How to answer strengths & weaknesses interview questions

Strengths and weaknesses interview questions are some of the most common questions you're likely to come across. But how do you answer these tricky queries?

Here are our top tips on how to respond to strengths and weaknesses questions, including examples you can say in an interview.

When an interviewer asks this question, they’re trying to work out several things. Firstly, they’re looking for evidence that you fit the role specifications. Secondly, they want to know that you understand the scope of the job and can pick a relevant skill. Additionally, they’re testing your confidence and ability to prepare.

• “If I asked your project supervisor, what would they say is your greatest strength?”
• “What special quality can you bring to this organisation?”
• “Why are you a good candidate for this role?”

• Pick a quality that you’re particularly strong in (if you’re not sure, ask someone who has taught or employed you)
• Give some concrete proof that you’re good at it. What have you been recognised or rewarded for? What’s given you a feeling of pride?
• Explain why you think it’s relevant to the role

You should prepare several strengths. Before each interview, choose which of your options best matches the role. A clear job description should list multiple desired skills or attributes that you can choose from.

• Honesty
• Being focused
• Creativity
• Flexibility and ability to adapt
• Being respectful
• Being innovative
• Commitment
• Passion and drive
• Collaboration
• Being results-oriented

• Don’t give a long list of strengths – even if the interviewer asks you “What are your strengths?” they still expect you to analyse the situation and only mention the most important one or two
• Don’t pick anything irrelevant to the role – focus on what's mentioned in the job description
• Don’t be overly modest. You don’t want to boast, but you still need to emphasise that you’ve got something other candidates don’t. So, don’t put yourself down by minimising your strengths

“My greatest strength is my ability to deal with the unexpected. When a member of our debating team dropped out at the last minute, I volunteered to take on their role. With help from my teammates, I used the journey the debate competition to research and prepare. Although I could have done better with more time, the key result was that we didn’t forfeit and still managed to gain several places in the standings. I know this role will involve unexpected situations where I’ll need to adapt and respond quickly, so I think I have a lot to offer.”

Don't get caught off guard by only preparing to answer with one strength. Savvy interviewers will throw in a follow-up question to make sure they're getting the full picture and not a pre-prepared speech. Some common follow-up questions include:

• "What’s your second greatest strength (and third, fourth)?"
• "Can you give me an example of how you’ve used that strength in the past month?"

Asking about your strengths is a way for future employers to assess your core competencies (the qualities they’re looking for in a candidate). To learn more about this type of question, read our guide on how to answer competency questions.

Dreading this one? That’s understandable. It’s hard to know what to say about your weakness when you’re trying to impress. But as long as you prepare, it’s not too nasty of an interview question.

The interviewer doesn’t really want to know about your weaknesses and isn’t expecting 100% honesty. They’re more interested in how you approach the question. Done right, your answer demonstrates key positive qualities: self-awareness, proactivity and responsiveness to feedback.

• “If I asked your boss or project supervisor, what would they say was your greatest weakness?”
• “In what areas do you most need to improve?”
• “What do you think is the biggest challenge to your success?”

• Pick one of your qualities that needs work (if you’re not sure, ask someone who has taught or employed you)
• Explain why it’s a weakness and what kind of effect it’s had on your work
• Explain how you’re addressing it – make sure you mention solutions that you're working on
• Talk about what you want to achieve in the future

You should prepare at least three weaknesses – one should be a personal quality (ie. being impatient) and one a practical skill (ie. needing to learn a particular software).

• A lack of confidence in public speaking
• Not being detail-orientated enough
• Being too competitive
• Struggling with delegation
• Being self-critical or insecure
• Not taking enough risks
• Not confident asking questions
• Procrastination
• Lack of expertise in a particular skill set
• Getting caught up in small details
• Not thinking about the bigger picture

• Avoid the tired tricks – don’t talk about a weakness that’s a strength (ie. “I work too hard”) or say that you don’t have any weaknesses (nobody’s perfect!). Answering like this is a common interview mistake a lot of graduates make. Take a look at some other common interview mistakes so that you can avoid them.
• Don’t pick any core competencies of the role (once again, check the description!) or anything that would prevent you from doing the job.
• Don’t name an irrelevant weakness (ie. don’t say “I can’t cook” at a law firm interview).

“I sometimes have problems knowing when to ask for help. For example, when I was doing my biochemistry research project, I tried an unfamiliar technique and made a mistake. If I had asked for a demonstration from my advisor, I’d have saved myself some repeated work. I’m glad to be a person who takes initiative, but since then I’ve been more careful about judging when I need to stop and get advice. I know I’ll have a lot of individual responsibility in this role, so it’s important that I get better at asking for help when I need it.”

• "What’s your second greatest weakness (and third, fourth)?"
• "How do you think that weakness would affect you in this role?"
• "What could we offer you to help you overcome your weakness?"

Knowing what strengths and weaknesses to say in an interview is a good way to prepare for the real thing. To brush up on other questions that are likely to come up, check out our list of ten common graduate interview questions and how to answer them.