Interview question- weaknesses

[WhippetyStourie]

I have an interview tomorrow for a library assistant, primarily a customer service role. If I’m asked about what my weakness is what is ok to admit to?

I’m quite shy and hate public speaking but it’s a customer facing role. I would be fine chatting with customers, and working with others just not good if asked to lead a meeting for example.

Or I am not a creative type - could I say this and stress how I’m much more practical.

Any hints and tips on this or anything else related gratefully received. It’s my first interview since being SAHM for 10 years and never having done this role before. To say it’s nervewracking is an understatement.

Good for you for taking the steps to get back to work!

I hope some librarians come along soon to give you some ideas of the sorts of things that would work best in your environment.

In general, the idea with these questions is to say something that looks like a 'good' weakness. So it's a weakness, but it can also be a strength. The most extreme/jokey version of this is to say 'I'm too much of a perfectionist!' because it implies that you have high standards.

Another way to handle it is to offer up something that it a genuine weakness, and then to say how you're addressing it, because then that shows self-awareness. So I'm a senior manager, and my weakness is that I have a tendency to micro-manage, because I have very high standards, but I'm aware of this and working on giving people more space to do their own thing is part of my leadership journey and some thing I'm having coaching to work on.

If I were you, I'd probably use the practical/creative thing - so you could say, 'I'm extremely practical and organised, and show lots of attention to detail. Previous employers have really valued me for this (for example, in a previous job, I did X, Y and Z). I sometimes feel the downside of this is that I've had less opportunity to develop my creative side, but I'd really look forward to any opportunity to get involved in more creative duties in this role'.

Does that make sense?

You want to show that you are aware of your limits & you have (ideally multiple) strategies to work around them. This question is great for spinning into showing you can be resourceful, resilient, sensitive, adaptable.

One goto is to say I work too hard!! And that I am too independent & forget that it's okay to ask for help from colleagues & admit things I don't know. That shows I can learn from my mistakes, value teamwork, and care more about doing my job right than 'looking good'.

Thank you, Rainatnight and lljkk . I appreciate your responses. Very helpful.

Best of luck for tomorrow! Let us know how you get on.

Good luck. If it helps I would say that's a really rare question to be asked, it's a bit old fashioned so hopefully it won't come up. Whatever you say the key is that you are aware of it, so I would say that I like to be in control but I'm aware that's not practical so make a real effort to engage with others/delegate. Something like that.

Oh dear I was a babbling mess and they didn’t ask any of the questions I had prepared including the strengths & weaknesses. Never mind, next time!

Oh no :( you might still be surprised. Good practice for the next one x

Competency based questions are usually popular - "can you tell me about a time when..." you can try and prepare some situations. Usual ones are:

• when you've gone the extra mile
• dealt with a difficult customer
• had to manage a short deadline

Things like that.

Good luck, and you ever know!

Thanks Stealth I would be very very surprised! But yes it was good practice.

Yes winkys you are right there were a number of scenario questions - I had planned the extra mile & difficult customer ones but sadly I got asked about specific situations I hadn’t really experienced hence the babbling. I couldn’t really make my prepared answers fit and couldn’t think of anything else. If only they gave you the questions in advance, I can think of much better responses now!

The competency Q I had was "Tell me about a time when you badly disagreed with your boss." I can tell I answered it all wrong in saying I decided after months that that job wasn't for me at all, which is only time I had an irreconcilable difference. Was I supposed to lie, instead? Oh dear!

ragged I think it’s fine so long as you demonstrate what you learned from the experience. Don’t work with wankers, maybe 😉

Anyway who’d have thunk it but apparently I wasn’t quite the blithering idiot I thought I was and the panel were ‘very impressed ‘ with me. Not enough to offer the job I applied for but I have been offered a casual position. The best part is I don’t have to reapply or have another interview, such relief!

Well done Whippety!!

Bravo!
Hope this gives you confidence that you can do it!

Thank you everyone. I’m quite looking forward to starting.