When weakness is your biggest strength

By Peter Kamuri

There are many reasons why job seekers are invited for interviews. One reason may be to allow for exchange of information between a prospective employer and candidate.

Other reasons may include providing an opportunity for the employer to assess the character, values and attitudes of a prospective candidate.

This supplements the information available in the curriculum vitae.

As such, in order to succeed during an interview, one needs to prepare well. However, one thing that many job seekers forget to think about is that employers may want to establish their weaknesses.

So why should prospective employers be interested in knowing your strengths and weaknesses?

They know that job seekers who understand well their strengths and weaknesses, they tend to have a sense of direction and know precisely what they want in an organisation.

During interviews, many job seekers are thrown off balance when they are asked the question: "What are your weaknesses?" This is because few hardly expect this kind of a question.

This question can be negatively worded to evaluate how the potential employee can handle demanding situation. It may also test whether the candidate has critical thinking and self-awareness skills.

For example, you may be asked: Have you ever made a bad decision or a grave mistake in your working life? What are your weaknesses?

With proper preparations, when asked about your weaknesses during an interview need not scare you.

your chances

Try to be as honest as possible. If you have to discuss a past work-related weakness, consider one that will not hurt your chances of getting the job.

However, regardless of the weakness, you should turn it into a strength. This can be achieved by saying what you are doing to overcome the challenges or the problem, and perhaps progress made.

Keep your answers as short as possible.

It does not matter how negatively framed the question is. Avoid personal information about your life that may not be relevant to the advertised position.

You must be quick at coming up with the best response. So you must assess some of your weaknesses and pick on the ones that are easy to portray a positive image.