Jane Kennelly: Tackling the "What are your weaknesses?" question

Jane Kennelly, Director of Frog Recruitment, says he 'weaknesses' question provides a chance for a candidate to talk about how the role may aid in their development.

Seemingly designed to catch you out or trip you up, this age old interview probe can actually be taken as a positive question....

Framed in various ways such as; "Tell me about your areas for development?" the 'weaknesses' question typically follows the 'strengths' one. In other words, after listing your strengths, you're given the opportunity to balance them out with comments on some areas you believe you may need to improve on. This order is a good strategy, because by the time you reach this question, your brain has already been warmed up.

The 'weaknesses' question provides a chance for a candidate to talk about how the role may aid in their development.

For example: "I don't have a lot of cold calling experience, but I anticipate this role will give me the opportunity to develop this skill, and I see this as important for my personal growth as a sales person".

A response like this achieves two goals; firstly, it answers the question honestly and secondly, it tells the interviewer what the candidate wants from the role. It's pertinent to emphasise the importance of answering honestly. Success in a role is mainly determined by strengths, less so by weaknesses; but an honest answer creates a balance to the positives. Answering honestly shows the interviewer you have enough self-awareness to critically appraise your own performance.

There is no doubt that certain responses to the 'weaknesses' question could be deal breakers. Typically; poor time management, chattiness, problems multi-tasking, lack of organisation, or a lack of passion, are not preferred answers.

A skilled interviewer will try to give a candidate a way out of a deal breaking answer by following up with a question like; "How did this affect you in a role?" This provides a tactic to allow you to explain how you've managed your weakness and swing back around to talking about your strengths.

Another type of weakness referred to could be a personality trait. Someone who is very creative may have problems with implementing ideas, but again, this can be balanced by giving examples of how the candidate teamed up with others to mitigate the weakness.

When it comes to talking about a skill that is fundamental to the success of a role, there is no doubt - some weaknesses are deal breakers. For example, shyness is not a good weakness for a business developer. In this situation the candidate basically knocks themselves out of the running and there is usually no going back.

TIPS
The best answers will:
• Explain how the candidate hopes the role will develop their weaknesses
• Relate back to their strengths
• Explain how teaming up with others helped overcome weaknesses

The worst answers will:
• List weaknesses essential to performance in the role
• Be too vague or sound too trite to be genuine

What an interviewer is looking for is:
• Honesty
• Evidence of self-awareness
• Evidence of how weaknesses are managed

The key is to be prepared!

Jane Kennelly, Director of Frog Recruitment Ltd, is a recruitment professional with over 25 years' industry knowledge. Frog Recruitment has gained a positive reputation as a game-changer in recruitment circles due to its focus on linking employer branding to the recruitment experience. For more information see www.frogrecruitment.co.nz