Often, when you are in a job interview, the HR officer asks you a question that is considered silly and hated by many, which is “What are your weaknesses?”.

Certainly, no one wants to show or highlight their weaknesses. Everyone wants to show their best qualities and to be accepted in the job they are applying for, but sometimes, this question cannot be avoided, and it must be answered. You should focus on how to answer the question, not on the answer itself. A recruiter looks for three characteristics when asking this question: how self-aware you are, how honest, and how willing you are to develop yourself.

There are many examples of weaknesses that you may have. The most common are procrastination, poor communication skills, slow work, lack of patience, poor language skills, shyness, inability to work in a team, poor writing skills, or anything else.

So, before doing any job interview, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there a task or skill related to the work that I don’t like to do, or which I don’t master?
• Have I ever failed at work?
• Have I ever failed at work and corrected my fault?
• Did my supervisor ever tell me that I have to improve something, and then congratulated me when I did?
• Has anyone criticized my work in a certain way?

And always remember that the answer to the question “What is your weakness?” should be divided into two parts:

1. Mention the weak point
2. Explain how you want to improve it

So, here is the most important thing you should know when answering this difficult question:

• Be realistic: don’t answer with “nothing.” No one has no weaknesses. After all, we’re human, we all make mistakes, we all have weaknesses, and we all have strengths.
• Be honest: mention any weakness that you feel you suffer from or that you are known for among your family, friends, professors…
• Show your willingness to improve yourself: You have to show that you are ready to develop and work on your weakness, especially if it is a basic need of the work you are applying for. This will make you stand out from the other candidates applying for the job.

Here are some wrong answers to this question:

• Weakness? I have no weaknesses and can confidently say that I am good at all things required to get the job done.
• My biggest weakness is that I’m very in control, and I always like things to work my way. If something doesn’t go the way I want it to, then I’m going to get very angry.

Whereas the correct answers can be as follows:

• I can say that one of my weaknesses is that I find it difficult to be part of a team because I tend to work alone, but I am trying to improve this skill, especially after I started playing for a basketball team during the weekend.
• One of my weaknesses is that I tend to over-analyze and think about some situations at work, which wastes a lot of my time and energy. I strive to improve in this area, by making things easier and looking at the big picture in certain situations.

Always remember that you cannot be successful in everything, therefore, consider the weakness as an opportunity to learn and develop, the more you are aware of your weaknesses, the easier it will be for you to work on turning them into strengths.