Strengths and weaknesses

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I may be in the position soon of having to look for another job, which is a pretty stressful thought, as I've worked in the same place for a long time, it's not really a great time for me personally, etc. Anyway, I was trying to think about what my strengths and weaknesses as an employee would be. This was for the purpose of trying to get a better idea of how to "sell myself" to potential employers, as well as how to better manage myself if I do start working at a new job. I came up with a short list that I guess is pretty typical for people on the autistic spectrum (obviously I wouldn't want to mention the weaknesses to prospective employers):

Strengths:

- Reliable
- Conscientious
- Motivated
- More focused on producing results than political maneuvering

Weaknesses:

- Introverted
- Don't really enjoy socializing with co-workers
- Sometimes have a hard time with change, interruption of routine, etc.
- Anxiety and depression have sometimes affected productivity

I was just wondering how people with a similar profile of strengths and weaknesses have gone about creating a positive impression of themselves in job interviews, etc., and also how they've managed their "weaknesses" at work, especially when starting a new job.

In an interview, I try to stress that I am hard-working, honest, genuine, and that I enjoy solving problems. If you have these characteristics as well, I encourage you to share them with potential employers. They will very much like the problem solving part of it. I usually say that I am determined and motivated to solve any challenge that is presented to me. If it is a job that will involve any level of customer service, instead of telling them about how I don't like talking to people, I tell them that I believe that every customer should leave our interaction feeling satisfied. Many of my jobs have required confidentiality, so I stress my proven ability to remain confidential and my knowledge of the laws surrounding it.

Even if I do not come away from the interview with them believing I am the most personable candidate, I want them to believe that I will be the greatest asset to them. And that they can trust me because I am an honest and practical person.

If they ask about weaknesses, I am honest about that too, though I will leave out some of my worse traits. I will tell them that sometimes I can get so wrapped up in completing a project that I can forget to engage my colleagues on a more personal level. I may also say that in the past I have been nervous speaking in front of large groups, but that it is something I am working on. Don't just give them BS on this question; many employers like to know that you can recognize your own deficits and that you have/will do something to try and overcome them.

Most importantly, do not try to BS your way through the entire interview. Use your honesty and frankness to your advantage by showing how genuine of a person you are.

When starting a new job, I attempt to attend many of the social functions in the first couple of months, even though I hate it, so that I can give the appearance of caring about my colleagues and so that I can then take a break from social functions for a while. If people remember that you were at an event last time, they will not pressure you as much to attend the next one.

^Those are all really helpful points. It's good to hear from someone who seems to have a similar "work personality," and how you've made the most of your assets and potential liabilities.

Very astute. My policy has just been more to sort of avoid any kind of work-related socializing, but I think there's been a definite cost for that. The approach you're describing seems like it would minimize the amount of socializing you actually had to do but still keep some of the benefits you would get if you approached things in a more NT style.

As an interviewer, I love the question about what are your weaknesses.

It helps to spot bullshitters, because they tend to say "I can't think of one." Bull, everyone has a weakness.

I am looking for you to admit a weakness, and then tell me how you are improving it.

Now that said, pick a weakness that can be overcome and isn't horrible. Don't be like "I hate working with people."

Think of specific examples where you helped you current organization make money. While whatever has gone wrong lately is front and center in your mind you were there a long time so there must have been good times and good things you did for them.

Of course things are going wrong at the moment and you need to vent so do it here, do it in front of people who are are close to you. Just do not do it in front of any potential future employees.

I am not in your job so I don't know what is going wrong but remember we tend to misread other peoples motives so your perceptions that you may not be there much longer might be wrong. But this is still a good exercise to do anyway. If your employment does end make your exit as professional as possible. so you do not get a negative recommendation.

Yes, it has seemed to help with my current job. I find that first impressions stick with people for a long time. So, if you attend events in the beginning, people will have that impression that "oh, this is a social person." Then, even if you don't go to any more events for quite a long time, they still think back and have the idea that you like to be involved.

I always feel like I'm being asked to "Incriminate" myself. I guess that's basically what it is.

There is nothing good about confessing to a true weakness it will get me eliminated. It's really puzzling because maybe I have a weakness that has nothing to do with the job. Maybe my weakness is my inability to become employed. Yeah, that would go over well.

I think the real trick is to bypass Human Resources by networking. Find a way to make connections in the industry so the interview is just a formality. Then there should really be no need to ask this ridiculous question.

It's good that you can make a list of both strengths and witnesses. However, keep in mind that an interview is not the place to present a balanced overview of yourself - it is a place to sell yourself, which means focusing on your strengths. That doesn't mean "lie" - certainly not - but I would say to avoid bringing up weaknesses unless you are asked about them.

Be prepared to talk about your strengths, not just list them. That means having examples ready of when you demonstrated those strengths. Everyone can say "oh yeah, sure, I'm motivated", which is why the interviewer will ask you to show that you are with an example. To make it more difficult, they may not ask this directly. They may ask something like "tell me about a particularly difficult task you accomplished" and you need to recognise that this is your opportunity to demonstrate your positive qualities.

Now, if they ask you to talk about a weakness (and a good interviewer will) then you need to be prepared to talk about that, too. thewhitrbbit's advice is basically sound, but there's a great podcast that goes into more detail about that: http://manager-tools.com/2007/01/how-to ... s-question Well worth listening to, but the summary is: pick an actual, current weakness, but one that is not core to the job and won't scare off the interviewer and ideally something you're working to improve. But also take comfort in the fact that most people answer this poorly, so if you do no more than honestly describe a reasonable weakness that should already put you in the top 10%.

Can you try to BS this question with an obscure answer?

Assume the HR person is not highly technical and say your command line knowledge of MySQL isn't very strong.

You can try that, but I see two pitfalls. Firstly, if the HR person is any good at their job they probably won't accept that and will press you for a more general professional weakness (ie. not a technical one). Secondly, even if they "fall for it", it might backfire when they suddenly decide that particular technology is important to them. HR people tend to be clueless about what technology is really important to the job and what's just nice to have. They can also easily misunderstand. Maybe the job involves MSSQL and you said "weak at MySQL command line", but they heard "weak at SQL" - you're out, thank you for playing! So it would be difficult to pick the right technology for this. After all, you can't use something completely irrelevant to the job - that would just sound stupid.

So I don't think it's the best option, though it's still better than admitting some serious weakness in a skill core to the job, which would get you ruled out straight away. It's also better than not answering the question at all, like "can't really think of any weaknesses". But any BS answer is never going to be as good as a real one, as explained the podcast I linked to. It's not easy to do, but once you figure it out and practice it, you can use this answer over and over - you can be sure it will come up in many interviews.