Choose a Strategic Weakness

Introduction

When you need to talk about one of your weaknesses, the question may sound something like:

• What is your biggest weakness?”

• “What’s something you’re working on?”

• “What would you like to improve?”

• “What’s an area for development?”

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

The weakness you choose 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

Instead of thinking about something you're bad at, focus on a skill that you'd like to improve.

• 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 actively 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?

If you can’t show improvement, don’t choose it!

The next step is to turn your chosen weakness into a structured, confident answer.