Strengths and Weaknesses

If your response to the often used interview question, "name your weaknesses" is a variation of the cheesy "Gosh, sometimes I just work too hard", then you need to rethink your response. Hiring managers and HR personnel aren't stupid. They know that this is a left field question and they want to see how you handle it. What they are really looking for is insight into how self aware you are. The only way to screw this up is to give a canned response like the one above or be so completely clueless as to start listing your most oddball personality characteristics.

What you need is the middle ground. Something that seems like a real weakness that you have discovered through some actual self examination but at the same time, isn't going to be detrimental to the hiring process. The most important thing you need to do is actually examine yourself and career to identify these types of things--and then work to improve them. To be safe, you should discuss business skill development areas, not major personality issues.

Here are some types of responses that fit into this middle category of real issues that ultimately aren't going to torpedo your chances at the position.

"My presentation skills are ok but I realize to take my career to the next level I need to become the type of communicator that is highly effective in presentations to upper management and external customers. I've plan to improve this by....."

"I'm always working on patience. I like to get things done and can sometimes become frustrated when a project moves along slower than I anticipated. I'm learning that flexibility is a key trait in an effective manager and that some systems that slow a process down are there for good reasons."

And finally, something that can be pretty powerful is to highlight something you are aware of and currently working to improve.

"My Excel skills aren't as strong as I'd like them to be so I've recently enrolled in an advanced Excel class that is helping me bridge the gap between where I am and where I want to be."

Ultimately, work on responses that are right for you and your situation. Just make sure they aren't too canned or ingenious or too personal and you'll do fine. The most important thing most interviewers want to see is that you can think on your feet and actually give a good answer to this question.