What is your greatest weakness?
This is a common interview question. The interviewer wants to see that you are humble and self-aware and can identify an area that could use improvement. They also want to understand the steps you are taking to improve. Identifying something you need to work on and setting goals to improve shows the interviewer that you have humility and a passion to make yourself the best you can be. Describe your greatest weakness and tell the interviewer what you are doing to improve.
When describing your greatest weakness, avoid spending too much time on the negative. Instead of dwelling on your fault, you should spend more time explaining the steps you are taking to turn that weakness into a strength. Remember not to use a weakness that is an essential skill or trait needed for an FBI Intelligence Analyst job, such as poor analytical thinking or communication skills.
"My greatest weakness is that I have trouble remembering people's names when I first meet them. I think my brain analyzes the person while they are speaking, and I often miss their name. I am fixing this problem by taking a memory association class designed to remember people's names. It was developed by a CEO who had the same problem, and he overcame it by using the methods taught in the course. After two weeks in the class, I remember 90% of people's names. The instructor said I will be at 100% by next week."
"My greatest weakness is my lack of confidence in my leadership skills. I work well with teams and do not have a problem delegating and giving direction, but I still feel my leadership skills could improve. I signed up for an online leadership course to strengthen these skills and will be participating in the course for the next six weeks."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I have a problem remembering people's names and connecting names to faces. Introductions are often quick, so because of that, my brain tends to focus on the main portion of the conversation. I try to confirm their name after the interaction is over in order to combat that and help solidify them in my mind.
Marcie's Feedback
Ok! This is definitely an understandable weakness that many others share with you. You do a good job of explaining how you are working to overcome this, which the interviewer will appreciate. Good job!
