How To Talk About Your Strengths and Weakness In An Interview

Jen Pelletier works in Talent Acquisition & Development at ArcelorMittal USA in Northwestern Indiana. She is a former 2011 Buckeye graduate and has been working at ArcelorMittal USA ever since. She is passionate about the importance of onboarding newcomers with the company to fully engage and start their career with a positive experience. Below, Jen offers advice on talking about your strengths and weakness when interviewing.

Discussing strengths and weaknesses in an interview can be very intimidating for a student. Questions like, “Do I come off too conceited if I only talk about my strengths?” or “Won’t I sound like a failure if I talk about my weaknesses?” might add to your intimidation for an interview. Finding the right balance between the two and understanding why employers ask these questions will help you answer these intimidating questions with confidence.

For me personally when I ask students these questions, it is not meant to intimidate or ‘trip up’ the student in their explanations. I am simply wanting to get to know the student and determine what kind of employee you’d be and how you’d would carry yourself in the role. It is important to convey your strengths and weaknesses in an interview clearly and concisely. Spending too much time on explanation and ‘nitty gritty’ details can come off conceited or dishonest. The types of strengths I like to see a student have is leadership, teamwork, communication, and technical knowledge due to our heavy manufacturing industry. For the weaknesses, it doesn’t matter what your weakness is just as long as you know a solution, method, or resolution for how you have overcome or turned your weakness to a positive light.

Here are some tips on how to talk about your strengths and weaknesses in an interview with class:

Be honest and authentic

I know this is very stereotypical to “just be yourself” but I cannot reiterate how true this really is. If your response is dishonest or rehearsed, employers can most likely tell pretty quickly.

Tell a story and get to the point

Always remember the STAR approach when interviewing: Situation/Task, Action, and Result. Many times, students forget to include the result or spend the least amount of time on the result (what you actually [accomplished]) in the story. This is an important aspect to not forget as this is the time to explain what your behaviors and actions resulted in with regards to the story you are telling.

Be concise