Weaknesses

Introduction

When discussing your weaknesses, choose 1–2 areas that you can show you’re actively working to improve.

Avoid generic phrases like “I’m a perfectionist.”

The best answers show that you are self-aware and have a growth mindset.

Your weaknesses also shouldn’t raise concerns for the role you’re applying to — for example, don’t say you lack attention to detail if you’re applying for a data analyst role.

Weakness Examples

• Going too deep on technical details with non-technical teammates

• Hesitant to push back on senior teammates’ suggestions

• Jumping into tasks without fully understanding requirements

• Under-documenting processes

• Struggling to delegate effectively

• Over-committing to please stakeholders

• Not asking for help or not asking enough questions

• Over-polishing designs before getting feedback first

• Making assumptions without validating

Reflecting on Your Weakness

The most important part is to show how you are working on solving this weakness.
Be very specific about the actions you’re taking to overcome it.

Think about...

• What caused it? How did you identify it was your weakness?

• What do you do differently now?

• Have you changed your workflow or habits, or created a system to avoid it?

• Are you tracking your progress or getting feedback from others to track it?

• Have you taken on a challenge that has pushed you to improve in this area?

• Are you learning from someone else who’s strong in this skill?

• Have you built it into your goals with your manager?

Answer Structure

For each weakness, you should:

1. State weakness - Clearly name the skill.

2. Give context - Briefly explain an example or the impact it has.

3. Show improvement - The most important part, describe how you are working on your weakness. Give an example if possible.

4. Positive outcome - What have you learned?

Model Answer

Something I’ve been working on is asking for help earlier when I’m stuck on a problem.

I used to push through issues for too long on my own, partly because I’m determined, and partly because I didn’t want to bother others.

Now, I’ve built a rule into my workflow: if I haven’t made progress within a certain amount of time, I’ll write down what I’ve tried and reach out to a teammate.

I’ve learnt that knowing when to reach out is an important skill. It’s helped me move faster, and I’ve actually noticed that explaining the problem often leads to new ideas, even before I get a reply or any help. Sometimes you just need to think out loud.