A hiring manager will ask any number of interview questions that can be tough to answer on the spot. How do you talk about your greatest strengths in an interview?
Five Key Strategies for Answering “What are Your Strengths?”
What Are Your Strengths
Job interviews can be stressful, but they also let recruiters know exactly what you excel at. Making a good argument for yourself can mean the difference between being hired or being overlooked. This all requires you to have a high degree of self-awareness and the communication skills necessary to convince the recruiter why you are the best fit for the job. Common interview questions like “Tell me about yourself”, “What is your greatest weakness?”, or even “Why should we hire you?” can reveal more about your personal strengths, personality traits, and work ethic. Here is how to answer the question “What is your greatest strength?”:
Examples of Strengths
Creating your own list of strengths is a good place to start. Here are some strengths to consider:
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Detail-oriented
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Creative
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Adaptable/resourceful
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Project management
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Leadership skills
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Social media management
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Technical skills (i.e., specific software, equipment, or program experience)
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Teamwork building
How to Answer the Question: Five Key Strategies
Not sure which strengths to talk about? Take a look at these five strategies for acing this question.
Be Honest
Many hiring managers have heard dozens of candidates claim that they are a perfectionist of some kind. Perfectionism is not necessarily a strength, especially if you are so nitpicky about a project that it causes you to miss a deadline. Rather than picking something generic, it’s best to be truthful.
If you are a social butterfly, for instance, then discuss how you are a team player and how you rallied your team members together to boost sales at your last job. Not only can this display your leadership skills and people skills, but it can also prove that you are good at delegating and problem-solving.
Be Confident
Some people might worry that talking about your strengths can come across as bragging. However, being overly self-critical or downplaying your achievements will not impress a hiring manager. You are trying to convince them that you are the best fit for the job. The job interview is not the place to display your humility.
Check the Job Description for Keywords
Your key strengths should also reflect those required within the job description. The keywords you pull can stick out to the hiring manager since it shows that you paid strict attention to the qualifications. Doing so can also help you write a great resume or cover letter.
For expert help creating your resume, ResumeNerd has a resume builder tool you can use to help you craft the perfect resume.
Pick Your Biggest Strength and Elaborate
Hiring managers don’t need a long list of your accomplishments or work experiences to be impressed.
They understand that many job seekers are multi-faceted, hard-working individuals. They’re more interested in what sets you apart from other candidates. Selecting one strength and giving a specific example or two of how that strength helped out team members at your last job can be a great way to convince them of why you are the best choice.
Individuals with little to no work experience can discuss academic, volunteer, or club activities in place of work experience. For example, if you are a recent college graduate that led your debate team to victory in a championship, then this can be something you can talk about as a strength. Public speaking is a much-needed skill for any job, so discussing how that skill led you to win an award is definitely impressive.
Be Specific
Pick out a handful of specific traits and experiences that say something about you as an employee. Going on and on about how you’re a hard worker without giving any relevant examples or traits that indicate otherwise will only hurt your chances.
Instead, talking about a specific skill can tell the recruiter much more about you. For instance, if you have management skills, then talking about a particular experience where your management led to an increase in productivity or quarterly sales will say a lot about your leadership skills.
You never want to parrot your resume and cover letter back to the interviewer. Get more in-depth about what you already listed on your resume and cover letter to prove that you have the right experiences for the job.
What Are Your Strengths?
There really isn’t a need to talk about your weaknesses unless the hiring manager asks. In that case, you need to frame your weaknesses in a light where this job can help you improve yourself. Examples of weaknesses to talk about include:
- Being overly self-critical
- Being nitpicky (perfectionism)
- Weak writing skills
- Public speaking
- Trouble asking for help when you need it
How do I know what strengths to talk about?
When you apply for a job, many hiring managers will look at your transferable skills. That means any previous work experience, volunteer opportunities, and other activities need to show that you can easily handle whatever duties the job requires. Pulling from both work-related and non-work-related activities will work, so long as they demonstrate what you are good at.
It will help to sit down and draft a list of your strengths first and foremost, so you know what to talk about in the interview. This will also help you write a stellar resume and cover letter, too.
Typically, the resume summary and skills sections of a resume are great places to list your hard skills and soft skills. However, you should include callouts of these strengths in the cover letter or during a job interview. That way, when an interviewer asks, “What is your greatest strength?”, you will be more prepared and have several documents to back you up.
If you need more advice on what to add to a resume or cover letter, then head over to ResumeNerd’s blog for more information.