Positive and negative qualities for a resume. Personal qualities for a resume

Examples of unwanted shortcomings in a resume

There are disadvantages that are undesirable to point out, as they can scare off the recruiter. Examples of such shortcomings:

  • the habit of being late;
  • love of gambling;
  • bad habits (cigarettes).

There are some disadvantages that are not so bad in themselves, but mentioning them can also play out in your favor. The undesirable list of disadvantages may include:

  • excessive demands (you are not loyal and capable of provoking a scandal);
  • the habit of expressing your opinion (you do not know how to listen to the opinions of others);
  • painstaking, desire to finish the work, despite the late time (you do not know how to plan time).

To understand what shortcomings can be indicated in a resume, study all the requirements indicated in the vacancy and try to imagine the psychological portrait of the person whom the employer wants to see in this position.

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What flaws to indicate in a resume: a list of examples

Psychologists and experienced recruiters advise, when listing shortcomings, to select such weaknesses that may turn out to be strong for future work. Examples of your shortcomings in your resume include the following:

  • hyperactivity;
  • pedantry;
  • thoroughness.

Pointing out your own shortcomings, try to turn them into advantages. Here are some shortcomings that can be indicated in a manager's resume:

  • exactingness to oneself and others;
  • perfectionism;
  • emotionality.

All these qualities can be turned to your advantage, because they all, ultimately, indicate that you are responsible for your work.

You can do otherwise and reformulate your shortcomings, softening their meaning. For example, the same pedantry can be masked by the words: "I love to get to the bottom of the essence and bring the work to perfection."

Finally, you can list such shortcomings in the resume, which will practically not affect your future work in any way. You can report your fear of airplanes and spiders. If your work does not involve frequent flights, and you are not going to get a job as a manager, for example, in a pet store, then all these shortcomings will not compromise you in any way. So, they can be safely indicated.

Irina Davydova


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How to please the future boss if his profile contains an insidious item - weaknesses of character? In a resume, unlike a normal conversation, every word has weight, so it's better to prepare in advance for uncomfortable questions, and weak qualities in you must be presented as very useful for business.

  1. You can simply not indicate your weak professional qualities in your resume. Concentrate on your skills, experience, education, and you can talk about personal qualities at the interview. However, it is impossible to refuse that item if you fill out a resume electronically. Read also:
  2. A dash instead of information is another mistake of future employees. If the boss decided to leave this column, it means that he is really interested in this information. And the point is not even in it, but in checking an adequate perception of oneself, the ability to learn and understand the leader. Emptiness can speak of excessively high self-esteem or, on the contrary, self-doubt. Read also:
  3. Of course, you should not list all the shortcomings in too much detail or engage in self-flagellation. It is enough to remember that any weaknesses in the resume have a downside for the employer. And what may be a problem for one may be an advantage for another. For example, if you are an accountant, your lack of communication will be useful in your work. And if you are a manager, then this is a serious omission.
  4. Filling in the summary of strengths and weaknesses, try to build on the position you want to occupy. For example, select deficiencies that are not related to your activity. Restlessness for a sales manager is the norm, but for an accountant it is a minus.
  5. "Turn weaknesses into strengths" is the old approach. It works if you can think creatively. Otherwise, the efforts will be too primitive and they will figure you out. So the trick of "with a heightened sense of responsibility, workaholism and perfectionism" may not be successful.
  6. Remember that some bosses do not look for faults in you at all. , but only evaluate the adequacy, truthfulness and self-criticism.
  7. It is better to describe your weaknesses in a resume that can be improved. This should also be reported in the text of the questionnaire. There are some bosses who want to train employees for themselves. In this case, your frankness and willingness to work on yourself will be appreciated adequately.
  8. Indicate not only individual characteristics, but also your properties in teamwork .
  9. Do not use flowery phrases like "my flaws are extensions of my virtues." This will not surprise, but only show the unwillingness to conduct a dialogue with the employer.
  10. The optimal number of flaws is 2 or 3 . Don't get carried away!

Weaknesses in the resume - examples:

  • Selfishness, pride, scrupulousness, inflexibility in labor matters, the habit of telling the truth directly, inability to establish contact with strangers, increased demands.
  • Propensity for formalism, overweight, lack of punctuality, slowness, restlessness, fear of airplanes, impulsiveness.
  • Reliability, high anxiety, hyperactivity, incredulity, straightforwardness, need for external motivation.
  • Hot temper, isolation, self-confidence, stubbornness.
  • Among the weaknesses, you can indicate in your resume that you do not always express your thoughts perfectly or tend to reflect . And if you are asked why this interferes, answer that you would like to spend less time analyzing the problem.

Hello dear blog readers! It does not matter if you are on its pages for the first time, or are regular visitors - in any case, welcome. Today, our topic related to earnings and employment will be replenished with another interesting problem - how to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of a person in a resume. An example of how NOT to do this is pretty straightforward.

Some applicants who have read Western literature, which calls for being extremely sincere with the employer, do not hesitate to dump all their ins and outs in front of him, and then naively wonder why they were “pushed out” with the vacancy. Ideally, of course, you shouldn’t do this, but you shouldn’t describe yourself as an impeccable person and employee either - in any case, the truth will become clear as soon as you start your immediate duties.

From this article you will learn:

When a person writes a resume, he rarely puts himself in the place of an employer and in most cases does not understand that texts containing entirely positive characteristics are pretty boring, and it is understood that they are not true in 90 percent of cases. This is easy to understand, because the task of the applicant is to make a good impression on potential bosses, and the strengths listed in the text help to do this in the best possible way.

However, there is a little secret: when you write about weaknesses, it kind of involuntarily sets the employer up for the fact that you are a sincere person, so you can be dealt with.

Read below about how to find the “golden mean” between a resume that lists only the pros and one that will scare the employer away because of the cons.

speak the truth

When compiling a resume, do not try to overly exaggerate and compose something. Just speak the truth. There are numerous examples of how a beautiful legend invented when applying for a job fell apart after a couple of clarifying questions or a check by the company's security service, so it's best to be sincere with the employer. Everything that you want to write in your resume must be confirmed, otherwise, it will greatly discredit you. Before you, check again if you have attributed to yourself, carried away by fantasies, a third higher education or work experience in a foreign corporation abroad.

Answer the questions

Often, many employers provide a ready-made resume form, offering to answer the question about their negative qualities in it. Leaving this field blank is at least impolite, so write something there that can hardly be called a serious flaw. At the same time, it is best to focus on those personality traits and character traits that you can work on by improving them.

For example, write that you are shy - for a person who works in the field of communications, this is a critical, but surmountable shortcoming.

By the way, if you think it's better to use the standard "template expressions" in it and do not write anything about your cons! In order to describe them briefly, a small column in the resume is enough.

Don't forget to praise yourself

Each of us has achievements, and in the resume it is very important to highlight exactly what the employer is interested in. If you're good at making great presentations, or good at graphic editors, or fluent in English, be sure to mention it, especially if the job offers something similar.

Turn imperfections into virtues

When describing your negative traits, try to present them in such a way that the employer perceives them as positive.

For example:

self-confidence can be applied as leadership qualities;

restless character- as readiness to perform new tasks;

straightness– as the self-confidence necessary for conducting important negotiations.

Don't confuse the personal with the professional!

When deciding the issue with your employment, do not forget: first of all, employers are interested in your work achievements, and it is on them that you should focus. That is, if you still set out to point out the negative sides, let them not be personal traits, but something related exclusively to the work process (excessive meticulousness, difficulties with the team due to dislike for “freeloaders”, inability to deceive, lack of experience work, etc.).

It's the same with the merits - list only those that are directly related to work, because it is unlikely that your excellent culinary skills can become a decisive argument in your favor if you get a job as a purchasing manager.

The key is moderation.

Try not to write a "sheet" that is not too easy to read. The best option is to indicate 4-5 of your characteristics, which are the main ones. By the way, if your resume successfully passed the first stage, and you were called for a personal interview, you shouldn’t get too carried away there either and lay out all your ins and outs in front of the personnel officer - answer strictly the questions posed, hardly your interlocutor is interested in anything else.

So, we figured out how best to tell about your positive and negative sides in a resume, now you just have to try it out in practice. If the material is of interest to you and is useful, share it on social networks with your friends - let them also know how to make the process of employment easier for themselves! Do not forget to subscribe to blog updates so as not to miss the release of new publications. And now I say goodbye to you for a while.

As many people know, in most organizations, when searching for robots, you need to provide a well-written resume. There are certain filling rules, but sometimes the employer asks you to write quite unexpected things - for example, personal shortcomings. And it can be understood. As a manager, he must learn as much information about the new employee as possible. Let's figure out what weaknesses can be indicated in a resume, and at the same time put them up as advantages.

To be honest, the shortcomings clause of a resume is not very common. The applicant is required to describe in detail his skills and abilities, which will help him in this position in this organization, education, work experience.

Disadvantages as a separate summary item

In most cases, the deficiencies clause does nothing. Some will leave empty, others will not want to tell the truth. In fact, this column is formal. Therefore, filling should be taken seriously and turn your minuses into pluses. The omission of this column can be interpreted as insufficient intelligence and lack of self-confidence.

When filling out the shortcomings column, be honest with yourself. You must fully understand what your good and bad sides are. And, most importantly, remember that in modern society the same quality can be perceived from different angles.

Remember that there is an essential difference between a flaw and a vice. Therefore, it is necessary to indicate those parties that do not interfere with the performance of the work. It would be foolish to indicate that you are a lover of alcohol and parties, a noble womanizer or a lover of fights.

Shortcomings in the resume. Examples.

A good option would be to indicate that you are a workaholic and love to work. This may be bad on the one hand, but you can say that you will get great pleasure from your future work, and this will add a few points to you as an applicant. Still, as an option, one can mention scrupulousness in matters of order.

Think about the types of disadvantages that are virtues for this position - pedantry for an accountant, taciturnity for a programmer, stubbornness or impudence for a sales manager, restlessness for a sales agent, talkativeness for a sales agent or call center operator, and so on.
Do not forget to indicate that you are constantly working on your shortcomings and trying to correct them. Let's say you quit smoking two months ago. Feel free to write about it - it will say about your ability to solve problems and go towards your goal.

The lack of necessary skills (or lack of experience) can be turned to your advantage. “I hardly studied English after college and thought I didn’t remember anything. But in a couple of days I read Shakespeare in the original and I think I can handle it.
If you have not yet figured out how to indicate your weaknesses in a resume, examples of filling in a large number can be found on the Internet.

Even the most experienced employees are always thinking about what weaknesses to list in a resume. There should not be lies, stereotypes here - this can work against you. Do not overdo it in revelations, so as not to reduce your chances of getting the desired position. Use ingenuity and flexibility to convince the employer of your desire to change and benefit the future company.

Practical tips to help you get comfortable on the job on your first day