by Anony Mili

Created on: February 18, 2007   Last Updated: December 19, 2009

I think one of the toughest questions people find during a job interview is when they're asking to name their weaknesses. People don't like to admit to weaknesses, especially in a high pressure environment like a job interview. After all, you're there to impress the interviewer and by admitting you have faults, you're risking people finding out that you're not perfect...! Right? Wrong!

Admitting that you have faults is not a sign of weakness, it's a sign that you aware of your limitations and are doing something to work on them. Examples of things to say when faced with this question:

1) Some might think that being so meticulous is a weakness as it takes me slightly longer to complete tasks than it does other people. I take my time to check my figurework to ensure that it 100% correct. To me it's really important to do the job right the first time, so I'd rather spend that extra few minutes ensuring that it's accurate thereby saying me time later should there be any errors.

2) I know I am slightly weak at C++ compared to C. I have been proactive about adressing this and have been attending advanced evening classes to improve my skills in C++.

3) One of my weaknesses is doing Math. It tends not to affect me greatly as the type of work I've done in the past have little or nothing to do with figures. I understand there might be some need in the future as I progress in my career so I've started taking evening classes to remedy the situation.

Whatever weakness you disclose try and ensure you have something ready to say how you're trying to improve on the weakness. This shows you are aware of your weaknesses, are mature enough to admit to them and are willing and able to further develop your skills to ensure those weaknesses are no longer weaknesses.

Good luck with thinking about your weaknesses and working out how to address them!

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