{"id":2186,"date":"2014-02-17T11:45:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T17:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/academic-medicine\/?p=2186"},"modified":"2016-10-06T14:20:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T19:20:55","slug":"how-to-talk-about-your-biggest-weaknesses-in-a-job-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/academic-medicine\/how-to-talk-about-your-biggest-weaknesses-in-a-job-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Talk About Your Biggest Weaknesses In A Job Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 Tips For Talking About Your Biggest Weakness In A Job Interview<\/a><\/p>\n

You\u2019re in the hot seat and things are going well. You talk about your attributes, skills and strengths with ease. Just when you think it\u2019s pretty much in the bag, the hiring manager asks that dreaded question:\u00a0What\u2019s your biggest weakness?\"Interview<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the questions people have the hardest time answering,\u201d says Amanda Abella, a career coach,\u00a0writer<\/a>, speaker. \u201c[Your response] tells the interviewer a lot about your character, so it definitely holds a lot of weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew G. Rosen, founder and editor of the popular career advice blog\u00a0Jobacle.com<\/a>, agrees. \u201cThis is a go-to question for interviewers,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a seemingly innocent question that has the potential to quickly expose a major flaw. It\u2019s the Hail Mary of the interview; a final last-ditch attempt to trip you up and send you in the other direction. But with a little planning, most interviewees can easily\u00a0neutralize\u00a0this question; even use it to their advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a trick question and there\u2019s no \u201cright\u201d answer\u2014but interviewers\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0looking for something specific in your response to this challenging query.<\/p>\n

\u201cHiring managers who ask about weaknesses during interviews are looking for examples of how a person faced obstacles in the past,\u201d says Dylan Schweitzer, a group talent acquisition manager for\u00a0Enterprise Rent-A-Car<\/a>. \u201cAll employees\u00a0have flaws, but how\u00a0they deal\u00a0with failure and\u00a0have\u00a0made steps to fix\u00a0them\u00a0are\u00a0indicators\u00a0as to\u00a0how they\u00a0will handle constructive criticism in the future,\u201d he says. \u201cInterviewers ask about weaknesses and failures because resiliency is a critical skill set which employees must have. As a manager,\u00a0you expect to give\u00a0constructive criticism to your employees and the ability of a person to take that and\u00a0improve\u00a0is important when choosing who you will manage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abella concurs. \u201cHiring managers know that no one is perfect. However, they want to make sure of a few things.\u201d First, she says, they want to know that you aren\u2019t conceited and are aware that you make mistakes. \u201cConfidence is great, but there\u2019s a fine line between confidence and conceit.\u201d Second, it\u2019s also a question of character, she says. \u201cIf your weakness is that you have a bad temper, you may come off like a loose cannon who will be difficult to work with. Meanwhile, if a weakness is something like \u2018I put a lot of pressure\u2014sometimes too much pressure\u2014on myself to succeed, but I\u2019ve worked on this,\u2019 then that doesn\u2019t sound so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviews are designed to filter out bad candidates just as much as they are about finding the right one, Rosen says. \u201c\u2018What\u2019s your biggest weakness?\u2019 is sort of a silly question and the interviewer is hoping they will catch you off guard, when you don\u2019t have a scripted answer to fall back on. They think you will reveal something you didn\u2019t want or expect to.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ensure this doesn\u2019t happen to you, here are some tips for talking about your biggest weakness in a job interview:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Know your weakness(es)<\/li>\n
  2. Be honest, but don\u2019t mention essential skills.<\/li>\n
  3. Talk about how you\u2019ve conquered the weakness.<\/li>\n
  4. Don\u2019t prepare an exact response.<\/li>\n
  5. Only discuss work-related weaknesses.<\/li>\n
  6. Don\u2019t say you\u2019re a perfectionist or you work too hard.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u201cHiring managers know that people make mistakes, and they want to know how you\u2019ve handled yours,\u201d Abella concludes. \u201cBeing aware of your weaknesses is a good sign; it shows that you know where your boundaries are and aren\u2019t suffering from a case of hubris.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Read entire article here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

    For more interview tips visit our\u00a0Candidate Corner<\/a>\u00a0or contact a recruiter today at academicmedicine@kbic.com<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    6 Tips For Talking About Your Biggest Weakness In A Job Interview You\u2019re in the hot seat and things are going well. You talk about your attributes, skills and strengths with ease. Just when you think it\u2019s pretty much in the bag, the hiring manager asks that dreaded question:\u00a0What\u2019s your …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[851,575,769],"tags":[84,309,77,105,194,83,310],"class_list":["post-2186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-resources","category-career-search-solutions","category-interviewing","tag-academic-medicine","tag-candidate-corner","tag-healthcare","tag-interview-tips","tag-kaye-bassman","tag-recruiting-2","tag-weaknesses-in-job-interview","column","threecol","has-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Talk About Your Biggest Weaknesses In A Job Interview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How To Talk About Your Biggest Weaknesses In A Job Interview by Monster.com hosted by 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