What Are Your Strengths And Weaknesses Job Interview Answer [Examples]

Published March 6, 2023 · · Updated August 15, 2024 · 5 minutes · by Kamerpower ·

What Are Your Strengths And Weaknesses Job Interview Answer | Examples of Strengths and Weaknesses. Job candidates might be asked to describe their strengths and weaknesses in a job interviews. Everybody has both strengths and weaknesses. 

Answering this question gives you the opportunity to provide a contextual example of how you use your strengths to shine and how you work to improve any weaknesses that are relevant to the role. It’s important to be prepared for this question and have a statement ready. Even if you aren’t asked this question, you will be aware of your strengths and what you can bring to the position.

Your strengths and weaknesses should reflect the requirements of the role. Ensure that you highlight your skills that are listed in the job description, and explain how you will gain or improve critical skills that you lack.

What are your weaknesses examples?

The key to talking about your weaknesses is to pair self-awareness with an action and a result. Explaining that you are aware of a particular weakness and have taken steps to improve is a sign of maturity and drive that is attractive to employers. Choose one that gives you the chance to demonstrate growth and enthusiasm for learning. 

• Public speaking.
• Lack of confidence.
• Taking criticism.
• Lack of experience.
• Self-criticism.
• Shyness.
• Lack of knowledge of particular software.
• Inability to delegate.

While it is important to be honest about your weaknesses, there are a few traits that are not appropriate or beneficial to mention in a job interview. This includes tardiness, poor attention to detail, and an inability to meet deadlines.

Examples of Strengths.

It may be helpful to first reflect on this question from the hiring manager’s perspective. What qualities or competencies are they looking for in this specific role? Consider how you can leverage your strengths to align with a key competency of the job description. For your strengths, be confident. Don’t be afraid to brag a little. This is your chance to highlight what makes you such a great fit for the job. Mention one or two top strengths, and provide examples.

• Honesty.
• Leadership skills.
• Initiative.
• Self-motivation.
• Patience.
• Writing skills.
• Communication skills.
• People skills.
• Writing skills.
• Computer literacy.
• Analytical skills.
• Empathy.

Example responses to “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

What are your strengths?

1. Writing skills:

I have 7 years of experience as a copywriter and consider myself to have strong writing skills. I was promoted to an editorial position after five years at the company, so I have also improved my editing skills thanks to my new role.

2. Solving problems

I am a solutions-oriented person and a quick learner. In my role as an electrical engineer, I learned to perform well under pressure when designing equipment because our team would not be able to win a contract unless we produced the blueprints quickly, with as few resources as possible. In these circumstances, I am not afraid to ask questions to figure out the challenge. I do extensive research for every client, so I can be extra prepared.

3. People skills.

My people skills are my greatest strength. I find it easy to connect with almost anyone, and I often know how to empathize with others in an appropriate way.

4. Collaborative

I am very collaborative. I’ve always enjoyed working on teams and it is one of my strongest attributes. In my previous job as a marketing research analyst, I led a project that involved diverse stakeholders, focus groups, and extensive field research, which taught me about my ability to inspire others in stressful situations. The client used our insights to create a sustainable (both environmentally and financially) product.

5. Communication skills.

Thanks to my experience as an HR representative, I have gained excellent communication skills. I was responsible for facilitating informational workshops for staff members and mediated any conflict in the workplace.

6. Leadership skills.

I consider my leadership skills to be one of my greatest strengths. During my time as a department head, I successfully merged two teams and organized training programs for all team members to ensure that everyone was confident in their new role.

7. Positive attitude

My positive attitude is definitely one of my strengths. I have been a restaurant server, a tutor, and a health aide in the past decade, all jobs that require plenty of energy and endurance. I can view a situation from multiple perspectives and empathize with my customers, students, and patients to understand their needs at any given time.

What are your Weaknesses?

• Shyness is something that I struggle with in large groups. I find it intimidating to ask questions or raise points, so I have often remained quiet in the past. I have been trying to be more vocal in smaller groups to become more confident.
• Lack of experience with skill or software: I haven’t had as much experience with Python as I’d like. When I decided to make a shift into data analytics, I knew I’d need to use a statistical programming language to perform efficient analysis. I signed up for a Python for Everybody course, and I’ve found I really love it. I’m excited to start applying the techniques I’m learning to help make my workflow more efficient.
• I struggle with negative criticism and can become obsessed with perfecting my work after receiving notes from a supervisor. While I appreciate the guidance, I think I can learn to be less harsh on myself.
• I often struggle with delegating and choose to take on a larger workload to ensure that a task is completed perfectly. This puts more pressure on myself, so I have been using software to assign tasks and track their completion.
• Procrastination: Procrastination has long been a bad habit of mine. I think it stems from a fear of failure, to be honest. In my last job as a real estate agent, keeping up with appointments and critical paperwork was essential to success. I started using Google calendar and apps like Trello to manage my time better. Crossing things off my to-do list makes me feel accomplished, and I’ve learned to tackle harder tasks early in the day when I’m feeling refreshed and less likely to put them off. 
• I find public speaking intimidating and have often struggled with presentations. As a result, I am currently taking a public speaking course at a community college to become more confident and learn to structure a speech more effectively.

Other Examples On How to answer what are your strengths? Interview Question

What are your strengths?” interview question

Example 1

My strongest asset is my work ethic and my willingness to step in when needed. I’m not afraid to take on a difficult client or do a project that nobody else wants because those are the clients and projects that teach me the most. I typically love to work outside of my job description and do whatever is asked of me. I’m not above any single task, and I take great pride in my ability to step in and adapt to any situation to get the best results for the company.

Example 2

I believe that my greatest strength is the ability to solve problems quickly and efficiently. I can see any given situation from multiple perspectives, which makes me uniquely qualified to complete my work even under challenging conditions. That problem solving allows me to be a better communicator. I am just as comfortable speaking to senior executives as I am junior team members. I think my ability to see all sides of an issue will make me a great asset to the team.

Example 3

I’m relatively new to the finance industry, but I find that I’m good at working with numbers and I truly love it. I love helping people save money and finding new investment opportunities for my clients. Learning about their needs and finding ways to help them achieve the lifestyle they want is so gratifying to me, and I’ve helped my clients increase their net worth by 15% collectively. 

Example 4

I’ve always preferred to work in groups and find that my collaborative nature is one of my strongest attributes. On projects that I directed, I work well to inspire diverse team members and work side by side with them to achieve the project goals. In fact, I’ve increased productivity by ten percent over the course of two years. 

Other Examples On How to answer what are your weaknesses? Interview Question

Example 1

I’m not familiar with the latest version of the software that you use. I’ve spent my time recently focused on generating a positive user experience and have always been willing to learn new things. Throughout my career software has always changed and I’ve always been willing to adapt to changing technology. I will put in the time it takes to learn this new software. 

Example 2

When I’m given a task, I am very goal-oriented and work hard to complete that task. However, when new projects come across my plate, I sometimes jump right into those projects and halt work on the projects I had in progress. Having to jump between tasks, so many times throughout the day hinders my productivity and prevents me from delivering my best work. I have been using a project management tool to help me manage my tasks and my time, which has helped me become more aware of prioritization. Since implementing this project management mentality, I have only improved my efficiency and productivity. 

Example 3

I am incredibly introverted, which makes me wary of sharing my ideas in a group setting or speaking up during team meetings. I feel that I had good intentions, I just wasn’t always comfortable speaking up. After my team didn’t meet expectations on two consecutive projects, I decided to start making changes to get more familiar with sharing my ideas for the benefit of my team. I took local improv classes and started trying to get comfortable discussing my thoughts. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s something that I’ve improved dramatically over the past year.

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