How to Answer Weakness Questions During an Interview

Author

Rahmad

1. Perfectionism

They might ask you this question if you mention how perfectionism you want in your job “ Why do you think this is your biggest weakness? Isn't it a strength?”

They might ask you more about this as it is quite similar to the strength. Therefore, if you don't want to be asked more and let you in a complex situation, we suggest not mentioning perfectionism

2. Disorganized

“You say you are a disorganized person. Does it mean that you don't have your schedule? How can you guarantee our workload with so many tasks?” They might ask you this if you say you are a disorganized person

3. Self-criticism

“How can you define your self-criticism?” We think that this is quite a usual question when they don't understand your point so you need to make it clearer.

4. Others

There are a lot of weak questions that they might ask you, it truly depends on the weakness that you mentioned and they will develop the ideas you give to ask you more about yourself. Multitasking, impatient, focusing too much on the details,.. are some of the weaknesses you might mention. They can ask you to solve the problem that you told them too

We all have flaws, but it doesn't mean we're weak. Don't be discouraged. Please don't give up. Each flaw can be turned into a strength in a variety of ways. To begin, you must be honest with yourself about your shortcomings. After then, you may start working on them. As a result, you'll be even more powerful. Here are some crucial methods to turn your flaws into qualities you can be proud of:

1. Face up to your fears

The first step in turning a weakness into a strength is that you must admit and be honest with yourself; therefore, you can prepare for yourself and find out the way to solve the problems. You'll probably discover that you can accomplish more than you ever imagined – and have fun doing it.

2. Learn from your mistake

No one is without flaws. No one can count how many times they did wrong, can they? What separates individuals who want to challenge themselves to change from others who will remain complacent and continue to make the same mistakes is what they do after they make a mistake.

Don't be too hard on yourself, but don't be too easy on yourself either. Make sure you learn from your mistakes. Consider them learning opportunities or growing pains. You'll probably emerge a better version of yourself than if you hadn't committed the mistake in the first place.

3. Accept your discomfort

This is when you recognize what makes you feel uncomfortable. We think that find out what you'll do about it so that the difficulty that is preventing you from doing something you want to do becomes a discomfort that motivates you to attempt something new. Apply that to everyday situations and notice what a big difference it makes.

4. Take pride in your differences

People frequently believe that discussing commonalities with others is the most effective strategy. While it is crucial to have similarities, it is our differences that make us individually unique. They distinguish every one of us.

There is merit in sticking out rather than blending in. More productivity and creativity can be boosted by having new and varied ideas, viewpoints, and ways of being. Don't be afraid to show off your unique qualities; instead, emphasize them.

5. Don't forget to look after yourself

This serves as a sort of catch-all for any other more particular flaws you may have (for example, unhealthy indulgences and/or bad habits). Be honest with yourself and recognize that there is something you need to alter.

We're all works in progress, yet life doesn't have any bounds. So, pay attention to your flaws and use them as fuel for mental, physical, and spiritual self-care. Only then will you be able to start living a life that is led by goodness and optimism.

After understanding some aspects above, we will give you some more examples to make it clearer about how to respond to weakness questions. You can take a look at this part

1. I have trouble saying “no”

Helping your colleagues manage projects and also taking care of your own task is a hard one to balance. Someone who accepts all demands appears dedicated and eager, but can also be someone who doesn't recognize their boundaries and needs support or deadline extensions to do their work. In this part, a good example for answering this is:

My worst flaw is that I have a hard time saying "no" to requests and often take on more than I can handle. This has made me feel worried or burned out in the past. I use a project management tool to help me grow in this area since it allows me to see how much work I have at any given time and whether I have the capacity to take on more.

2. I might get panic if the projects run beyond the deadline

If you are a perfectionist in running deadlines and can not handle when it crosses over the deadline, I think this is a good example for you that you can take a quick look for referencing: “

My biggest flaw is that I become anxious when projects go over deadline. I'm a perfectionist for deadlines and become irritated if work isn't finished on time. To minimize this, I've begun to be more proactive and pay attention to how I react in order to ensure that I'm motivating and promoting efficiency.”

3. It is a difficult time for me to deal with certain personalities

Even the most adaptable individuals may find it difficult to work with others who have particular qualities or personality traits.

If this has previously been a problem of yours, explain the personality types with which you have had difficulty working and swiftly identify the reasons why. Then talk about how you've changed your communication or work approach to better collaborate on a common goal.

You can refer to this example “ Working with aggressive personality types has been tough for me in the past. While I recognize that a diverse workforce is beneficial to a company's success, I find myself suppressing my thoughts and opinions when working with louder coworkers.

To address this, I've made it a point to spend more time with coworkers with whom I don't feel comfortable. I am better able to collaborate with these personality types by understanding more about them, their communication style, and their goals so that we can both share our talents and skills equally.”

4. I might find it difficult with unspecific and vague tasks

If you are planning to tell this aspect in your job interview, we recommend that you should describe the success you've had following directions, as well as your professional potential when you're at ease with uncertainty. We are giving you this example to take as a reference: “

My supervisor provided me extremely explicit instructions regarding my tasks in my previous work as a marketing intern.

Because I've become accustomed to having a clear path, I'm hesitant when faced with an ambiguous task or goal. Working with uncertainty is an aim of mine to become not only comfortable but also successful.

To do so, I've developed a personal framework for times when I'm feeling overwhelmed or perplexed by a complex task, which includes completing systematic research and seeking guidance from subject matter experts. When working on ambiguous activities or toward less clear or defined goals, I've found that doing so has helped me thrive.”

5. I can have some problems when asking people for help

We suggest that you should explain why you know it is useful and how you have worked to improve this skill if you know it has been difficult in the past. Here is an example for you: “It has been difficult for me to ask for help when I need it because I am self-sufficient and enjoy working rapidly.

When I don't understand anything or am feeling worn out by my workload, I've discovered that reaching out is much more helpful for both me and the company. I also recognize that many professionals in my immediate vicinity possess specific knowledge and abilities that can help me improve my work. While I'm still working on it, I've been able to generate higher-quality work as a consequence of the assistance I've received.”

We understand that weakness is a part that you probably don't want to reveal, however, in the job interview section, it is a required part. We believe that if you are trying to apologize, making it become an excessive apology for things over which you have no control can make people think less of you.

In this part, we will show you how to acknowledge your weakness without dwelling on it.

Firstly, by admitting your flaws, you demonstrate that you're self-aware enough to recognize your areas for growth — and confident enough to share them. That you want to be hired for what you can genuinely contribute to the table rather than what you can appear to provide.

Secondly, of course, you can not keep talking about your weakness. As some of the examples noted above, we recommend that you should explain why you had the motivation and skills to succeed in this problem or you can say that “ I am a newbie so the problem I solve here is…”

Finally, avoid responding with strength in disguise. What we mean here is that try not to say like this “I work too hard. I'm too much of a perfectionist. I only won a silver medal in the Olympics.” The interviewers will definitely see you are lying to them and underestimate you.

We would say it depends. When you're being interviewed, you'll usually be confronted with someone who has been trained to recognize when you're being evasive (lying) and when you've been honest with them.

The candidates' lying for any reason was a reason not to hire them. The interviewers couldn't care less about why they were lying or what the topic was. The interviewers went through the motions, but they were toast, if they came in, sat down, and told me that traffic was bad that morning, and their body language indicated they were lying. It has no bearing on qualifications or anything else.

Everyone has flaws, and job seekers are no exception. From the standpoint of an interviewer, the best way to deal with them is to use them to your advantage.

Let's imagine you're familiar with Javascript and Python, only to learn that the new shop's programming language is Ruby on Rails. Tell the interviewer(s) that you don't have any experience with Ruby on Rails but are interested in learning; you can also mention that you don't have any bad habits with Ruby on Rails yet, so while there is a learning curve, you will be a better coder than someone who has a history and needs to unlearn and relearn how to code in Ruby on Rails.

Not by lying or presenting it as a "weakness," but an astute hiring manager would not dismiss you because of it.

It's ok if you still don't know how to figure out your own weakness. Don't worry because we are here to help you in this aspect. Continue reading this as we provide some tips for you right here

1. Keep an eye on your thoughts

It's critical to be conscious of what you're thinking and how those thoughts make you feel. By paying attention to our thoughts, you may see the negative ones and replace them with more positive ones that will help us achieve our objectives.

2. Self-awareness is a good thing to have

This is to describe the act or state of knowing oneself and one's environment, then synthesize that information into new perspectives for compassionate action toward oneself and others. By understanding this part, you will learn about yourself and the environment

3. Examine your relationships with candour

There are three kinds of relationships that everyone has: personal, professional, and social. Let's take a deep look at your relationship

Invest in a coach

A coach will not only give feedback on how you're doing but also provide support for you when you are struggling during your journey.

Keep a record of your ideas and behaviours in a journal

Keeping a journal of your ideas allows you to detect patterns in your thinking, which can help you figure out what makes you think or act in specific ways.

Keep track of what works and what doesn't in your life

By identifying, recording, and considering what makes you happy, healthy, productive, and satisfied (as opposed to the opposite of these qualities), you can develop a better understanding of what is most important to you in each of these dimensions. Simultaneously, it is critical to be aware of how other things do not contribute to your happiness and fulfilment. By identifying these areas of dissatisfaction, we may make more informed choices in the future that will likely get us closer to our goals.

Obtain opinions from people you can trust

Your friends and relatives may be privy to information about you that you are unaware of. Having a fresh pair of eyes to see things from a different perspective can be immensely beneficial – sometimes you just need an outsider's perspective to better comprehend things.

Make a daily list of the things that make you happy, sad, or furious, and consider how those emotions are affecting your life. It has been discovered that people who routinely identify their sentiments and reflect on how they affect them perform better at work and in relationships than those who do not.

Rewrite your own rules as though they were laws that everyone must follow

This is an excellent approach to check if what you're thinking and feeling makes sense. If it doesn't, you can alter the rules to make them fit your needs. This can help you relax by providing you with greater control over how you interact with the people and things around you. Weaknesses in your life that aren't serving you can be transformed into personal strengths that are, by altering your thinking, because your mind is unquestionably the most essential thing in your life.

Set a timer for thirty minutes and jot down anything that comes to mind during that period

When you start evaluating what's truly on your mind, you're likely to come across thoughts and feelings that you don't want to deal with right now. It takes some time for us to become accustomed to being honest with ourselves. But once we do, amazing things will happen. It just takes 30 minutes per day, after which you can set your timer for another day.

Conclusion

After all, we think that you have known how to deal with weakness questions, ranging from a deep understanding, examples, and how to solve some problems related. We hope that you find the strategies that fit your job and your skills to know how to answer this type of question. Besides, if you are interested in any other fields, please let us know what other topics you want us to include to rank.

Read More Articles

Find Jobs in Singapore