Strengths and Weaknesses

This question is one of the most common and revealing parts of an interview. It’s designed to test your self-awareness, honesty, and ability to reflect on personal growth.

</aside>

When you talk about your strengths, the panel wants to see if you truly understand what sets you apart and how those traits have translated into results.

</aside>

When you talk about your weaknesses, they want to see if you are aware of your improvement areas and whether you’re doing something concrete to work on them.

</aside>

A great way to answer both is by using the STAR format - Situation, Task, Action, Result.

</aside>

Strengths (choose 2–3):

Ownership and accountability
Empathy and team leadership
Analytical thinking
Structured problem-solving
Adaptability and learning agility
Communication and storytelling
Result orientation
Collaboration and stakeholder management
Creativity and innovation
Strategic thinking </aside>

Weaknesses (choose 2–3):

Overthinking or perfectionism
Not a team player
Lack of bias for action (overplanner)
Hesitant to delegate
Difficulty saying “no”
Public speaking or presentation anxiety
Impatience with slower processes
Overcommitting to too many initiatives
Struggling to step back from execution to strategy </aside>

Remember your weaknesses should be genuine but not alarming (e.g., “public speaking,” not “procrastination”). But they should also not be strengths that you disguise as weaknesses.

</aside>

Step 1: Identify Your Strengths

| STRENGTHS | **SITUATION *(*Describe the context of the challenge or situation) | **TASK *(*Explain the task or responsibility you were handling) | **ACTION *(*Detail the specific actions you took to address the task- be very specific) | **RESULTS *(*Share the outcome of your actions and what you learned) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | |

Step 2: Identify Your Weaknesses

| Weaknesses | **SITUATION *(*Describe the context of the challenge or situation) | **TASK *(*Explain the task or responsibility you were handling) | **ACTION *(*Detail the specific actions you took to address the task- be very specific) | **RESULTS *(*Share the outcome of your actions and what you learned) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | | | | | | 2 | | | | |