What Do People Answer When Asked, "What Are Your Weaknesses?"

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Just curious :) During the interview, what are your responses to, "Tell me about your weaknesses?" I've been on both sides numerous times....only two years as a nurse, but over 20 years in various management positions. While the idea is to turn a weakness into a positive, it used to annoy me when people would provide the usual canned responses. When I was asked during my first nursing interview, I said honestly, "I'm a new grad, so just adapting to a staff RN role will take time. An experienced nurse can know what needs to be done almost automatically but, l learn fast, and I'm always investing time into my learning." Two years later, I'm still there. What about others?

Specializes in Peds Med/Surg; Peds Skilled Nursing.

I usually mention that i am too driven to the point where i become territorial over my patient's care and i want to do everything myself even when shifts get crazy (e.g not asking for help, changing diapers and turning "bigger" kids, doing my own signs/going to pharmacy for meds or getting blood from blood bank. I mention that i am very aware of this weakness and continue to work on it so i can give efficient and safe patient care by delegating to nurse techs or other RNs if i get busy.

I once responded to this question by stating that I have a weakness for cheap, domestic beer and NASCAR drivers. I'm totally making this up.

Specializes in geriatrics.

Thanks for your responses. Some interesting (and humourous) ones. I think one of my biggest weaknesses also was learning to delegate more. I tend to take on too much sometimes. However, working LTC for 2 years has helped with this. I have no choice but to delegate, because one nurse cannot do it all. It's also acceptable to pass things on for the next shift. That's why we have 24 hour care :)

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