What is your greatest weakness?

Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
How to Answer
1st Entry Level Example
1st Answer Example
2nd Answer Example

This common interview question is an opportunity to demonstrate self-awareness and humility. At the same time, you do NOT want to give an answer that makes you look unqualified. Hiring managers want to see that you understand your weak points and have developed a system to effectively address these weaknesses.

Give an honest answer with a weakness you have been focusing on, and describe the plan you've put into place to work on it. Make sure the weakness isn't a core competency of the PepsiCo 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 that won't affect overall job success.

"I am a fixer; sometimes, I take the quicker route of doing the task for someone instead of taking the extra time to teach them how to do it themselves. I am more intentional in the tasks I take on and encourage others to self-help where possible and then do a screen share to help them learn the task."

"I believe I could improve some technical skills, including Excel and PowerPoint. Currently, I am at a beginner to intermediate level; however, I would be more comfortable at an advanced level. I have enrolled in an evening/weekend workshop for the next six weeks. We will see how stellar my skills are after that course!"

"I take a lot of pride in my work and often struggle to delegate tasks to other members of my team. Even though I trust my coworkers and know how fantastic their work is, I've gotten into the habit of seeing tasks through from start to finish. However, that 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, I've learned how important it is to communicate effectively with and rely on my team."