What would you say is the greatest weakness you would bring to this role?

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With over 618 medical facilities spanning across the country and a unique model of care that combines both health care and coverage into one experience, your interviewer knows that any candidate they consider will come to their team with their own unique shortcomings. The Kaiser Permanente team needs to know that you are aware of what your biggest weakness would be in joining and that you have put some serious thought into how you will tackle this weakness from day one. Be sure to thoroughly read through the job description and think about both where your prior experiences will give you a leg up and where you will have some things to learn. Talk openly and honestly with your interviewer as you answer to show your genuine and human side here.

"As you can see from my resume, the 12 years of experience I would bring to Kaiser Permanente are in the community medicine setting and I know the one weakness I would have is joining a practice that incorporates medical students, residents, fellows, and other learners into the patient care atmosphere. I'm very excited about this opportunity because I feel that I have a lot to give when it comes to teaching tomorrow's medical leaders, but know I have a lot to learn when it comes to formal precepting I would come here as a very observant and astute learner from my new peers in this realm."

Anonymous Answer

"I think my weakness is that I take too much to do. I tend to help the pharmacist with a resolution, and at the same time, fill, input, and answer the phone. I have been working on it by asking for help; if I'm helping the pharmacist, I ask another tech to fill or input."

Rachelle's Feedback

Good answer! It's great that you are working on asking for help from a variety of people when needed.

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Anonymous Answer

"One of my greatest weakness is being unable to maintain focus for extended periods when engaged in long mental tasks. I have always performed best on tasks that require active verbal or physical interaction. To help challenge this weakness, I have actively made an effort to take breaks even if it is for a few minutes to refocus. Additionally, time management strategies such as to-do lists and prioritizing based on urgency and importance have helped with overall performance."

Rachelle's Feedback

It sounds as though you've made an excellent effort to overcome this weakness. It's great that you recognize what you need to best focus. Good answer!

Anonymous Answer

"For years, I was the single Radiology PA at this hospital. I was comfortable doing every procedure, consulting, and solving problems knowing it would be done correctly. However, the service is so busy, that an additional PA is needed. I have learned to relinquish some duties because I could not do everything. I have learned that I can trust that others will do an excellent job and do it with as much detail as I would."

Amanda's Feedback

I think I see where you're headed here, but it's important to clearly say what your weakness is. In this case, I think you're communicating that your weakness is a desire to do it all so that you can be sure it's done right. You can enhance this response by pivoting to talk about the actions you're taking to improve in this area every day. Do you communicate clearly with team members and delegate radiology tasks to build trusting relationships and show that you have confidence in those around you to do the job well? Do you refrain from micromanaging or reminding others how to perform certain procedures? Do you ask for others' opinions or input? Sharing what you're doing to transform your weakness into strength can help show the interviewer that you have the adaptability and leadership skills to excel as part of their team.

Anonymous Answer

"I am a shy person, so it is a little hard for me to talk to people I am not familiar with, but this profession has given me a lot of practice conversing with a lot of different people and I don’t have a problem making conversation in the exam room to make the patient feel more at ease."

Jaymie's Feedback

Your response shows you are self-aware and have identified an area of development, and that you have a plan in place to overcome it. Great job!

Anonymous Answer

"My greatest weakness would have to be that I am too critical of myself which leads to negative self-talk and insecurity. I find that I am harder on myself compared to what my colleague thinks about me. I am currently working on this by looking at the whole situation and finding the positive in it. I also downloaded a self-affirming app that gives me daily affirmations that I embrace for that day."

Jaymie's Feedback

Great job sharing your area of development and your strategy and action plan for overcoming it.

Anonymous Answer

"I think my greatest weakness coming into this program would be my technical skills. Like using Excel and Word. When taking prerequisite courses that were required for the program, the class that I struggled with the most was the Intro to Computers class. I know there were areas I could’ve still improved in. And knowing how important this career is to me I have already made efforts to fix this weakness. I’ve chosen to enroll in another computer class for this upcoming fall semester so hopefully, by December my skills will have improved in that area."

Jaymie's Feedback

You did a nice job sharing your weakness, and then focusing on ways you're working to overcome, grow and develop.

Anonymous Answer

"I believe my greatest weakness that I'm bringing to this role is that I can only speak English. I've had moments in previous jobs where I've had to communicate with individuals who did not speak any English and the language barrier was hard to get passed although this is no reason to not help these people. I still help them in any way I can trying to provide the same customer service that I would with someone who can speak English. One thing that I am doing to improve on this is I've downloaded a language app where I can learn simple phrases in other common languages that will better help me communicate with non-English speaking individuals."

Jaymie's Feedback

This is a great answer! You identified an area of opportunity that can help you relate to patients better, and you shared your plan for growing and developing in this area.

Anonymous Answer

"Early in my career, I would sometimes become impatient if patients took a long time when explaining their history, or if staff did not perform their jobs properly. By putting myself in the patient's shoes I've realized that sometimes the pattern of symptoms is simply not easy to understand, and can be difficult to explain. I've also learned to politely redirect patients when they veer off-topic. I've learned to take the perspective of staff members and cut them slack, as no one is perfect. Sometimes I give tips to the staff to perform a task more simply---"Have you ever tried it this way?"

Jaymie's Feedback

It sounds like this was a weakness from early in your career that you've considerably grown and developed since. Since the interviewer is asking what weakness you would bring to the role and team, try to share a more current example of an area of development. Perhaps you only speak one language, and it would be beneficial for you to be bilingual in your geographic location, or maybe you're undertrained in a particular area of care and would like to expand and develop those skills. Then, go into ways that you plan to overcome this area of weakness.

How to Answer: What would you say is the greatest weakness you would bring to this role?

Advice and answer examples written specifically for a Kaiser Permanente job interview.

5. What would you say is the greatest weakness you would bring to this role?

How to Answer

Written by Ryan Brunner on February 23rd, 2024

Answer Example

Written by Ryan Brunner on February 23rd, 2024

Anonymous Interview Answers with Professional Feedback

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Rachelle's Feedback

Good answer! It's great that you are working on asking for help from a variety of people when needed.

Show More Answers

Anonymous Answer

Rachelle's Feedback

It sounds as though you've made an excellent effort to overcome this weakness. It's great that you recognize what you need to best focus. Good answer!

Anonymous Answer

Amanda's Feedback

Anonymous Answer

Jaymie's Feedback

Your response shows you are self-aware and have identified an area of development, and that you have a plan in place to overcome it. Great job!

Anonymous Answer

Jaymie's Feedback

Great job sharing your area of development and your strategy and action plan for overcoming it.

Anonymous Answer

Jaymie's Feedback

You did a nice job sharing your weakness, and then focusing on ways you're working to overcome, grow and develop.

Anonymous Answer

Jaymie's Feedback

This is a great answer! You identified an area of opportunity that can help you relate to patients better, and you shared your plan for growing and developing in this area.

Anonymous Answer

Jaymie's Feedback

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