What are your strengths and weaknesses? This is one of the most common interview questions, yet many job seekers struggle to answer it.
It is easy to point out your own flaws, but no one wants to admit to flaws that could ruin their chances of landing the job.
You should also try to avoid giving cliché answers that were probably found on the internet. So how do you turn your negatives into positive traits?
1. Turn stress into positive energy
It is common to feel stressed out or pressured at work. But for some, feeling stressed is an everyday occurrence and it might count as a weakness.
This is likely if your job has short deadlines or new projects to work on every hour. Do not let your stress hold you back from being honest.
You can simply state that you have learnt to change your work stress into positive energy.
Do you take five minutes to meditate when you are stressed at work? Do you exercise? Have you learnt to stop being hard on yourself?
These are all great ways to appear calm and collected with your weakness.
2. Turn timidity into learning to be outspoken
Everyone’s personality is different so do not beat yourself up for being a little timid.
However, depending on your line of work, your shyness and insecurity might turn into a flaw.
If your work requires an outspoken and confident personality, you might want to turn this trait into a positive.
You could let your interviewer know that although you have a timid personality, you have learned to boost your self-esteem and come out of your shell.
3. Turn impatience into productivity
Do you find yourself trying to work on certain tasks immediately? Do you say yes to every task and try to get them done as soon as possible?
This can lead to exhaustion and stress at work as you have promised a specific deadline to your team members.
Although this trait feels like a slight negative, the problem could be a weakness in time management.
But your urgency can be turned into productivity.
Explaining that you have learnt to prioritise your projects by focusing on what is more important is a great way to overcome your weakness.
Conclusion
The key to addressing your weaknesses is to simply explain how they have helped you be a better you today.
An admirable candidate is someone who is self-aware and addresses their flaws.
This question about your weaknesses is a great opportunity for your interviewer to see you continually learning to be a better professional by improving yourself.
This article first appeared in jobstore.com
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