WEAK!

    “What are your weaknesses?” Of all the interview questions commonly asked this is the one that people seem to have the most difficulty with. It is a common misconception that the interviewer is trying to trap people into divulging something “bad” about themselves or that by giving up a weakness he/she is shooting themselves in the foot.

    Even worse than seeing the question as a trap, is when someone doesn’t think he/she has any weaknesses. This poor deluded soul can be the most dangerous, and I mean that literally. Would you want a surgeon operating on you, or even a mechanic working on your car, that couldn’t/wouldn’t admit they could be wrong or might have made a mistake? Not me, no way. Time to face the music folks: anyone that is human is therefore fraught with weaknesses. Everyone has things he/she needs to work on to be a better person.

    Talking about some personal aspect that you have worked over time to improve gives an interviewer greater insight into who you are. So pick a quality that is/has been a struggle for you that is APPROPRIATE for the office and state it in this framework:

1. Talk about your weakness

2. Discuss how you realize the issue is a problem

3. Talk about how you work to overcome that problem

    In essence, the interviewee ends up spending much more time talking about how to correct the problem than actually talking about the problem. Once again keep it appropriate for work! Someone talking about her/his love of insulting coworkers isn’t what I’m talking about here. If unsure that you have worked an individual weakness down to an appropriate workplace discussion level run it by a UMKC Career Counselor Here’s an example:

        “(1) I think my main weakness is that I tend to approach a task like peeling an     onion, I rush through it from start to finish. (2) The real problem occurs when I try to turn something in before I’ve gone over it enough times and it really looks rushed. (3) So I know that before I pronounce anything as “Done” I need to let it sit for a few moments and then go back over it before anyone else sees my work, then I can avoid careless mistakes.”