Hey Jobcasers,

I'm going to begin a posting series titled, somewhat generically, "Interview Tips" where I'm going to share with you all tips to turn interviewing from a stressful mess to a confident showcase of why they'd be fools not to hire you. So, let's start with a question that tends to throw a lot of people off of their game: "What's your greatest weakness?"

A lot of people will advise you to say something either insignificant (e.g. "I'm a chronic nailbiter") or something that is actually a strength (e.g. "People say that I'm a workaholic."). These responses are at best, neutral (that's right, your 'weakness' of loving to work too much doesn't impress people), or worse, an actual mark against you in the interviewing process. The reason why it can be construed as a negative is it comes off as evading the question and if I can't trust you to be forthcoming in the interview, will that change once you're a member of my organization?

So you might be thinking right now, "Well now what am I supposed to say? I'm not so good at time management or that I'm not that familiar with some of the software they use?"

My response to that is you absolutely should not disclose behavioral issues (e.g. Time Management, Past Disputes with Supervisors, etc.) for this question. It is imperative that you bring up an experience or technical-based weakness that you are ACTIVELY working on.

An example of this might be that if you're interviewing for a position as an Administrative Assistant and one of the job duties requires using Excel. You might say something like, "I have general understanding of how to Microsoft Excel, but I can't say my skills are exactly advanced at this point. I know how to create and maintain spreadsheets, as well as how to create graphs and charts, but I'm still learning how to use functions like VLOOKUP and how to write macros, but I've found great courses on LinkedIn Learning and Udemy that are really helping me get a better grip of mastering this software."

In this example, you were candid in that you didn't have the advanced skills that your interviewer may or may not be looking for, but you clearly explained your level of knowledge and showed that you were being proactive in trying to counteract this weakness with online courses. That's going to go a lot further in your next interview than something that's either irrelevant/trivial or actually a strength that you're trying to pass off as a positive.

So Jobcasers, I hope this helps you in your search for your next employment opportunity.

Best Regards,

Gage Cherry

#interview #Interviewtips #jobsearch #motivation