimes it makes me waste time for something else".
Be clear and short. Do not overdo your answers. The interviewer is waiting for a specific response from you.
Be prepared for the interviewer to ask for more. You must be able to cite at least 3 weak points and their solutions. You may also be asked two or three times.
If the question is put to you a fourth time, you can always answer that at the moment, your weak points are the ones you just mentioned but that three months later, those can very well change.
🔻Examples of answers
Issue
"I do not take initiatives like I would like to do." Employers do not want people to be watched like children or waiting to be told what to do. So here's how you can solve this problem.
Answer
You can explain that your inability to take action comes from your previous job in which you had to follow instructions and that initiative was not seen. For fear of anger your current employer, you have followed the company's policy of following orders. Specify that you are aware that the proposed job requires initiative and that you will do what is right for you to make decisions for yourself.
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Issue
"I do not allocate my working time very well". It is important for an employer that you do not waste your time. The ideal is to do as many tasks as possible in a minimum of time. There are many people like you so do not think about telling your future employer something that he has never heard.
Answer
Tell him the truth that sometimes you have trouble managing your time and that you often lose. Tell them you like a job well done and you can spend time on one task at the expense of others but you do what it takes to change this habit by imposing a time limit and when that time is Finished, you move on to something else
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Issue
"It may happen that I take a little too many initiatives." Employers may not appreciate having to give you back for you. Let them know that you are aware of this and that you also know your position within the company.
Answer
Make it clear that you know that tensions can develop between you and your manager because you are encroaching on his / her ground and you learn to trust the ideas of others and your manager rather than spoil everything because of your ego. Say you know how a team can work in harmony when everyone stays in their place and you are always ready to help if necessary.
Advice
✅Keep in mind that weaknesses and strengths always go hand in hand. For example, engaging in a project can both show dedication to this project or the desire to help colleagues.
✅If one or more of your weak points may actually hinder your work for which you are applying, you may need to consider other work options.
✅You will certainly use this exercise also to increase your annual performance by identifying areas in which you can improve and thus help you achieve particular goals.
✅You can extract from this exercise your strengths to improve your letter of motivation. Your strengths are what you put forward in front of an employer and this is far more convincing if you know what you are talking about.
✅If you are leading a team, helping your team to be competent in this exercise will be a good indicator for you to also see the strengths of each and assign them to tasks for which they will feel comfortable .
✅Take notes from time to time on how your compensatory techniques work, in this way you can always adjust them to your advantage.
✅Make sure that your final analysis is not too complex, it must be concise and well set.
Warnings
✅Be aware that everyone does not consider that admitting what are their weak points is a force (some people may use them against you). It is therefore important to analyze and adapt to each situation. There is not one way to do it.
✅Do not pretend not to have weakness just because you do not know how to fight it. To ignore it does not mean that it does not exist. Write down on a paper what this weak point is and think about it. You may not want to approach this point without having prepared a response beforehand, remember that you should always be ready.
