People say that interviews are tricky and involve questions that judge your personality and grip on the core profile. This is one of those questions that candidates find problematic and tough to respond to. But this should be viewed as an opportunity to increase your chances of selection. A thoughtful, well-prepared, and crisp answer has the power to influence and impress your interviewer greatly, giving you an edge over the other candidates.
Some Other Versions Of This Hiring Question
Interviewers like to ask a particular question in different ways, keeping the objective and principles of the question same. Here is a list of the possible variations to this question:
- What are your biggest weaknesses?
- How do you criticize yourself?
- What do your friends tell you about your major shortcomings?
- How fragile are you?
- Why should an organization, fire you from employment?
- What is the biggest mistake that you have committed in your life?
What Do They Expect From You?
Interviewers tend to evaluate your abilities, skills, and weaknesses through the questions asked by them. This question is basically asked to uncover your weaknesses and the traits that you want to work on and improve.
Further, they want to know how well can you handle a situation which is out of your comfort zone and requires great use of wit and intelligence. All these traits are really beneficial for breaking into any particular organization and hence evaluated by the interviewers through this question.
Five Best Tips To Handle This Shouldn’t Hire Question
1) Be Honest (In A Limit)
Honesty is the best policy, especially while handling this question. By telling them about the weaknesses that are minor or inconsequential, you would imply that you are just trying to be smart and diplomatic. No organization wants to hire such employees, as they just can’t fit into an organization’s culture and work ethics.
2) Conduct Your Self-evaluation
To handle and answer this question in an efficient way, one must conduct a deep and self-analysis of oneself. Post this, prepare a written report and mention your strengths and weaknesses on it. This will immensely help you to prepare an accurate answer.
3) Don’t Get Carried Away
There may be a hundred deficiencies and shortcomings in you. There may be a hundred reasons why the organization must not hire you. But, it is highly recommended that you do not get carried away and start listing them one by one. This would imply that you are a gullible person and too honest to be selected in these turbulent times involving huge competition and business dynamics.
4) Tell One Weakness (Maximum Two)
The best way answer to this question is to share one or a maximum of two weaknesses with them. The weaknesses must be framed and prepared after conducting a thorough and well-prepared self-analysis.
5) How You Can Improve?
No one is perfect in this world and employers understand it very well. Hence, it is always advisable to close the answer by sharing with your interviewer the ways and methodologies that you are adopting or have adopted to overcome your weakness or shortcoming.
Ten Best Sample Answers
Sample Answer One
The best reason for my rejection could be the issues with emotional intelligence. I consider myself to be a highly emotional person who never wants to over-burden or exploit any individual, which might hamper the targets and proficiency of the organization. Using an employee for one’s own benefits is just not my style of working and I prefer a more balanced approach.
Sample Answer Two
You must not hire me because I am a highly meticulous person, who wants to dig in and gather a lot of information before initiating a project or task. Being a detailed oriented person, I always ask a lot of questions from my seniors and always ask them to arrange a separate and personal training session, in order to ensure that I am ticking each and every requisite box.
Sample Answer Three
I believe that I become too egoist and self-centric sometimes that it severely impacts my performance and my efficiency. This is a negative trait in me, that I have honestly disclosed with you and might be the only thing that can go against me in this race to secure a job at your coveted institution. Rest be assured, that I am perfect and have the skills and abilities to perform all the tasks.
Sample Answer Four
No one is perfect in this world and everyone has a few shortcomings. I too have weaknesses. I believe I am a person who is cynical and want to analyze all the guidelines and rules framed by the organization to execute a particular task. By doing this I take more time to complete an assigned task and fall back on the deadlines. But this way, I am able to create a masterpiece that is flawless and impeccable.
Sample Answer Five
I believe that I lack communication skills and consider myself to be an introvert who is always shy and tries to avoid making conversations with people. This hampers my ability to ask doubts and clarify everything beforehand. But I make up for this, by getting everything in black and white and reading it extensively. I prepare notes from them.
Sample Answer Six
As visible from the naked eye, I am obsessed and not very physically active. This makes me lethargic and I get tired very easily hampering my work performance. But I have started various weight control measures that are both friendly and effective. At the same time, I have started giving myself small but meaningful goals and missions in order to overcome my shortcoming of being lazy and lethargic
Sample Answer Seven
I am a growth-oriented person who loves to move forward and advance my career and future in a progressive and adorable way. This simply means that I expect your organization to provide me adequate but reasonable growth opportunities. Otherwise, there are chances that I might just switch over. This also does not mean that I am not loyal. I am a person who wants to achieve heights and prosperity by working hard and by giving my 100%.
Sample Answer Eight
Achieving deadlines and following all the project guidelines is a knack that I surely possess in sufficient quantities. But, there would be instances wherein I am late for work. You expect me at 9 AM but I will be there at 9:30 AM. This is an honest weakness in me which I accept and I am trying all the ways to be more punctual and on time. This in no way hampers my work performance or my sincerity towards the work as I make it up by working late and/or eliminating my breaks.
Sample Answer Nine
If you want to hire employees that are shy, introverts, and meekly follow all the instructions like we are in the army, I may be a wrong choice for you. In the interests of my employer and in a quest to improve my efficiency level and performance, I always ask a lot of questions and seek guidance from my seniors regularly. The questions are always relevant but sometimes they seem to irritate my seniors. This might be the only shortcoming in me.
Sample Answer Ten
The job description provided by you suits my style and preferences. I am fully aware of everything, but I lack superior knowledge of CRM software. In order to overcome it, I have already joined an online course as this is the basic requirement of all employers. I assure you that till the date of joining, I would gain a working knowledge of the software, so much so that it would immensely help me in performing my duties.
Conclusion
Tricky and self-evaluating questions form the part of almost all the interview processes and must be prepared thoroughly and precisely. These questions can make or break your career and improve the chances of selection considerably, once they are handled and answered in a meticulous manner. If you like our articles then don’t forget to share them with your family and friends. Also, do let us know through the comments section below, how much you like our articles.
References
- https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/barraba14§ion=13
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14697017.2012.662992?casa_token=y6LgrrvcS1wAAAAA:lopV_agoFnCdThj6k9-uj4kJi13uX5WBdWivv-R3Wf3EDxibAwmGHxXJ1t2kD2Xw7y9MiCVJ9wWQ
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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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