What are some strengths and weaknesses for a job interview

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When you're in job-seeking mode, you need to be prepared for what comes next. Once you've applied for jobs on job boards like ZipRecruiter, hopefully the next step is that a company will ask you for an interview.

Job candidates will likely be asked to name their biggest strengths and weaknesses during the interview process for a new role. While this dreaded question may seem intimidating, you can use it to your advantage. Understanding why employers want to know your biggest strengths and weaknesses can empower you to craft the perfect answer and ace your interview.

The purpose of an interview is to get to know a candidate. Questions range from behavioral, to technical, to situational, to open-ended. Asking for someone's strengths and weaknesses helps interviewers understand how self-aware candidates are. They want to know if this person can take responsibility for their actions for the good and the bad. This question also gives them insight into your character. They want to make sure you can answer the question honestly.

Preparation is the key to nailing any interview. You'll feel confident rehearsing your response to this question and thinking of examples to back your strengths and weaknesses. Here are some helpful tips to empower you to give the perfect answer.

List of strengths.

You want to mention strengths demonstrating that you're the best candidate for the position. Refer to the job description to see what skills are required for the role you're interviewing for to use. Provide specific examples of your strengths in action and try to approach this part of your response as being confident without bragging.

Strengths to consider:

• Collaborative
• Specific hard skills
• Leadership skills
• Entrepreneurial
• Detail-oriented
• Creative
• Honest
• Dependable
• Respectful
• Empathetic
• Patient

List of weaknesses.

After reviewing the job description, select one of your weaknesses that won't prevent you from succeeding in the role. Be honest but choose one that doesn't disqualify you from being considered for the job. For example, if the job you're interviewing for a position that requires solid public speaking skills, don't mention that as one of your weaknesses.

The other key to using this question to your advantage is to address your weaknesses and how you're actively working to improve them. Demonstrate how you are working to turn your weakness into a strength.

Weaknesses to consider:

• Self-critical
• Too detail oriented
• Public speaking
• Introverted
• Taking on too much responsibility
• Limited experience in non-job-related skill

When it comes to landing an interview at a dream company, savvy job seekers head to ZipRecruiter. This popular job platform uses powerful AI technology to match potential candidates with top companies. Rated as the #1 job search app on IOS and Android1, ZipRecruiter's intuitive interface and one-tap apply make job searching a breeze.

1 Based on job seeker app ratings, Feb 2021 from AppFollow for ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, and Monster.

Your answer to the interview question “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses” should align with what the company is looking for in a candidate and demonstrate your potential value as an employee using clear examples of self-improvement.  

Job interviews can get personal very quickly. During your interview, after meeting an interviewer only a few minutes ago, you may be asked to provide examples of your strengths and weaknesses.

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The questions “What is one of your greatest strengths?” and “What is your greatest weakness?” are some of the most common interview questions hiring managers ask. These questions help an employer get a better sense of the traits that make you uniquely qualified for the job.

If you are prepared adequately to respond, you’ll be able to set yourself apart as a well-qualified candidate for the job. So, it’s a good idea to prepare some quality answers to these questions.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how you can sell your strengths and discuss your weaknesses without sounding too confident or underplaying your strengths.

Why Do Interviewers Ask: What Is Your Greatest Strength and Weakness?

Asking about strengths and weaknesses may seem somewhat on the nose. If the job of an interviewer wants to get to know you better, you would think they would ask more specific questions about you and your skills.

But questions about strengths and weaknesses are not common for no reason. Employers ask these questions to learn how you can add value to their business.

Your responses to questions about strengths and weaknesses are not so much about what you say, but rather how you say it. It’s easy to say: “My main strength is my ability to communicate.” But if you are able to give a clear example of when you used this skill with a client, you’ll set yourself apart from other candidates.

Above all, this question is an excellent way for an interviewer to learn about how self-aware you are. If you can come up with an effective answer, it means you are willing and able to reflect on yourself and your traits. Many people will try to hedge questions like this or provide a dishonest answer. You’ll be much better off giving an honest account of your greatest strengths and weaknesses than trying to fool the interviewer.

How to Answer “What Are Your Greatest Strengths?”

When you are asked about your strengths, what an employer really wants to know is what skills make you a good fit for the job and the company.

The employer wants to hear from you, in your own words, what skills you have that will make you a valuable employee.

Determine Your Greatest Strengths for Interviews

Before the job interview begins, you should spend some time reading over the job description and researching the company’s history and visions. You can find this information on the company’s website, its social media pages, and any other public-facing correspondence it has posted.

Researching the company will help you learn what it values most and what attributes it may be looking for in its ideal candidate. Then, when you have this information, you can use it to see which of your strengths align with those needs.

Here are a few examples of personal strengths you could mention in your job interview:

• Communication
• Dedication
• Adaptability
• Honesty
• Hard worker
• Creativity
• Technical skills
• Team player
• Trustworthiness
• Experience
• Self-awareness and self-reflection
• Management skills

You only need to mention a few of your core strengths in your interview. The ones you do mention should be aligned with what you think the company is looking for and accurately demonstrate your value as an employee.

Example Answers to “What Are Your Greatest Strengths?”

Suppose you are applying for a job as a marketing manager at a startup. Here are a few responses you could give if you are asked to talk about your strengths:

I would say one of my greatest strengths is my ability to work as part of a team. Toward the end of my last job, my manager gave me the opportunity to lead our efforts to streamline our email campaigns. On this project, I motivated other members of the team and we were able to meet our goal of streamlining email campaigns on time. Our efforts led to a 15% increase in engagement on our email campaigns.

I am a very detail-oriented worker. When I work on a project, I keep a close eye on all the details and remain familiar with high-level and low-level tasks associated with the project. In my last job, this attention to detail helped me identify a problem in one of our core marketing campaigns before it was released. This allowed us to mitigate embarrassment that could have been associated with the error being published to our marketing channels.

I have strong communication skills. I have been a marketing associate for four years in two different industries. During that time, I have been responsible for writing clear and concise marketing copy for my employers. This has required a high degree of creative thinking and I believe good writing makes or breaks a marketing campaign.

How to Answer “What Are Your Greatest Weaknesses?”

While it may feel unnatural to talk about your weaknesses, this is a common question which you should prepare for before your interview.

Determine Your Weaknesses

Before your interview, you should spend some time reflecting on the areas in your career where you struggle. Have you found it difficult to manage your time effectively in the past? Do you find it difficult to work under pressure with tight deadlines?

Employers do not ask about your weaknesses so they can identify problems with you. Rather, they ask this question to make sure you are not lacking key skills that are pertinent to the potential job.

When you respond to this question, you should be truthful about your weakness and then end on a strong note. For instance, if you are not good at organizing your work, but say you are working on it, you’ll be seen in a good light.

This is because you have admitted a problem and have spoken about how you aim to address it.

Here are a few weaknesses you could mention in an interview:

• Finding it difficult to establish boundaries between work and life
• Being impatient
• Being disorganized
• Being too rigid
• Being too competitive
• Perfectionism
• Taking on too many tasks
• Lacking focus, or being too focused

Example Answers to “What Are Your Greatest Weaknesses?”

Here are a few responses you could give if you are asked to talk about one or more of your weaknesses:

My greatest weakness would be not asking questions to clarify the main points associated with an assignment. In my last job, I would sometimes not ask for help because I was scared it would mean I did not pay attention when the assignment was issued. Since then, I have been working to become more proactive in asking questions when an assignment has been issued.

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I often focus too much on the details of a project which can result in working at a slower rate. For instance, in my last job, I spent too much time trying to optimize my boss’ schedule. This resulted in me becoming distracted from other assignments that required my attention. After my boss missed an important meeting as a result of my perfectionism, I started to become more aware of this tendency. I am presently working on finding a balance between being efficient and detail-oriented.

I sometimes believe I can solve a problem without the help of anyone else. In many cases, working independently is an effective approach. But in the past, I encountered situations where I could have been a better employee by working with others.

Last year, I was assigned to a major restructuring of our company’s calendar practices. Instead of working with a team, I restructured my boss’ calendar by myself, in accordance with the guidelines written by other assistants. This was an ineffective approach as I was not able to voice my concerns with others. Since then, I have been working to make sure I volunteer to contribute to teams when I think I can add value.

Tips on How to Answer “What Are Your Greatest Strengths and Weaknesses?”

To help you answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses, we have compiled a few tips you can use to boost your image.

Tip #1: Make your answers insight-driven

When you are discussing your strengths, you should make sure your answer is linked to the needs of the company and the position for which you are applying. This will make it easier for an interviewer to see the relevance of a particular skill and how it could be applied to the job.

On the other hand, when you are discussing your weaknesses, you should make sure that you are not too critical of yourself. So, instead of just mentioning a weakness, you should try to anchor that weakness to how it has encouraged you to learn. Are you disorganized? Talk about how you are starting to learn about new productivity systems.

Tip #2: Keep your answers short

These questions will only be one of many that you’ll be asked in an interview. You don’t need to talk about every strength or weakness you have. Often, you’ll only be expected to talk about one or two strengths or weaknesses.

What matters most is that you discuss your strengths and weaknesses in depth. If you struggle to meet deadlines, talk about how you are overcoming that weakness, and discuss what made you realize it. This information will be more useful to an employer than a list of weaknesses you have identified that you have.

Tip #3: Be honest

You may be tempted to exaggerate your strengths to make yourself sound more impressive or downplay your weaknesses to make yourself appear more qualified. However, you should try to avoid doing either of these things.

In your response to questions about your strengths and weaknesses, you should try to be honest and direct. If you know you are a procrastinator, talk about it openly and be as direct as possible. If you know you are good at working on teams, be honest about your strength, but do not go over the top when elaborating on this strength.

Tip #4: Don’t undersell yourself

When you are talking about your weaknesses, it is easy to enter a pattern where you start to undersell yourself. For instance, if you talk about your tendency to be late, you could easily start to spin it into a negative story that makes you sound unreliable.

Employers will ask you about your weaknesses to learn more about how self-aware you are and to see if you have any qualities that disqualify you. You don’t need to be overly self-critical. Just being aware that you are not perfect, and being humble enough to share your weaknesses with someone else is enough.

Conclusion

The job interview is the most stressful part of the job search process after submitting your resume. An interviewer—or even a panel of interviewers—will ask you a series of intimate questions that talk about your character, core strengths, and weaknesses.

The best way to navigate questions about your strengths and weaknesses, or the “Why should we hire you?” question, is to be prepared. Before an interview begins, spend some time reflecting on what you think your strengths and weaknesses are and be ready to provide examples.

By following the tips in this article, you should have the power to identify your strengths and weaknesses, which will help you discuss them in your job interview.

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