The question every job applicant dreads is what are your weaknesses? If youre uncomfortable answering this question, join the club. Most job candidates struggle to develop a plausible response.

Here are tips and examples to help you effectively answer this question:

• First, forget about saying youre a perfectionist. This response is over used and interviewers dont buy it.
• Better to cite a weakness that youve worked to improve. Example: I am a hard driving manager but Ive learned to solicit and incorporate feedback from my staff to make the team more effective. Or, I tend to want to do everything myself but Ive realized I can be more effective if I delegate certain tasks.
• If you lack a required skill, dont try to hide it. Before the interviewer has a chance to eliminate you, develop a strategy to compensate for your knowledge gap. And use it to respond to the weaknesses question. Example: a compensation specialist lacked technical knowledge in one of six required areas. Before she interviewed, she researched certificate programs. During her interview, she mentioned this weakness by saying she was prepared to take the program to get up to speed as soon as possible.
• Cite a weakness thats not a deal breaker. For instance, if you are applying for a copywriters position, you could say that youre not a great public speaker. Copywriters typically arent called upon to give speeches. Make sure you carefully review the job requirements before you cite a weakness that might be buried in the fourth paragraph of the job description!
• Dont say you have no weaknesses! This is a dead giveaway that youre ill prepared or hiding something.

Finally, the employer is aware that nobody is perfect. Admitting that you have faults is okay. Whats key is how aware you are of your weaknesses and what youve done to improve upon them.