“We liked your resume and portfolio, and now we’d like to have a little chat.” Great news! If you’ve received communication like this, you’ve made it through to the next stage of the hiring process. But don’t be fooled. More often than not, “a little chat” isn’t nearly as casual as it sounds. It means an interview. And although many lines of enquiry are predictable and fair, the dreaded ‘What is your weakness?’ interview question feels anything but. I’ve overcome this fiendish question before, so here are my tips to nailing your response.
5 Tips for Nailing the Dreaded ‘What is Your Weakness?’ Question
I’ve worked on a dozen projects in my eight years as a video game writer and narrative designer. In that time, I’ve encountered the frankly horrid ‘What is your weakness?’ interview question a few times and formulated a way of answering it. Here are my 5 tips for a decent response.
Be Prepared
In the words of Scar in The Lion King, be prepared. It’s not possible to anticipate every interview question, but, in my experience, you can be ready for a range of them. The ‘What is your weakness?’ interview question is definitely one of those.
It’s imperative that you don’t go in blind. Trying to wing your response on the fly will almost certainly result in stammering, contradictions, and just an all-round weak answer. I’ve been there. Instead, assume the question will be asked in some form and prepare your answer before the interview. Rehearse your response, if necessary, so that it doesn’t elude you under stress.
Be Genuine…
You’ve probably heard the cliché: In response to the ‘What is your weakness?’ question, the candidate offers a “false weakness”. By this, I mean a strength that’s poorly disguised as a weakness. Don’t fall for this. Any decent interviewer will see straight through this ploy, and they won’t be impressed.
In general, you should avoid responding with statements like, ‘My weakness is that I work too hard’, or, ‘I’m just obsessed with being a team player.’ I’d argue that these could actually be weaknesses, but it’s not what the interviewer’s looking for. Rather, focus on a genuine personality flaw. It can be difficult to be vulnerable and open yourself up, particularly in an interview setting, but showing that you’re genuine and willing to admit to your own flaws is an admirable trait. Nobody’s perfect. Don’t try to pretend that you are.
… But Measured
On the flipside, be careful. If you have a major flaw, perhaps don’t brazenly admit to it! Either choose a less egregious weakness or frame the flaw in such a way that it doesn’t seem so detrimental.
Remember, it’s an interview. You want to give the interviewer as many reasons as possible to hire you. But you absolutely do not want to give them any clear reasons not to move forward to the next stage of the process.
Give a Weakness and a Solution
Perhaps the most important advice I can offer is to give an explanation on how you’ve addressed or are addressing your genuine weakness alongside the flaw itself. This shows admirable self-awareness and will demonstrate to the interviewer that you take proactive steps to mitigate your weaknesses.
For example, your weakness may be that you’re introverted and struggle to make your voice heard in a group setting. That’s a valid weakness, and it should be understandable to the interviewer, even if they’re of a more dominant personality type. Don’t just leave your response at that, though. Offer steps as to how you currently mitigate or are working on addressing this weakness. In this vein, you may explain that you work around this particular weakness by ensuring that you schedule one-to-one calls with your line manager to ensure that your ideas are conveyed. Or perhaps you ask that each participant in the group is given a chance to speak so that you don’t feel pressured to interrupt.
It’s up to you how you frame your weakness solution. Just make sure that you do so. The interviewer should understand that you recognize it and have measures in place to mitigate it.
Keep It Current
My final piece of advice would be to ensure your weakness is current. There’s no point telling the interviewer about how, when you were at junior school, you struggled with your timekeeping, but you’ve grown out of it. That’s neither current nor shows that you’ve actively found a way to mitigate or address the weakness. If you’ve always found punctuality difficult, however, and have taken recent steps to address it, then that would be valid.
If you offer a dated flaw, you potentially invite the interviewer to ask for something more recent, throwing your preparations into disarray. Alternatively, they may just interpret the response as a misguided attempt to evade answering the awkward question. Either way, it’s not ideal.
Summary
There you have it: my five tips on how to answer the feared ‘What is your weakness?’ interview question. In short, keep your response current, genuine but measured, and offer a solution as to how you address it. Importantly, make sure you decide on your “interview flaw” before the interview itself.
It would be nice to think that the interviewer isn’t trying to catch you out with this difficult question, but frankly I suspect this may sometimes be the intention. Make sure you have the last laugh, though, by impressing with your honesty, preparedness, and self-awareness. After all, a prospective hirer wants to know that you can stay cool under pressure and be proactive to address deficiencies in your worth ethic and knowledge.
Finally, I hope that this advice serves you well in your next interview. Whatever you do, try not to panic. Best of luck!