How to express your greatest strength as a 'weakness' in a job interview

"Tell me, what would you say are your weaknesses?"

Answering one of the most dreaded interview questions is actually easier than it seems — as long as you know what you’re good at.

Understanding your strengths helps determine not only where you’re going to best fit, but also where you can potentially get into trouble.

The problem is, most of us don’t actually know our strengths. At my university, all students take a StrengthsFinder assessment that helps identify their natural talents.

More and more schools are embracing this, which means that more graduates are entering the workforce with this self-awareness.

Achiever. Developer. Maximizer. StrengthsFinder talent themes sound good, and they are; but the strengths you tout can, at times, be barriers. Knowing how to manage and talk about them will help you provide an honest answer to a recruiter asking about your weaknesses. And it won’t blow your chances of landing the job.

Example: I tend to be an activator who has a high sense of urgency and likes to get things done. The downside is that I could be impatient or move too quickly on projects. My job is to check myself at a meeting, give colleagues a chance to brainstorm, and look before leaping.

Here are five examples of how to articulate the positives ("balconies") and the barriers ("basements") of particular strengths:

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Achiever

You work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. You take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive. You love completing tasks.

Barrier: Work is more important than people, and sometimes intense diligence can get in the way of building relationships.

Belief

You are passionate and uncompromising about your core values and are willing to make sacrifices for things that are important to you.

Barrier: Being set in your ways. You think there's only one right way — and as a result, you could come off as inflexible and not open to other ways of doing things.

Positivity

You're optimistic, hopeful, and fun-loving. You typically have a contagious energy and enthusiasm that's great for motivating teams and keeping morale high during times of stress.

Barrier: Coming off as naïve or not serious.