“What is your greatest weakness?” One of the toughest questions to answer, but it’s one you’ll encounter many times throughout your career. Knowing our weaknesses and working on them is as important as knowing our strengths, maybe even more important. This is also a common job interview question for a good reason; both employers and employees need to feel sure they have strong employees and good support driving them forward. Here are a couple of ways to think about the question of weaknesses and strive to overcome it!
–How to answer it: If you’re asked this question in a job interview, I know a lot of women will be critical of ourselves. Many people will tell you to spin it to highlight a strength like saying “I’m a perfectionist” but I say be even more specific than that and highlight something you know will be an asset to that particular organization. If you’re trying to work for a high-powered entrepreneur, tell them you’re sometimes too ambitious—any founder will respect that!
–How to ask it: If you’re interviewing someone, I always consider the way someone handles this question as important as what they say. See if someone gets nervous or anxious when faced with this question and you’ll know something important about how they handle stress.
–How to reflect on it: We all have weaknesses, so this isn’t a question we should just think about in job interviews. Know your weaknesses and strive to improve them—identify specific things you want to change about yourself as a professional and a person and work on them throughout your life.
