What are my weaknesses? Umm, can I phone a friend for this one?
Ah, the question nobody wants to answer—and rightfully so. Who really wants to talk about their weaknesses, especially when you're trying to impress a hiring manager?
Well, let's see—I always let my vegetables rot in my fridge. I’m not the best parallel parker in the world. I constantly leave texts from my friends read but unanswered. I forgot to pay my cell phone bill on time last month. I never pair my socks.
In this article, we are exploring why hiring managers and recruiters love this question, what they absolutely don’t want to hear you say (hint: they don’t want to hear about how detail-oriented you are), and how you can really dazzle them with a prepared answer.
Table of Contents
- How to Answer "What Are Your Weaknesses?"
- Why Hiring Managers Ask About Weaknesses
- How to Talk About Your Weaknesses: A 3-Step Process
- Sample Answers for "What Are Your Weaknesses?"
- Examples of Weaknesses to Explore
How to Answer "What Are Your Weaknesses?"
When revealing a weakness, honesty and self-awareness are going to be your biggest allies. An interviewer is looking for an answer that isn't a canned cop-out (i.e., "I'm a huge perfectionist."). They're looking for a thoughtful, honest answer.
While you don't ever want to lie in a job interview setting, you also don't want to reveal a weakness that might disqualify you from the job. If you find that your biggest weaknesses are also a main function of the job, you have some work to do—or you might need to consider that this isn't the right job for you.
Why Hiring Managers Ask About Weaknesses
We all hate this question. We hate thinking about weaknesses. We hate exposing them. At the same time, we see the value in this question.
One answer hiring managers and recruiters have pretty much unanimously admitted to hating, "I'm so detail-oriented!"
Here’s the reason: there is a much more interesting way to talk about you and (yes, even) your weaknesses.
If you’re saying you’re bogged down in details as a sort of humblebrag, you’re likely not being honest with the interviewer—or, more importantly, with yourself.
The face-to-face interview is a real opportunity to showcase who you are—more than a printed resume or cover letter ever could. We can’t stress this enough—make it count.
The interviewer is asking this question to see if you have the ability to be self-critical. Can you face tough moments at work and recover? Can you work well even if the conditions aren't perfect for you or it's not work you're motivated by? Can you review your own work and behavior and recognize your role in improving something—or is it always someone else’s fault?
This also gives them insight into how you work and how you might fit into the team and company culture you’re interviewing for.
How to Talk About Your Weaknesses: A 3-Step Process
Most of us would rather glide right over our negatives and focus on our positives—our strengths—but this question is best when you don’t avoid it but, rather, embrace it. Here’s a three-step process for doing just that.
1. Self-Reflect
Start by taking an honest look at your work performance, interpersonal relationships at work, and areas for improvement. Have you ever gotten critical feedback? What was it on? What challenges have you run up against at work?
Are there deadlines you’ve missed? Why do you miss them? Often when you take an honest look at where you’ve missed the mark at work, you can start to identify themes or triggers. These are areas to investigate further as weaknesses.
2. Name Your Weaknesses
Get specific and name your weakness. This can help clarify what the weakness is, how you’ve come to recognize it, and shows that you can “own your stuff.”
For example, if you’re not hitting your sales quota because you’re not great at following up, you might have a communication weakness, time management weakness, or organization weakness.
Naming the weakness vs. sharing that you struggle to meet your sales quota gives the interviewer more insight—and the ability to ask more follow-up questions.
3. Tell a Story to Share How You're Actively Improving on Your Weakness
Especially when talking about weaknesses, go one step further. No interviewer wants to hear a laundry list of weaknesses followed by an innocent shrug.
Rather, they want to hear about your dedication to working on this weakness. And how you share your weaknesses is almost more important than what your exact weaknesses are—interviewers need you to not just tell, but also show them.
And just like with your strengths, use the job description as a guide when you’re prepping your story. You will want to steer clear from naming a weakness that’s essential to the job and company.
By telling a story, you’ll be able to humanize your weaknesses. It’s like walking into a house that has no furniture—it’s hard to imagine living there. Interviewers being told “my weakness is time management” can’t imagine what that means at work. Or, even worse, their imagination comes to more extreme conclusions.
You’ll also want to end your story on a positive note. This means it’s best to mention weaknesses that you have overcome or can share enough about the steps you’ve taken to better yourself.
Sample Answer:
“Last quarter I missed my sales quota because my client list grew when a coworker resigned and I didn’t implement a better follow-up strategy. I reached out to a few senior colleagues who also had large client lists and started using a sales database designed to track communication, project status, and sync with my calendar. I’m still a work in progress, but this quarter I’m on track to not only meet my quota, but exceed it.”
Sample Answers for "What Are Your Weaknesses?"
Let’s practice some more examples of stories using a variety of weaknesses.
How to Show You're Working on Lack of Confidence
“My biggest weakness is a lack of assertiveness when I present in front of a group. Even though I was the person running the project and creating the presentation materials, I would freeze when I had to present the results in person."
The Actionable Steps You're Taking
"To help, I recently enrolled in a public speaking course that uses improv techniques. It’s been wildly uncomfortable, but it’s also helped boost my confidence when speaking in front of people and thinking on my feet. When my screen wouldn’t share for a recent presentation, I didn’t panic. Instead, I utilized the whiteboard and my notes to share the data and then emailed it to them after. One exec said my whiteboard drawing was even easier to understand! I really credit my improv work to not losing my confidence in the middle.”
How to Show You're Working on Time Management
“One of my biggest challenges is time management. It’s not that I can’t meet deadlines—it’s that I often underestimate how long it will take me to get something done, and then it’s getting completed on the last day. This wasn’t terrible when I was a team of one, but once I started working with a bigger team, if I left projects to the last minute, it would delay their work.
The Actionable Steps You're Taking
"To help, I buffer my time and projects to meet or exceed expectations while also doing quality work. I’m now setting up additional tools and workflows for my team so we can automate some tasks and increase our productivity.”
How to Show You're Working on Collaboration
“I’m currently working on improving my virtual collaboration skills. Before Covid, I had all my brainstorming sessions in person. When we started to work from home, I noticed that Zoom meetings weren’t leading to the same type of innovation."
The Actionable Steps You're Taking
"To help, I held fewer meetings to clear up mental space for better innovation and collaboration. We turned weekly check-in meetings into emails, started to use Slack for ongoing communication, and made 1:1 meetings every other week. This cleared up a lot of space in people’s schedules. When we did meet on a Zoom video call, the team was much more outgoing and came up with better ideas. Before we left every brainstorm, we narrowed down three actions we would take and who would take them to move things forward.”
How to Show You're Working on Leadership/Management kills
“I recently became a new manager and noticed that I really wasn’t that great at giving effective feedback."
The Actionable Steps You're Taking
"To help, I enrolled in some online learning courses, and I started a monthly book club for me and the other new managers at work. I even had some of these authors talk to our book club. Now I feel much more confident in my feedback skills and I’ve noticed it’s helped me create a culture of feedback where even team members are giving each other real-time feedback. This has helped our performance and team morale!”
Examples of Weaknesses to Explore
Let’s review some examples of weaknesses that you can use in an upcoming interview.
Creative Weaknesses
- Needing step-by-step instructions
- Unable to collaborate with others
- Struggling to finish projects
- Lack of technical expertise
- Rigid with processes
- Time-management challenges
Leadership Weaknesses
- Bad communication skills
- Not delegating
- Micromanaging
- Failing to set clear goals
- Not giving specific feedback
- Lack of confidence
Analytical Weaknesses
- Overly analytical
- Making decisions too quickly—or taking too much time
- Unable to explain complex problems
- Close-minded
- Lack of critical thinking
- Impatient
Soft Skill Weaknesses
- Not assertive enough
- Self-critical
- Not “enough” experience
- Lack of organizational skills
- Lack of focus
- Insecure
- Trouble saying “no”
- Perfectionist
