A client who wasn’t sure she wanted a future with her current employer was curious about the interview process.
She wanted guidance on how to best answer the classic interview question, Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.
Her curiosity about the strengths/weaknesses question was a good thing to have. I shared with her that employers typically use this question to assess several things about the applicant:
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- the depth of their experience
- determine whether or not the applicant is a good “cultural fit” with the organization
- gauge how well an individual can assess their abilities and if they’re personally aware
- gain insights into how a person responds to feedback and what they do with the information
- assess an individual’s grace, tact, polish and articulateness with “dicey” questions
Interviews: talking about weaknesses
Be savvy in how you talk about your weaknesses. You don’t want to be too slick or so candid that you rule yourself out. Saying that you have a perpetual problem with being late, deeply dislike deadlines or that you are a hopeless workaholic who has no tolerance for others who take time off may show that you’re candid, but that knowledge doesn’t position you in the best light.
An effective response is highlighting a skill that you’ve improved over the years. Something like this:
Many years ago, a really good boss told me I needed to work on my delegation skills, and she was right. I took a class at the local community college, read a few books and worked closely with a respected leader at my company. The result was that my delegation skills improved to the point where I am asked to mentor others and teach them how to effectively delegate.
No one is without skill areas needing improvement. What you want to demonstrate is your awareness of the deficiency AND your progress or success in closing the gap between where your skills are and where they need to be.
Interviews: talking about strengths
When sharing information about your strengths, demonstrate how your knowledge, skills and abilities mesh with a particular requirement for the open position. Employers want to know what you are going to do for them. Use examples to illustrate successes you’ve achieved with previous employers.
For example, if project management is listed as a duty for the open position, respond with something like:
Managing projects is a real strength area for me and is something I enjoy doing. I’m skilled at working with groups of people to complete projects on time and on budget. In fact … (Here’s where you describe a specific project, what it was and how you handled it.)
Sharing specific examples that include metrics is a perfect way to position your attention to task, results, and ideally building relationships.
What’s been your experience in answering this classic interview question?
Image source before quote: morgueFile.com
