Strength and Weaknesses

 

Understanding how Strengths and Weaknesses can affect your Work!

Navigating the question, ask yourself “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”  

Hiring managers often use this question to gauge your fit for a specific role. How I want you to use it is to ask yourself the question and then write down what your strengths and weaknesses are within your work environment. I often use this question to question my own positive traits and show how I’m actively improving myself.

This guide will help you understand why you should ask yourself this same question at least every quarter and provide examples for crafting thoughtful responses.

Why you should ask yourself About your Strengths and Weaknesses! 

This question helps you gain insight into your personality and work style. When managing your business, you need to understand what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. So, evaluate yourself and learn from this lesson. 

• Your self-awareness in assessing your abilities 

• Recognition of positive traits and their application at work    

• Your ability to confront weaknesses and efforts made for improvement 

• How your skills complement those of the existing employee or consultant member.

Why You’re Asked About Strengths and Weaknesses

When hiring managers inquire about your strengths and weaknesses, they assess:

• Your ability for self-reflection   

• Awareness of your positive traits and their application in the workplace.

• Recognition of weaknesses along with efforts for improvement 

• How do your unique skills complement existing team dynamics

When tackling this question, reflect on your unique strengths and the skills that enhance your workplace contributions.

Consider these qualities: 

• Entrepreneurial 

• Detail-oriented 

• Collaborative 

• Creative  

• Empathetic 

Being a problem solver and a dedicated team player can truly set you apart!

Enhance your professional journey by mastering essential soft skills.

Here are some examples to illustrate strengths effectively: 

1. Team Player 

I thrive in collaborative settings, inspiring others during challenges. My work showcases this when I unite diverse teams for impactful outcomes.

2. Tech Savvy

Staying current with tech trends excites me! My expertise in new applications allows me to foresee issues before they arise.

3. Meticulous

In content creation, my attention to detail ensures powerful messaging that resonates—consistently driving top search results!

4. Positive Attitude

A positive attitude is one of my key strengths. With experience as a server, tutor, and mentor, I bring energy and empathy to understand the needs of customers, students, and clients.

5. Problem Solving

I thrive on finding solutions quickly! As a political consultant, I thrive under pressure, I learned to tackle challenges head-on while conducting thorough research for every client.

What’s your weakness? 

How are you working to enhance it? 

In what ways has this improvement benefited your job skills?

Be ready for variations of the weaknesses question:

What would colleagues say is your biggest flaw? 

What's one thing you'd change about yourself? 

How do you recover from mistakes?

Recognizing a weakness and showing growth impresses clients and those who work with me. 

Choose a weakness that showcases your development, such as:  

Self-critical  

Disorganized

Prone to procrastination

Mastering Communication: Speaking & Presenting

Imagine speaking with confidence and clarity.

Skills you’ll enhance include creativity, persuasion, empathy, and resilience.

When asked about your weaknesses, view it as a chance to show a growth mindset—acknowledge areas for improvement while highlighting your commitment to learning.

These examples can guide you in crafting your response!

1. Self-criticism

I often struggle with self-critical thoughts, leading to negative inner dialogue and burnout. To counter this, I diligently record my goals and celebrate milestones—big or small. This practice not only highlights my contributions to the team but also enhances my ability to prioritize impactful tasks effectively.

2. Fear of public speaking 

I used to be scared to speak in public. Then I realized that my fear was due to not being prepared for the speaking engagement. When I’m prepared with a strong speech, my confidence is high, and I can properly speak before a small or large audience. This experience boosted my confidence as a leader, enabling me now to mentor my team in developing their own presentation skills.

3. Procrastination

Procrastination has always been my Achilles' heel, likely due to my fear of failure. 

To combat this in any type of work, I embrace tools such as Microsoft To Do List or Google Calendar. The thrill of checking off tasks early boosts my confidence! 

4. Concerns About Delegating Tasks

Being a perfectionist makes delegation tough for me; I've often overloaded myself. 

But by recognizing team strengths and trusting them, I’ve improved project management and efficiency!  I also realized that others won’t follow up on tasks unless you are willing to pay them for doing the job.

5. Limited Experience with Skills or Software 

If I don’t know a specific software, I can’t enhance my knowledge until I stop and try learning the software myself. Once I learn the software, I'm eager to implement the new techniques into my workflow.

Elizabeth Kilbride is a Writer and Editor with forty years of experience in writing with 12 of those years in the online content sphere. Author of 5 books and a Graduate with an Associate of Arts from Phoenix University in Business Management, then a degree. Mass Communication and Cyber Analysis from Phoenix University, then on to Walden University for her master’s in criminology with emphasis on Cybercrime and Identity Theft and is currently studying for her Ph.D. degree in Criminology. Her work portfolio includes coverage of politics, current affairs, elections, history, and true crime. Elizabeth is also a gourmet cook, life coach, and avid artist in her spare time, proficient in watercolor, acrylic, oil, pen and ink, Gouche, and pastels. As a political operative having worked on over 300 campaigns during her career, Elizabeth has turned many life events into books and movie scripts while using history to weave interesting storylines. She also runs 6 blogs that range from art to life coaching, to food, to writing, and opinion or history pieces each week.