How and why talk about your shortcomings in an interview
The words “tell us about your shortcomings” scare many applicants. The creator of the agency of career consulting Olga Lermontova tells how to use this issue to the benefit of himself.
Imagine you at an interview. It passes perfectly: the conversation develops perfectly, mutual understanding with the interviewer has been established, you already clearly represent the work on work, and then hear the following question: “Tell us about your shortcomings”.
This is one of the most difficult questions – a cherry on the cake, on which the employer is trying to understand whether you should take you to work. And as a result of this “check”, most candidates fly out of the competition. It is understandable: the topic is not the most pleasant, and here it is easy to start nervous and eventually blurt out some kind of stupidity.
The secret is to understand why this question is asked and how to build an answer correctly. First, let’s try to understand why they ask about it at all.
Reason No. 1: The company wants to hire a conscious person who analyzes its mistakes and knows himself well enough. These are signs of a professional adequately assessing himself and his abilities. Such a person understands his weaknesses and either works on their strengthening, or tries to go around them, relying on his strong qualities.
Reason No. 2: Employers want to understand whether you will be a serious risk to the company in the future. This is a “check for a fool” to exclude some fatal problems that may interfere with employment.
Reason No. 3: If the candidate is perfect in everything, it looks better than the interviewer. This, as a rule, does not cause sympathy. There is a suspicion of falsehood and hypocrisy, or that the candidate is too high about himself.
Therefore, paradoxically, the need to talk about your shortcomings is a great opportunity to show that you are a living, conscious person who works on yourself, and therefore will be a good part of the team.
This is a chance to improve the opinion of the employer about you, and not
vice versa.
I offer you 7 tips that will help you prepare correctly for the answer to this question. As a result, you will feel more confident, and this will increase the chances of a positive outcome.