12 Incredible Answers to “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?” — That Aren’t “Perfectionism”

So, you’ve finally got your foot in the door at your dream company. You’ve submitted the perfect resume and made a lasting impression during the phone screen. All there’s left to do now is to win over the hiring manager in the face-to-face interview. So, you’ve finally got your foot in the door at your dream company. You’ve submitted the perfect resume and made a lasting impression during the phone screen. All there’s left to do now is to win over the hiring manager in the face-to-face interview. As a well-informed candidate, you’re doing your research on the company and preparing your answers to the most important interview questions you can think of — the most notorious of them all being: “What is your greatest weakness?” You don’t want to respond, “I tend to work too hard,” or “I am too much of a perfectionist.” That can easily come across as scripted and insincere at best and lacking in self-awareness at worst. Alternatively, you don’t want to respond with weaknesses that will prevent you from succeeding in the role. For instance, if you’re applying to be a project manager, you don’t want to admit that you’re “not very good with time management.” Fortunately, there are ways to answer this question that will help you demonstrate your value as a candidate. Here, we’ve cultivated some incredible answers to the mainstay, “What is your greatest weakness” question — and don’t worry, these answers aren’t “perfectionism.” Best Answer for What is your weakness? Interviewers who ask “What is your greatest weakness?” want to know how honest and self-aware you are. They are also looking for evidence that you have a drive to improve upon your weaknesses. The best answers to this question sincerely explain a weakness and provide an example of how you are actively working on being better. 1. Choose a weakness that will not prevent you from succeeding in the role. When an interviewer asks, “What is your greatest weakness?” they want to find out: Whether you have a healthy level of self-awareness Whether you can be open and honest, particularly about shortcomings Whether you pursue self-improvement and growth opportunities to combat these issues, as opposed to letting these weaknesses hold you back Ultimately, you’ll want to use this question to demonstrate how you’ve used a weakness as motivation to learn a new skill or grow professionally. Everyone has weaknesses — your interviewer doesn’t expect you to be perfect. If you’re applying for a copywriting position with little necessity for math skills, you might admit, “I struggle with numbers, and don’t have much experience with data analytics. While math is not directly tied to my role as a writer, I believe it’s important to have a rudimentary understanding of Google Analytics to ensure my work is performing well. To tackle this weakness, I’ve been taking online courses in data analytics.” An answer like this shows the hiring manager that you recognize your areas for growth and are able to act on