Written by Vaclav Koranda

How to Answer ‘What Is Your Biggest Weakness?’

I always believed the ‘Tell me about yourself’ question was the one that troubled job seekers the most. However, according to my recent LinkedIn poll, there’s another contender that many of you find even trickier: the dreaded weakness question.

Why They Ask You this Question

Contrary to common belief, the interviewer isn’t trying to catch you out or find reasons to prove you’re unsuitable for the job. Instead, they rather aim to assess your level of personal maturity and determine whether you’re capable of self-reflection, aware of your personal limitations, and able to manage them effectively.

How Not to Answer this Question

A common piece of advice for answering this question is to discuss a strength disguised as a weakness, such as saying, “Sometimes, I tend to pay too much attention to detail,” especially if the role values attention to detail. However, this trick is well-known and often overused, so most interviewers are unlikely to be impressed.

Some ‘gurus’ now suggest mentioning something harmless that isn’t a real weakness, like, “Whenever I receive a new assignment, I can’t start working on it immediately; I need some time to learn about the details first.” But this is a natural behavior and not a genuine weakness. In fact, rushing into tasks without adequate preparation would be a more authentic weakness.

Another popular suggestion is to bring up a past weakness you’ve already overcome, such as, “I used to struggle with public speaking, but after taking a training course, I’m now much more confident and effective.” While this shows growth, it doesn’t address the question because it is not a weakness anymore. The interviewer may simply insist on you telling him about your real current weakness, in which case you’ll find yourself back at square one.

How to Build Your Answer

I always say that one shouldn’t pursue a career in a field where one lacks the essential skills and dispositions. If you follow my advice, it should be easy for you to identify at least one genuine weakness unrelated to the job and describe it in a non-defensive manner. Even better, you can demonstrate that you’ve actively developed techniques to compensate for it (e.g., by seeking external help, using tools, or leveraging your other strengths). See the examples below:

Model Answers

Model Answer 1

“I believe my greatest weakness is my inability to create visually compelling slides. When preparing a presentation, I always know exactly what I want to communicate, but I struggle to express it in a visually attractive way. Recently, I discovered a great source of publicly available templates that have been incredibly helpful, and by using them, I’ve managed to create some impressive slide decks.”

(Assuming you are applying for a job that doesn’t require strong graphic design skills.)

Model Answer 2

“I believe my greatest weakness is my inability to create visually compelling slides. When preparing a presentation, I always know exactly what I want to communicate, but I struggle to express it in a visually attractive way. Recently, I hired a talented young employee who is great at creating visuals, and he has been incredibly helpful. With his support, our team has managed to produce some impressive slide decks.”

(Same assumption as above.)

Model Answer 3

“I would say one of my weaknesses is that I always struggle to remember people’s names when I first meet them. I always remember faces and the context of our interaction, but names can slip my mind. Therefore, I’ve started using techniques like repeating the person’s name in my mind during the conversation and writing it down immediately after meeting them. These methods have helped me get better at recalling names, although I’m still working on it.”

Model Answer 4

“I consider my greatest weakness to be my struggle with numbers. While I can manage basic calculations, I find more complex numerical tasks quite challenging. Fortunately, my job doesn’t require advanced math skills, so this weakness doesn’t greatly affect my performance. When I encounter numerical tasks, I’ve made it a point to seek help from colleagues who are skilled in this area. Their support allows me to focus on my strengths while ensuring that any necessary numerical work is handled effectively.”

(Assuming you are applying for a job that doesn’t require strong numerical skills.)

Conclusion

See? It’s not so hard in the end, right? If you’d also like to know what not to say, along with strategies for tackling four other tricky interview questions, grab my free Job Interview Cheat Sheet now.

Good luck!

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Do you need my personal assistance? Simply send me your resume and a link to your LinkedIn profile at vaclav@getyourdreamjob.co and I will come back to you!

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