Job interview queries that inquire you about ‘places of improvement’ are very much like the ‘greatest weakness question‘. They necessarily serve three significant functions:

1. They test your honesty and recognize what level of self awareness you possess
2. They mention the places you require to work on so the industry can work out a personal development path for you
3. They assist to eradicate  the applicants who don’t have the core qualities and attributes needed in the role

You require answering this query carefully because you can conveniently be discounted for the role relying on your answer. Let’s begin with the things you should never say.

Never Highlight These   

• Perfectionism – Telling an employer that you do not have any places to improve on, you do your job perfectly is a faster way to get yourself eradicated. At best you come across as self-assured and arrogant, at worse you look like you are so self absorbed you cannot see or admit that there are things you could do better.
• Serious Personality Errors – Telling an employer you have aggression management problems or have trouble focusing for longer than five minutes at a time is not going to assist you at all. If you been offered this type of feedback, find ways to deal the behavior yourself but do not mention it in an interview.
• Role Related Deficiencies – Never highlight any development area that mentions the fact that you don’t have the knowledge or qualities to fulfill the role. For instance, if you are applying for a sales role you should never mention you have trouble networking and feel weird talking to new persons.

Acceptable Places of Improvement

• Managerial Roles – For senior post or any managerial role stay away from places such as leadership, delegation and communication. Consider about something like presentation qualities. You can say something like – Even though I have made several presentations over the years I yet feel nervous before I present. I would like to work on this as well as establishing ways to involve my audience during significant presentations.  This type of thing is ideally acceptable as most persons feel nervous before they present to an audience. It is also not serious to most senior posts and can be easily dealt through external courses and sustained practice. Follow it up with what you are doing to deal the problem.
• Middle Management Roles – For middle management posts stay away from places such as leadership, teamwork and communication. Even though you are yet learning about leadership, it will not appear great for you if you mention it as a development requirement. Rather try something like networking. You can say something such as – I am presently making my networking qualities but still find it strange at times to approach persons face to face. Follow it up with something like – I have established a powerful network online utilizing LinkedIn and also attend various industry functions and occasions where I practice approaching others in my field. I feel I have made many progress in this place but would yet like to work on it until I feel I can access new persons with ease.
• Junior or Entry Level Roles – As a junior or entry level worker, there are various key areas you are hoped to develop. Chose something that indicates you have your eye on the future such as delegation qualities. You could say something like – In my present role I don’t have any direct reports as yet so it is complicated for me to learn how to delegate effectively. Follow it up with something like – I watch other managers delegate work and consider about how I could apply these qualities myself. I have been capable to apply these leanings at times during project teams meetings where I have given various activities to team members and then followed them up at regular intervals from there. It is a quality I would like to sustain establishing as I move into a more senior post.

Tips & Tricks

Control your body language – If you seems to be fidgety it looks like you are either being dishonest with your response or you are hiding a big flaw you do not need them to see.

Confident not defensive – A person who can agree to having mistakes or having a place of improvement is the sort of person others need to work with. The confidence assists to convince the interviewers that the improvement area will be addressed with without too much trouble.

Follow up every time – Never state a development requirement without immediately following up with what you are doing to deal it. It indicates you are not merely dumping the issue on the interviewer to fix; you are addressing with it yourself. It is perfectly fine that the area is a work in progress.