It won’t come as any great surprise that one of the most frequently asked interview questions is: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”. Sometimes it can catch many candidates off guard, primarily because your response requires a delicate balance. You want to confidently highlight your strengths while also being honest about areas you’re working to improve and grow professionally.
While this question might seem tricky or a potential banana skin at first, a bit of preparation will help you craft a compelling answer. It’s also an excellent chance to showcase your ability to self-reflect, learn, and grow—qualities that employers are always on the lookout for. This question allows employers to get a better sense of your character, skill set, and how you will approach challenges should you be successful in landing the role.
There’s no perfect answer or wrong answer, but how you approach this question will give the interviewer insight into your suitability for the role.
Top Tips for Answering: “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?”
As it’s a question that regularly pops up in interviews, you can take advantage of that predictability by preparing a thoughtful answer in advance. The key to answering, or giving a successful response to the interview panel, lies in aligning your strengths with the job requirements and showing that you’re aware of areas you can improve. There’s no perfect answer or wrong answer, but how you approach this question will give the interviewer insight into your suitability for the role.
So, how do you start crafting your response? Start by splitting the answer into two parts, starting with your strengths.
“What Are Your Strengths?”
Talking about your strengths in theory seems easier than discussing your weaknesses, and in many ways, it is. But it’s not just about listing your good qualities and telling the interviewer just how fantastic you are. You need to be specific and authentic. So, consider the following when discussing your strengths:
1. Relate Your Strengths to the Job
Before the interview, take a close look at the job description. The job description will provide a clear idea of the skills and experience the employer values which you can align your answer to. Researching the company’s website and social media can also give you an understanding of its culture and what they expect from employees.
2. Highlight Both Soft and Technical Skills
If you find yourself in a position where you feel that you might not fully meet the technical requirements of the job, this is your chance to focus on your soft skills. These are transferable skills like communication, willingness to learn, adaptability, and problem-solving that apply to any job. Where possible, use specific examples from your previous roles to back up your claims.
3. Show What Makes You Stand Out
An interview is the perfect opportunity to highlight what sets you apart from other candidates or what your USP is. Avoid commonly used phrases like “innovative” or “team player” without any substance behind them. Instead, give specific examples, such as how you’ve successfully led a project or how you’ve supported team members in achieving their goals.
4. Be Ready To Give Examples
We can’t emphasise it enough to back up your strengths with evidence. For instance, if problem-solving is one of your strengths, provide an example of how you tackled a challenge at work, explaining your thought process, the process or steps involved and the positive outcome that resulted.
“What Are Your Weaknesses?”
Employers aren’t looking to catch you out—they just want to see that you have self-awareness and a willingness to improve. Some find this part of the question a bit more challenging but don’t be intimidated. Here are some tips for tackling this side of the question:
1. Take Ownership
Be honest and take responsibility for your weaknesses. Blaming others or dodging the question entirely will not leave a good impression. Also, don’t use clichéd responses like “I’m a perfectionist” or “I work too hard,” as they’ll likely sound insincere.
2. Strike a Balance
While it’s important to be honest and truthful, you don’t want to raise red flags in the minds of the interviewer by admitting to a weakness that could directly impact your ability to do the job. For example, if the role requires leadership skills and managing a team, avoid saying that you struggle with managing teams. Instead, talk about a more manageable weakness and how you’re actively working to improve these areas/skills.
3. Show You’re Committed to Improvement
Use your answer to demonstrate that you’re proactive about personal growth and have a growth mindset. You can do this by highlighting an area where you’ve made efforts to improve and sharing the thought process on how you’ve approached overcoming that weakness. Avoid framing any example as a failure, and instead, shift the focus to what you’ve learned from the experience.
4. Choose a Weakness Not Central to the Role
While your strengths should align with the job requirements, the opposite is true for weaknesses. Carefully select a weakness that won’t hinder or impact your ability to perform well in the role. We’ve touched on it already but reviewing the job description will help you avoid any potential pitfalls here.
Example Answer: “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?”
Here’s an example of how you might structure your response in an interview. Ultimately, you will have to tailor it to your skills and experience:
Strengths:
“I’d say my biggest strength is my ability to interpret data effectively, which is crucial in my current role. I really enjoy identifying patterns and insights from data and then presenting these findings in a way that’s understandable, useful and actionable for the team. For example, through my analysis, we were able to make strategic adjustments to our marketing approach, which led to higher engagement and a significant increase in ROI.”
Weaknesses:
“In terms of weaknesses, I sometimes struggle with the delegation of tasks, especially the more routine ones. I tend to want to manage everything myself. However, I’ve been working on planning better and identifying which tasks I can pass on to others. By doing this, it allows me to focus more on high-value strategic work.”
Finally, if you’re looking for assistance in finding your dream job, PE Global are here to help. We’ll guide you through the entire job-finding process. So, please get in touch or email queries@peglobal.net.
