It’s only logical that you’re prepared to talk about your strengths during a job interview. But what if the hiring manager asks, “What is your biggest weakness?”
Being caught off guard by this question or giving a quick cliche answer can hurt your chances of getting hired. In the meantime, a well-prepared response delivered with confidence can frame you as a self-aware and competent candidate.
In this guide, we’ll uncover the reasoning behind this challenging interview question and explore strategies to come up with an answer that strengthens your candidacy.
Key takeaways
- Such interview questions test a candidate’s honesty, self-reflection, and growth mindset.
- Address a genuine weakness of yours that doesn’t impact the core responsibilities of the role.
- Explain how the weakness has shown up in your work, but offer context to soften its impact.
- Talk about the actions you’ve taken to address your and improve.
- Avoid cliches or fabricated weak points that sound rehearsed.
- A genuine, well-framed answer can leave a positive and lasting impression on employers.
Why do interviewers ask about a candidate’s weaknesses?
Employers often ask such questions during interviews to understand how you perceive yourself, whether you possess emotional intelligence, and whether you can grow from your experiences. It’s a strategy to reveal your personal traits.
While the question seems intimidating, interviewers aren’t necessarily asking it to exaggerate your flaws or to sabotage you.
They’re looking for:
Desirable personal traits of job candidates
- Self-awareness: This is a crucial personal trait. It shows you’re grounded, reflective, and able to assess your impact in a professional context.
- Honesty: Are you willing to be humble and vulnerable? Everybody has flaws, and pretending otherwise suggests hidden toxic traits.
- Accountability: It’s great to be self-aware and understand your own limitations. But are you able to fill the role as a responsible, reliable hire?
- Growth mindset: If you acknowledge a weakness but demonstrate how you’ve adapted, then you’ll show you’re able to work around your flaws and progress.
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Knowing how to talk about weaknesses can make all the difference, especially when the interview question comes up.
Examples of weaknesses and how to address them
Understanding the various weak sides of job candidates can help you choose one of yours that’s genuine but not disqualifying.
Let’s go over some common ones and how to talk about them:
| Weaknesses | Presentation strategy |
|---|---|
| Skill-based: Public speaking, data analysis, time management, delegating tasks, technical writing, project management, proficiency with a specific software tool, etc. | These involve gaps in specific competencies, such as technical skills. (Be careful with skill-based weaknesses. If you mention one that's central to the role, your chances of getting hired might dwindle.) Shift the focus to how you improved through practice, mentorship, courses, or on-the-job learning. |
| Personality-driven: Impatience, difficulty saying no, perfectionism, introversion, sensitivity to criticism, reluctance to ask for help, overcommitment. | Such “weaknesses” are tied to inherent traits, like being shy, overly self-critical, or hesitant to speak up. They’re tendencies that can create obstacles in certain situations. The key is to explain that despite your flaws, you’re able to be effective. For instance, someone who’s a bit reserved might tell the story of how they’ve learned to express their ideas. |
| Situational or environmental: Adjusting to remote work, managing work-life balance, performing under tight deadlines, adapting to frequent change, staying focused in noisy environments, collaborating across time zones. | Describe how you’ve adapted to a specific environment, despite the difficulties. For example, “At first, I had a hard time adjusting to remote work. Then I changed my daily routine and it all clicked perfectly.” |
| Toxic work tendencies: Micromanaging, taking credit for others’ work, gossiping, resisting feedback, blaming others, withholding information, undermining team members. | Some flaws can emerge from how you approach your work. They often come from a place of wanting to perform well. In this case, the best approach is to show how you find balance. For example, you used to say “yes” to everything, which spread you too thin, so you learned to prioritize effectively. |
Weaknesses aren’t damaging if communicated thoughtfully. When presented the right way, how you dealt with your flaws can reveal a strength of yours to an interviewer.
So, which one do you choose?
How to pick a weakness for your response
Before you start working on your answer, it’s best to consider the exact weakness you’ll be addressing during your interview.
Here’s how to choose it:
| Key consideration | Reasoning |
|---|---|
| Relevance to core responsibilities | Opt for a weakness that doesn’t impact your ability to do the job. |
| Authenticity | Pick a real weakness you’ve genuinely experienced. |
| Evidence of improvement | Select a weakness you’ve taken steps to improve; share what you’ve done to grow. |
| Career level appropriateness | Align the weakness with your level of experience (e.g., junior candidates might lack experience managing teams; senior candidates shouldn’t say “I struggle with time management”). |
| Team impact | Choose a weakness that shows self-awareness and willingness to adapt. |
| Alignment with role expectations | Pick something that’s understandable for the type of role (e.g., technical specialist might mention public speaking nerves; a leadership role shouldn’t). |
| Potential to reframe positively | Choose a weakness that can be reframed to demonstrate growth mindset or commitment to self-development. |
| Avoid overused "Humble Brag" weaknesses | If you pick a commonly used weakness (like “perfectionism”), ensure you provide depth and real examples. |
Now, let’s work on your answer.
How to answer what your biggest weakness is during interviews
A well-structured answer addressing your biggest weakness follows a clear arc.
So, how do you build a convincing narrative?
Crafting a complete answer
- Identify a real weakness: Choose a weakness that’s genuine, but not detrimental to the role. It should be something you’ve struggled with, but that doesn’t raise serious red flags about your ability to perform.
- Provide context: Explain how it has shown up in your work. You can give one or two examples. Keep it professional, and don’t shift blame or overjustify.
- Show effort to improve: Talk about what steps you’ve taken to address the weakness—whether it’s training, seeking feedback, using new tools, or adjusting your habits.
- End on a thoughtful note: Wrap up your answer by reflecting on what you’ve learned or how the experience has made you a better professional.
So far, so good. But how does this approach look in action?
Examples of strong answers
To help you come up with your own response, here are samples of well-structured answers. Each one follows the format outlined in the previous section.
Example 1: Struggling with public speaking
“I’ve always found public speaking intimidating. Earlier in my career, I would avoid presenting in meetings or speaking up in front of large groups. To work on it, I started volunteering to lead small team updates and even took a short presentation skills course.”
Example 2: Being too detail-oriented
“One weakness I’ve struggled with is getting too caught up in the details. I tend to want everything to be perfect, which sometimes slows me down when working under tight deadlines. I’ve been working on this by setting time limits for certain tasks and reminding myself that done is often better than perfect.”
Example 3: Difficulty saying “no”
“I’ve had a hard time saying ‘no’ when people ask for help or want to delegate tasks to me. I like being dependable, but I realized it was affecting my own workload and priorities. I’ve since learned to assess my capacity more realistically and communicate when I need to say no or suggest alternate timelines.”
Example 4: Reluctance to delegate tasks
“I used to struggle with delegating tasks because I felt it was faster to do things myself. But over time, I realized that this was holding back both my team’s growth and my own capacity. I’ve made a conscious effort to trust others more, provide clear instructions, and follow up rather than take everything on personally.”
Example 5: Getting overwhelmed under pressure
“High-pressure situations used to really stress me out, especially when multiple deadlines hit at once. I’d get overwhelmed trying to manage everything perfectly. To improve, I started breaking projects into smaller, prioritized steps and using tools like Trello to visualize my workload.”
Example 6: Customer support
“Early in my career, I found myself becoming impatient when dealing with customers who repeated the same issues. To improve, I started practicing active listening techniques and reframing each interaction as an opportunity to build trust. Now, I focus on empathy and see repeated complaints as valuable insights into potential systemic problems.”
Example 7: Software developer
“I used to underestimate the time required for certain coding tasks, which occasionally caused project delays. To address this, I began breaking work into smaller chunks and using historical data from past sprints to inform my estimates. Over time, this has helped me provide more accurate timelines to my team.”
Example 8: Marketing specialist
“Earlier in my career, I often leaned on creative instincts when making campaign decisions. While this sometimes worked, it wasn’t always reliable. I’ve since completed several data analytics courses and now balance intuition with performance metrics, which has noticeably improved campaign outcomes.”
Example 9: Entry-level role
“When I started, I often sought constant approval before moving forward with tasks, which slowed my productivity. Over time, with guidance from my manager, I began building more confidence in my judgment and now take initiative, checking in only when necessary. This has improved both my efficiency and problem-solving skills.”
Example 10: Mid-level role
“In my first mid-level PM role, I struggled to manage conflicting stakeholder requests, trying to accommodate everyone. To address this, I adopted a more structured prioritization framework and began setting clearer expectations with stakeholders upfront. Now, I’m better at making decisions that align with the product vision while maintaining transparency with all parties.”
Example 11: Executive role
“Earlier in my leadership career, I focused heavily on strategy and execution but neglected one-on-one mentorship for my team. Recognizing its importance for long-term growth, I’ve since made mentoring a regular part of my leadership routine, setting aside time each week for coaching and professional development discussions with key team members.”
Mistakes to avoid when talking about your biggest weakness
When answering, “What is your biggest weakness?”, certain missteps can undermine your credibility.
Here are some common mistakes to steer clear of:
- Avoiding the question entirely: Not answering the question in any way may come across as lacking humility or self-awareness.
- Choosing a fake weakness: Saying something along the lines of “I’m a perfectionist” or “I care too much” won’t impress a hiring manager without proper context. You’ll be seen as evasive or insincere.
- Oversharing or getting too personal: Sharing overly personal or emotional struggles can make hiring managers uncomfortable. Stick to work-related traits and behaviors.
- Sounding overly rehearsed or insincere: Interviewers want a genuine response, not a rehearsed script. Keep a conversational tone and show you’ve actually thought about your growth.
I’ve interviewed a decent amount of job candidates and often asked them about their shortcomings. Unsurprisingly, I’ve heard plenty of bad answers to “What is your biggest weakness?”
Common bad answers to ‘What’s your biggest weakness?’
I’ve interviewed a decent amount of job candidates and often asked them about their shortcomings. Unsurprisingly, I’ve heard plenty of bad answers to “What is your biggest weakness?”
Let’s go over some poor responses that hiring managers often hear:
| Bad answer | Improved response |
|---|---|
| “I work too hard.” | “I used to push myself too hard, sometimes at the expense of work-life balance. I now prioritize tasks better and set clearer boundaries to stay productive and healthy.” |
| “I’m a perfectionist.” | “Earlier in my career, I would spend too long refining every detail. I’ve since learned to balance high standards with deadlines by focusing on what delivers the most value.” |
| “I’m bad with technology.” | “I used to struggle with learning new digital tools quickly. I’ve since made it a point to dedicate time to mastering essential tech platforms and now adapt more easily.” |
| “I get bored easily.” | “In some routine tasks, I used to lose focus. I’ve since developed ways to stay engaged by setting small challenges and looking for ways to optimize processes.” |
| “I have no weaknesses.” | “In the past, I hesitated to acknowledge my weaknesses. I now regularly seek feedback and treat it as an opportunity for growth.” |
If you’re not a confident speaker, then it would be helpful to rehearse your answer.
How to practice your answer before the interview
Don’t let your tone and voice betray you due to inexperience. Take the time to prepare for these common interview questions.
Here’s what you can do:
- Finalize your response: Write your answer down using the four-step format above to structure your thoughts clearly.
- Read your answer out loud: This might feel a little awkward if you’re not used to rehearsing. Tweak any parts that feel unnatural or overly practiced.
- Ask for help: Meet with a friend or use a video tool to review your tone, body language, and pacing.
Also, have you considered to leverage AI tools in your job search efforts? In this particular case, you can use ChatGPT’s voice option to simulate answering the question in a conversational tone and refine your delivery.
Conclusion
A strong answer to “What is your biggest weakness?” can turn one of your vulnerabilities to your advantage. This is a great opportunity to show self-awareness and integrity during your job interview. Formulate your answer carefully before the meeting and deliver it with confidence to make yourself a memorable candidate.
Make one that's truly you.
