In brief: “Before diving into this issue again, I would like to point out that many experienced interviewers will try to avoid these questions, because questions about strength and weaknesses immediately keep a person on the defensive and takes the interview into a negative atmosphere. However, if the interviewer does ask you about your strengths and weaknesses, you may need to have some intelligent answers that will not seem boastful or phony.”
To be on the safer side, for your job interview preparations -
this article provides examples on how to answer the question “what are your weaknesses and strengths?”.
This is the third article of the weaknesses and strengths question series.
You may also read – How to answer the weakness and strength question.
Job Interview: Strength Examples – List of Strengths
Here are some aspects (with detailed explanation) that you may put forward as being your strengths:
Learning agility and effective personal communication skills
Most researches show that the single best predictor for who will perform well and succeed in a new job is the one who possesses learning agility(a quick learner) and the one who can adjust himself/herself to changes and new situations, such as a new workplace.
Also, effective interpersonal communication skill is one of the best personal traits.
Past performance or even experience, skills and intelligence are not as important as learning agility and communications skills. HR and recruiters are aware to these facts…
Self Motivated and Determined
To achieve success, one needs to be self motivated and determined to succeed. Without self motivation, it is quite possible that even the best of employees will languish in the company without achieving any success.
Success Oriented and Natural Leader
All companies search for an individual who has the drive within himself or herself. Frankly, the company would not have time to actually sit back and look out which of their employees has that next big idea, or which of the employees is not working according to their talents and resources. Therefore, it is best that a company have a self-appointed mentor who keeps these things in mind and speaks about them at the appropriate time.
This characteristic is necessary for team leaders, supervisors, executive managers and project managers.
Team Player
No man is an island. And in today’s world, like never before, a person requires a group of people with whom to succeed. Therefore, being a team player in today’s world is almost as important as any academic degree.
Hardworking
This is one of the most common traits found in a successful boss as well as a successful employee. It is said that success is ninety percent hard work and ten percent thinking/brain activity. Any company would like to have a hard-working employee. Therefore, you can speak about hard-work, dedication and commitment as your strengths.
Intelligence and Self Confidence
Being intelligent does not mean being the only person in the room who can drive a plane, but a person who has the simple logic and practical knowledge that goes with running a proper team.
Job Interview: What Are Your Weaknesses – Examples & List of Weaknesses
Several interviewers will also ask whether you have any weaknesses. When it comes to weaknesses, make sure that you describe the weaknesses that are ambiguous enough to be converted into strengths.
Here are some of the weaknesses that are generally discussed.
Getting Nervous around people
Today, with the advent of the new work culture where a person seldom meets another and where the only time people speak to each other is during coffee breaks, there are some people who have become introverts. This causes some people to become nervous about giving presentations and speeches.
Being a Debater
Some individuals are too passionate about work and require a reason for any change that is introduced in the company. Though this is good for the project and the product, it might rub some people the wrong way.
Going out of one’s Way
There are several people in organizations all over the world who take all kinds of work from their colleagues, whether it is their work or not. While these people are an asset to the company, they may create antagonism.
Lack of some skills
No person has all the requisite skills for the job profile. This is one of the greatest disadvantages that one has, because once a person starts earning, they find it difficult to go back to their learning ways.
Remember that these are just concepts and you should back up each of these strengths and weaknesses with an example.
Some other strengths & weaknesses (per job title) to consider:
Here is an additional strengths and weaknesses list -
Strengths –
Leaders and managers: Ability to prioritize, planning skills, well-organized, multitasking and assuming responsibilities and duties. Possessing the capacity to cope with failures and trying to learn from past mistakes.
Customer care, Call center and sales: Communication skills, patience, having good interpersonal skills.
Programmers and R&D: A quick learner who enjoys learning new things. A team player who shares knowledge and ideas with colleagues.
Weakness –
Sensitive person: Taking things to heart and getting too disappointed when things are done in the wrong way.
Too helpful: Crossing limits while helping teammates.
Summary
An interview is the short span of time spent with each other, in which a person has to decide whether the employee is perfect for the job or not. To establish this, the interviewer asks several questions.
Some of the questions are quite simple and can be answered immediately, while some are not as simple and require some thought before the answer is given. One good example of this is the question regarding strengths and weaknesses.
Back to job interview questions and answers.