Job Interview in English | Talking About Your Weaknesses

Hello, High Level Listeners. Welcome back to Highle Listening, your go-to channel for improving business English through natural professional conversations. This episode is part of our job interviews in English series, and today we're focusing on one of the hardest questions in any interview.

What's one area where you're still working to improve? What skill or ability do you think you could develop more? So today we'll be talking about your weaknesses.

Yes, these questions can feel very tricky, but don't worry. We're going to show you a clear and confident way to answer using professional sentence structures and vocabulary that hiring managers really like to hear, especially when you talk about yourself and your weaknesses. Now, in our last class, we talked about all of our strengths.

So, we are going to be talking more today about our weaknesses. Now, you heard from some of the questions before, we won't always ask you what are your weaknesses, but that's basically what we're going to be asking. So, before we show you our strategy and how to approach these questions, here is something important.

When answering these questions about weaknesses, you should avoid phrases like, "I'm not good at that, I'm bad at that, or I can't do that. " These sentences are a problem because they sound final, like you are not improving and you will not improve in the future. Instead, we're going to show you language that shows you're growing, learning from your mistakes, and taking action to improve them.

We're going to help show you another way to kind of approach this type of question. And we're going to use a simple threestep structure. And that very first one is you're going to admit your weakness.

I know, I know it sounds a little crazy. You are going to say something that you are not good at. Okay, that's okay.

That's okay because everyone has weaknesses. Not everyone is good at everything. So, the first thing we want to do is we want to admit the weakness.

We want to be honest, but not too honest, right? Number two, we're going to explain why it's a weakness. Why do you do that?

Why do you have this weakness? And the third one, we're going to explain what you're doing to improve. So, we're going to show how you've been learning, you're growing, you're making an effort.

So, admit the weakness, explain why it's a weakness, and explain what you're doing to improve it. So, that's our three steps. Okay.

So, now you have the strategy. Let's break it down and give you some sentence structures that you can use to talk about your own weaknesses. And with each one, we'll give you four sample answers from different jobs and industries.

Okay? So, step one, admit that weakness. You have to tell the interviewer your weakness.

You You got to do it. All right? You've got to do it.

Now, a simple way instead of saying, "One of my weaknesses is it doesn't sound as professional. " So, I would probably say, "I need to improve something. " Okay?

I need to improve my skills. I need to improve my ability. If you're a graphic designer and you're in an interview, you might say, "I need to improve my time management during large design projects.

" You'll notice we're not using the word weakness at all. We're putting a more positive spin on it. I need to improve.

You'll see this as a theme throughout the video. If you were a customer service representative in an interview, you could say, "I need to improve my ability to handle high stress situations more calmly. " If you're a project manager, I need to improve my skills in data analysis and reporting.

If you were interviewing for a sales assistant position, I need to improve my product knowledge, especially with newer items. Again, the key is to be honest and say what you want to get better at. Another structure to talk about your weaknesses is I sometimes struggle with something.

So, if you find one part of work difficult or one skill tricky, the good word is struggle. It is a little bit negative, but it's still not weakness or bad. We want to avoid those words altogether.

I sometimes struggle with asking for help when I get stuck. If you're a software developer, that would be a good one. Also, too, if you struggle with something, it's because you're trying it.

You're trying to do it, but you're not perfect at it yet. So, it really does kind of tell me if you struggle with something, that means you are trying, but it's you're not there yet. So, as a nurse, I sometimes struggle with switching off after emotionally difficult shifts.

Here from the grammar, struggle with doing something. If you were an office assistant, I sometimes struggle with staying organized when things get really busy. And absolutely, like Mark said, he struggles with staying organized.

So, he's trying he's trying to stay organized, but he's not 100% there yet. As a marketing coordinator, I sometimes struggle with narrowing down ideas into a clear message. So, I'm trying.

It's just I'm not perfect at it yet. I'm not great at it. Another structure.

This one's really good, especially if your question involves, "What did your manager say about you? What would your team say about you? Have you been told?

Did you get feedback about this? " A simple way to answer I've been told I do this. I've been told meaning someone has told me.

I've been told I've been told either through feedback directly from my boss in an email verbally in written I've been told. So for an engineer, I've been told I can be too detail focused and miss the bigger picture. This sort of sounds like maybe someone like your boss or your group mentioned it to you and they now you know, oh okay, you're right.

I do that. So I've been told I can be too detail focused and miss the bigger picture. This phrase also shows good awareness, like you've listened to feedback and you've taken it on board.

You don't just reject anything bad about yourself. If you're a teacher, you might say, "I've been told I talk too quickly when I'm explaining something complex. " Like Mark said, self-awareness is a very big deal because you can't just think you're perfect.

Right? So, if your students have said, "Oh, I think you talk a little too quickly. " Oh, absolutely.

Of course. As an accountant, I've been told I should speak up more during team meetings. Maybe I'm a little quiet and my boss noticed, so they let me know.

So, I've been told I should speak up more during team meetings. And if you want to be an HR coordinator, I've been told I can be a bit too hesitant when making tough decisions. Okay, so that is the first step of the strategy.

admit the weakness. Step two is explaining why it's a weakness. Just because it's a weakness doesn't mean it's because you have a lack of ability or lack of skill.

It can sometimes just be the way you think about things or the way you like to work sometimes can be difficult to work with in a group or can create challenges. That's okay. As long as you show that you're aware of yourself, how you like to work, how you approach tasks, this can still come across as a positive thing in an interview.

You can talk about your own professional habits and the way you work with, I tend to do something. I tend to do this. I tend to answer emails first.

I tend to challenge people's opinions. I tend to means it's my habit and it's my personality. It can be good and it can be bad at the same time.

If I tend to do it, I do it almost without thinking. I do it instinctively or naturally. And again, sometimes that's great.

Sometimes that can cause issues at work. If you were a UX designer, you might say, "I tend to overthink small details which can slow down my process. " you're interviewing for a receptionist position.

I tend to take negative feedback personally, even when it's meant to help. If you were a junior developer, I tend to focus on solving the problem alone instead of asking my team. If you were a warehouse worker, I tend to rush to finish tasks quickly, which sometimes leads to small mistakes.

So, the next one is kind of to replace I think I or maybe I this kind of doesn't sound very confident in your answer. So, you could use this instead. I noticed that I This is again this is feeling self-aware.

And self-awareness is knowing that you're doing something wrong or knowing that you're doing something that is affecting other people. This is good self-awareness. And honestly, bosses really like to see this.

So, I noticed that I did something do something and this is what happened. This is why it's a weakness. So, maybe a content writer might say, I notice that I spend too long editing instead of moving forward with new content.

We could also use the word I realized. I realize that I spend too long editing. I notice that I spend too long editing.

And remember the word to o is negative. It's almost always negative. So I spend too long doing this.

I spend too much time doing this. That can be that can be part of your weakness as well. This structure really sounds like you stopped and thought about yourself for a moment.

So this sounds like great self-awareness. If you were a sales rep, you might say, "I notice that I avoid making cold calls because I feel nervous. " Maybe an administrative assistant might say, "I notice that I doublech checkck my emails too many times before sending.

" Or if you're applying to be a teacher assistant, I notice that I hesitate to speak up when I have a different idea from the lead teacher. That's step one and step two done. Now it's time for the third and the final step.

What are you doing to improve it? This is your chance to put a positive spin on this whole weakness part of the interview. This also shows growth awareness because if you know you have a weakness, you should try and change it.

You should try and improve it. And this also shows initiative which interviewers love to hear as well that you can take your own problems and solve your own problems by yourself. One way you can talk about what you're doing to improve is I'm working on it by doing something.

So I'm working on it by practicing. I'm working on it by trying or helping with ing. If you're a sales rep, I'm working on it by practicing cold call scenarios with my team.

Now, remember, I'm working on it. It was the problem we talked about before. Remember, this is step three.

So, we admitted the problem. We talked about why it's a problem. And now we're working on it, that original problem.

So, if the teacher talks too fast or explains things a little too quickly, I'm working on it by recording myself and slowing down my speech. If you think you could use your time more efficiently, you could say, I'm working on it by using time blocking and project management tools. And a healthcare assistant might say, I'm working on it by learning to set emotional boundaries and take some breaks.

This is quite a good one. I've started I have started or simply I started doing something. So I've started reading more.

I've started taking more breaks. I've started and I started really it doesn't matter in this situation. The grammar will have the same effect.

So for an office assistant, I've started using a digital to-do list to stay organized. Yes, you can use the present perfect. I've started.

It's like since I realized my problem since then I have started changing my behavior or doing something differently until now. If you're a software developer, I've started joining more team code reviews to ask for feedback. A barista or a person who makes coffee.

I've started reviewing our product menu every week to learn faster. And if you wanted to be a social media manager, I've started taking short copywriting workshops online. All right, so the last structure for the last step of the strategy, I've learned to do something.

Present perfect again, I've learned to do something. You can also use the past simple. I learned to do something and it has the same effect.

So again, it shows a new skill that you gained or a new ability that you acquired because you noticed a weakness before. If you're a customer support agent, I've learned to stay calm when a customer is frustrated and not take it personally. If you're an IT support, I've learned to explain technical problems in a more userfriendly way.

This definitely sounds like you have fixed the problem and the problems about staying calm or explaining things are not an issue anymore. I'm better at those now. If you're a nurse, I've learned to take short breaks to manage stress during long shifts.

Or if you're a junior analyst, I've learned to ask for clarity when tasks aren't fully defined. All right. Excellent.

So, let's look at some real example answers using all three steps. Admit that you have a weakness, why you have that weakness, and what you're doing to improve it. So, we're going to see that in all allin-one.

So, Mark, I want to ask you a question. What's one area where you're still working to improve? If I was interviewing for a sales rep position, I'd say I need to improve my confidence with cold calling.

I tend to hesitate before picking up the phone, especially with new leads, but I'm working on it by practicing scripts with my team and just focusing on small wins. Now, I'll ask Cat, if this is an interview to be a teacher, what's one area where you're still working to improve? I need to improve my classroom time management.

I notice that I sometimes spend too much time on one activity, so I've started using timers and clear lesson transitions to keep things moving. All right, Mark's going to be interviewing for an office assistant position. Mark, what's one area where you're still trying to improve?

Sometimes struggle with staying organized during busy weeks. I tend to write notes on paper and lose track. So, I've started using a task manager app and color-coded files, and it's already helping.

Right. And the last example, I'm going to ask Cat. She wants to be a graphic designer here at my graphic designer company.

Uh, Cat, do you have a skill or ability that you think you could develop more? I've been told I focus too much on details. I like getting everything perfect, but that can slow down the workflow.

So, I'm working on prioritizing what matters most and delivering work on time. Thank you so much everybody for joining us today. Would you like to see all of these answers written out clearly?

If you become a Highle listening member here on YouTube, you can get the entire transcript and you can download it and take it offline with you. We also have a brand new work interview English bundle and we'll be looking forward to sharing all of the best tips, phrases, and structures with you in our highle listening store. Okay, so there you go.

A focused professional way to answer those tough weakness questions. If you use the grammar that we shared and adapt the structures to your career and your weaknesses, you'll sound really prepared and really confident and you should ace these questions. So tell us in the comments what skills are you still working to improve.

Use one of today's sentence structures and we'll help you polish your answer. Yes. Thank you for watching High Level Listening once again.

We'll see you next time with another business English episode to help you ace interviews and get the job of your dreams in perfect English. Thanks everybody. We'll see you next time.

Bye-bye.