Resume writing strengths. Personal and business qualities of the employee

Not everyone requires you to list your weaknesses on your resume. But if there is such a clause on the form, then putting a dash through would be a mistake. Better look at an example of character weaknesses in your resume.

What to write

Before filling out the box in which you need to indicate your shortcomings, think about your answer. Do not miss it under any circumstances, because ideal people do not exist. As a rule, managers want to see how adequately you evaluate yourself. If you don't know what to write, look at the suggested options and choose something that suits you best.

Universal formula: select character traits that are an advantage for performing this particular job, and in ordinary life may indeed be considered a human flaw.

The following weaknesses can be written:

excessive directness, the habit of telling the truth face to face;
difficulty establishing contact with strangers;
inability to show flexibility in labor matters;
reliability;
increased anxiety;
excessive emotionality, hot temper;
love of formalism;
restlessness;
slowness;
hyperactivity;
fear of air travel.

All of the weaknesses listed in your resume can become strengths if you look at them from a different angle. An example is restlessness. For a sales representative or active sales manager, this can even be a plus. The same goes for reliability. This is a signal to the manager that you may be the person who will do all the overtime work.

Linking weaknesses to the characteristics of professions

All applicants should think about how to write my weaknesses for a resume. For example, a future accountant or design engineer might write:

distrust;
excessive scrupulousness;
increased anxiety;
excessive demands on oneself;
straightforwardness;
pedantry;
modesty;
inability to lie;
difficulties in establishing contact with strangers;
self-esteem;
lack of flexibility in labor matters;
integrity;
inflated sense of responsibility;
lack of diplomacy.

hyperactivity;
self-confidence;
restlessness;
impulsiveness;
the need for external motivation;
distrust, desire to double-check and confirm all information.

Disadvantages for one profession can become advantages for another.

You can also indicate in your resume among your negative qualities:

straightforwardness;
workaholism;
excessive love of communication.

Applicants for the position of manager must prepare before filling out this column. It is better to think in advance what weaknesses to indicate in the resume. You can write to them about the following character traits:

excessive emotionality;
pedantry;
love for little things;
thoughts about work, planning occupy most free time;
increased demands on others.

A good example would be the following:

inability to respond to rudeness with rudeness;
tendency to make decisions based on one’s own opinion;
distrust of people and love of confirmation of facts.

Some applicants prefer to indicate that they:

overly trusting;
can raise their voice to subordinates;
straightforward, express their opinions without veiled embellishments;
hot-tempered;
always looking for confirmation of words;
have a hypertrophied sense of responsibility;
prone to formalism and pay excessive attention to detail;
irritated by clutter;
slow;
do not like to do something to please others.

For all occasions

Many people are afraid to write about shortcomings, believing that the employer will immediately send their resume to the trash bin. Of course, you shouldn’t be too frank, but you shouldn’t completely skip this section of the questionnaire. In this case, you can write about some neutral qualities that will not affect your work in any way. For a person applying for any vacancy, among the inherent weaknesses one can indicate:

fear of airplanes;
arachnophobia (fear of spiders), vespertiliophobia (fear of bats), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes);
excess weight;
lack of experience;
age (suitable for people over 40 years old);
love of shopping;
love for sweets.

This information does not characterize you in any way, it simply speaks about your fears or small weaknesses.

The following disadvantages can be mentioned:

I don’t always express my thoughts accurately;
I trust people too much;
prone to reflection;
I often analyze past mistakes, focusing too much attention on them;
I spend a lot of time evaluating my actions.

These are negative qualities, but they should not affect the work process.

Regardless of the position for which you are applying, you can write the following weaknesses in your resume:

I get so carried away with work that I forget to take breaks;
I can’t build relationships with colleagues because I don’t like gossip;
I can’t fight back in response to boorish treatment;
I constantly pass all situations through myself;
I let people get too close;
I don’t know how to swear;
I get noticeably worried when I have to lie.

Important nuances

Please note that there are items that are best left unindicated. You should not write, for example, that you:

love to be lazy;
afraid to take responsibility;
don't like making decisions;
unpunctual;
are often distracted;
you only think about your salary;
love office romances.

For example, if you write about your laziness in your resume, you run the risk that the employer will decide that you don’t want to work.

Professional skills and personal qualities are a mandatory item when filling out a questionnaire or for any vacancy. In this section, you have the opportunity to express yourself by telling a potential employer about all your advantages. Some applicants are sure that the professional skills section is considered key. But they are not entirely right. Recruiters pay the same attention to it as they do to personal qualities. And often their inconsistency with a certain vacancy can cause a candidate to be rejected.

Professional skills and personal qualities: what should be avoided?

When filling out these items, follow one simple rule: be sincere. There is no need to invent something that does not exist. The deception will be revealed, and then the employer

will be extremely disappointed. Don’t write that you can, for example, work with Photoshop, although in fact you’ve only opened it a couple of times. Very often, recruiters give test the candidate you like to determine the level of his knowledge, and here you risk getting into trouble. There is also no need to write in the “personal qualities” column, for example, that you are very sociable, sociable and quickly connect with other people mutual language person if this is not true. Another piece of advice: do not write too much or, conversely, too little about yourself in these paragraphs, keep it in moderation.

Professional skills and personal qualities: what should you write?

When listing your professional skills, list only those that are relevant and relevant. For example, if you are writing a resume for a programmer position, then you will not need to indicate that you are good at computers, since this is already implied.

(programmer):

knowledge of PHP, JavaScript, C++, OOP;
with MySQL;
ability to optimize queries and tune databases;
working with the Zend framework.

Indicate everything you consider necessary. You can also open the requirements for the vacancy (if possible) and add from there everything that applies to you.

The employer is not fully interested in the personal qualities of the candidate. We are talking about what may be required of an employee. For example, write that you are kind and warm-hearted man, is not necessary, since it is not related to work. Here is a list of what you can include in your resume:

diligence;
ambition (if we are talking about leadership positions, vacancies that require a creative and creative approach);
organization (this refers to both self-organization and the ability to organize the work of a team);
punctuality;
responsibility;
sociability (implies several concepts: the ability to quickly establish contact with other people, sociability, talkativeness);
initiative (the ability to take the situation into one’s own hands and develop new ideas and proposals);
good learning ability (the ability to quickly absorb new knowledge);
stress resistance (ability to work under stressful conditions).

Professional skills and personal qualities are two very important points, so treat them extremely carefully and do not try to deceive a potential employer.

Questions asked during an interview are aimed at giving the employer or recruiter the most complete answer on three main points:

ability to perform this work;
desire to do such work;
correspondence corporate culture companies.

Personal qualities are one of the main questions when meeting a candidate.

This information will help the employer or recruiter get an initial impression of the applicant not only as a specialist, but as a person.

Often questions asked with subtext are needed precisely to obtain information about the personal qualities of the candidate.

The employer undoubtedly wants to know whether your negative traits nature of implementation functional responsibilities and communication in a team.

Which ones are worth mentioning and which ones are not?

Very often you can hear the question from candidates: what positive and negative qualities should they name during an interview?

Employers are interested in employees with character traits such as:

determination;
organization;
initiative;
diligence;
creativity;
goodwill;
determination.

Tell us about them if you really have them. Give examples.

Often during an interview you are asked to name three negative qualities and three positive qualities. Think about this point in advance.

There is no need to say that you are professional, adequate, loyal, smart, charming. Other people can notice and name such qualities when talking about you, but not you yourself.

Never mention negative characteristics such as laziness, disorganization, short temper and the like.

In general, 3 negative qualities in an interview are, first of all, self-doubt, fear of the interlocutor and insincerity.

Do I need to repeat what is written on my resume?

The interview is conducted to get to know you personally and to check whether what is stated in your resume is true. Therefore, it is likely that the employer will ask you a question that has already been covered in your resume.

In addition, the employer may simply not read the resume thoroughly. When answering the question, tell everything in your own words. Depart from the templates, but be precise, but also do not allow any discrepancies in facts from the document.

It is unacceptable to answer a question with: “It says so on my resume.”

How to talk about positive and negative qualities

No need to be modest!

In case you think that you do not have any outstanding qualities, just tell them what you have.

For example: the ability to concentrate - you focus your attention on a specific task and complete it without distractions.

And high speed of work - you always complete a task as quickly as possible, without procrastinating.

You should not take the question literally: “Tell me, what are your personal qualities that are shortcomings?” Not the best The best decision, answering this question, proceed to detailed description your weaknesses.

It is better to determine in advance which of your qualities have double meaning.

At first glance, these are disadvantages, but if you choose a different perspective, they may turn out to be advantages. Think about the wording and present your weaknesses so that they look positive.

Sample answer: “I usually pay a lot of attention to detail, and I know that in some areas of work such meticulousness is not important and is not always appropriate. But I see that for the position for which I am applying, this character trait should be useful.”

If your employer asked you to share three weaknesses, you could list the following: “Intolerance – I can’t stand disorder. Irritability – slightly infuriating at the incompetence of employees.

I’m picky and meticulous – I don’t allow myself the right to make mistakes.” It's not very visible here nice features character turns into merit.

How to talk about strong and weaknesses .

Very often, recruiters ask for examples of strengths and weaknesses during an interview. This task can be played to the obvious benefit of the applicant.

Feel free to name yours strengths. Try to tell more about those that will be useful for the vacancy you have chosen, or for the situation in the company. For example, maintaining the ability to work under stress. Support your words with examples from the past. Think about sample answers in advance.

What is a bad quality to mention in an interview? When answering a question about weaknesses, be careful and careful. There is no need to openly admit them to yourself. Instead, you can talk about minor gaps in areas that are not clearly required for the position.

Positive and negative qualities in an interview should equally present you in a favorable light. The main thing is to remember what shortcomings you can talk about at an interview, and what it is better to remain silent about.

If the recruiter insists on clarifying the weaknesses of nature, and not professional ones, then tell about 1-2, and those that cannot always be considered as weaknesses.

To be completely honest?

An employer asks you to name your weaknesses during an interview, what should you say? How to answer interview questions about weaknesses correctly?

To avoid the impression that you are not answering questions frankly, it is worth pointing out some shortcomings or gaps in knowledge, but most importantly, choose the right wording.

Honestly admit some of your shortcomings, name your shortcomings, but talk about them in a way that makes them seem more like positives.

If you have to say that you are not fully familiar with a particular type of activity, indicate only those areas that are not critical to the vacancy.

Think about your answers in advance. If you really want to get this job, then don't take the risk.

How to tell about yourself in an original way?

According to statistical research, about 90% of applicants mention their responsibility, sociability and determination. It is clear that such qualities are unlikely to interest or draw the attention of the listener to them.

If you talk about general, common character traits that are undoubtedly positive, but everyone talks about them, it won’t hurt, but it won’t make you stand out from the general background of applicants.

You can take a different route: talk about rare qualities that match your character.

Better yet, give examples of how these qualities were used, the positive role they played, or how they positive assessment. By using this tactic, you have a chance to stand out and be remembered.

Remember that sometimes what is more important to an employer is not WHAT, but HOW you answer questions about personal qualities. Reasonable, logical, confident answers, as well as grammatically correct speech are of great importance.

Demonstrate a positive attitude, the ability to respond appropriately to difficult or personal issues, the ability to find compromises and good solutions.

Successful interview! Moreover, now you know exactly what weaknesses you can point out at an interview and how to correctly talk about your shortcomings in order to make a favorable impression.

Everyone wants to have interesting work in a company that he has 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.

Rules for conducting introspection

Introspection – The best way identify your own strengths and weaknesses. Allow 1-2 hours for reflection. It is necessary at this time to be in complete silence and a calm atmosphere. It is important that nothing distracts a person. Write out all the qualities on a piece of paper - the most effective solution. You must adhere to these rules:

The list of pros and cons needs to be updated every 2-3 months.
You need to be as sincere as possible.
All your thoughts and ideas on this matter must be written down.
It is important to keep your records in one place. This could be a diary, notebook, or electronic document.
This simple method will help determine the effectiveness of working on the negatives. It will provide a powerful incentive for self-development.

Employers often ask you to name three negative qualities. But it’s better to think about 7 strengths and 7 weaknesses to avoid an incident.

It is not always important to answer correctly. It is better to tell the truth than to voice banal, memorized and alien phrases. After all, they may not correspond to the applicant’s lifestyle and temperament. You should always remain yourself and not imitate ideals. After all, if a candidate lies, then in the process of work all his disadvantages will very quickly appear. And no one is safe from dismissal.

There are situations when it is better to change jobs. Having correctly identified your strengths and weaknesses, you can think about which position is more suitable for a person. After all, there are people who are interested not only in salary levels, but also in the opportunity to maximize their full potential.

Assessment of deficiencies

Admitting your weaknesses is not an easy task. Everyone has disadvantages that I don’t want to talk about at all. But you need to be able to filter information and know what can really be mentioned at the interview and what can be left out.

You need to evaluate what can be said about shortcomings, and what is better to remain silent about

Many people are surprised that excess weight can be listed as a weakness on a resume. But for some professions this is a really important factor. It determines endurance, the ability to work for a long time and continuously, and to move quickly. Recruiters immediately write about this in the job description in order to weed out unsuitable candidates.

List of deficiencies that can be reported:

excessive self-criticism;
perfectionism or excellent student syndrome;
excessive emotionality;
excessive straightforwardness;
reliability;
desire to please everyone;
learning disabilities;
poor understanding of technological innovations;
absence vocational education, experience in the desired field, etc.

An excellent solution is to indicate weaknesses that do not affect the efficiency and quality of work. You can mention the disadvantages that are not significant for the position. It is important not to get carried away so as not to question your professional suitability. You need to be as sincere and honest as possible. And it is also important to emphasize your strengths, which cover your shortcomings.

The second piece of advice is to note the weaknesses that were changed. When hiring, this will demonstrate that the candidate is ready to develop and become better. Time management skills can be reported. Especially if a person gets a job leadership position or one that involves multitasking. It is important to describe in detail how a person came to be able to manage time wisely. The main thing is to speak briefly.

The third way is to present your shortcomings in a favorable light. The main idea is to make them attractive to the employer and show that they do not interfere with work. It is useful for an analyst to go into too much detail, for a TOP manager - to work for results and do everything only at the highest level.

It happens that a candidate is not suitable for a position due to the lack of important quality. For organizers, these are problems with punctuality, for account managers - with speech, for managers - fear of public speaking. But there is no need to be afraid of this. It’s better to just look for another job where the lack of such skills or qualities will not be critical.

Assessment of positive qualities

Communication skills as a quality are necessary when working in a team

More often than not, it is the question about strengths that puts a candidate in an awkward position. He is afraid of overdoing it and overpraising himself. Therefore, really assess your capabilities, analyze your personal qualities and highlight only the positive ones. Experts advise dividing skills into 3 groups:

Knowledge based skills. They are obtained through experience and training. These are computer skills, fluency foreign language, ability to work with the necessary programs etc.
Mobile skills. They carry over from one job to another. This is the ability to establish contact with any person, planning and analysis skills, the ability to quickly solve problems, and the ability to work efficiently in stressful situations.
Personal qualities. These are the unique properties of each person.

There is a secret trick - first talk about the positive qualities that are directly related to the desired vacancy.

Examples of strengths that can be mentioned:

communicable;
purposeful;
easily trained;
reliable;
creative;
disciplined;
decisive;
multifaceted, etc.

Employers value the ability to tell only the truth. And this applies not only to the answers during the interview. Everyone needs an employee for whom lying is a taboo. Therefore, if there is such a feature, it is worth mentioning it.

The main rule is to choose 3-5 qualities, no more. It is important that they meet the requirements specified in the job description. It is worth preparing counterarguments confirming the presence of the listed strengths.

It must be remembered that the applicant’s answers during the interview are a reflection of his professionalism. The recruiter is looking for the one who best suits his requirements. It is important for him to see that despite some shortcomings, the person is ready to work to eliminate them.

Linking weaknesses and strengths to the characteristics of professions

Find out what qualities are required for the position

Before making a personal list of positive and negative qualities, you need to carefully read your resume. It indicates what an ideal company employee should be like. Some recruiters even describe this in detail. From this it is worth highlighting the pros and cons for yourself.

Initially, you need to decide on the type of profession. There are 5 of them. They are associated with:

technology;
nature;
other people;
sign system;
in an artistic way.

What is suitable for type 1 will absolutely not satisfy the requirements of another category. The rule works here - the weaknesses of one profession can become an advantage for the second.

If the work involves communication, then stress resistance is important. It is necessary for the employee to be able to control his emotions and remain calm in any situation.

When talking about the positive aspects, you need to mention those that will create competitive advantage before other applicants. When applying for a job as an accountant or salesperson in small company, the employer is unlikely to pay attention to the candidate's leadership qualities. But in a company that is just entering the market and plans to actively develop, such an applicant will be very interesting.

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 definitely won’t 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 which they cannot refuse. Subsequently, such employees take frequent smoking breaks. On holidays they can drink in work time and encourage colleagues to do the same. They are often distracted by phone calls and spread gossip. Some are initiators of conflicts.

Conclusion

An interview is not so scary if you prepare well for it. Important point– create a list of strengths and weaknesses. This will help avoid prolonged silence on the relevant question.

The main rule is to be honest and sincere. We must remember that everything secret becomes clear. When talking about positive qualities, you should not overpraise yourself. When mentioning weaknesses, it is important not to give too bad an impression. All your shortcomings need to be reformulated into strengths. And then the likelihood of passing an interview will increase several times.

One of the guarantees of the success of any activity is the professionalism of the person involved in it, which is why it is so important to look at the business qualities of the employee. They allow you to understand what he is capable of and what you can entrust to him. It is advisable to analyze them when applying for a job; it is also important to remember about personal qualities, on which behavior with colleagues and management often depends. The list of both varies for different professions. They can change if necessary for career advancement.

Business qualities extremely important when hiring

Definition

Business qualities are a person’s ability to perform functions if he has a certain level of knowledge, education, work experience and personality characteristics. Without identifying and assessing them, it is difficult to entrust him with the performance of duties and count on their high-quality performance.

There are different approaches to defining business and professional qualities. Some are inclined to think that professional quality employees are the least important. The most popular position is that professionals reveal in more detail the characteristics of a specialist’s properties. Business are universal qualities for different types work.

Description of personal qualities

Personal qualities play no less important role than business qualities when applying for a job. Personal properties reveal the characteristics of a specialist as a person and show how he interacts with other people. Some of them are laid down from childhood, formed in the family, the other part develops in society, in school and student groups. Some personal characteristics can only be discovered during work activity, positive traits can and should be developed to achieve professional goals.

Professional and personal qualities are important for work. They are reflected in the resume of a candidate for a position, often business ones follow from personal ones.

Given the same professional characteristics, the employer studies a list of personal characteristics. The applicant should strive to show the strengths of his character and personality in his resume so that the manager makes an objective choice.

Characteristic

An approximate list of personal qualities of an employee:

honesty;
communication skills;
responsibility and integrity;
hard work;
politeness and tact;
determination;
flexibility and ability to accept someone else's point of view;
self-criticism, the ability to see one’s mistakes and admit them;
stress resistance.

This list shows positive qualities; there are also negative aspects of personality that are easy to identify through opposites positive properties. It is difficult to find an ideal employee; everyone has these and other characteristics in different proportions.

Top 20 most popular personal qualities on a resume

Description of business qualities

Business qualities for hiring can be classified according to for various reasons, including motivation, range of tasks performed job responsibilities, focus on colleagues, management or contractors, time for acquiring qualities.

One of the common and broad classifications is the division into positive and negative. They will be considered separately, since in different situations one and the same property can be good and in another case turn out to be bad.

Also, some job characteristics are important for the boss, while others are important for the average specialist.

Positive

Among them are those that characterize the attitude towards work responsibilities:

discipline;
perseverance;
independence in making individual decisions;
self-learning;
accuracy in working with documents;
ability to plan and distribute your time;
foresight;
creativity;
the ability to clearly formulate your thoughts;
ability to make quick decisions.

Those that show the nature of relationships with others:

ability to find a common language with clients;
knowledge of business etiquette;
ability to speak in public;
ability to organize events;
skill to work in team;
ability to persuade;
professional integrity;
balance, striving for the golden mean.

The list is not exhaustive, but contains a basic set, which, if desired, can be supplemented with some personal qualities of the employee.

Negative

Definitely negative qualities:

greed;
quarrelsomeness;
touchiness;
envy;
self-confidence and arrogance;
arrogance;
talkativeness and tendency to spread gossip;
aggressiveness;
manifestation of laziness;
vindictiveness.

Some properties can be called negative under certain circumstances:

hyperactivity;
modesty;
straightforwardness;
emotionality.

Reflection in the resume

When hiring, business and personal characteristics are taken into account first. Without knowing the person, an employer can only choose a suitable candidate based on a resume or interview. Sometimes the problem arises of which employee qualities are most suitable for a resume. The applicant makes a mistake if he lists them in large quantities, without choosing the main ones related to this position. For the manager, this is a signal that he does not know how to isolate the necessary information.

The wording in the resume should be clear, concise, logical, and not inconsistent with the rest of the information. It is desirable that they reflect the strengths of the individual, so that from the text it is possible to trace the connection between business qualities and professional achievements.

Sometimes applicants for a position indicate not only their best sides, but also the worst. This can have two meanings: it demonstrates the person's honesty and shows his shortsightedness. It is advisable to note your shortcomings at the interview, where they will ask about them. It is important to emphasize the desire to correct your shortcomings.

An example of the correct beginning of a resume

Qualities for different professions

Each field of activity presupposes the presence of certain business qualities that must be indicated in the requirements for the vacancy; they are important when applying for a job.

For managers, dedication and responsibility are important;
an accountant must be scrupulous and persevering;
the secretary cannot do without accuracy and patience;
A sales manager must have developed communication skills and be flexible.