What is Your Biggest Weakness? (Ace this Interview Question!)

🤕 ”Tell me about your biggest weakness” isn’t actually designed to tease out a weakness of yours. Your answer to this tricky interview question is supposed to (1) Highlight how self-aware you are, (2) Show you are able to share a workplace-relevant weakness, and (3) Prove that you are taking concrete steps to improve yourself!

Because of those reasons, the best way to answer the “what is your greatest weakness” interview question is to highlight a skill expected of someone more senior than you, since you’re not “supposed” to have that skill anyways!

If you’re interviewing for a more junior role and you get asked “What is your biggest weakness,” a safe answer might be something like “strategic thinking” since that’s a skill generally expected of a people manager (i.e. someone more senior)

I also include a sample answer I used to get into management consulting and product marketing in this video so you can reference it the next time you are preparing for interviews

Good luck! 😁

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 What is Your Biggest Weakness?
00:30 Avoid Dealbreaker Weaknesses
01:20 Mention a Skill found in someone senior
02:35 Give a Concrete Example
03:05 Use CARL instead of STAR Method
03:23 Sample Answer for Greatest Weakness Question
04:41 Why This Method Works

RESOURCES I MENTION IN THE VIDEO

MY FAVORITE GEAR

MY FAVORITE SOFTWARE

BE MY FRIEND:

👨🏻‍💻 WHO AM I:
I'm Jeff, a full time Product Marketer. In my spare time I like to tinker with tools and create systems that help me get things done faster - or as one of my friends puts it: "Get better at being lazy" 😏

PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links I get a kickback from 😇

Disclaimer: My opinions are my own and may not reflect that of my employer

#biggestweakness #greatestweakness #interviews

[JeffSu]

So...what is YOUR biggest weakness? Like...honestly 😏

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 What is Your Biggest Weakness?
00:30 Avoid Dealbreaker Weaknesses
01:20 Mention a Skill found in someone senior
02:35 Give a Concrete Example
03:05 Use CARL instead of STAR Method
03:23 Sample Answer for Greatest Weakness Question
04:41 Why This Method Works

[zoranrajner]

Quick note, I'm an Engineer: "It could be said I sometimes suffer from impostor syndrome. Sometimes I don't feel confident I'm qualified for my position or some new task I have been given. Luckily until now I had supervisors who were confident in my abilities and I always managed to finish what was required. Just needed a small push. With time I realized that I am quite capable handling tasks that seem overwhelming, but I need a bit of time to sort my head out."

[tristan]

“I lack leadership experience”

“I have a hard time say no when people ask for help. this can sometimes overwhelm me”
“I focus on every details and this can sometimes cause me stress when a project has tight deadlines”

those are my favorites

[AgentMaayan]

This is a great breakdown! I always like phrasing it in a positive way, like "something I'm currently working on improving is..." and "I actually think this role could be a great place for me to keep improving in this field because..." to not only give the sense I know what my weaknesses are, but showcase how I'm using my current situation as a learning experience and how I believe I can continue to grow and improve in the role I'm applying for.

[TheeLeeSwank]

“that’s a pretty strong answer, even if i do say so *myself*”

wow, he’s brilliant, handsome, AND punny.

[ImprovementGang]

Nice! I just had a few mock interviews in school with a company's HR and this is good to note for some people. Mentioning the deal-breakers is key. Saying that there is no weaknesses just makes you sus; just make sure that the solution to the weakness is relatively easy to swallow.

Tip: add as many numbers as you can like years of experience or results as it gives an assessment of your competency

[JoaoSantos-qcjm]

Hey Jeff! I really appreciate your videos and your succint and gentle way to breakdown the explanation. I'm preparing myself to a potential interview for a role that I've applied for (or for the next ones) and your videos are being crucial for me.
Already made my resume and LinkedIn profile update based on your tips (already followed you in LinkedIn :-))
I'll keep you posted as soon as I have any updates on that job interview because I've seen so many of your videos that I already consider you as a close friend (I'm also reviewing your videos to practice my English as this is not my mother langue as well and your diction is damn good).

Greetings from Brazil and have a great week.

[MarielaInoaC]

A recommendation that I heard a few months ago is that it's better to avoid weaknesses that are related to your personality because those are kind of hard to change, maybe? 🤷‍♀️ So choosing a weakness related to a software or skill that you could learn is better, for instance "I'm not good at using Excel, but I started to take this course and blah blah..." (Of course, this only works if Excel is not a must have skill for the work that you'll be doing).

[janellee]

Hey Jeff! Thanks so much for posting this video!! :) I commented previously about my struggle with this question, and Im so glad you made a video about it. Please keep up the amazing work that you do!! :)

[DemetriPanici]

Definitely was always concerned I was answering this wrong. Great stuff Jeff!

[TheeLeeSwank]

“ that’s a pretty strong answer,
even if i do say so *myself* “

wow, he’s brilliant, handsome, AND punny.

[brantlers]

The best answer to this I’ve seen. Calling out the fake non-answers is great. “i WoRk ToO mUcH” - yeah right.

[bealsprings]

This an excellent video, Jeff. I wrote an answer using CARL and your example as I took notes on your video. Thank you for the work you doing and the content you are providing.

[charanjeetkaurlabana]

Hey Jeff thanks for being my guru in this job search journey. Watching your vids and linkedin posts have helped me learn so much and be more confident. Thanks for offering so much high quality, meaningful, applicable, no BS content for I’m sure I’ll owe my first job to you whenever I have it!

So coming to the negtives, My mind tends to come up with negative scenarios first and point towards errors quickly rather than focusing on positives first. Could also be bcuz I have OCD. I wonder if thats a negative worth highlighting.

[wanderfulljj]

As usual, loved your energy and smile 😆 Have a great one.

[anjumanalam]

Glad you brought these kinds of videos back 👌

[ushnishchakravarty]

I just honestly say in an interview that my excitement and nervousness kills me and I m constantly trying to improve on it. The way of covering up with a small and relevant example is a nice way of saying the entire stuff without have to pour every bit of information.
Nice way of avoiding extra questions from interviewer and giving ourselves much more time to focus on other thing.
Overall, I got a new idea of telling this answer. 
Thanks Jeff!
Cheers!

[parimadloo]

You are the best jeff. Thanks for this wonderful content you creating.

[mamaloveshercats]

Wish I saw your video sooner... 🥺 Great video! Thank you so much!

[Timanator]

Great videos man, you are killing it!