How to Answer: 'What is your Greatest Weakness?' (25+ EXAMPLES!)

+ Subscribe for more
for daily career + life advice :)

Outline:
0:00-0:43 Intro
0:44-2:14 What NOT to say
2:15-3:06 What TO say
3:07-4:57 The 10/90 Rule (+ scripts)
4:58-5:36 More "good weakness" ideas

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

→👩🏼‍💻 The Career Workshop Intensive (a career course taught by me!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OTHER THINGS ↓



❌ I DO NOT sell Career Coaching or Resume Writing Services
❌ I DO NOT and will NEVER ask you to invest in crypto (or anything)

______
ABOUT ERIN

Erin McGoff is a multi-hyphenated media professional who has built a career as an award-winning documentary filmmaker & viral content creator. McGoff is passionate about making the world a better place through storytelling + democratizing access to quality career advice.

Today, she has 4m+ followers and continues to work to democratize access to quality career advice.

__
* NOTE: Some of the links in this video may contain affiliates from brands I LOVE and endorse :)
__
#careeradvice #linkedin #professional #professionaldevelopment #jobinterview #tutorial #resume #coverletter #lifeadvice #jobsearch #workfromhome #wfh #personaldevelopment #salary #salaryincrease #salarynegotiation

[AdviceWithErin]

What's your "Greatest Weakness"?! Put your answer below & don't forget to join my community on Instagram: instagram.com/advicewitherin

[dyfustifications]

I am overweight and said "Chocolate!". Got the job anyways. 😂

[lekiscool]

My best answer I think I gave once. Is that “I tend to take on other peoples emotions. I’m working on not getting too upset if someone is outwardly disappointed in the service they received.” In customer service you don’t want to be getting emotional if someone is yelling at you.

[princessbanannahammock]

@advicewitherin I spent two days pouring through your videos as I've spent 4 of the last 5 years unemployed. I used your templates for cover letters to apply to a law firm front desk and when I went in for the interview, the boss said they received hundreds of applications for the front desk but he was impressed with my cover letter and resume, and asked if I was interested in being a legal assistant instead! I won't know for sure for at least a week, but even if I don’t get the job, the results of listening to your advice has massively boosted my confidence. Thank you for everything you do!

[anon]

Erin, I had my first job interview, like ever, for a software dev internship, I prepared using exclusively your free videos and I got it! Thank you so much!

Really helped me stand out from the other students, for example the HR lady seemed surprised when I had your questions ready. Again, thank you so much for making these, keep up the good work!

[adamedison]

I have always hated this question, because the answer no matter what, is to make up a convincing-sounding lie.
The truth is they don't want the real answer to this question, and you don't want to answer it.
Anyone still asking this annoying and fruitless question in a job interview is a red flag for me and I won't be working there.
Interviewing is a 2-way street.

[johnhightshoe]

13 years in EMS and I will tell you that the good places to work will actually pass on you if you say that you’re overly critical of things outside your control. This tells them that you are on the short tract to being burned out and that you may develop more problem down the line. A better answer is that “I tend to get focused on learning new things and constantly trying to absorb new information. This is a weakness because I have at times spent to much time in the theoretical world but I am actively looking to put these new studies into practice.” Most places will love this answer as it conveys eagerness to continue your education in the field while also letting them know that you should be open to the rapid changes that happen in this field. I have seen so many best practices go from every needs to be doing this to “um actually this was hurting patient’s, ” looking at you epi in cardiac arrest. Had to throw my two cents in on this one, seen good people get pasted up for showing that they may be a risk for early burn out. Now if you want to work at a place like AMR or other private EMS agency that is literally begging for employees they don’t overly care what you answer on any of these questions.

[Sage_Green]

I have so many weaknesses and I know that I have those flaws, it’s harder when they ask what are you good at because I know there are people who can do better than me. Btw I LOVE YOU CHANNEL!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[gordshorde]

i'm going into a round 2 interview on thursday and i'm so excited!

[littlesparkle]

Erin! I wanted to say thank you because I landed my next job thanks to your advice videos!

I had a job interview today that I thought went pretty well. Initially they told me I'd hear back next week because there were some more appointments with other candidates. But about an hour after my meeting with them, they called me again to say that they liked me so much during my interview that they wanted to offer me the job!!!

I put a lot of the advice you give into practice during my interview, and I just wanted to say thanks so much for creating such valuable content! ❤

[chazlyle]

I always go with balancing my “greatest strength” i.e. I’m always conscious of the balance between being so task oriented and such a people person, gotta make sure we’re finding the right mix and timing for each job. :)

[aihara_namika]

hey erin! just wanna say that i use your advice during my interview and it went well >< thank you for making this kind of video.

[alphiebeet]

girl this video helped me get a job!! tysm!

[epicflounder]

Any advice on how to avoid applying to "ghost jobs?" Forbes just put out an article saying that 50% of HR reps admit to posting bogus jobs for various reasons. I feel like I'm just shouting into the void at this point.

[Lizard]

These videos are great and are very good advice for job interviews...but they highlight how frustrating these things are. It's like you have to translate everything to corporate speech, it's never about being honest or direct. You can be saying the same thing as another candidate but if you make it longer and fancier then it you get the job.
In my last job I was pissed at some higher ups because they didn't seem to know what they were doing, and went to search their curriculum online, and the worst they were at their job, the more it was more corporate speech, turning "I made a short film once" into "I challenged myself to produce a high quality short duration movie by directing a small promising team in a chaotic environment following a schedule of product---" you know. Kinda sounds like when I was in high school and didn't know how to answer an essay question so instead I'd try to repeat the question in long complicated words to sound like I was saying something.
Meanwhile the person that just had "I worked in XYZ." was the best at the same job function...and made less money than the other one because they had "less qualifications".

[carleybarnes]

This came at the perfect time, I have a job interview on Monday!

[abkeener]

Hi, Erin! Thank you for your videos. Especially this on. Ironically when I was in college (in the 2000s) ... I was told in my career class to say something like I'm a perfectionist. Yeah. Not doing that. But what about something like this? I'm quite a direct communicator. And it's come to my attention that some find my directness offensive. I've been working with someone (my therapist ... but I won't say it's my therapist) to perfect it. Noting situations where a bit more of a gentile tone is needed. How's that? I'm Andrew. And ironically this is totally true about me.

[MK-ihwp]

Are you kidding, this is my dream interview question, I can rant about my personality defects for hours!
In fact, that’s prlly my main problem…I’m a great worker but I can’t get over my imposter syndrome.

[ashleybellerose]

My weakness is my confidence. I got this. I am selfi critical

[lawrencemartinjr]

I’m new here I’m # 522.001 member now!👍🏻