The weakest qualities. Strengths of a person’s character: objective assessment and work on oneself

The recruiter makes the first opinion about the applicant, and, as is known, the second chance to produce good first there will be no impression. Therefore, the point about character weaknesses often confuses the candidate.

Do I need to indicate my shortcomings in a custom resume? There is no definite answer to this question, but for most vacancies this is not necessary and significant disadvantage there will be no response when considering your response. However, if such a question is in the questionnaire, then ignoring it would be a big mistake.

If you are filling out a resume on a job search site and there is this item, you should not skip it. You can limit yourself to writing the standard 2-3 characteristics and move on to the next point. But if you really want to make an impression, it's better to be thorough in filling out every item on your resume. If in a dialogue we can paraphrase a phrase, focusing on the behavior of the HR manager, then in a resume every sentence should speak only in your favor.

By including a question about weaknesses in the questionnaire, the employer certainly does not expect your absolute honesty. Rather, he wants to test the candidate's ability to answer questions. difficult questions, do not ignore the manager’s instructions, just his adequacy. After all, if a person has nothing to tell about himself, then is he such a good worker and is it worth wasting time on an interview.

What answers should you avoid?

So, how to answer the tricky question about your shortcomings? First, let's look at what is better not to write:

You should not put a dash or completely ignore this point. For a recruiter, such an act is a signal of the candidate’s inattention, lack of desire to carry out complex or unpleasant instructions from his superiors, and inability to correctly evaluate himself.
Write a list of 10 or more shortcomings. For most companies, it is enough to indicate 2-3 qualities.
Describe those aspects of character that can really interfere with the chosen job. For example, laziness, conflict, unpunctuality, etc. will definitely not brighten your appearance in the eyes of your future boss.
Lie outright. Even if the quality you specified in the point about weaknesses will be perceived positively when evaluating the questionnaire, but in reality you do not possess it, the truth will quickly become clear and there will definitely not be any praise for deception.

It so happened that some employers, when surveying, and sometimes in the job description, ask you to indicate your shortcomings and weaknesses in your resume. Thus, they want to simplify the selection of personnel, weed out unnecessary candidates, etc. In a word, HR managers solve their problems in a way that suits them.

Let's get to the point

For quite a long time I have been helping people write resumes and look for jobs, and I want to say that the topic of shortcomings in resumes rarely comes up. But if it comes up, I tell everyone the same thing.

Weaknesses do not need to be listed on your resume.. Not necessary at all. Under no circumstances. Even if a vacancy or a special questionnaire asks you to describe your shortcomings, it’s still not. No, no and no again. Never write bad things about yourself!

There are several reasons for this.

Indicating character weaknesses in a resume increases the likelihood that your resume will be thrown into the trash. Someone will definitely understand your words “wrong” and decide that such a candidate is not needed. Let them first invite you to an interview, and there you will answer the employer’s questions and tell about yourself in all details.
Second point - don't judge yourself. You may be biased and most likely you will. Many people are demanding of themselves and self-critical, they make mountains out of molehills and scold themselves out of the blue. Let others evaluate you. Let the employer look at you, talk to you and draw his own conclusions. For him, your disadvantages can be advantages (and vice versa).
For example, shyness may be rated very highly. She may be seen as calm in nature and accommodating. Likewise, an active and energetic person may be called an upstart and a troublemaker.
If you indicate weaknesses and shortcomings in your resume, this will show your low self-esteem. Low self-esteem = low salary. Therefore, there is no need to be completely honest in your resume, show yourself from your advantage.

What if you still need to write something?

If you have a questionnaire or a form on a website where there is a special column “your shortcomings,” write a neutral phrase.

Examples of indicating weaknesses in a resume:

— “I am ready to answer your questions in personal communication”
- “I prefer to talk about it in person”
- Just put a dash

No disadvantages - only advantages

I want to say a few words about reverse side medals. If you don’t need to indicate your weaknesses in your resume, then your strengths should. This is really important. Focus on your strengths, strengths and skills. This will help the employer make the “right” choice.

When writing a resume, some firms and companies ask you to note positive and negative qualities in your application for a job. More often, this requirement is made by large companies with a large staff, where coordinated, teamwork of all employees is important.

We advise you to make a preliminary list of your positive and negative qualities in advance. When compiling a list, you should take into account the specifics of the company’s activities so that negative qualities do not become an obstacle to obtaining the desired vacancy.

When describing your positive qualities In your resume, try not to describe yourself as superior, stick to the “golden mean.” The description must contain objective, reliable information. If you are hired, it may later become clear that the stated qualities do not correspond to reality and an awkward situation may arise.

You must be ready to provide reasoned support with examples from your personal life, professional activity the presence of the described positive aspects of character. There are several basic qualities of a person that an employer will definitely pay attention to when reading a resume.

Performance	Here you can clarify that if the need for overtime work arises, you are ready to offer your services and time. Pay attention to the desire to work quickly and efficiently.
Communication skills	Quality is important in teamwork. Focus on your ability to easily adapt to an unusual environment, a crowd of large numbers of people, and the ability to conduct dialogue with different categories of people.
Resistance to stress	This quality in demand in work involving severe physical activity or requiring immediate solutions in complex, emergency situations. When interviewing, bring real examples from life.

The qualities listed below are optional, but will make your resume more complete and are guaranteed to draw the employer's attention to you as a person suitable for the available vacancy:

analytical thinking;
attentiveness;
discipline;
initiative;
creativity;
organization;
punctuality;
readiness to work to improve professional level;
hard work;
creative approach to the task.

Indicate those qualities that best suit the vacancy for which you are applying. Don't overload your resume with unnecessary details.

Negative qualities

There is no perfect person in every way. It is incorrect to write on your resume that you are devoid of negative qualities. Present negative aspects character as a virtue, for example:

gullibility;
pedantry;
increased demands on yourself and your work;
straightforwardness in judgment;
distrust of unconfirmed facts.

It is important to understand and take into account the fact that characteristic features in a certain situation will manifest themselves fully, so do not try to hide what is obvious. Be prepared to talk about what you think are your negative shortcomings. Don’t be ashamed to admit them, because you are ready to fight them in order to bring maximum benefit to the company.

During the interview, stay calm and do not become overconfident. Try to look your interlocutor in the eyes and answer to the point. Try to convince the employer of your professionalism and readiness to start working as soon as possible.

82 960 0 Hello! In this article we want to tell you about the strengths and weaknesses of a person. After all, everyone has to face this question when writing a resume or during an interview for a job.

Strengths and weaknesses of a person

The strengths and weaknesses of a person are closely related and should not contradict each other. Each person has their own disadvantages and advantages. As a rule, we are used to talking about strengths, but we are often silent about weaknesses.

An independent, goal-oriented and self-critical person always recognizes that there are many weaknesses in his character. And there's nothing wrong with that. We are all human. But every purposeful person can turn his shortcomings into advantages through painstaking work on himself.

So, what are a person's strengths and how to find them? To do this, first of all, pay attention to your talents and skills. This is where you will find your strengths. When you have found your advantages, pursue them and develop them. This will allow you to open up to your fullest potential.

If you cannot independently determine your strengths for the questionnaire, ask your acquaintances and friends for help. Thanks to their opinions, you may discover advantages in yourself that you were not aware of before. And in some ways your opinion will agree with the opinion of your friends.

In addition to the strengths on your resume, there is often a question about your weaknesses. There is no need to be ashamed of them. If you claim that you have no negative character traits, this will become a sign to the recruiter of an undeveloped personality. Which is unlikely to help you get the desired position in the future.

Table 1 - Strengths and weaknesses

Your strengths if you:	Your weaknesses may include:
Results-oriented	Inability to remain silent in time
Tenacious	Excessive emotionality
Hardworking	Lack of willpower
Strong-willed personality
Confident	Inability to speak in public
Sociable	Excessive irritability and aggressiveness
Organized and independent person
You perceive information well	Formalism
Learn quickly	Hyperactivity
Responsible for their own actions and the actions of their subordinates	Fear of traveling by air and sea
Disciplined	Inability to lie
Love your profession and work	Integrity
Active and energetic person	Lack of flexibility
Patient	Modesty
Honest and don’t like to lie	Excessive self-criticism
You have organizational skills	Straightforwardness
	Love for formalism
Punctual	Pedantry
Are you a good performer?	Self-love
Scrupulous	Impulsiveness

Exceptions to the rules

When applying for a job, indicate in your resume those strengths that will help you get the desired position. After all, some of your strengths for a certain position may turn out to be weaknesses that an applicant should not have.

Here are the most common examples. To get a manager position, you shouldn’t talk about your ability to sing. This is unlikely to help you get a job. But if you tell a hiring manager that you are a good cook, this will indicate your discipline, creativity, perseverance and accuracy. After all, to prepare a new dish you need to spend a lot of effort and time on choosing products and on the direct cooking process. In addition, a good cook is always creative in creating a new masterpiece, but always follows it exactly in accordance with the culinary recipe.

Below we will give several examples of what qualities need to be specified when applying for a particular position.

Table 2 - Strengths and weaknesses by specialty: examples

Strengths	Weaknesses
If you are applying for the position of accountant, then you:
Assiduous	You don't know how to lie
Attentive to details	Always straightforward
Disciplined	Scrupulous
Punctual	Principled
Hardworking	Distrustful
Honest and decent person	Modest
If you are applying for leadership position, You:
Initiative	Hyperactive
Active	A person with high demands
Goal oriented	Scrupulous
Assertive	Principled
Possess leadership qualities	Pedantic
Love to develop and learn new things
Confident
If you are an applicant for creative vacancies, you:
Have a creative mind	Hyperactive
You know how to work for results	Modest
You know how to soberly evaluate your work	Emotional
Initiative
If you are applying for a manager or office employee position, you:
Sociable	Are you afraid of flying?
Results-oriented	You don't know how to lie
Can you listen?	Principled
Confident	Hyperactive
Speak competently
Punctual
You know how to find a way out of difficult situations
Attentive and polite
Responsive
Have a creative mind

The table shows that not all positive aspects It’s worth indicating in your resume, since some are simply not needed to get the desired position or can be “harmful.” For an employment application, we recommend that you select such weaknesses that will help characterize you as a responsible person and worthy of holding this position. The negative qualities of your character should help you perform the functions assigned to you.

What else should you pay attention to in your application or resume?

Be sure to indicate in your resume that you you always set goals for yourself and achieve them, that is, you are a goal-oriented person. At the same time, you show persistence and always follow the pre-drawn plan.
It is also worth pointing out that if unforeseen circumstances arise, you will be able to find a way out of the current situation - you have creative thinking.
Another important component of any successful applicant is self confidence. This will characterize you as a confident person who is not afraid to take a step forward. You are not inclined to panic due to unforeseen circumstances; you are calm and confident in your abilities.
It is also very important ability to communicate with people. Let it be clients, colleagues, subordinates, suppliers. You just need to be able to find relationships with them " common language", accept their point of view and correctly present your opinion.
One more positive feature character that must be indicated in the employment application is responsibility. No matter what position you apply for, you must always be responsible for your actions. Otherwise, you will become a burden to the company, which will ultimately lead to your termination.

Also, when applying for a new position, indicate that you are highly trainable. Can you give examples from past work or university practice. When you come to new company, at first you will need to study: learn about the company, the features of its activities and learn how to fulfill your direct responsibilities.

Exercises to identify strengths and weaknesses

Sometimes it is very difficult to determine your personal qualities on one's own. Especially if you are nervous or writing a resume for the first time. To eliminate worries and unpleasant moments, make a list of your qualities before the interview. And we will help you how to do this. So:

Conduct an analysis of your character. To do this, remember what you do well and what you do poorly. And also, what qualities are needed to complete these tasks. Write everything down so you don't forget.
If you cannot independently assess your qualities, ask your loved ones and friends whom you trust to do so. They will help you find your strengths and point out your weaknesses.
Assess your surroundings. Determine what positive and negative traits your friends have character. Compare with yourself: what you have and what you don’t have. Write it down.
Next, evaluate the qualities you indicated. You need to select which of this list are your strengths and which are your weaknesses. Let’s say at university you couldn’t give a presentation in front of an audience. So yours weak side is the fear of the public. But you made this report, which means you are a diligent, attentive, responsible and hardworking person.
Next, from the selected qualities, you need to choose your personal and professional qualities.
Determine what qualities an applicant for your vacancy should have. Write them down.
Now make a selection from your personal and professional qualities in accordance with the qualities that an applicant for the desired position must have. Write it down.
After the work has been done, identify your shortcomings and how you can overcome them.

Useful articles:

As many people know, in most organizations, when searching for a job, you need to provide a well-written resume. There are certain rules for filling out, but sometimes the employer asks you to write quite unexpected things - for example, personal shortcomings. And he can be understood. As a manager, he must find out as much information as possible about the new employee. Let's figure out what weaknesses can be indicated in a resume and at the same time present them as strengths.

To be honest, a resume paragraph about weaknesses doesn’t come up very often. The applicant is required detailed description his skills and abilities that will help him in this position in this organization, education, work experience.

Disadvantages as a separate resume item

In most cases, the disadvantage clause does not provide anything. Some will leave it blank, others will not want to tell the truth. In fact, this column is formal in nature. Therefore, you should take the filling seriously and turn your disadvantages into advantages. Omission of this column can be interpreted as insufficient intelligence and lack of self-confidence.

When filling out the shortcomings column, be honest with yourself. You must fully understand what your good and bad sides are. And, most importantly, remember that in modern society the same quality can be perceived from different angles.

Remember that there is a significant difference between a flaw and a vice. Therefore, those aspects that do not interfere with the work should be indicated. It would be foolish to indicate that you are a lover of alcohol and parties, a noble ladies' man or a fan of fights.

Weaknesses in a resume. Examples.

A good option would be to indicate that you are a workaholic and love to work. This may be bad on the one hand, but you can say that you will get great pleasure from your future work, and this will add several points to you as a job seeker. Another option is to mention scrupulousness in matters of order.

Think about the types of disadvantages that are advantages for a given position - pedantry for an accountant, taciturnity for a programmer, stubbornness or impudence for a sales manager, restlessness for a sales agent, talkativeness for a sales agent or call center operator, and so on.
Don't forget to indicate that you are constantly working on your shortcomings and trying to correct them. Let's say you quit smoking two months ago. Feel free to write about this - it will speak about your ability to solve problems and move towards your goal.

Lack of necessary skills (or insufficient experience) can be turned to your advantage. “I hardly studied English after college and thought I didn’t remember anything. But in a couple of days I read Shakespeare in the original and I think I can handle it.”
If you haven’t yet figured out how to indicate your weaknesses in your resume, a large number of examples can be found on the Internet.

Even the most experienced employees are always thinking about what weaknesses to include in their resume. There should be no lies or stereotypes here - this can work against you. Do not overdo it in revelations, so as not to reduce your chances of getting the desired position. Use ingenuity and flexibility to convince the employer of your desire to change and the benefits for the future company.