Everyone knows how to inflate their work persona and impress an interviewer when he asks, "What are your greatest strengths?" However, those same people dread the question about the greatest weaknesses. Interviewees fear telling the employer something that will cause them not to believe in their abilities. Therefore, they sometimes don't answer the question at all, which is the worst thing to do. Here are some ways to answer the question effectively:

Use a Weakness That's a Strength

Some of the best interviewees of all times have skipped this question at their interviews. The ones who did that missed a great opportunity to turn something that was initially negative into something that made them more hireable. You can do that at your next interview. One example to use is to say that your weakness is that you're a perfectionist who wants everything done to the highest of standards and beyond. That will make the prospective employer love you and want to hire you even more than in the beginning.

Vow to Overcome the Weakness

If you can't think of an awesome weakness like the one above to exploit, you can use a different one. Be sure to let the employer know that you intend to overcome such weakness and any other ones that develop during your employment.

Pick a Weakness That Will Make You More Desirable

When discussing weaknesses, you should always talk about something that will make you marketable to the company. Compassion is an excellent "weakness" because it can touch their customers and ultimately increase sales.

As we said before, the worst thing you can do is skip the question. Make sure you answer it because it's one of the most important questions in the entire interview process. Think about it long before you have to sit in front of an interviewer, and come up with an answer that will blow the employer away.