What is your greatest weakness?

How to Answer
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example

This common interview question is an opportunity to demonstrate self-insight. Give an honest answer with a real weakness you have been focusing on and what plan you've put into place to work on it. Just make sure the weakness isn't a core competency of the Fannie Mae job description. If it's an analyst role, revealing 'logical reasoning skills' as a weakness likely won't get you far. Reflect on traits you want to work on, but that won't affect overall job success.

Honesty and self-awareness are key for this question. Interviewers have heard it all and will see through phony attempts to present a trait as a weakness when it's not a weakness.

"I've been working on finding my voice when meeting with upper-level management. While I know the ideas I bring to the table are valuable, I've always been on the more introverted side and struggle to put myself out there, especially when talking to people in positions of authority. So I have been working on feeling more confident when I pitch ideas in these meetings. This has been my primary area of focus for improvement in the last few months, and one of my colleagues even recently commented that he had noticed a difference in the frequency of my contributions."

"I take a lot of pride in the work I do and often struggle to delegate tasks to other members of my team. Even though I trust my coworkers and know what fantastic work they do, I've gotten in the habit of seeing tasks through from start to finish. I got to a point where this was no longer feasible with the new responsibilities I had taken on, so I've been working on feeling more comfortable asking for help from my colleagues when I need it. While this weakness is still a work in progress for me, I've learned how important it is to communicate effectively with and rely on my team."

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How to Answer: What is your greatest weakness?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Fannie Mae job interview.

30. What is your greatest weakness?

How to Answer

This common interview question is an opportunity to demonstrate self-insight. Give an honest answer with a real weakness you have been focusing on and what plan you've put into place to work on it. Just make sure the weakness isn't a core competency of the Fannie Mae job description. If it's an analyst role, revealing 'logical reasoning skills' as a weakness likely won't get you far. Reflect on traits you want to work on, but that won't affect overall job success.

Honesty and self-awareness are key for this question. Interviewers have heard it all and will see through phony attempts to present a trait as a weakness when it's not a weakness.

Written by Rachel Hills on September 28th, 2021

1st Answer Example

"I've been working on finding my voice when meeting with upper-level management. While I know the ideas I bring to the table are valuable, I've always been on the more introverted side and struggle to put myself out there, especially when talking to people in positions of authority. So I have been working on feeling more confident when I pitch ideas in these meetings. This has been my primary area of focus for improvement in the last few months, and one of my colleagues even recently commented that he had noticed a difference in the frequency of my contributions."

Written by Rachel Hills on September 28th, 2021

2nd Answer Example

"I take a lot of pride in the work I do and often struggle to delegate tasks to other members of my team. Even though I trust my coworkers and know what fantastic work they do, I've gotten in the habit of seeing tasks through from start to finish. I got to a point where this was no longer feasible with the new responsibilities I had taken on, so I've been working on feeling more comfortable asking for help from my colleagues when I need it. While this weakness is still a work in progress for me, I've learned how important it is to communicate effectively with and rely on my team."

Written by Rachel Hills on September 28th, 2021

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