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Now, today’s episode…
“What are your weaknesses?”
Quels sont vos défauts ?
Non, ce n’est pas moi qui te pose la question. Je te considère comme un ami et franchement, ça serait bizarre si un ami commençait une conversation comme ça :
“Hey, Ben! How’s it going? What are your weaknesses?”
(Ben looks at you in a long, awkward silence then…”Wait, what?”)
Dans un entretien, le recruteur n’est pas là pour être ton ami.
Si tu as de la chance, il te proposerait peut-être un Nespresso (What else?), mais il veut surtout savoir si tu es le bon candidat pour le poste, pas si tu es la bonne personne pour aller boire un verre le jeudi soir.
Donc, sooner or later, tu vas entendre la question : What are your weaknesses ? Quels sont vos défauts ?
Voici une réponse du style “je me flingue tout seul” :
“Um, let’s see…I can be impatient with new employees. I wait until the last minute to finish projects. I don’t like when people tell me what to do. I don’t…” (On va s’arrêter là…)
Elle a du potentiel, mais brut, comme ça, elle donne pas trop envie. Mais…
Cette réponse peut jouer en ta faveur, avec un peu de magie de la fée avancer ta carrière* (*Ceci est une tentative de jeu de mots potentiellement pourri…)
Dans cet épisode, tu apprendras les expressions en anglais pour décrire tes défauts, expliquer que tu y travailles et donner une vraie bonne réponse à cette question : Quels sont vos défauts ?
Now, it’s your turn! C’est à toi !
What’s your biggest weakness?
Tu peux prendre cette opportunité pour tester ta réponse dans les commentaires avant de le tester avec un recruteur. (Car même si ta réponse n’est pas parfaite, je te garderai quand même 🙂
All the best to you,
Christina
I have a tendency to eat late night snack after sleeping . I gain weight fast due to this . I can’t help it . I just love food .
I’m sometimes too workaholic . I just can’t relax even when I’m free . I know that I can be my own pain .
HOW to improve my weaknesses ???
I stuff myself before going to bed / hitting the sack .
I give myself time off by going out more often .
Hi Mollie! I hope you had a good summer vacation! And I can totally relate to loving food! Me too! But maybe you eat food before sleeping (and not after sleeping?) And I understand about being a workaholic too! What sort of things do you think about when you’re thinking about work in your free time?
One thing I do to improve this is to go for a walk each day. I usually walk to work (and back home in the evening) and this lets me think about work things before I get home. And then I’m free to enjoy the evening with a free mind!
What about you?
Hi, That’s true that it is not easy to talk about our weaknesses when you want to look quite perfect for a new job ! I’d say that I have a tendancy to take a long time before delivering a project. Because I need to think slowly to be sure to have all stuffs or green lights ! I know that sometimes I procrastinate when I dislike some matters … And, I have a tendancy to be in a sulk when people or things irritate me too much ! (I was already like that whan I was a little girl !)
Well, What’s up doctor ?!!
Hah, those are great answers! And I think that while we want to look perfect for a job, it’s also good to show that you know that you’re not perfect and that you can reflect on these “negative” things.
As for some solutions, I’m no expert, but maybe you can deliver projects faster by doing a “draft” version quickly and then seeing what needs to be improved for the final version.
For procrastinating (I have the same problem!), I just put the task in my calendar and then just do it (like the Nike slogan!)
And for sulking and being upset, I usually cry a little when I have a big huge problem, and then as we say in English “pick up the pieces and get on with it.” Like I need the cry session to say “OK, I’m upset, now it’s out of my system and you have to work to find a solution and do something.” Romain says I need a good “pétage de plomb” and then it’s all ok!
What do you do?
Hi Christina. how are you. Because of the TABASKI DAY called again AID EL KEBIR in arab language or .I choose this day to send you my response about your question WHAT ARE MY WEAKNESS. I dont know how i can tell it you or if i have to take it as a POSITIVE WAY .DEFAULT and so on… It’s the fact to be in GREAD CONFIDENCE.In my twice ways to go to my job interview ,there is like something which give me power to tell myself go go it will be ok ,it go be alright .And yet i never see succes come to mee about this. And i would like to know its a weakness or a good thing TO BE IN SELF CONFIDENCE. HAVE A GOOD DAY
Hi Babou! And yes, Eid Mubarak to you! I have a lot of teacher friends in Tunisia who were celebrating this week! All the best to you for this special time (which is indeed a good occasion to reflect on yourself).
To answer your question, self-confidence is a good thing, definitely. But too much can be a weakness. For example, if you have to give a presentation, it’s good to be confident that you can do it well because you prepared, you know the subject, and you’re ready.
But if you’re too confident and you think that you can succeed in doing a presentation when you don’t know the subject well, you haven’t prepared, and you haven’t prepared anything, then it’s a weakness because this over-confidence leads to a bad performance.
So, there’s a fine line between having a healthy amount of confidence and having too much confidence. That’s when it becomes a weakness!
Have a great holiday season and all the best to you!
Salut et merci amplement pour votre conseille . franchement dans ce stade là et comme nous avons l’être humain font des fautes n’importe quel le genre pour cela je vais parler . dorénavant j’ai devenu faire l’attention pour mon conscience désormais il n ‘ y a pas des fautes au niveau de tous que ce soit le domaine avec les gens mon conscience aussi . merci
Ma grande faiblesse est de croire que je n’ai aucune faiblesse! Je pense que je suis l’homme parfait, et je ne comprends pas pourquoi je ne suis pas Superman. Nos vraies faiblesses, nos blessures, nous ne pouvons pas en parler, en tous cas au cours d’un entretien, si on parle de certaines de nos faiblesses, c’est de celles que nous avons identifiées et pour lesquelles nous avons initié des axes de consolidation (consolation).
My greatest weakness is to believe that I have no weakness! I think I’m the perfect man, and I do not understand why I’m not Superman. Our real weaknesses, our wounds, we can not speak in any case in an interview, if we talk about some of our weaknesses is to those we have identified and for which we initiated axes consolidation (consolation).
Hi Cristina! First time I see your video : very nice, well done and thanks 🙂 About your post, I should say that I have a tendency to be direct with others and they can be upset about the way I talk to them even if it was not my intention first. One day, one of my friend at work told me I was almost rude! From that point I’ve decided to be less direct and I try various ways according to the people I speak with to adapt my speech. And it works! More people come to see me to have a feedback or share their experience to have my opinion.
Is ot a “correct” or acceptable answer to a recruiter? All the best to you. Helene
Very interesting video. I am not searching for a new position now but who knows… sometimes this situation comes quicker than you wish… Moreover it brought me to reflect about myself, what is always good, even if you do not need to look for a new job.
For my work I interviewed people myself I did not like the question about weaknesses because it does not bring much but the HR manager wanted this question to be asked… So we did. Though this question never allowed me to know the person better (they were all prepared for the question and answered mainly the same… “I am inpatient”, “I am too perfectionist”… but never a real weakness.
Your video is good because it give the tools to really be prepared. At least the form will be good, the content is up to each individual 😉
Thanks so much for the very interesting comment. You’re right that it’s always good to reflect on yourself and your skills, whether it’s for a job interview or just to be self-aware. And interesting remark about the question “What are your weaknesses?” I agree that if it’s a false weakness like “I’m a perfectionist”, the question and response is a waste of time. But what about if the candidate has a genuine (true, authentic) answer and they express their desire to improve it? How does the RH perceive the response? This is very useful information for the community 😉