We all have weaknesses. Employers want to hire people who know their flaws and are taking steps to improve them. Dealing with this common interview question is all about professional growth. We're going to talk about how you've found an opportunity to improve and how you're in the middle of a process. One of the most important soft skills is a growth mindset and this is a great opportunity to demonstrate this to your interviewer.

Talking about weaknesses

Part 1: The past. To start with we're going to identify a weakness, explain why it is a weakness, ideally by talking about soft skills, and importantly explain that this is something that you noticed some time ago. Maybe a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months or more.

Part 2: The present. Here we're going to talk about the steps that you're taking to fix the problem. The tools, the strategies, and the mechanisms that you've put in place to address the issue. This is the most important part of your answer.Part 2: The present

Part 3: The future. This will be the shortest part of your answer but is key to wrapping up with a great, concise, and, professional conclusion. We're going to talk about how not only do you intend to fix this problem, but you intend for it to become one of your strengths. One of the things that you are best at professionally.

Common weaknesses

Many people find it difficult to decide on, or even think of, a weakness of their own. What can help is to see some of the common weaknesses that people across industries talk about. The best way to use this list is to read through it and see if this helps you to identify a weakness in yourself. You may think that one of these weaknesses definitely applies to you, or you may find that something on this list makes you realise something about yourself.

Bad work / life balance

Expressing ideas in meetings

Being too self critical

Difficulty delegating work

Need more experience in X

Presentation skills

I say yes to everything

Fear of presenting or public speaking

Not creative enough

Indecisiveness

Trouble building professional relationships

Not being confident with vague instructions

Over promising

Uncomfortable taking risks

Reluctant to ask for help

Struggle to give feedback

Time management

Taking criticism too personally

I'm a perfectionist. Many people's first instinct is to answer they they are a perfectionist. That they spend too much time on some tasks, which means that they sometimes have difficulty keeping to deadlines or getting their work done on time. However, this does mean that their work is of a higher quality when it's finished. The problem with this answer is that your interviewer has heard it before. Probably 3 or 4 times that same day in fact. Even if this answer is true then it often sounds like you just haven't thought about the question and therefore ended up choosing the most obvious answer. One alternative is to take an aspect of your perfectionism and talk about that. Maybe your perfectionism makes it difficult for you to speak up in meetings because you don't want to make a mistake in your English? Or maybe it means that it takes you longer to make decisions and you're indecisive. This is a far better way to think about this question.

What not to do...

Avoid things in the job description. Make sure you're aware of what the interviewer is looking for. If something is mentioned in the person specification then you should avoid identifying this as a specific weakness that you are dealing with. You might have a great answer for this question that is suitable for one job interview but not for another. For instance, if you're applying for a UI/UX designer role then it's probably best not to say that you have trouble being creative.