How to Talk About Your Strengths (and Weaknesses) in an Interview

You did it: you got an interview for your dream role.

But the competition is fierce, and to get an offer you need to differentiate your strengths from those of others during the interview. But to do that, you need a clear, meaningful understanding of your strengths and weaknesses—your talent DNA.

Having an overview of your natural abilities will not only help you answer the question, “What are your strengths?” A scientifically based evaluation of your unique performance enables you to answer every question in the interview more confidently, more authentically and more concretely.

Here is an example based on the CliftonStrengths assessment: Imagine the interviewer asks you to discuss an experience of team conflict. Immediately you think of your high competitive power that pushes you to win at all costs and a time when your team struggled with poor alignment and communication. As a result, you share a true, detailed account of how you used your competitive ambition to win together and inspired your teammates to reach a performance milestone.

A person’s CliftonStrengths profile shows their patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, ranked by intensity. Your top themes are areas where you naturally excel; Your underlying issues have less of an impact on how you behave. Learning about your subjects prepares you for any interview because your profile reveals who you are, who you are not, and why you are exceptional.

With this knowledge you can explain how your skills contribute to success when joining, building or leading a team. Here are three benefits of CliftonStrengths that can help you have a great interview:

A language to describe your talent DNA. When you are aware of your strengths, you can better think about yourself and describe yourself to everyone in your life, including hiring managers. Your strengths explain how you work with others and the unique role you play in teams—and give you an easy way to talk about it. Plus, once you get the job, strengths can help you stand out in conversations about promotion and advancement. You may also learn that the hiring manager knows their CliftonStrengths, which could lead to an insightful discussion about your themes that will leave a lasting impression on them.

More self-confidence and empowerment. Thanks to a better understanding of what makes you uniquely strong, strengths bring inspiration, meaning, and fulfillment. Strengths help you focus your attention on what you do best—and rephrase what doesn’t come naturally to you. As a result, you will feel more positive and confident. And that confidence can go a long way in an interview.

Memorable authenticity. The interviewees stand out when they give specific examples of how they would make a difference in the organization. When you know your strengths, you can be relatable, detailed, and memorable when describing why you would be useful to the company.

How to talk about your strengths

It’s inevitable – the hiring manager will ask you to talk about your strengths. Here are some strategies to help you hit it out of the park:

• Read your strengths report. Pay special attention to the words or phrases in the descriptions of your greatest strengths that really speak to you. Review your report before the interview to help you recall examples that describe who you are and what you would bring to the role. Consider unlocking access to the full 34-topic report, which gives you:
  • a detailed breakdown of your top 10 CliftonStrengths topics, including potential blind spots for each topic
  • Advice on navigating through all 34 topics
  • Ideas to identify and address potential vulnerabilities

• Study the role you are trying to get. Read the job description, talk to people you know in this position and learn more about it online. Take the time to learn more about the team, the company, and the challenges they face. Imagine how your strengths align with the day-to-day demands and demands of the role.
• Connect your strengths to the role. Where do you think your strengths would shine the most? How would your strengths benefit customers? The team? Imagine a few specific situations where your strengths would help you excel and help the team achieve their goals—whether those goals deliver great customer experiences or create innovations for the future.
• Be specific and customize your answers. You don’t have to address all of your strengths in your answer. Describe one or two strengths in detail so the hiring manager understands how and why you are the person they are looking for.
• Own your strengths. It can be challenging to promote yourself, but that is exactly what an interview requires. Be confident and try to brand yourself by showing your authentic talents and strengths. You can acknowledge your strengths without coming across as arrogant by emphasizing how your strengths would qualify you to fulfill the demands of the role.
• Get a trainer. For one-on-one support, consider working with a Gallup coach for one-on-one, personalized advice on your career goals, developing your strengths, and interviewing your strengths.

  Strengths help you focus your attention on what you do best—and rephrase what doesn’t come naturally to you.

What about weaknesses?

The hiring manager will likely ask you about your weaknesses or past struggles. How do you answer these questions?

Gallup has found that weaknesses never become strengths – but don’t ignore them. You need to be aware of your weaknesses, take responsibility for them, and have a plan to make sure they don’t hinder your progress.

When you talk about your weaknesses in an interview, you come off as confident—not like a bad candidate. However, be sure to emphasize how your strengths help you deal with weaknesses. For example, you could share the following example:

“I used to get nervous going to networking events. I wouldn’t describe myself as a naturally outgoing person, but I’m incredibly curious (ideation generation and input) and love learning about people. Lately I’ve approached the social environment as if they were a focus group. I prepare some great questions in advance and then use the event as an opportunity to gather some great ideas and stories. I find this strategy helps make the event less intimidating and more interesting. “

Here’s another tip on weaknesses: Complementary partnerships are a powerful workaround for your core issues. Complementary partnerships help each person do what they could not do alone. With that in mind, you could answer interview questions about weaknesses by talking about how you connect with others who have natural abilities.

For example, you might discuss how your creativity (idea generation) combines well with a colleague’s attention to detail and strategic mind (analytics):

“In a fast-paced project, we both contributed something the other lacked, which took the result to the next level.”

Stand out from the crowd

Let’s face it: job interviews can be nerve-wracking. But with the right knowledge and preparation, you can make an impression that will land you an offer.

Strengths can give you an edge even after you’re hired, because strengths prepare you for endless growth and development—personally and professionally. Gallup has found that people achieve the greatest success when they use and develop their strengths – they are three times more likely to say they have an excellent quality of life.

Simply put, when you discover your strengths, you will see a life of opportunity.