What are Your Greatest Weaknesses

What are your greatest weaknesses? It happens to be one of the most common interview questions where participants make a mistake or goof up. The interviewer asks this question to observe your self-esteem, not your personal imperfections

What are Your Weaknesses - The mindset of your interviewer

Here your interviewer wants to observe your presence of mind. If you answer this question without consideration, you end up revealing your grave professional weakness that may ruin your impression.

Keep in mind that your interviewer is not interested in your personal weaknesses as everyone has some shortcoming. There is no exception to this rule. Famous celebrities, business tycoons, great authors, powerful politicians, exemplary athletes, and the best motivational speakers also have shortcomings.

The interviewer might want to test your confidence level through this question. You can compare answering this question with handling a difficult conversation. If you answer this question assertively, you will be considered self-reliant. 

What Are Your Greatest Weaknesses - How to Answer

You need not reveal personal weaknesses, such as smoking or drinking off and on that has no bearing on your job. You may preferably include a professional shortcoming that is a weakness for you and a strength for the company. Here are a couple of sample answers

Option 1

If I commit to a deadline I meet it at any cost. Due to this shortcoming, my health and family suffer sometimes. Let me substantiate my point. To complete my last project in 30 days, I had to work for twelve to fourteen hours a day. I could not even meet my children during that assignment. I failed to follow my workout routine.You might suffer personally owing to this shortcoming but this weakness is going to benefit your company.  

Option 2

I am habitual of taking regular technical training at night. If I reach home late and start attending a training session, my family feels ignored. I never fail to upskill as I want to contribute my best and exceed the expectations of my boss and clients.

Option 3

I feel angry at people who do not want to fulfil their responsibility.  It might disturb some reckless people on my team. Let me tell you an incident I cannot forget. I needed frequent cooperation from one of my colleagues to executive a significant project that had a deadline of seven days. My boss made it clear to him that he had to provide me with the project related information on priority. However, he started avoiding my calls and emails after the meeting. When he did not reply to emails and calls for two days, I wrote him a harsh email. My boss also got that email and warned my colleague to follow my instructions.   

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What are Your Greatest Weaknesses - The Conclusion

You can answer this question if you understand the mindset of your interviewer behind the question. The interviewer wants to assess your self-confidence through this question. You need not talk about a personal weakness in response to this question.

You may talk about an attribute that benefits your employer, but you consider it a personal weakness. Your interviewer can also ask two questions, such as what are your greatest weaknesses and strengths? Learn to answer to the second part What are Your Strengths?

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