Interviews are not the favorite thing for any of us. Still, we need to go through to get our desired jobs.

If you have given any interviews in your life, you may come across a common question: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

Most candidates are unsure how to answer this question correctly to make a good impression.

Being honest and giving your answers with absolute truth is the road to disaster. You need to be diplomatic when answering these questions and ensure you provide only the information that will positively affect the recruiters.

In this article, we will share tips on how to answer the question “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” tactfully, which will help you stand out from other candidates. We will also share some example answers to help you prepare for your interview.

This blog will cover the following topics:

Why Do Interviewers Ask, “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses”?

When interviewers ask you about strengths and weaknesses, they not only want to know about your skills and shortcomings, they also keep an eye on your communication skills, clarity of thoughts, and diplomatic skills.

You can not just blurt out all your strengths and weaknesses one by one. You have to give context to your answer so that the recruiters also feel connected with your answers.

Also Read: Job Interview Questions for 2022 with Questions & Answers Samples

How to Answer “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses” in an Interview?

Answering the “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” question in an interview is tricky. You need to think carefully and prepare an answer that positively affects the recruiters.

Below are some tips on how to prepare for this question:

1. Prepare Your Answers Beforehand

Ask your peers, friends, colleagues about what they think your strengths are? And why do they think so? Then make a list of these skills.

2. Follow the Job Description

Your strengths or weaknesses should be beneficial to your job. So, read the job description carefully and identify the strengths required for the job. Only mention the strengths that will help you get the job done effectively in the interview. Similarly, only mention the weaknesses that won’t affect the job you are getting hired for.

For example, if you are applying for a sales job, then you can say that “My strength is I’m a people’s person. I can build rapport with people very easily.”

3. Explain Course of Action

When you explain a weakness, do not just blurt out your weakness like bullet points. Instead, give a roadmap of what you’re doing to overcome these weaknesses. It will help the recruiters understand that you are proactive.

4. Don’t Reveal Too Much

It’s essential, to be honest when stating your weaknesses., At the same time, you should stay away from talking too much about your weaknesses to prevent yourself from giving unnecessary information.

Also Read: Know the top 10 interview tips to ace your interview in 2022

What Are Your Strengths: List

  • Creative
  • Brave
  • Detail-Oriented
  • Determined
  • Resourceful
  • Problem-Solver
  • Disciplined
  • Dedicated
  • Enthusiastic
  • Flexible
  • Hard-working
  • Negotiation Skills
  • Organization Skills
  • Time Management Skill
  • Team Player
  • Leadership Skills
  • Writing Skills
  • Communication Skills
  • Multitasker
  • Empathetic

List of Strengths and Weaknesses

strengths-weaknesses-list

Mistakes to Avoid While Answering - What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

Many candidates make the mistake of thinking that “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” is an easy question to answer. And they get carried away and start bragging about themselves. This is the quickest way to get rejected.

Here are some more common mistakes that candidates make during what are your strengths interview answer:

1. No Self Awareness:

Most job seekers don’t have any idea about their strengths and weaknesses. Even if they do, they don’t spend enough time understanding the job description to identify relevant strengths for the job.

Knowing your strengths well will help you give a clear answer in your interview that may land you your desired job.

2. Too Modest

Many candidates are shy to talk about their strengths as they think it’s the same as bragging. This is particularly true if the candidate is an introvert. Candidates must practice saying good things about themselves. If they prepare a speech in advance and practice, it will sound more natural at the time of interviews.

3. Choosing Wrong Strengths

If you explain the strengths that do not help you stand out, you will not get the job you want so badly. At worst, if you don’t choose a well-thought-out strength, it may work against you and put you into the black-list of recruiters.

Also Read: How to sell yourself in an interview in 2022?

What Are Your Strengths Examples Answer?

They won’t do much for you if you just blurt out your strengths like bullet points. Instead, you have to give a situation where you used these skills to affect the work positively. Here is some example answers for Whar are your strengths interview question:

1. Detail Oriented

"Whenever the writing team writes a blog, I’m the one who edits it and gets minor issues fixed. I love identifying little details and errors to improve them and ensure an excellent reading experience for the readers. Not only that, whenever we launch a new product feature, I’m the one who tests it for identifying bugs. In fact, last week, I found some critical bugs on our product and worked with the development team to get it fixed. After that, our user conversion has increased by 43%. Your company can allow me to play on my strengths and generate a positive business outcome."

2. Team Player

"I have always loved to work in a great team, and I feel my urge to collaborate with people is my strongest strength. In the past, I’ve worked with a diverse team to achieve project goals. I’ve also motivated my team members to increase productivity by 22%."

3. Creativity

"I like to push the limits as part of improving productivity by out-of-the-box thinking. In last month I have proposed to integrate our blog and google docs via Zapier to automate blog publishing while decreasing the publishing time by 21%. Thanks to this, I’ve also won the “Performer of The Month Award” last month."

4. Resourceful/ Problem Solving

"I would say my strength is finding solutions if and when a unique problem arises. I talked to people, searched the internet, brainstormed until I found a good solution I needed. I can also break down a complex problem into multiple parts and prioritize them to minimize the solution time. Apart from that, I’m incredibly comfortable speaking with the Senior management and junior associates to understand core problems to find solutions."

5. Work Under Pressure

"I am incredibly productive under pressure. When a critical situation arises, I can keep myself calm and try to find a solution for the situation. In the last quarter, Our product crashed due to some technical issues. I became the POC between our clients and the technical team and coordinated the debugging process while providing excellent customer service."

6. Flexibility

"I can adapt to any situation in the workplace. I do it if I have to go above and beyond my job role to support efficient project execution. As you also have a diverse clientele, I believe you will benefit from my experience of managing multiple projects and clientele."

7. Team Player

"I have always been excellent at communicating with the team and motivating them to work. I’m also comfortable collaborating with management and stakeholders to understand project scope and assist my team in completing projects on time."

8. Leadership Skills

"My biggest strength is the ability to bring people together to do something worthwhile. I remember, in my college, I founded an NGO and brought together a team to work on rescuing stray dogs and providing food and shelter to them. With that little venture, I learned a lot about pithing, finding sponsors, raising funds, managing a team, and many other leadership skills. Since You are a consulting firm, I think my leadership skills will help your clients make better business decisions."

9. Writing Skills

"If you ask me about my greatest strength, I would say writing. I have been writing since my college days and got published in reputed publications. With my years of writing experience, I understood how to write copy that gets responses from people. Since you are looking for an email marketer, I think I would be the perfect candidate for that job."

10. Negotiation Skills

"During my work at a local grocery store, I had to negotiate with clients day in and day out to get the maximum profit. This helped me develop my negotiation skills. Since I’m applying for a sales associate position in your organization, my excellent communication and negotiation skills will help me get more clients and bolster sales."

Also Read: Top 10 Mock Interview Questions and Answers 2022? (with 10+ Q&A Samples)

List of Weaknesses?

When the recruiter asks you, “What are your weaknesses?" It’s a slippery slope to walk on! You need to craft your answer very carefully to make you unfit for the job you are applying for. You also can’t say, “I don’t have any.” Because everyone has a weakness, and if you don’t know yours, it just means that you are not self-aware about yourself.

Here is a list of weaknesses that you can explain in the interview:

  • Disorganized
  • Impatient
  • Insecure
  • Self-criticism
  • Multitasking
  • Open-Communicator
  • Lack of Empathy
  • Shy
  • Too detail-oriented
  • Saying “No.”
  • Lack of time management
  • Delegating
  • Procrastination
  • Not Flexible
  • Micromanaging

How To Answer “What Are Your Weaknesses?” In A Job Interview?

  • First, you need to identify the weaknesses you want to tell the recruiter. Then, you have to practice your answer to end with a positive note.

  • You can ask your family members, peers, colleagues, and friends to tell you some weaknesses.

  • From the list of weaknesses, pick a weakness that you can turn into a strength or showcase that you are working on improving yourself.

  • Ask your family members or peers to take mock interviews where you practice giving answers to these questions.

  • When you answer, try to stick to the script and don’t give too many details

Also Read: A 2022 Guide to Informational interview questions with 20+ sample answers?

What are your Weaknesses: Example Answers

Here are some example answers for your weaknesses to help you create your own answers:

1. Lack of Organization Skill

"My biggest weakness is that my workstation can get quite messy when working on multiple projects. It hasn’t affected my work so far. That is because I developed this practice of cleaning my work desk every day before I leave my work, and it has become a boon for my productivity."

2. Lack of Patience

"I’m the kind of person who takes time very seriously and tries to complete my work on time. But since you have to work in an organization in a team, It gets me when my work gets delayed because of someone else. However, I’ve started to engage in team-building activities to improve coordination with my teammates. And it has helped me immensely with my work."

3. Self-criticism

"I feel like I’m not doing enough despite getting recognition for my work, and this led me to overwork and burnout. But now, I have set clear boundaries between my work and my personal life. It has made a day and night difference in my productivity."

4. Multitasking

"I used to believe I could work on two things at once. But the more I worked, the more I realized It’s better to work on a single project at a time for maximum productivity. Nowadays, I use project management tools to track all my projects. And it is extremely helpful for me to increase my productivity."

5. Open-Communicator

"There are times when I can be too direct with my colleagues with feedback. There is a saying that honesty is the best policy, but I’ve realized that you need to be a little empathetic with your colleagues. I have started taking leadership and communication classes to improve my communication and empathy skills. And it has worked wonders for me."

6. Too detail-oriented

"I can sometimes get caught up in perfecting one aspect of a project that I forget about the bigger picture. It was very stressful to finish the work on time. However, in the past year, I have started focusing on prioritizing my project works as a whole instead of spending more time on just one little detail."

7. Procrastination

"I can think of one weakness of mine. That is procrastination. I tend to hold off my work when I feel I have time in hand. However, with years of experience, I have realized that this is unnecessary stress I’m taking upon me. That’s why I’ve started to prioritize my tasks and make a plan of action to do my job without procrastination."

8. Micromanaging

"When I was given a leadership role in my last organization, I tended to micromanage people to ensure the projects were delivered on time. However, I realized that I need to trust my team members to do their job after some time. Then only can they trust me, and the whole team’s productivity will increase."

9. Introvert

"I am an introverted person, making it challenging to gather courage and share my ideas in the brainstorming seasons or team meetings. However, I’ve started taking public speaking classes and going to weekly meetups to help me get over my introverted nature. Now, I am confident talking in front of people and sharing my ideas in team meetings. It has improved our output dramatically."

10. Delegating

"When offered a leadership position, I found it extremely difficult to delegate responsibilities to my team members. However, it became clear that a single person couldn’t do all the jobs after a while. And I need to delegate work to team members. I started small but gradually learned to trust team members and deployed project management tools to delegate work to people. This system improved our productivity and efficiency by 10x, and I have become more creative with managing the process."

What Are Strenghts & Weaknesses as a Fresher?

Answering the question “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” may be tricky for a fresher. Since as a fresher, you don’t have years of professional experience.

However, you have to understand that, from freshers, recruiters are not looking for years of experience. They are looking at your personality, whether you can work with a team, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, etc.

So, for a fresher, there is no perfect answer. To get the recruiter's attention, you just have to smartly tailor your university experience and soft skills according to the job requirements.

Here are a few Strengths and Weaknesses for Students:

Strengths

  • Hard Worker
  • Open-Minded
  • Creative
  • Flexible
  • Resourceful
  • Analytic Thinking
  • Fast Learner
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Social Skills
  • Goal-oriented
  • Go-getter
  • Innovative
  • Team player
  • Open to Feedback

Weaknesses

  • Inferiority Complex
  • Self-criticism
  • Procrastinating
  • Lack of Ambition
  • Public speaking
  • Impatience
  • Lack of stability
  • Introverted
  • Lack of self-confidence
  • Indecisive
  • Slow-mover
  • Anxious
  • Indecisive

What Are Strengths & Weaknesses for HR Interview?

The requirements for each interview round is different. In the tech interview, the interviewer is looking at your technical proficiency. Similarly, in the HR interview, the interviewers are looking at your behavioral and leadership skills.

Below are some of the strengths and weaknesses you can describe in the HR Interview:

Strengths for HR Interviews:

  • Go-Getter
  • Resourceful
  • Well Communication
  • Problem Solver
  • Well-organizer
  • Flexible
  • Organisation Skills

Weaknesses for HR Interviews

  • Perfectionist
  • Shy talking to People
  • Find it hard delegating tasks
  • Take up too much work
  • Procrastinator

Also Read: How to write an HR manager resume in 2022?

What Are Strengths & Weaknesses for MBA Interview?

If you are applying for a management position as an MBA, your strengths and weakness requirements for a job are different.

Below are some of the strengths and weaknesses for an MBA Interview:

Strengths for MBA Interviews:

  • Leadership
  • Initiatives
  • Communication
  • Enthusiasm
  • Discipline
  • Problem-solving
  • Critical Thinking

Weaknesses for HR Interviews

  • Risk-taker
  • Procrastinator
  • Find it hard delegating tasks
  • Too Perfectionist

Also Read: How to write an MBA resume in 2022?

Strengths of Professional in Various Industries

Office Administratirator Strengths:

  • Data Entry
  • Appointment Scheduling
  • Customer Service
  • Payroll
  • Billing and Payment Management
  • Inventory Management

Sales Job Strengths:

  • Product Knowledge
  • Customer Service
  • Lead Qualification
  • Prospecting
  • Customer Requirement Analysis

Healthcare Job Strengths:

  • Patient Care
  • Assessment
  • Medicine Administration
  • Vital Monitoring
  • Medical Documentation

Information Technology Job Strengths:

  • Programming
  • Web Development
  • Data Analysis
  • Project management
  • Git & Github

Marketing and Advertising Job Strengths:

  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Facebook Ads
  • A/B Testing
  • Copywriting
  • PPC
  • Content Management System
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Email Marketing

Project Management Job Strengths:

  • Agile Project Management
  • Kanban Methodologies
  • Waterfall Methodology
  • Team Management
  • Scrum
  • KPI Tracking
  • Budget Management

Key Takeaways

Reading this blog is not enough. You need to practice your answers as much as possible to make them sound authentic.

If you aren’t well versed with the stories, you may forget in the middle and fumble, which is definitely not the right way to answer in an interview.

However, if you practice, you can better answer the question “ What are your strengths and weaknesses?” and get the job you desire.

If you need any preparation for your interviews, go to Hiration Interview Preperation and start practicing.

Need more assistance? Email us at team@hiration.com, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

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