What is your greatest strength and greatest weakness?
Your interviewers want to determine your fit for the role. How you answer this question will give the interviewer insights into your self-awareness, how honest you are about your strengths, and how capable you are in identifying your weaknesses and growth opportunities.
In a work context, your strengths allow you to complete your to-do list, understand client needs, and apply what you have learned in your training. Talk to the interviewer about a couple of your strengths and why those will help you succeed in this role. When discussing your weakness, your goal is to turn that weakness into a strength. Think about self-assessments you may have done and see if any of those growth opportunities can be applied to your answer.
How you perceive yourself may differ from how others perceive you, including the person interviewing you. Remain conscious of your body language throughout the interview process. Make sure your answers remain consistent with how you present yourself. Keep your answers varied but consistent. Remain professional and strategic in your answers.
"I think my greatest strength is my eagerness to please, but my greatest weakness is not being great as saying no. In the past, I've bitten off more than I can chew and struggled with how to communicate 'no' functionally. Since then, I learned that not communicating what's possible within my well-managed time and taking on more than I can lead me to underperform. I've gotten a handle on this. But being a people person who is not easily offended and rarely takes things personally, saying no can be hard for me. This trait is something of a strength and weakness. I'm starting to learn how to strike a harmonious balance between the two."
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
My greatest strength would be my curiosity and eagerness to learn. Entering the workforce post-grad is overwhelming but also very exciting in that I am about to start a new educational journey that looks very different from academia, but I think it could be far more fulfilling and exciting. My greatest weakness would have to be a need for my work to be nothing less than perfect. This in the past has led to time management issues however my time working as a staff writer definitely helped me correct this behavior.
Marcie's Feedback
Great! To make your answer even more meaningful and memorable to the interviewer, add more details about how working as a staff writer has helped you fix your weakness. Prove that you're taking steps to remedy this. Good job!
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