Your strengths help you build confidence and make an impact. A person’s strengths are something that he is seen for and known for. It’s like doing a job that you are assigned with a natural flair for doing it. Having key strengths does not only help an individual to get a job but also help others in achieving group goals and hence gives you appreciation. On the other hand, your weaknesses are something that motivates you to grow and have a better understanding of what you are, where do you stand, what are the things that are holding you back from doing a job better and how you function. The magical part is that you can turn your weaknesses into strengths by using your strengths, and that is why knowing about your strengths and weaknesses is important to get that dream job.
“In most cases, strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. A strength in one situation is a weakness in another, yet the person can’t switch gears. It’s a very subtle thing to talk about your strengths and weaknesses.” – Steve Jobs
The interviewers ask this question during an interview. It is one of the most commonly asked questions, no matter what field you belong to. In this article, we will be discussing how your strengths and weaknesses play an important role in getting you hired and how you can give a better answer to this question.
Reasons Why the Interviewer Asks this Question
- To find the best possible candidate for the vacant position.
- To learn about what are the things that are holding you back from giving your best.
- To know how you can be an asset to the organization by looking at your strengths.
- To see how self-aware, you are about the attributes that you possess.
- To check how effectively you can communicate about your skills and abilities to shine at work.
How to Best Answer this Question?
Choose the skills that you talk about accurately
The hiring manager looks for a candidate who meets the job requirements of a specific role and therefore a candidate can possess ample skills, but there is a need to highlight the ones that are most important from the point of view of the role that one has applied for. Talk about the relevant skills, and your ‘strengths’ part of the answer will be good to go.
Some examples of key strengths:
- Communication Skills
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Critical Thinking Skills
- Analytical Skills
- Leadership Skills
- Writing Skills
- Technical Skills and so on…
Show that you are working on your weaknesses
Well, of course, you should mention your weakness and the skills that you lack as nobody is perfect but make sure that you convince the employer that is working on improving those skills and build new skills by addressing those weaknesses. This shows that you are serious about the job. Try not to talk much about your weaknesses as the strengths part should weigh more than the weaknesses that you talk about.
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Some examples of weaknesses:
- Introvert in Nature
- Self-Criticism
- Lack of Skills for a Particular Niche
- Lack of Experience in the Field
- Stage-fear
Sample Interview Answers
Sample Interview Answer 1
“Talking about my strengths, I am an excellent communicator, and being a part of the marketing field has helped me shape my communication skills. I have an understanding of what a customer wants, as I am a good researcher. My weakness is my impatience, I get overly excited to do a particular task and sometimes it blows up in my face, and I am practicing mindfulness to be more patient and it is really helping me.”
Sample Interview Answer 2
“I am an introverted kind of personality, so I surely lack some social skills and my work doesn’t require to get into an interaction that often. I am surely working on it though as it can help me to express myself better. My strengths are my technical skills, I am well versed in all the computer skills and programming languages. I am good at using new software as I am easily able to adopt new technology.”
Sample Interview Answer 3
“The only weakness I think that I have is the ability to do the math, I am really bad at it since high school, but as it is now a part of my career being a data analyst, I am getting used to it as it plays an important part in creating the accurate report and tracking progress. My strength is that I am committed to improving myself with each day, I learn something new every day to be better at the job that I am doing, learning is an important part of professional growth.”
Sample Interview Answer 4
“My self-awareness is my biggest strength, I know how to get my job done right through my organizing skills, and I thrive to achieve best of the outcomes in my job every day, which I think one of my greatest strengths. One weakness that I think I have in me is competitiveness. I am a little too competitive when it comes to my job, but I consider it as a good push over to my success.”
Sample Interview Answer 5
“My weakness is that I lack experience in this field. Although I know I have the proper skill set to be able to get that experience but I am still a new bee at this job. But that is something I can work on and get in time. Talking about my strengths I spent most of the time working on my designing skills and I have a great portfolio of some self-design. I have a great audience base as I been an active user of social media which will help me get loyal clients for the company.”
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Sample Interview Answer 6
“I won’t call it a weakness, but sort of a bad habit, that I am a procrastinator, I lack continuity and constantly need breaks between my job as I cannot really stay at a desk for 8 continuous hours. Moving around keeps me active and that is why I think I will be best for this position of store supervisor. My strength is that I have great leadership skills and I can switch my leadership styles which will be really helpful for this role.”
Sample Interview Answer 7
“I have a sense of understanding and compassion which I consider to be my greatest strengths being a medical assistant. I possess a perfect blend of both clinical and administrative skills that helps me multitask at my best. My weakness is that sometimes switching between tasks creates frustration in me, which I am trying to work on as I have just entered the work field and I know I will get used to it as the time passes.”
Sample Interview Answer 8
“Being a writer, my weakness is that I cannot really work in a loud and noisy environment, it brings out the writer’s block, but as it is a work-from-home job this will not act as a hurdle in my work. I possess excellent writing skills and listening skills. In fact, I have so many plots for upcoming stories ready to be converted into a fictional project, which I came to know during my research of this company. I never miss deadlines as I am extremely punctual and my creative skills help me write better.”
Sample Interview Answer 9
“My strength is to be able to judge a candidate right, and I think that is the most important part of being an HR, to know how to pick the right candidate for the job. I also have excellent conflict management skills, that has majorly helped in my previous job as well. My weakness is that I sometimes take on too much responsibility on my plate which turns out to be the opposite of what I expect, but I am trying to learn some management and prioritizing skills to sign up for the things that I can actually do in a day.”
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Sample Interview Answer 10
“I can be too hard on myself sometimes. I achieve something really great and still try to point out some flaws in it. To rise out of this weakness I have started to celebrate my achievements and victories to give myself the motivation to do better tasks. Each time a solve a case I celebrate. My strengths are my ability to take right decisions at right time and act on it immediately, I am skilled enough to turn a complex problem into an easy one, which I think is one of my greatest strengths.”
Conclusion
These were the 10-sample interview answer to give you an idea of how to answer this interview question. Review the article and notice how these answers were neither sounding too arrogant, nor too underestimating. You should be able to craft your answer in a way that can act as a support to the job requirements. Ensure that you not talk about a list of the skills and focus on 2-3 key skills that can help you get the job. Try to respond in a way that makes you stand out from other applicants as that’s what the employer is looking for in an ideal candidate for that position. Comment below what you liked about this article, I hope that you enjoyed reading it and learned something out of it. Share it with your friends and family.
Thank you for reading!
References
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
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