Have you given an interview recently?

 

If yes, you must know about the questions that interviewers ask the candidates to check if they are suitable for a particular job or not. These questions can be about anything,say, your academic  qualifications, hobbies, family, or anything else that is related to you. One of these questions can be  about your weaknesses. Every interviewer wants to know about his or her employees’ shortcomings as well as strengths, so most of the interviewers prefer to ask questions about the weaknesses of the candidates. Let us figure out why this topic is so important.

Weakness Correlation with Productivity

Everyone in this world has unique weaknesses and unique strengths. Usually, a manager or HR believes that weaknesses are as important as strengths of a person are. If someone is not sure about his or her weaknesses, it can be perceived that he or she is not clear about his or her strengths also. A hiring manager is usually conscious about it, and most of the time, they directly correlate it with the productivity of an organization.

Interviewer’s Perception

Hiring managers try to understand what you cannot do or what you find difficult to perform in the workplace. They know that a candidate is well prepared for the interview and they ask such questions to break this presentable shield. Whether you answer honestly or not, your answers are going to tell them something about you. If you try to avoid these questions or make a bogus response, then they think that you have some weaknesses that you do not want to share. If you say I don’t have any weaknesses, they may consider that the person is not aware of his weakness. It becomes a guessing game if there is no proper answer to this question. These guesses can result in anything for your candidature. It is always better to avoid it and be prepared about how to respond  when the interviewer asks you about your weaknesses.

Trick about Weaknesses

It is tricky to talk about your weaknesses. We should be careful when we talk about it at any place, not just the workplace. It is better to know the types of weaknesses before we talk to the interviewer about them. We should not choose any random weakness and make sure that we share that weakness which does not badly affect your chances to get the job position you are applying for. Whenever we share a weakness, we should also share the ways to improve that particular weakness. 

 

As an interviewer, he or she would check if you have work-related weakness [Hard Skills Weakness], your weakness regarding any commitment required for the job and feelings [Soft Skills Weakness], and your weakness when you interact with others [Interpersonal Skills Weakness]. Let me explain how:

Interpersonal Weaknesses

Some people are shy and they can not interact with others easily. These types of people are not considered to be a good fit for a job because a hiring manager will not select someone who can not connect with co-workers. Remember, we should never tell them an open weakness like this, instead try to tell them a specific weakness that does not impact the work. As a member of a team, we need to know how to deal with people in the workplace. Your answer should not let the interviewer feel that you can’t deal efficiently with people around you.

 

Soft Skills Weaknesses

Soft skills are required for almost all jobs. Usually, there is no certificate for such skills. Your ability to understand others, the way you behave, and your feelings towards work are a few examples of soft skills. You can tell any soft skills related weaknesses along with the progressive plan of how are you working on improving this.

 

Hard Skills Weaknesses

Hard skills are job-specific. There are various certification courses for hard skills. Operating a computer, coding, financial book-keeping, creative content writing are a few examples of hard skills. If you have any weakness related to hard skills, you can make it your strength by learning it. During the interview, when the interviewer asks you if you have any weakness, you should not only tell them about your hard skills weakness, but also tell them how you plan to overcome that particular weakness. It will make a good impression on the interviewer. But, you should take care of one thing that is the weakness that you tell the interviewer should not be related to the job you have applied for. 

Share Your Weaknesses with Honesty

We prepare for a job interview and try to focus on the qualities and abilities we have that are important for the job. I would suggest that figuring out some skills which are not required for your job should be mentioned as weaknesses.

 

For example, if you are applying for the post of an application tester, you can use accounting as a weakness. This will not affect your selection since financial accounting is not related to the job profile of an application tester.

 

Try to bring out positivity during the weakness discussion. You can also connect your weakness as a benefit for the job profile. If being talkative is your weakness, it can be used as a strength. It can be a showcase for roles that require communication.

 

Finally, don’t tell a lie, be honest. When you have the ability to communicate effectively, then you do not need to lie. Don’t try to fake a weakness that is a hard skill because it can be tested. If you have a weakness, be open about it and share how you are overcoming that. Don’t share silly weaknesses which may make you an unfit applicant for a particular job even after having all the required skills.

Conclusion

In the end, I would like to say that when the interviewer questions you about your weaknesses, you should not be afraid to share them with him or her, but you just need to make sure that your answer has a positive impact and be honest when you talk about your weaknesses.