What is a good answer to the question "What are your weaknesses?"?

Hi Anonymous,

the general structure to keep for this question is the following:

1. Say which is a "good" weakness, that is, a weakness which is not a red flag (you may also use terminology as “One of my points of improvement”, instead of “My first weakness is” to soften it a bit);
2. Say what you are doing to improve on it, giving a concrete example (eg, don’t simply say “I am working on it”, but rather “I am doing XYZ and ABC in order to get better in this”).

You can find a detailed discussion on this at the following link:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-are-your-weaknesses-317

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

When talking about weaknesses, it is important to be honest and not to overdo them at the same time. But what is most important is to tell that you are working on them and how you do that.

I recommend you answer such a question by telling about weaknesses that could not affect your job that much and, besides, providing some evidence (here I mean storytelling) on how exactly you improve on them.

We are all human and it is literally impossible not to have a single weakness. Just be confident in your strengths.

Do you need any further help?

GB

Hi,

I recommend using two things:

• Anything that can be easily improved in consulting
• Anything that can not impact your job

Don't use as a weakness anything that can prevent you from doing your job

Best

Hello Anonymous.

I like asking this question in interview, and your answer is quite a common answer in terms of content. However, what I look for with this question is more "how you deal with this weakness and what are your mitigation ways". Remember you are hired to sloved problem. Here your weakness " I take too much on my plate" is actually a problem and will be a problem once a consultant. Your answer should be structured as follow:

- I tend to take too much on my plate, for example, during my last internship ....

- I realize that this could be a problem and I know that it is crucial to prioritize and manage your timing if you are a consultant

- I discussed it with my manager during my internship and I decided to do a 10min touchpoint with him every day in order to prioritize my action plan and make sure my workload was sustainable and accurate with the project priorities...

See the idea ?

Hope this help

Matthieu

(edited)

Hi Anonymous,

The main idea how to answer this question consists of a weakness which

1. Is not mission-critical for a consultant (like not able to travel on plane, not liking to talk with people, .....................)
2. you could already improve in the past from a previous weakness to a current strength (or at least neutral topic), which you can also describe with specific examples and learning process how you improved.

By that, you also show your ability to reflect on your weak points and improve with specific action plans.

Hope that helps!

Robert