Character strengths and weaknesses: a list for a resume

Everyone wants to have an interesting job in a company that they have known and dreamed about for a long time. But before you become an employee of such a company, you have to write a resume. If the employer is interested in it, the candidate will be invited for an interview. At this stage, it is important not to relax, but to prepare.

Before the interview, you will have to go through a resume selection stage.

First, review the possible interview questions and think about your answers. One of the most popular is a description of strengths and weaknesses. Often at this stage many candidates are eliminated. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to it.

Why is it important to prepare for an interview?

Every person has shortcomings and obvious strengths of character. When writing an application or resume, it is important to indicate both. If you talk only about the strengths, the HR manager will understand that in front of him is a person who is deprived of the ability to even give a correct assessment of himself.

How to Assess Your Character

A correct assessment of your character can serve you well. You are afraid to name your weakness, thinking that you will lose, and perhaps this position requires just such individuals.

Don't be afraid to tell a little more about yourself than you would like. To get to know yourself better, ask your family or friends to tell you what they see in your character from the outside.

After “discovering” new character traits from the outside, you will understand what is worth talking about yourself and what is not.

Are you waiting for an invitation or a call from the company where you want to apply?

The call may come unexpectedly, so prepare in advance what you will say at the interview.

Be prepared for the manager to start the conversation as if you were there for a friendly conversation. Having lulled your vigilance, he will begin to insert the most dangerous questions. You must be prepared for them too.

Preparing for an interview

Think in advance about what you will say. Give your speech several times at home, without getting confused in your words, speak clearly and clearly. But don’t act like a soldier, otherwise the personnel officer will see that you were just rehearsing.
Do not use abstruse or, conversely, words used in common parlance.
Go to the official website of the company, find out what they do, who the manager is, what their activities are.
Collect a portfolio where you show your strengths as a professional and how they were noted in your previous places of work.
Think about how you will dress, what kind of makeup you will do. There is no need to dress too expensive today. Neat, with a minimum of accessories.
Don't be late, come early.
Take a notepad and write down the questions and answers you asked during the interview. If you didn’t get hired, analyze the answers and work on the mistakes.
Don't hide easily verifiable information.

Character or temperament?

Very often these two concepts are confused with each other. Indeed, both character and temperament shape human behavior. But they have a fundamentally different nature. Character is a list of acquired mental properties, while temperament is of biological origin. Possessing the same temperament, people can have completely different characters. There are 4 types of temperament: an impetuous and unbalanced choleric person, a leisurely and imperturbable phlegmatic person, an easy-going and optimistic sanguine person and an emotionally vulnerable melancholic person. At the same time, temperament can restrain certain character traits, and vice versa, character can compensate for temperament. For example, a phlegmatic person with a good sense of humor will still be stingy in showing emotions, but this will not prevent him from demonstrating a sense of humor, laughing and having fun in the appropriate society.

List of strengths and examples of answers to an employer's question

Approach the interview without unnecessary anxiety. Never evaluate your performance in the position you had to leave. About the reason for leaving, instead of the phrase “It was a long way for me to get there,” say this: “I want to work closer to home.”

Give answers even to “strange” questions. The employer, as a rule, observes invisible reactions and the construction of responses. You can ask about the financial side at the end of the interview.

When applying for a job, you may hear very uncomfortable questions, for example: “Why did you change so many places?” It’s better to answer this way: I was gaining experience to move on.

Women will definitely be asked if they have small children and do they get sick often? To this question, answer that children will not be an obstacle to work and growth.

Examples of other answers can be found on the Internet. Never speak badly about your previous place of work, your team or your manager.

There is an example of how one young man said: “I want to develop and grow in my profession.” He was accepted despite frequently changing places. Don't devalue yourself and your work experience.

List of strengths

If you want to mention strengths in your resume, then avoid the hackneyed ones: “communication skills”, “punctuality”, “responsibility”, “performance”. Choose exactly those strengths that will be useful in your new position.

From the list of strengths in the questionnaire, you can describe the following:

ability to take responsibility;
resistance to stress;
honesty;
organizational skills;
conscientiousness;
reliability;
energy;
focus on results;
accuracy;
love for details;
initiative.

Examples of successful answers to the question “What are your strengths”

Before your interview, research the strengths that the position will require. This will be your starting point. Then relate them to your skills, experience, and actual character strengths.

The manager may ask: “Why should we hire you for this position and not another applicant?”

Example 1

The answer to the question needs to be thought through. Look at the successful answer to a difficult question:

I can’t know whether I’m better than other applicants or not, but I’m sure that I have exactly those strong qualities that will help me cope with the requirements of this position.

Next, you can describe the skills acquired in a similar position that will help you cope with the tasks. It is necessary to talk about the results achieved in a short time and express motivation.

Example 2

If you haven’t worked for a long time, the employer will definitely ask a question on this topic.

In this case, you must answer that they switched to temporary part-time jobs, but I need permanent employment.

Example 3

Suddenly you may hear a question about logical thinking, for example, why are hatches round?

Don't blurt out something unreasonable. Think a little, then say that square ones are difficult to roll.

Mistakes to avoid when talking about your strengths

The employer wants to have not just a professional on the team, but also a real, thinking person. Therefore, when communicating, avoid making common mistakes:

Overcome shyness and fear. Do not allow your voice to tremble, your hands to tremble, do not lower your gaze;
Don't appear unprepared for the position you want to fill. Answer to the point, in a confident voice.
Think over your answers well, avoid being reckless in them;
Don't show your bad health. If you are sick, call back and ask to reschedule. Don't talk about the disease;
Don't get into an argument, don't raise your voice, no matter how much you want to.
If you refuse, do not show despondency. Say thank you and leave.

Strengths and weaknesses relative to the position

Each position has a special list of character strengths and weaknesses that the employer will definitely pay attention to. For a manager to see you as an ideal employee, you need to maintain a balance.

Each profession has its own standards, for example, for a salesperson the following are important: positive thinking, self-confidence, resistance to stress, politeness, and the desire for development.

There are character flaws that are not very welcome: excessive talkativeness, sociability, distrust of people.

On the contrary, a manager is encouraged to have sociability, the ability to listen, as well as a focus on achieving results, literacy, punctuality, and politeness.

Hyperactivity and excessive adherence to principles are not welcome.

Thus, each profession has its own standards that must be taken into account when applying for a job.

Qualities that shouldn't be mentioned

There are things it's better not to talk about. If a potential employee reports that he is lazy, he is unlikely to be hired. When the position is high, a bad decision would be to talk about the fear of taking responsibility. Such a person blames others for all failures. You can’t rely on him or trust him with anything.

Other things best left unsaid:

commercialism and thoughts only about money, salary and promotion;
lack of punctuality;
addiction to romance novels, gossip, intrigue, etc.

But people who are really serious about finding a job will definitely not mention this. After all, their goal is to find a decent position with a good salary in a prestigious company.

Often, applicants do not talk about bad habits that they cannot give up. Subsequently, such employees take frequent smoking breaks. On holidays, they can drink during working hours and set their colleagues up for it. They are often distracted by phone calls and spread gossip. Some are initiators of conflicts.

Helpful tips on how to better understand your strengths and weaknesses

What to write on your resume or answer when talking with an employer to get the desired job?

Be as honest as possible. Honest answers will usually prevent you from being confused when talking to an experienced employer. Think first, then give an answer.
Choose the strengths that are needed in a given position. To do this, study the requirements for the employee, and then find the required aspects for this position in the personal character traits.
Don't be afraid to mention your weaknesses. Just never say that you don't have them.
Never blame anyone. Know how to take responsibility.
Turn off the chatterbox syndrome. The employer can provoke frankness. Keep your mouth shut and don't say too much. Frankness can prevent you from taking the expected position.
Don't deviate from the channel, talk only about new work. Give only adequate answers.

Exercises to identify strengths and weaknesses

If you doubt your personal talents and shortcomings, you can perform exercises to determine them. By knowing yourself, you won't have to fear criticism as a result. This is not for you!

Stage one

First of all, write down the answers to the questions:

What do I like about myself?
What can I do perfectly?
What do I most often hear praise for from others?
Which of the difficult cases was only I able to cope with? What qualities were useful?
What personal habits are positive?

Stage two

Now give three answers to the questions:

What don't I like about myself?
What am I not doing as well as I would like?
What is the most common reason I receive criticism?
What failures do I remember most? What qualities did I lack to succeed?
What habits of mine would I consider negative?

Stage three

Divide a sheet of paper from top to bottom into 2 parts, on the left write only the strengths and advantages that you found in yourself, and on the right - the disadvantages.

Re-read the column with shortcomings, think about which of them are real and which are imposed?

Disassemble them, and then cross out the imposed, that is, imaginary shortcomings.

Stage four

Now compare the advantages and disadvantages, identify the connections between them: without which disadvantage would the advantages not have emerged, and vice versa? Connect these “paired” qualities with arrows.

For example, touchiness can be combined with empathy and sympathy. A person who knows how to sympathize takes everything to heart. That's why resentment results. Thus, as a result, all the disadvantages will smoothly flow into advantages.

Stage five

Separately write down the shortcomings without the good side. Think about how you can get rid of them, start working. Remove one first, then the next. Control yourself, and your behavior will gradually change for the better.

Give yourself instructions in the morning, for example: don’t overeat! In the evening, make a note of how you completed this installation.

The main thing is not to consider yourself a bad person. And everyone has mistakes.

How to turn disadvantages into advantages

As noted earlier, there are no ideal people, except among the heroes of novels.
In everyday life, people have many shortcomings. Some live with negative qualities, while others manage to transform them into virtues. To understand how the negative qualities of a person’s character can be transformed into his virtues, we need to compare them. Here are some examples:

Human laziness - it is necessary to optimize work by allocating more time for rest. When working monotonously, you need to sort the tasks “into the shelves” and split them into parts during working hours. You can set the mode: one hour - active work, the second hour - rest.
Excessive indecisiveness - this quality can be both a minus and a plus. Such specialists are non-conflicting. They do not engage in gossip, which is what their bosses like, so this character trait can be noted in the resume they are preparing. Here, of course, you can practice so that a person can firmly say “no” to arrogant individuals who want to burden a person with their responsibilities.
Hot temper - this trait gives you the opportunity to stand up for yourself, which is a good trait in the modern world. Here you can direct aggression into the sports sector, for example, boxing, wrestling.
Excessive neatness - if, due to excessive sterility, the room looks like an operating room, you need to think about it. While constantly putting things in order, a person fails to complete an urgent task. Here you need to plan the work correctly and restore order. For example, set aside half an hour for cleaning, and then send the vacuum cleaner to rest, and begin to fulfill your work responsibilities.
Hypochondria - searching for signs of various ailments and endless conversations about illnesses turns a person into a bore in the eyes of employees. If you are concerned about your health, consult a doctor immediately, without panic. A person’s knowledge of medicine can be used for good: for friends a person can act as a doctor or at least a diagnostician.
Constantly being late - a person is perceived as a stupid employee. You need to start small: complete the planned event on time at least twice in a row during the week. There is no need to make appointments that are on the verge of being late; you need to leave a time gap between them. You can fool yourself by moving the clock forward 15 minutes.
Excessive frugality - some attribute this quality to greed, but it can also be attributed to frugality. A positive quality is that a person will not get bogged down in debt, will not overpay for small things, and the savings will be enough to overcome force majeure circumstances. It will be possible to break the reputation of a “stingy knight” if a person begins to waste money, while receiving pleasure for which he must pay.

You can see how to use disadvantages as advantages in the table below.

To summarize, it should be noted that one must not only fight one’s shortcomings, but also use them as advantages. There is no need to have complexes based on negative traits, but to perceive the negative aspects of your character as the first step to improve your life.

Important nuances and little tricks

You must be able to present yourself in such a way that the personnel officer grabs hold of you tightly. There are several psychological techniques that usually make it easier to get the desired position.

Avoid interviews on Monday and Friday. Tuesday, for example, at 10.30 is the best time.
A suit of blue, gray and brown indicates a serious personality. Girls should definitely wear tights. Heels are a plus for the applicant.
Similar tastes with the employer are a clear plus. They may agree, for example, in clothing and hobbies.
Those who insert filler words into their speech have little chance.
Don't smile from ear to ear.
If you submitted a resume, then when you meet in person, say: “Let me tell you something that is not on the resume.” This phrase will confuse the one with whom you had to talk.
Don’t just listen to the HR officer, nodding your head, but let them understand that you have learned all the information. Sometimes you can repeat what you hear.
Girls with provocative photos on their resumes are more likely to get jobs. Just not too openly.
For girls, the triangle “eyes-nose-lips” should attract, not repel. Thinking about discreet makeup.
While waiting for the personnel officer, do not chat on the phone; it is better to leaf through the magazines lying on the table.

Finally: every person has character strengths and weaknesses. Were you able to quickly get a job as a result? Share with our readers how you managed to achieve success?