How to write weaknesses in a resume. Your strengths and weaknesses: what to say in an interview

A good resume structure necessarily includes a list of professional skills and strengths. Every job site or template has a similar section to fill out.

Why write strengths on a resume

This is to show the employer that you are the right fit. All in all.

If you correctly show your character strengths in your resume, your chances of getting an interview will increase.

What aspects of character to indicate

Firstly, proceed from the requirements of the vacancy.

On different positions different qualities are valued. Accounting requires patience and perseverance, management - activity and leadership skills, work as a driver - sobriety. And so on.

Secondly, be honest with yourself.

If you are calm and reasonable, do not write about leadership qualities. If you creative person and it is difficult for you to work under tight deadlines, do not write about discipline and punctuality.

Most common resume mistake

I write resumes for people of different job levels and before work I ask them to send their current resume. In almost everyone, I see a list of office superman.

  • Responsibility.
  • Mandatory.
  • Stress resistance.
  • Discipline.
  • Work for results.
  • Learnability.
  • Purposefulness.
  • Sociability.
  • And so on.

I constantly read and edit this nonsensical set of phrases. A good, "selling" resume should not be superfluous. Everything must be reasonable.

Fixing the error

In order not to be like everyone else, learn to stand out from the crowd. There are two great ways to list strengths on a resume.

First option- remove all these qualities from the resume. It's very simple.

Second option. Choose one (maximum two!) of your character traits and write about each of them in a sentence. Detailed and specific.

An example of indicating strengths in a resume:

  • Sociable (worked in sales, as well as in journalism, interviewed artists).
  • I prefer to work for the result - I know how to start and finish things, I make decisions quickly, I am straightforward and active in communication.

Think about what is your strongest quality and what will be especially needed for future work. Find this character trait and describe it deliciously and in detail. This will work much better than a banal list of meaningless words.

Professional qualities for a resume: the most important thing in 1 minute

Professional qualities for a resume

Professional qualities - this is how you can characterize the totality personal qualities, as well as all the skills that a person managed to acquire during his professional activity. They can help you improve in the future and bring tangible benefits to your company.

Sometimes there are qualities that can be called professional only conditionally. For example, referring to them as “a developed sense of humor”, the applicant is unlikely to attract the attention of a recruiter. Unless a person is looking for a job as a party host - then a sense of humor can still be called professional.

Strong professional qualities for a resume

  • desire for professional growth;
  • the ability to convince;
  • increased performance;
  • analytical thinking.

All this will allow the recruiter to navigate and understand how to build communication with you and what your qualities should be better revealed at the interview.

For example, the same lack of experience can be supplemented with qualities such as result orientation and a quick learner. Thus, the employer, realizing that there is no need to expect instant results from a new employee, still gets the opportunity to create from him exactly the specialist that is required. If your future employer is forward-thinking, you stand a good chance.

Examples of professional qualities in a resume

It must be remembered that when listing any of the professional qualities, it is necessary to coordinate this list with the requirements that apply to the position. For example, accuracy can hardly be attributed to professional qualities and defining criteria for a candidate applying for a top manager vacancy. But it can be a very tangible plus for the post of secretary. Therefore, when choosing professional qualities for a resume, consider how one or another of them will be appropriate for you in a future position.

Here are a few situations related to certain professions that require some specific qualities.

An example of professional qualities for a manager's resume

  • responsibility;
  • performance;
  • the ability to negotiate;
  • enterprise;
  • ability to make decisions quickly.

An example of professional qualities for an accountant resume

  • performance;
  • accuracy;
  • punctuality;
  • organization.

An example of professional qualities for a sales manager resume

  • the ability to find a common language with people;
  • public speaking skills;
  • the ability to quickly navigate the situation;
  • creativity.

As you can see, there is a difference in professional qualities. It all depends on what position you intend to apply for. But do not forget that the list of qualities should not be too long. If it contains about 10 points (or even more), then there is a high probability that your resume will be put aside: after all, the recruiter will get the feeling that you are just praising yourself. Show moderation - and the recruiter will appreciate your professional qualities in the resume.

Writing a resume is perceived by many people as a list of all the positive personal qualities.

Moreover, they are not even always really available, but are abstract. But what is really important to indicate in a resume in order to get a good place work?

Resume as a price list

A resume is essentially a price list, because each of its lines declares the value of a person as a specialist and employee.

The fewer functions he is able to perform, the cheaper his services will cost and vice versa.

The "price" of a person consists of those qualities that the employer wants to see in the applicant. That is, an economist and, for example, a cook need a different set of qualities, a different price list.

Assess yourself soberly

Starting to indicate in the resume all his good qualities, a person must first of all adequately evaluate himself in professionally. As a rule, everything unsuccessful attempts getting a job or a promotion is due to overestimated or, on the contrary, underestimated self-esteem, leading to an incorrectly compiled resume.

Thus, it is necessary to soberly assess your abilities and understand what specific knowledge and skills are at their best. They should be listed on your resume.

At the same time, it is worth considering the resumes of other applicants for the position, understanding what they have superiority in front of them and also reflect this in your list.

Personal characteristics should be stressed only if the requirements of the employer lack qualifications.

Qualities of a person for a resume. List

An example list looks like this, but it is certainly not exhaustive:


Positive

It’s not enough just to list all your best qualities, they still need to be substantiated. The rule of the “golden mean” works here - it is unnecessarily to praise and paint all your ideas at length. positive sides man is not worth it.

The resume should not exceed 1-1.5 pages, besides, the employer has neither the time nor the desire to read someone's stories about themselves.

You can imagine yourself in the place of the head of the organization, understand what he needs, and slightly embellish the qualities necessary for this place, describe them in a short and concise form.

Highlighting business aspects

The fact whether a person will be hired is still influenced not so much by his personal qualities as professional ones. Therefore, it is on them that the main emphasis should be placed.

It is not worth listing all your skills. Much in this matter depends on the position for which the person is applying. For the manager and for the accountant, different business qualities.

Therefore, you need to look at the text of the vacancy announcement, look professional requirements and indicate in your resume exactly those of them that are available.

It is also worth describing business qualities briefly, in one sentence, for example: “Six years of work as a deputy chief accountant.”

It is important to ensure that business and personal qualities do not conflict with each other.

Negative

If the employer does not ask you to indicate separately bad qualities in your resume, then you do not need to do this yourself.

Examples of qualities that are likely to be perceived as negative are:


Strengths and weaknesses in a resume

Indicating the positive and negative qualities of a person in a resume, you need to be extremely careful. Much depends on the specific position and corporate culture of the company - in one situation, some quality will be perceived as positive, and in another, as negative.

An accountant does not need leadership or charisma. From the list above, it is enough to choose 5-10 personal qualities that are the strengths of the personality and meet the requirements of the employer.

It goes without saying that personnel officers are directly interested in the fact that a person who wants to get a position independently evaluates himself and his abilities, presenting everything on paper.

Therefore, to make their job easier, they have compiled a list of tips, focusing on which you can please the prospective bosses:

  1. The resume must be written in a low-key way, humor is inappropriate here. Unless, of course, we are talking about a creative and creative position;
  2. Template, copied from somewhere resumes will not bring success, because personnel officers perfectly see such tricks;
  3. More than 5 professional characteristics it is not worth specifying, and the standard “professionalism” should not be included in this list, and “stress resistance” is always highly valued;
  4. You need to specify only the qualities that suit the desired position;
  5. Respond to an interview it’s worth exactly what they asked about, it’s still impossible to chat up a personnel officer, and the impression will be irrevocably spoiled.

We keep the brand

Pointing out strengths and hiding weaknesses, you need to be prepared for the fact that at an interview a personnel officer may ask you to demonstrate some of them using a specific example. That is, if “modesty” is written on the resume, appearance must be appropriate.

Resilience can be tested by a two-hour reception delay, during which the applicant's behavior will be monitored.

Emphasizing intellectual abilities, one must be prepared to face tests. Etc. and so on.

Examples of job descriptions

Sales Manager

Required qualities: communication skills, activity, result orientation.
Will be well appreciated: competent speech, stress resistance, non-standard thinking, competent speech.

Accountant

Required qualities: attentiveness, responsibility, learning.
Will be well appreciated: stress resistance, non-conflict, scrupulousness.

Secretary

Mandatory qualities: competent speech, stress resistance, accuracy, diligence.
Will be well appreciated: pleasant appearance, grooming, neatness.

Video: How to write a resume

You will surely agree that each person is unique and no two people are the same: neither externally nor internally. Everyone has his own individuality: character traits inherent only to him, personality traits, unique physical data.

Have you ever thought about the question “Why are all people different?” Why are we naturally different from other people, and even from our parents? The answer to this question lies in the fact that each of us has a mission. We must have exactly those features that will be required for its implementation.

Unique features are strong and weak sides person. In order to find our destiny and fulfill it, we need to know these aspects well and learn how to use them effectively in our lives. That is why many people ask the questions “what are the strengths?” and “how to recognize your strengths?”.

What are human strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths and weaknesses are our initial data: physical (body structure, height, weight, strength, speed, endurance, etc.) and mental (type of temperament, speed of nervous processes, personality traits and character traits).

What are the strengths of a person? For example, being tall for a basketball player is certainly his strong point. With his height, he is more likely to succeed in professional sports, it is his uniqueness that helps to achieve outstanding results. For the surgeon developed fine motor skills will be an advantage. For a pilot - a good vestibular apparatus, for a musician - excellent hearing, for an accountant - analytical warehouse mind.

The strengths of a person's character also play an important role in achieving success in their profession or business. If you are diligent by nature, have the ability to work hard, these traits will help you in the profession of a programmer. If you are endowed with oratory skills, it is easy for you to lead people, you have a loud voice and clear speech, these features can help you in politics and organizational activities.

Along with strengths, each of us has weaknesses. Understanding them will help you not to make a mistake when choosing your professional path. Are there among your acquaintances those who graduated from a university, but do not work in their specialty? Statistics say that there are about 50% of such people! This is a huge number of specialists who have made incorrect choice. One of the reasons is that many did not take into account their weaknesses.

What are the weaknesses of a person? For example, for a lawyer, such a feature as impulsiveness will rather weak side, and will not allow you to build an argument without unnecessary emotions. For a recruiting manager, introversion will be a weakness, since a large amount of communication with different people and a high pace of work will be beyond his strength.

Why is it important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a person?

“Most often, a lack of understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses is the cause of depression”, - Pavel Kochkin, the author of the "Destination" project, warns. The mechanism of its occurrence is that we do not accept our strengths, while focusing on weaknesses. We strive for an ideal that we cannot and will never be able to achieve because we do not have the necessary abilities. In this case, we have “shame”, which can develop into depression.

If a person is naturally an introvert, that is, he is not so open to outside world, communicating with other people, it is difficult for him public performance and managing people, he is more concentrated on his inner world, can be alone for a long time and do some business that needs to be done alone. In this case, no matter how much he wants to be a famous organizer of celebrations, his weaknesses will not allow him to be 100% realized in this profession. Most likely, the feeling of dissatisfaction with your work and the constant tension from the fact that you need to overdo yourself every time will grow and at one point will result in depression.

“Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is a great tool for building self-esteem” says Pavel Kochkin. A person who loves himself, values ​​and respects himself, is much better realized both in the profession and in other areas of his life. He is much more effective because he knows himself and puts that knowledge into practice.

Stop working on your weaknesses by trying to develop in a direction that does not suit you. You will achieve much better results by finding your strengths and starting to use them.

A person's strengths are a powerful tool in the hands of someone who knows how to use them!