"What would you change about yourself?" is one of the trickiest self-assessment questions you will face in a job interview. It sounds personal, almost philosophical, but the interviewer is not looking for a therapy session. They want to know whether you can honestly evaluate your own work habits, identify a real area for growth, and show that you are already doing something about it.
The question is closely related to "What is your greatest weakness?" and "What areas need improvement?", but the phrasing is more open-ended. That open-endedness is exactly what makes it dangerous: candidates either go too personal, pick something irrelevant, or give an obviously rehearsed non-answer. This guide walks you through why employers ask this question, how to build a strong response, and provides sample answers you can adapt for your next job interview.
Why Employers Ask "What Would You Change About Yourself?"
Hiring managers already know nobody is perfect. They are not trying to catch you off guard or get you to disqualify yourself. The question serves several specific purposes.
They want to measure your self-awareness. Candidates who can accurately assess their own strengths and weaknesses tend to learn faster, accept feedback more readily, and collaborate better with teammates. A candidate who claims there is nothing they would change comes across as either dishonest or blind to their own gaps.
They want to see a growth mindset. The best employees treat skill gaps as temporary problems to solve, not permanent character flaws. Research from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck shows that people who believe abilities can be developed consistently outperform those who see talent as fixed. When you describe something you are actively working to improve, you demonstrate exactly that kind of initiative.
They want to test your judgment. The specific thing you choose to mention tells the interviewer a lot about your priorities. Picking something trivial (like wishing you were taller) signals you are avoiding the question. Picking something that directly undermines the core job requirements (like admitting you are terrible with deadlines for a project management role) signals poor fit. The right answer sits in the middle: genuine, professionally relevant, and non-disqualifying.
They want to evaluate your communication skills. Talking about a personal shortcoming without sounding defensive, self-pitying, or evasive requires composure and clarity. Both are qualities that matter in any workplace, especially in remote and distributed teams where written and verbal communication carry extra weight.
How to Choose the Right Thing to Mention
Picking the wrong topic is the most common mistake candidates make. Before you think about how to phrase your answer, spend time choosing what to talk about.
Pick a Real Skill Gap, Not a Personality Trait
Saying "I wish I were more outgoing" or "I would change how emotional I get" veers into personal territory that makes interviewers uncomfortable. Instead, focus on a professional skill or work habit you are genuinely developing. Time management, public speaking, delegation, technical proficiency in a specific tool, or comfort with ambiguity are all solid choices.
Avoid the Core Requirements of the Role
Read the job description carefully before your interview. If the role requires strong data analysis skills, do not say you wish you were better at working with numbers. Choose something that is relevant to professional growth but not central to the position you are applying for. If you are interviewing for a writing role, mentioning that you want to improve your leadership skills is far safer than saying you struggle with grammar.
Skip the Cliche Non-Answers
"I am a perfectionist" and "I work too hard" are transparent attempts to disguise a strength as a weakness. Interviewers have heard these thousands of times and they signal a lack of genuine self-reflection. According to Harvard Business Review, the strongest interview answers about weaknesses are specific and paired with concrete improvement steps.
Make Sure You Have a Real Improvement Story
Whatever you choose, you need to explain what you are doing about it. If you cannot describe a specific action you have taken, whether it is a course, a new habit, a mentor relationship, or a deliberate practice routine, the answer will fall flat. The improvement effort is what transforms an admission of weakness into evidence of maturity.
How to Structure Your Answer to "What Would You Change About Yourself?"
A strong answer follows a simple three-part structure that keeps your response focused and professional.
Part 1: Name the Thing You Would Change
Be direct. State what you would change in one or two sentences. Avoid lengthy preambles or excessive qualifications.
Example: "If I could change one thing about myself, it would be my comfort level with public speaking. I tend to over-prepare for presentations because I get nervous speaking to large groups."
Part 2: Show What You Are Doing About It
This is the most important section. Describe the specific steps you have taken or are currently taking to improve. Use concrete details: a course name, a habit you adopted, a mentor you are working with, or a project where you deliberately practiced the skill.
Example: "Over the past year, I have been volunteering to present team updates during our monthly all-hands meetings. I also completed a workshop on structured presentations through my company's learning platform. Each time I present, I ask a trusted colleague for honest feedback afterward."
Part 3: Connect It to Growth, Not Limitation
Close by briefly explaining how this self-improvement effort has already produced results or will make you more effective in the role. This reframes the weakness as a professional growth trajectory rather than a static limitation.
Example: "I have noticed a real difference. My last two presentations got positive feedback from senior leadership, and I felt much more composed during our quarterly review. I still have room to grow, but I no longer avoid speaking opportunities the way I used to."
This three-part format keeps your answer focused, honest, and forward-looking. It works whether your interview is in person, over video, or as part of a remote hiring process.
Ready to put this framework to use? Browse thousands of remote openings on DailyRemote and land an interview where you can show off that growth mindset.
Sample Answers to "What Would You Change About Yourself?"
Below are five strong sample answers and three weak ones. Use the strong examples as templates and adapt the details to match your own experience.
Strong Answers
1. Public Speaking
"I would change my comfort level with public speaking. Early in my career, I avoided any situation that put me in front of a group. I realized this was limiting my ability to advocate for my team's work, so I joined a local speaking group and started volunteering for internal presentations. Over the past 18 months, I have led six client-facing presentations and received consistently positive feedback. I still get some nerves, but I have turned it from a major blocker into a manageable challenge."
2. Delegation
"I would change how quickly I delegate. I tend to take on too much myself because I want to make sure the output meets a high standard. I recognized this was creating bottlenecks on my team, so I started assigning ownership of smaller deliverables to junior team members and built a lightweight review process instead of doing everything myself. Our team's throughput increased noticeably, and two of those junior team members have since taken on much larger responsibilities. It taught me that trusting your team is not just good management; it is better for the work."
3. Saying No to Scope Creep
"I would change how I handle scope creep. I have a habit of saying yes to every request because I genuinely want to help, but that has led to overcommitment and occasional missed deadlines. Over the past year, I started using a simple prioritization framework where I evaluate every new request against my existing commitments before responding. It has helped me protect my focus time and deliver higher-quality work on the projects that matter most."
4. Giving Direct Feedback
"I would change how comfortable I am giving direct feedback to peers. I used to soften my feedback so much that the message got lost, which was not fair to the people I was trying to help. I worked with my manager on a framework for delivering constructive criticism clearly and respectfully, and I practiced it in one-on-one settings before using it in group discussions. Several colleagues have told me they appreciate the honest, actionable feedback now, and I have seen real improvements in our team's output as a result."
5. Technical Depth in Data Analysis
"I would improve my technical depth in data analysis. I can interpret reports and dashboards effectively, but I have relied on analysts for the more advanced queries. Six months ago, I enrolled in an online SQL course and started writing my own queries for routine reporting. I am not replacing our data team, but being able to pull basic data myself has cut my turnaround time on certain decisions by half and made me a more effective collaborator with our analysts."
If you are prepping answers like these for upcoming interviews, DailyRemote can help you find the remote roles worth preparing for.
Weak Answers (and Why They Fail)
1. Too Personal
"I would change how shy I am at social events. I have always been an introvert and it makes networking hard."
Why it fails: This is about personal social comfort, not a professional skill. It does not tell the interviewer anything about how you perform at work or what you are doing to grow professionally.
2. Red Flag for Reliability
"I would change the fact that I get bored easily. I tend to move on from jobs once they stop feeling exciting."
Why it fails: This directly signals that you may not stay in the role long enough to justify the hiring investment. Even if it is honest, it raises a concern that the interviewer cannot ignore.
3. Undermines Core Job Requirements
"I would change how disorganized I am. I am always losing track of tasks and missing deadlines."
Why it fails: Organization and reliability are baseline expectations for virtually every role. Admitting to chronic disorganization suggests you may not be able to perform fundamental job duties.
How This Question Differs From Similar Interview Questions
Several interview questions explore similar territory. Understanding the differences helps you avoid giving the same answer twice and shows interviewers that you have thought carefully about your professional development.
"What is your greatest weakness?" focuses specifically on your biggest professional shortcoming. "What would you change about yourself?" is broader, allowing you to discuss habits, skills, or tendencies that may not qualify as a "greatest" weakness but still represent meaningful growth areas.
"What areas need improvement?" is usually asked with the specific role in mind. The interviewer wants to know where you would need to develop to excel in this position. "What would you change about yourself?" is more about general self-awareness.
"What would you do differently if you could?" is backward-looking and asks you to reflect on a past decision or situation. "What would you change about yourself?" is about an ongoing trait or habit, not a one-time event. For more on that question, see our guide on answering "What would you do differently?".
Knowing these distinctions lets you prepare distinct answers for each variation rather than recycling the same response.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Claiming you would not change anything. This comes across as arrogant or evasive. Every professional has areas for growth, and pretending otherwise undermines your credibility.
Picking something unrelated to work. Wishing you were taller, more athletic, or better at cooking does not answer the question the interviewer is actually asking. Keep it professional.
Being too vague. "I would probably be more organized, I guess" gives the interviewer nothing to evaluate. Specificity is what separates a strong answer from a forgettable one.
Forgetting the improvement plan. Naming a weakness without describing what you are doing about it leaves the interviewer with a negative impression and no evidence of growth. Every strong answer includes an action plan, just as you would when explaining how you handle setbacks.
Over-sharing. Mentioning mental health struggles, personal relationship issues, or deep insecurities is too much for an interview setting. Keep your answer professional and boundaried.
Tips for Remote Job Interviews
If you are interviewing for a remote position, the "what would you change about yourself?" question carries additional nuance.
Choose something relevant to remote work. Skills like written communication, self-discipline, managing distractions at home, or proactive status updates are particularly relevant. Remote employers care deeply about how candidates handle autonomy and self-direction.
Mention remote-specific improvement steps. If you are working on time management, talk about tools or routines you have adopted for remote work: time-blocking, async communication practices, or dedicated workspace setups. This shows you understand the unique demands of remote roles.
Demonstrate self-awareness about remote challenges. Acknowledging that remote work requires different skills than office work, and showing that you are actively building those skills, signals maturity and preparation.
Already building those remote-ready skills? Start your search on DailyRemote, new remote positions are added daily across every category.
Conclusion
Answering "What would you change about yourself?" well requires three things: picking the right topic, describing a genuine improvement effort, and connecting it to professional growth. The candidates who impress interviewers are not the ones who pretend to be flawless. They are the ones who can talk about a real gap with honesty, describe what they are doing about it with specificity, and frame the whole thing as forward momentum rather than a fixed limitation.
Prepare your answer before the interview. Practice saying it out loud until it sounds natural, not scripted. And remember that this question is an opportunity, not a trap. It lets you show an interviewer something that your resume cannot: that you are the kind of person who notices what is not working and takes action to fix it.