How to Answer "What Would You Change About Yourself?" (With Sample Answers)

by Robert Tyler

Published at: January 20, 2024

In the landscape of job interviews, the question "What would you change about yourself?" frequently emerges as a subtle probe into your self-awareness and the continuous pursuit of personal improvement. Unlike straightforward inquiries about your skills or experience, this question delves into the introspective plane, where your answer reveals how you perceive and react to your own character traits and behaviors.

It's critical to strike a balance between honesty and strategy, framing your response in a way that not only acknowledges a genuine aspect you're working on but also illustrates how this self-improvement aligns with the professional role in question. A well-crafted answer does not diminish your qualifications but can enhance the employer's perception of you as a reflective and growth-oriented candidate.

Why Employers Ask This Question?

When you're in an interview and faced with the question "What would you change about yourself?", employers are not just curious about your self-perception. They are looking to assess several key aspects of your potential as a candidate, which include:

• Self-Assessment Ability: Your response gives insight into how well you can evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Employers are interested in whether you have the awareness and honesty to recognize areas for improvement.
• Alignment with Position: By understanding what you believe needs change, employers can gauge if these changes may impact your compatibility with the job's requirements.

Employers are not seeking perfection; they seek candidates who are self-aware and capable of personal growth. Here's how your answer can show that:

• Be specific about one thing you want to change.
• Show the steps you are willing to take to implement this change.
• Connect how this change is relevant to the remote job and how it will make you a more valuable employee.

Remember, employers use this question as a remote tool to discover your soft skills such as adaptability, self-improvement, and self-awareness. Your answer to this interview question should reflect a conscientious personality that aligns with the team and enhances the workplace.

How to Answer This Question?

When responding to the interview question, "What would you change about yourself?" it's crucial to find the right balance between candor and optimism, to structure your answer in a way that presents you in the best light, and to tie in your experience and skills that are pertinent to the remote job.

Balancing Honesty and Positivity

Honesty is essential in an interview, but when discussing a weakness, the goal is to frame it positively. Reflect on a genuine area for self-improvement that does not critically impact the job requirements. For example, if you are applying for a non-managerial role, you might mention you're working on developing your leadership skills---this shows a desire to grow while not being an immediate job necessity.

Structuring Your Answer Effectively

Start your answer by stating your weakness or what you'd like to change about yourself, then immediately follow with how you are addressing it. Use the "STAR" method--- Situation, Task, Action, and Result---to structure your answer. This way, you can describe a project or situation, explain the task at hand, detail the actions you took towards self-improvement, and conclude with the positive outcome or change.

Highlighting Relevant Experience and Skills

Incorporate examples that demonstrate your strengths, even as you talk about weaknesses. If a weakness is in time management, discuss a project where you improved your skills, resulting in better efficiency. If you tend to focus too much on details, mention how this meticulousness served your team positively in previous experiences, turning a potential negative into an evident strength.

Sample Answers

When responding to the interview question "What would you change about yourself?", it's crucial to balance honesty with professionalism. Here are examples of both effective (good) and less favorable (bad) answers.

Good Answers

• Focused on Professional Growth: "I'd like to improve my public speaking skills to more effectively convey my ideas. I'm actually attending workshops to address this."
• Self-Aware and Action-Oriented: "In the past, I've been hesitant to delegate tasks because I like to have control over projects. I recognize the importance of teamwork and am actively working to trust my colleagues more."
• Honest but Not Deal-breaking: "I tend to be overly critical of my work, which can lead to delays in submission. However, I'm learning to balance my perfectionism with efficiency."

Bad Answers

• Too Personal or Unrelated to Work: "I wish I could be less shy at parties. It has always been something I struggled with."
• Potential Red Flags for Employers: "I get bored easily and tend to hop from job to job looking for new challenges."
• Reflecting Inability to Perform the Job: "I'm not very good with computers, and since so much work is done online now, it's a real problem for me."

Conclusion

Remember to reflect on your personal growth journey and provide an answer that demonstrates your dedication to self-improvement without undermining your ability to be successful in the role you're interviewing for. Choose an area for improvement that won't conflict with the core responsibilities of the position and talk about practical steps you're taking to improve.

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